It looks like the $27.95 plan fits our usage level.

We've come close to their 16 Gig transfer limit recently. I can't imagine our bandwidth usage will go down over time. Also, do you have any experience with them Amy? I'd much rather go with Rob or Kristen since they both have had long term happy relationships with their providers. And Rob's place also has a VPS option for a similar price.

I've been with Westhost for years now. Never had any problems, although my usage is nothing compared to the board's.

Have you had any dealings with their customer service? It seems like both Rob & Kristen have good relationships with the people who work at their providers.

I've actually been shopping for a dedicated server host for one of my clients, and I maintain quite about 10 Web sites, some with hosts I chose and some with hosts the client chose for reasons ranging from "part of a good telephone and e-mail package" to "run by a relative." I'd like the emphasize that this is really a Stompy decision and that price is not the only consideration. Working with a Web host can be simple or a nightmare. The choice needs to be a company and a server setup that they think will cause them the fewest headaches now and down the road. The dedicated server prices I'm getting from companies that I think have sufficient backups and user support are ranging from $200 to $350 a month.

I personally would never consider maintaining my own server. It would be like adopting a baby.

I will be happy to send money. Perhaps I should go do that right now.

Jon, I've only had good experiences with customer service, but then again I haven't had any big problems to deal with on any of my accounts there -- that's partly a matter of having tiny low-traffic sites, but not entirely so, as I've run into some massive crap with t l-t sites on other hosts.

Anyway, I'm going to check with some folks I know who get a lot more traffic than I do to see if they have any particular experiences to share -- again, I've never had a bad experience with them, but I've also never had the need for a whole lot of service from them.

We've come close to their 16 Gig transfer limit recently.

I take that back. ita posted upthread that we used 16.2 Gig in September. So if we went with a WestHost VPS option, we'd need at least the $36.95 (20 Gig) plan.

iStrata (Rob's plan) measures bandwidth in kbps, and doesn't count the top 5% of peak usage. If we included all usage, then 20 Gig/month is equal to 7.7kbps. iStrata's $29/month plan gives us 100kps. So if I'm not missing something, iStrata is a much better deal wrt bandwidth.

Is it possible for our techies to get a list of questions together for people at teh companies in question? That way they all are asked the same info, are all looking at the same set of numbers about our little home here, and we can get some idea of what interaction is like.

I personally would never consider maintaining my own server. It would be like adopting a baby.

This is what I do for a living. If we get a dedicated or virtual server, I would volunteer to set up and maintain it. After the initial set-up, the amount of time involved should be minimal.

Also, this is precisely the kind of issue that I think voting should not be used for. I believe in those of us who have more technical know how and therefore abdicate my usual desire to vote to those with more knowledge.

Yep. I can be a vote hound too, but I'm with Kat.

We have discussed setting up affiliate accounts with retail places before - has that ever happened? I'd buy all my online Holiday purchases via a Buffista affiliate link if one existed and that would begin to generate a constant flow of funds.

The Buffiliates idea was tabled as unnecessary and distracting. This should certainly be a vote issue but only if there's enough interest. I'm not proposing it.

Kristen - in my experience, anytime I've had a business relationship with friends I've either a) done way more than I'd ordinarily do for a client; b) endured much grief and/or c) never found it to be economically worth my while after the fact. Very often it's a combination of all three. What I'm trying to say is thanks for everything you're doing and I'm sorry that you're in the uncomfortable position of having to tell your friends that they make difficult clients. Because we know that we do. And your efforts are universally appreciated.

WRT the offer, I'd like to speak as an outsider. I don't believe it's a good idea to rush into a decision because the other party (in this case Steve) has set what seems to be an arbitrary deadline on the offer. I would suggest that the offer be turned down unless Steve is willing to give the board at least a week to discuss it.

I would also suggest that giving a year committment can only work provided the system runs as expected and there are no further hitches with the programming . Obviously if three or four months down the line the board is constantly down with error messages on the new system both the board and the ISP have a duty to act in haste and in good faith to trouble-shoot and fix the problems. Otherwise the board would be free to walk away because everyone is aware of the potential problems going into it and under no circumstances would the board be obligated to pay a full year if the code problems persist unabated.

This is what I do for a living.

You are a better person than I am. Have I ever mentioned how grateful I continue to be that there are people who seem to like to maintain servers and do complicated programming?