[thelist] vip-hosting.com? and hosting recommendations

[Paul Cowan]

Hey all,

I know, I know, it's that time again: no-one's asked a question
about web hosting providers in about a week, so now it's my
turn, just to dive back into that whole pit of despair.

Specifically, a two-parter:

1) Has anyone had any experience with vip-hosting.com? Good, bad,
   indifferent, otherwise? Their prices and features certainly look
   good.

2) If not, does anyone have any recommendations to make as far as
   hosting providers? Either personal experience, or, if you're
   convincing, your own company, 'cause I'm sure there are some
   hosting company reps on thelist.
   Provider MUST meet the following criteria:
        - ASP on Windows 2000
        - multiple, separate domains -- *at least 10-15*
        - separate FTP accounts for each domain
        - MS SQL 2000 <--- very important
        - at least 5 separate SQL2000 databases in the package
          without additional charge
        - at least 300MB web space
        - at least 5GB transfer
        - good-to-excellent uptime (no server too busy errors please)
        - reasonable policy with installing suitable COM components
        - good support (I'm more than capable of setting things up
          on my own, but it's nice to not be fobbed off when things
          go wrong, as with a certain current hosting provider I could
          name)
        - raw log file access by FTP
        - unlimited (or at least generous) POP3 accounts
        - catchall email accounts
        - mailing list support nice, but not essential
        - SSL would be nice, not under my own domain, just
          https://secure.somehostingprovider.com/mysite/ would be
          fine
        - priced <$US50/month, with no unreasonable setup charges for
          'extras' like SQL database

    I know there are providers around that do all this for <$50, some
    much less, but that's why I'd like recommendations: because at
    the bottom end of the hosting market, it's easy to get bitten...


If you want to contact me directly,  offlist, I'm more than
happy with that; I will, of course, summarise any such findings
to thelist.

Thanks in advance for you help, listoids. The great thing about thelist:
I know that any advice I get will be high quality.

Cheers,

Paul