hosting suggestions

[akitchin]

before someone hops on this and tells me this thread topic has already been covered, the search function on this forum is terrible (no fault of phpfreaks, just SMF) and my request is a little more specific.

what i'm looking for:

- reseller hosting, or something where multiple websites can be treated as separate entities (to facilitate storing multiple projects on one major account)
- a decent amount of space/bandwidth (on the order of a few GB and 5+ GB per month, respectively)
- a GOOD web admin panel (i stipulate this one because it's been a deal-breaker before)
- linux hosting (i prefer it in general)
- typical software support (PHP [whatever version, as long as it's 4.0 compatible], MySQL, and the usual *nix features like crontabs, etc. - not necessarily shell access)

my budget at the moment is probably somewhere around 100-150 for a year's worth (preferably payable in one go).

i know this may be a tall order, and i know i could browse websites until my eyes bleed, but frankly hosting sites are absolutely deceptive.  i would like to hear from people with actual recommendations and perhaps anecdotes, because a grid detailing price and support can only tell me so much - people who have been through the experience speak volumes.

thanks in advance for any recommendations (beyond the obvious serverpowered.com / webhostfreaks.com - thanks ron, i know you'll be the first to mention them ;)).

[ober]

I use ace-host.net.  My only bitch is that the mail servers have taken a crap from time to time (~1/month).  I've only lost mail once though and that might have been my fault.  Best price is for 2+ years in one shot.

[redbullmarky]

for what you're after, the deals nowadays on VPS's are pretty good. probably not relevent to you (so not quite sure why i'm mentioning it lol) but i use webfusion (http://www.webfusion.co.uk/vps) as it pretty much gives me the freedom of a dedicated server at a snippet of the cost. Comes loaded with PHP4.3.1 , MySQL 3.23, Plesk/Virtuozzo control panel, Linux (FC2) but all these are upgraded easily enough to suit.

a VPS maybe a little more than your budget, but if you can rally round some friends/family, etc to host on your VPS, you'll probably actually find that it's paying YOU.

[.josh]

www.site5.com

[akitchin]

in soviet russia, host pays you!

my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is [url=http://www.mosso.com]www.mosso.com[/url], when it comes to rallying friends/family.  i appreciate all your input, and will have a look at the links.  keep them coming (thanks).

[ober]

... ok, I'm confused.  The only offer I see there was for $100/month... I thought your budget was for $100/year.

[obsidian]

check out http://www.dreamhost.com, plus, if you're interested, i can set you up with a coupon code and give you about half off your first year as a referral since i'm hosting with them already. very good support plus all the features you've mentioned.

[akitchin]

you're not mistaken - mosso is absolutely outside of my budget, i meant to say that it's my end goal if i had enough friends/clients to contribute towards the fees.  it was in response to:

[quote author=redbullmarky link=topic=112023.msg454441#msg454441 date=1161270688]
a VPS maybe a little more than your budget, but if you can rally round some friends/family, etc to host on your VPS, you'll probably actually find that it's paying YOU.
[/quote]

i've actually settled on www.site5.com for now.  they have a deal on their multisite hosting for $150/two years, with 15GB and 1TB/mo, as well as the ability to host 6 sites as totally separate accounts.  i have yet to play in their panel, but it looks great.  i'll post back when i've got some opinions if anyone wants.

obsidian, thanks for that link.  i've actually used dreamhost on another person's account, and they are great, but i'm not sure i'd have been able to get the same deal as i did with site5.

again, thanks everyone for your input.