California Web Hosting

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California Web Hosting

Are you looking for California Web Hosting? Fine, you will find a number of web hosting providers in that sunny part of the US. Luckily, I have helped you  by doing an extensive researching job to locate the best deals among those hosting companies.

Since there are so many California web hosting providers, large and small, I am mentioning only a few of the largest and best established ones here. Opening a web hosting account with some newbie hosting company is not a wise move in my opinion - most new web hosts go out of business within a year.

And there are companies you'd better avoid like the plague - read about "The Five WORST Web Hosting Companies" here below!


For information on some other good web hosting providers, in other parts of North America, please visit Web-Hosting101.com.

California Web Hosting - Now on You Tube! 

A tribute to sunny California

Long time since I was in California... but remember the feeling... lovely...

California Web Hosting

My take on sunny California (wish I were there) - and the web hosting scene. Caution: features scantily clad young woman standing on her head, in public.

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California Web Hosting Companies - Top Choices 

Personally tested by me - and thumbs up!

InMotion Hosting
-- A hosting company that consistently provides an excellent service level. I don't think I've ever found any negative comments about them, and they've worked very well for me, too.
InMotion Hosting has been in the business for many years. It is an employee-owned company.
(Read more below)

Lunarpages
-- A leading web hosting company which has a stellar customer reputation. I have one of my web sites hosted with this provider, and amazingly that site has had 100% uptime for about 6 months straight.
Lunarpages offers both Unix and Windows hosting plans, which is notable in case you need Windows hosting.
(Read more below)

DreamHost
-- Another employee-owned web hosting provider, which has been in business for about 10 years.
DreamHost has a most personal and laid-back profile. In my own experience, this host has been very pleasant to deal with. You just have to like this web hosting provider!
(Read more below)

InMotion Hosting - More About a Great California Web Host 

They seem liked by everybody - and you get hosted for $3.00/month!

Yes, as I said above I have seen many customer reviews on InMotion Hosting and they are always on the positive side - which is rare.

If you open an account at InMotion Hosting, you get a free domain. This is a nice bonus, commonly offered by web hosts to attract customers.

OK, and what else? Well, you can get a basic account for only $3.00 per month! The features are somewhat limited but you still get a free domain and plenty of storage space.

Another feature worth noting is that you can have up to 6 domains on the same account; if you choose the $6.95/month Business Class hosting package.
EDIT: InMotion Hosting now offers unlimited sites. Whoa!

Lunarpages - a Very Reliable Host IMHO 

I have had 100% uptime month after month...

Yes, I am monitoring the uptime I get on the web site I have hosted with Lunarpages using a third-party service. And the reports I get have always shown a 100% uptime!

Zero downtime, in other words. I like that. Usually, a good web host can achieve like 99.95% uptime but 100% is a hard one to reach. And I don't expect Lunarpages to keep that indefinitely either; yet, so far, so good...

Also, their customer service has always been fast and competent in their responses to my inquiries. In my opinion this California web hosting company is top-notch, and I feel really good about recommending them.

So, what features do they have? Well, they have ASP, JSP, PHP, AJAX, Ruby On Rails, MySQL... and you name it! OK, they have what you may expect a good hosting company to offer - go check out the details if interested. I am not even using most of all this myself on the site I have hosted with Lunarpages.

DreamHost - a Most Sociable and Likeable Web Host 

And green, too...

DreamHost is not only a friendly host, cultivating an offbeat sense of humour. (More on that in my lens on Los Angeles Web Hosting.)
They are nowadays also a green web hosting company! Green, uh? OK, I'll explain: They buy "Renewable Energy Credits", which put briefly means that they volunteer to support reduced carbon dioxide emissions (you know, the Global Warming).

This badge appears on their web site - and if you are hosted with DreamHost you can proudly display that badge on your web site also!
I think reducing the Global Warming is an excellent idea - and especially so in southern California... (Actually, I think I saw that the US overall emits several times more carbon dioxide, per person, than Europe.)

>>> Five Worst Web Hosting Companies! - Part 1 

Gives You an Idea of BAD Web Hosting...

Usually I research web hosting to find the BEST companies... after all, we all want good features and excellent service, at a low price - right?

OK, I figured I'll scare you a bit with some really BAD web hosting! Both to warn you about what you may run into out there, and to amuse myself with some muck-raking. (HEHE!)
These hosts are universally disliked, they have many negatives and very few positives.

Here goes, my personal avoid-like-the-plague list:

- 1T3 Online (www.1t3.com)
- DataPacket (www.datapacket.com)
- Dot5Hosting (www.dot5hosting.com)
- Globat (www.globat.com)
- RegisterFly (www.registerfly.com)

1T3 Online
Yes, this host was still in business when I checked just now. 1T3 offers "free hosting with every domain registration", at about $30 per year. Nice and cheap.
Some customer feedback:
"I have "lost" my site approximately 6 times since last spring. By "lost" I mean everything on my site was deleted six times! Customer support is nil. I have heard that they get behind on their server payments and people lose their accounts. I'd turn them in if I knew who to write to."
-- Yes, I certainly would, too...

DataPacket
Their slogan is "Every Website Deserves a Good Home". How sweet, I almost get a tear in my eye...
Example of customer opinions:
"...They had a server crash and all of my files were gone. I have lost a huge amount of money with their reseller hosting as many of my design clients have left my company due to so many hosting problems. They offer terrible customer service and have absolutely nothing positive to offer customers..."
-- Ouch!

Dot5Hosting
This web host offers "Professional web hosting for $4.95 per month". Also give you "Free domain forever".
A typical customer experience:
"Initially I placed a one year order...They billed me for two. When I called, they did not seem to understand what I was saying and then billed me for another year. I never received any instructions on how to access account. Although they did return $118.80. $71.40 still remains outstanding..."
-- Speaks for itself I guess...

[CONTINUED BELOW...]

Five Worst Web Hosting Companies - Part 2 

Getting better all the time... NOT!

Globat
This rather large company cheerfully displays the slogan: "Always up, fast and easy" on their site.
Some typical user feedback:
"These Globat jackasses are constantly trying to upgrade my account and charge me money for crap I don't need. I just want to park my site. I didn't need all the absolutely worthless promo crap they were constantly throwing at me. It works like this - you get an email that says "do nothing about this and we are going to charge you $40 to upgrade your account to something that you didn't ask for and probably don't need. to opt go, jump through these hoops. warning, we will do this to you several times a year..."
-- Clever business model there, eh...?

RegisterFly
This seems to be a Registrar company also doing web hosting. Or, actually I guess it's maybe ONLY doing web hosting - since there is now this text in large all-caps on the front page of RegisterFly:
NOTICE TO CONSUMERS.
THE INTERNET CORPORATION FOR ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS - THE NON FOR PROFIT ENTITY THAT ADMINISTERS THE INTERNET'S DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM, HAS ISSUED A NOTICE OF TERMINATION OF THIS COMPANY'S ACCREDITATION TO SERVE AS AN INTERNET DOMAIN NAME REGISTRAR.PLEASE SEE WWW.ICANN.ORG FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.
- Their web site is still up though, so I guess they are in business. Anyone interested...?
I have seen over 100 negative customer posts on this company, for example:
"These people are fraudulent thieves. I paid for a service and to date have received nothing in return. Avoid at all costs..."


Are you still interested in web hosting? Some say you should host your site on your own server at home. This may be something for hardcore geeks, but not for most of us.

Rather, to avoid becoming involved with some web host like the above, make sure you do your research before signing up! Going with a hosting company that has a good reputation is a safe bet. And if looking for California web hosting you've got some great choices.

My Featured Lenses 

Also take a look at:
featured lens Web Hosting in Los Angeles

Are you looking for web hosting in Los Angeles? There's a couple of web hosting companies in that sunny area, and I've done some research to find the best of those hosts. Why find your web hosting in Los Angeles, out of all places? To some folks it fe...

Your Thoughts 

Squidoo members: welcome to give some nice feedback!

Lensmaster

travelsarah wrote...

Comprehensive guide congrats, I have used dreamhost before but not the others so will check them out.

ReplyPosted March 27, 2008

Lensmaster

rocketpiano wrote...

Do you recommend hosting with c-panel? I'm looking for information on that.

ReplyPosted March 24, 2008

Lensmaster

personalfinancelv wrote...

Having just moved to sunny CA myself i found this lens very helpful, many thanks

ReplyPosted March 24, 2008

My Feedback 

Thoughts on Thoughts

Hi rocketpiano! I guess you mean "cPanel", which is the most commonly used control panel with web hosting accounts. Yes, it is OK although for multi-domain accounts it does have some limitations (which you may not notice).