Does anyone know if this page (http://webempoweredchurch.com/support/third_party/) has recently been updated? I began looking at WEC-enabled hosting solutions about 4-6 weeks ago and had chosen "Web Hosting Buzz" as a great value for the price. Yet just today, I went back to the list of Third-Party sites and Web Hosting Buzz (WHB) is no longer listed there! In fact, the entire list seems shorter than I remember it being before, so I was wondering if WHB was kicked off of the list for any particular reason. I know I keep reading about WEC requiring extreme measures from the servers (Memory usage, PHP requirements, etc.), but I figured if a hosting provider was listed on the Third-Party page, they would have "passed the test."

Besides, the quantity of "goods" that you'd receive from WHB seem incredible for the price... nearly too good to be true (but I'm hoping not)!

I've read the posts about Vine Hosting, and while I know it's good to support the WEC platform and Foundation for Evangelism, it's just so much higher priced. You don't get NEARLY the same amount of "goods" as WHB offers, or at least Vine's website doesn't let you know that you do. (Why does it cost so much more?) Personally, I find Vine's own website really confusing and disorganized (the hosting packages are not even laid out in a consistent manner on the page), and there are lots of empty links without descriptions. It doesn't describe what kind of servers I'd be using or how many users per server or anything like that. I can understand if you are paying a higher setup cost/fee to get the "Turn-Key solution" for installation, but $25/month thereafter seems a bit steep to continue with. Especially since you're not even getting that much space and "goods" for that high price. I'm not scared to try the WEC Install on my own using a WEC-enabled hosting provider.

I'm asking all of the questions about Vine, mostly because I know that's who will respond to this the quickest, but I'm also curious to know about the WHB questions above and if anyone has used WHB in the past and could recommend them.

Thanks,
Holly

Holly,

I maintain the list of third party providers and web hosting buzz has never been on the list. However it may be an okay host. We just don't know.

If you feel comfortable with installing the WEC-TYPO3 software and updating it whenever TYPO3 is upgraded (a few times per year) then you may be fine with lower-cost hosting. As a word of caution, our forums are flooded with problems people have with the "$5" hosts. Typically they limit memory and set up servers in a way that restricts TYPO3 execution and performance. In other cases we have seen sites that were working fine that were disabled by "upgrades" the host makes. It can work and we have helped make them work on the forums, but sometimes it can be difficult and frustrating.

The truth is that hosting costs more money than we think. There are computers to buy, monthly bandwidth to pay for, special software to purchase, and the salaries of the people to operate it all. In order to make money, low-cost hosts must cut corners on server hardware and capabilities and on support. It is not that they are bad. It is just the economics of it all. So, you truly get what you pay for. They usually work fine if you have a few HTML pages, but when you have a database-driven interactive website like with WEC then these limitations can become an issue.

At our church, we tried low cost hosting solutions. At first everything seemed fine. In time we had one disaster after another to the point that we left early even though we had paid for months into the future. We just wanted out. It cost us much more in pain and time than if we would have just paid a fair price to a good hosting company. Hopefully you will not have the same experience. I know there are WEC-TYPO3 churches hosting with low-cost services and it is working for them. I hope that continues forever, but I know the risk remains.

In Christ,
Mark

Mark, thanks for your reply. Okay, I think I've figured out what happened! I checked my Bookmarks folder, because I remembered that "Web Hosting Buzz" was not the specific name of the company listed on your Third-Party page, yet that's still how I ended up at their package rates. Based on my bookmarks, I believe it's DawsonInteractive.com
that IS listed on your Third-Party page that led me to WHB. On the WEC page linked above, Dawson lists "WEC Hosting" as a service provided, but when you go to Dawson's actual site, it says:

"Quality and Affordable Web Hosting -
Since 2004, Dawson Interactive has been an exclusive partner and reseller with Web Hosting Buzz for all of our web hosting services. Founded in 2002 as a simple reseller account, Web Hosting Buzz has now grown to nearly 10,000 satisfied clients all over the world."

I guess being so new to this when I was first commissioned to research WEC-enabled providers, that I got mixed up and assumed WHB WAS the recommended hosting provider that I had clicked on from the Third-Party page.

So, all of that to say, what can you tell me about Dawson Interactive?

Thanks for your reply!!!
- Holly

Holly,

Well, at least we know the origin of WHB. We don't know anything about them first hand. To be honest, I am suspicious just because the low cost seems impossible. These articles may be helpful:

http://whychoosewebhostingbuzz.blogspot.com/
http://www.dslreports.com/comment/2543/60582
http://www.webhostingstuff.com/review/WebHostingBuzzcom.html

The people/companies listed on our website have signed our 3rd Party covenant agreement. That is all we know for sure. Beyond that we just listen to what people tell us. As far as I know Dawson Interactive is fine. I believe they are more oriented toward design than hosting. I am not sure how support is handled. I suggest contacting them.

In Christ,
Mark