منتدى استراحات زايد - hosts w/ discussion forum and vB specialty

Hi Folks,

I'm planning to start a forum within the next day, which I discussed a bit in pre-sales. Today I was looking closer at the hosts (it is planned as a small-moderate forum for awhile, but we are bringing over many folks from yahogroups and such) . Originally I was looking at the $5 $10 stuff, however $20 is fine. There are so many little gotchas that you can't make a decision on small change.

Since there are so many hosts available:

Two things come to mind that I would really like:

1) A neat discussion forum on the web host

2) A host that specializes in vBulletin would be fine

(multi-domains in one host purchase would be nice too but a minor issue)

Any host that hosts a forum is really taking a nice open approach, allow allowing the kvetchers to mess them up and waste their time.

Companies with forums that look good are :

A Small Orange, HostGator (economy)

FutureQuest, RealWebHost

Dreamhost and LunarPages (not real vBulletin friendly) also have fine forums, yet I would probably pass on for vB. There probably are 5-25 more that fit this mix.

For a specialty host on vBulletin forum URLJet looks kewl. No forum, yet real savvy according to vBulletin threads. Slightly pricey, but not if they save me time and effort in installs and support and such, and help optimize for vB response.

GlobalGold may fit in here, as they advertise "vBulletin Custom Hosting" and good buzz here. However again, no forum, and UK-based. I see the buzz is excellent, so they may join URLJet as the ones to consider even without a fourm.

Companies like Liquidweb and Pair.com, like GlobalGold like good on the mid-level, but lack the forum, so I would probably take a Futurequest over them on that one point.

Knowing that I am strongly preferring hosts that fit one or both of the requirements, feel free to comment in any way or offer any suggestions (or good alternatives that are strong in the same way).

I'm ready to enroll tonite. Last night I was ready to start with Lunar or Dream (good $, good rep, 60-day trial), went to the checkout stage, and then I did some more checking and decided the above.

Right now the ones in the lead are URLJet, FutureQuest, RealWebHost and A Small Orange and HostGator. They all seem to represent different personalities, three have the forum, one has the vBulletin special emphasis. I'll probably run through the checkout with each one, check trials and such. The recent difficulties at A Small Orange being a concern.

"FutureQuest does not provide CPanel nor Fantastico. We have our own in-house developed control panel which we call the CNC or Command'N'Control."

CPanel in the new version is pretty neat, so this could be good or bad, depending.

Reading the threads is interesting. RealWebHosting does have a $50 fee for even a new customer with a fresh vBulletin install. Not on the FAQ. Transfers are free, which is strange, since that could be more work. I said that was a 'bit of a dealbreaker' and the phone fella sounded a tad upset, in a nice way. On the other hand I got a solid phone answer on Sunday night from somebody who sounded like a main fella on Labor Day weekend -- so maybe that balances out :) .

Will I save much time with URLJet connection for setup ? Or just a few minutes ?
ok, I found a thread that says that setup with CPanel is basically just upload.

Thanks.

Shalom,
Steven Avery