Quick Question about Hosting

I was just wondering what all of you running your own hosting companies would recommend purchasing to start up.

The main question is Reseller or Dedicated Server?

and then where do you get the best value for pricing?

Thanks.

It depends on your current capital and your business plans.

If you do not have enough money to start out big, then go for a reseller. But, resellers can have its shortcomings. For instance, many customers like to see a host name's branded in the nameservers, and seeing someone else's name in the nameservers might discourage them. Also some resellers, don't come with sufficient space nor bandwidth, and if they do it will be costly.

But, if you have enough money I would suggest a dedicated server. Dedicater Servers allow for complete root access. But, there are many things you have to take in affect. For instance, downtime is something every host might have to go up against. Breaking your goals, because dedicated's can be very costly, and the average starter hosts can sometimes not maintain it.

I would suggest www.surpasshosting.com for both resellers and dedicated's.

Just to startup, I suggest going with a reseller. When (or if) you get enough customers, update to a dedicated server.

I'd advise you to start from the reseller account. There are many companies that may give you cheap reselling (247-host.com - $1.99 per month, *********.com - $2.95 per 3 months). And later when you have many clients and much experience you may buy a dedi.

The reseller option is good as there are hosts offering free first month services or serious discounts, and you'll hardly find anything like that with dedicated offers. Correct me if I'm wrong here .
You haven't written anything about your server administration skills, but reseller accounts are managed for you, there's definitely a question of how well they managed and doesn't your upstream provider outsource support from somebody else, but trial period can sovle all the problems.
*********.com plans has just looots of standard and advanced features, as well as free scripts.
The host i'm with at the moment ********.biz offers reselling plans as well with lots of unlimited features, no that's not about disk space and bandwidth.

Originally Posted by mackad The reseller option is good as there are hosts offering free first month services or serious discounts, and you'll hardly find anything like that with dedicated offers. Correct me if I'm wrong here . You haven't written anything about your server administration skills, but reseller accounts are managed for you, there's definitely a question of how well they managed and doesn't your upstream provider outsource support from somebody else, but trial period can sovle all the problems. *********.com plans has just looots of standard and advanced features, as well as free scripts. The host i'm with at the moment ********.biz offers reselling plans as well with lots of unlimited features, no that's not about disk space and bandwidth.

I agree with the above-said and I'd add that their tech support works fast and quality and their live chat is really 24/7.

My advice is to avoid getting into a business that anyone with $3 startup capitol can compete in

If you must, I would recommend starting off with reseller. Save your money for advertising, and don't advertise to tech people. Plenty of small businesses need good hosting, and they tend not to try to "mess" with stuff. Just my 2 cents.

Start off with a reseller, there are many companies that offer private label resellers, such as your own nameservers, and a host name which wouldn't make it obvious that you're reselling.

A good host which offers the above is www.rshosting.com. They are aimed specifically towards resellers, their plans are slightly expensive, although you get what you pay for

P.S. - I think you can request them for a custom quote.