Web Hosting

[MiniCooperJ]

Has anyone used these http://www.1and1.co.uk/web-hosting for hosting? It's for a small business website and I'd like an option for an ecommerce section at a later date if needed.

[gannet]

not from an e-commerce perspective no, but we use them for hosting our IAM website using Wordpress without issue.

Small company I work for uses them also as their hosting company, but again no e-commerce.

never had any issues with them.

[akirk]

1 and 1 are okay but be aware that with all of the big companies:
1&1 / Godaddy / hostgator / 123reg / etc.
that there is compromise in the deal - the cost is often cheap up front, but there may be hidden issues / costs - e.g. there might be an exit fee if you ever wish to move your hosting / there might be reduced, or capped bandwidth (if your website becomes too popular it is turned off until the end of the month's cycle), or reduced server cycles (some 1&1 plans are restricted here), there might be restrictions on numbers of email addresses / or databases, it can be difficult to get hold of customer services / etc. etc.

You will also need to manage the website yourself - they will give you tools to do so, but if it goes wrong it can be difficule to get help...

As a comparison, normal commercial hosting might cost you c. £10 p/m + VAT upwards...

but 1&1 can also be cheap efficient hosting if you have simple needs...

if you are planning eventual e-commerce, think carefully about what you might plan to do, and how it would work with your website...
- if just wanting to sell one or two items through paypal buttons or cart, then the hosting is not important
- if wanting a proper full e-commerce system with the ability to take credit cards (e.g. through worldpay etc.) and run a proper order system / stock system / returns / etc. then you need to consider the technology you use very carefully - hosting your own e-commerce software leads to you needing to meet PCI compliance etc. and is arduous, complex, epensive etc. - depending on your needs you may be better looking at one of the mainstream hosted systems such as BigCommerce / Shopify / etc. - you can then run a shop on your main domain, or as a subdomain such as shop.domain.com etc.

Also consider the code - are you writing your website / using something like wordpress / getting someone else to code it? The server software may need to fit with the coding needs - though if simple, this shouldn't be an issue...

I do this profesionally (have my own servers) - so do pm me if you want more help (no committment / charge - just happy to help...)

Alasdair

[Andy]

I use 1&1 to host various websites including Derbyshire Advanced Rider Training.

They've always been very reliable and simply done what I've needed.

[MiniCooperJ]

Thanks everyone, that's a great help

[trashbat]

It's been a long time since I've used 1&1 - probably over ten years - but I wouldn't be rushing to use them again. Whoever said about hidden charges etc had the right idea. If you think of them as a sort of McDonald's or Kwik Fit style robotic operation you probably have it about right, and you might find yourself wishing you'd gone for something a bit smaller and more open and customer-oriented.