Recommendations Please for Forum / phpBB Host

G

gvdv

Member
Hi,
I am looking to set up a forum using the same (phpBB) interface as that used for Homerecording.com, but on a much more modest scale, and would like some recommendations about trustworthy, reliable hosts.

The free host that I used for a couple of years (forumatic.com) stopped hosting in late 2016, and they recommend a company called Bluehost, which looks alright, but I am still interested in hearing about other companies/hosts for phpBB.

It would be great to find a free host again, but I am not impressed with the ones I have seen so far.

Homerecording.com uses vBulletin, but the cheapest plan that I can see there is US $19 / month, which is a little expensive for me, given my modest aims. I would be happy to pay half of that price, and even happier to pay less than that.

I do not necessarily need anything that automates the process of creating a forum and sub-forums, as the two weeks of mental mayhem that I experienced when I learned phpBB several years ago has equipped me quite well to construct and administer a phpBB site.

Looking forward to any replies.

Thanks,

gvdv
 
I've run phpbb and vbulletin off Dreamhost's service in the past, and their hosting is relatively cheap.

Keep up on the security patches for the software, these bulletin boards as swiss cheese and constantly being patched.
 
Hi ez_willis and Pinky,
Many thanks for your replies.

Having just finished a 'live chat' with someone from Bluehost which confirmed some of the negative things I had read about Bluehost, your recommendations are most welcome.

I have a follow-up question for each of you.

I am not a developer, and have no knowledge of SQL, and will not be writing scripts for my modest needs for my forum. I got along very well once I had become familiar with the ACP and other aspects of phpBB when I set up several boards/forums on Forumatic.

Given the above, I am looking for a host which will have some kind of decent support or knowledge base should I have problems, although I only ever had to ask the people at Forumatic a few simple questions.

Do the hosts that you mention have decent support? I am also on phpBB.com, so can get support there, too, I hope.

Thanks once again.
 
I've been using TSOHost for a year or two now.
I only host a few basic websites and a small SQL db for game server stuff, but any time I needed support they were exceptional!
I should add that I've only ever needed support for something I didn't know, or broke - The service has been perfect.

I don't know anything about BBs but phpBB and myBB are in the install-applications list.
I chose TSO because they were the only hosting company that actually put a flat price on their services.
Everyone was else had some stupid 'looks good but isn't' deal aimed at suckers on their homepage.
 
gvdv said:
Hi ez_willis and Pinky,
Many thanks for your replies.

Having just finished a 'live chat' with someone from Bluehost which confirmed some of the negative things I had read about Bluehost, your recommendations are most welcome.

I have a follow-up question for each of you.

I am not a developer, and have no knowledge of SQL, and will not be writing scripts for my modest needs for my forum. I got along very well once I had become familiar with the ACP and other aspects of phpBB when I set up several boards/forums on Forumatic.

Given the above, I am looking for a host which will have some kind of decent support or knowledge base should I have problems, although I only ever had to ask the people at Forumatic a few simple questions.

Do the hosts that you mention have decent support? I am also on phpBB.com, so can get support there, too, I hope.

Thanks once again.
Click to expand...

More than likely you'll be using mysql, which is the poor man's web deployed variety used by many of these bulletin boards. Dreamhost has a dropin for mysql, you basically tell it to create a database with this username/password then follow the setup instructions for the bulletin board software. Most of the 'support' you'll need won't be from the host, but I do find Dreamhost's support (mostly done by email) to be relatively decent (I've had to email them a few times in the past year). You'll be looking mostly at tutorials and forums for the bulletin boards to answer most questions you'll have. The host just needs to be reasonably priced (I'm paying $10 /month) and stable (uptime is like 99.95%).
 
gvdv said:
Hi ez_willis and Pinky,
Many thanks for your replies.

Having just finished a 'live chat' with someone from Bluehost which confirmed some of the negative things I had read about Bluehost, your recommendations are most welcome.

I have a follow-up question for each of you.

I am not a developer, and have no knowledge of SQL, and will not be writing scripts for my modest needs for my forum. I got along very well once I had become familiar with the ACP and other aspects of phpBB when I set up several boards/forums on Forumatic.

Given the above, I am looking for a host which will have some kind of decent support or knowledge base should I have problems, although I only ever had to ask the people at Forumatic a few simple questions.

Do the hosts that you mention have decent support? I am also on phpBB.com, so can get support there, too, I hope.

Thanks once again.
Click to expand...

I had zero web development knowledge and started a site 11 years ago that's still up and running. Host Gator won't set the site up or maintain it but if something on their end with the server goes down they were quick to fix it. vBulletin makes it pretty easy.
 
ez_willis said:
I had zero web development knowledge and started a site 11 years ago that's still up and running. Host Gator won't set the site up or maintain it but if something on their end with the server goes down they were quick to fix it. vBulletin makes it pretty easy.
Click to expand...

LOL - how's it going over there these days ez?:rolleyes:
 
I use Bluehost for a couple of basic websites (not a BBS site)...and overall they've been quite good...no downtime that I can recall, and I've been using them for a few years (just renewed a couple of subs the other day).

They're 3-year into pricing is real low...like $3-5 per month...then after three years it goes up to like $7-8...but they are a full-tilt hosting provider, and they actually answer the phone, and you get to speak to a real person. :)
 
Hi thewonders, Steenamaroo, Pinky, Armistice, ez_willis, and miroslav,

Many thanks for your replies.

I will do some more research, and eventually post here what I have decided to do.
 
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