[Solved] Quality phpBB Hosts?

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Felasco
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[Solved] Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by Felasco »

Greetings,

I'm shopping for a serious quality company which specializes in hosting phpBB forums. Your advice is most appreciated.

Priorities for me are:

1) Reputation, professionalism, stability, been hosting phpBB for years etc.

2) Specializes in hosting phpBB (not hosting everything and anything including phpBB)

I want to focus on managing people and content, and need to hire real phpBB experts to take full responsibility for server uptime, software updates, security etc, all things technical.

I'm unlikely to need much, if anything, in the way of customizations and modifications etc. The forum will most likely be quite small and slow for years, probably forever.

Thanks for suggesting the most professional hosts who specialize in phpBB hosting.
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HiFiKabin
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Re: Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by HiFiKabin »

We can not recommend a specific host, but several members have hosts linked in their sigswhich may be worth considering.

A lot of it also depends on your location. There is little point using an Icelandic Host if you are based in Fiji.
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Mick
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Re: Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by Mick »

  • "The more connected we get the more alone we become" - Kyle Broflovski©
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Felasco
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Re: Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by Felasco »

Hmm...

Thanks for replies, but um, who could possibly be more qualified to discuss the quality of dedicated phpBB hosts than this forum?? Surely there must be at least some level of group consensus that some of these hosts merit consideration, while others should be avoided.

If you just don't want to go there, can you perhaps share a list of hosts who specialize in phpBB hosting? That would narrow my search considerably, as compared for example to what's going to happen if I ask this question on WebHostingTalk. I'm really trying to avoid the hosts who are trying to do a million different things.

I know of only one such dedicated phpBB host myself, prophpbb.com. They were responsive to my inquiry, but I really know nothing about their reputation otherwise. And free hosts always have a question mark around them in my mind.

I can turn to google if you insist, but it seems a shame that I won't have access to your many years of real world experience. But ok, you owe me nothing, I agree with that.
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Re: Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by JimA »

You can have a look at our dedicated Hosting page where some hosts are selected that we know to have been very reputable long-term.

The point is mainly that we're not experts on hosting providers and the specific needs that your website with its specifications need. We are experts on the inner workings of the phpBB software. There are people that know much more about servers and how much load they can take (etc.) than most of us do.

What I can say that seeing as you're not planning to have a very high-traffic board, most reasonable hosts won't pose any problems. You talk about free hosts, that's something I wouldn't recommend as they quite often restrict you in the things you can do. You can review our Requirements section for bare necessities.
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Re: Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by Felasco »

Thanks for your feedback Jim.

Ok, my bad I guess. I assumed that the subject of dedicated phpBB hosts would have been one of the topics that would have been discussed and debated for years on this forum. If that's not the case, ok, I'm barking up the wrong tree, sorry about that.

I'll head back to Google and broaden my search.

Thanks for your reply.
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Re: [Solved] Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by Felasco »

How about this reframing of the question?

How easy is it to backup all the data of a phpBB forum and move it to another server? Could you perhaps generally describe the process involved?

If it's easy to move, maybe I don't need to worry about the host decision so much.
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Re: [Solved] Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by JimA »

Oh sure, that's quite easy to do. We have an article describing those steps in quite some detail. :)

Transferring Your Board to a New Host or Domain
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Re: [Solved] Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by Mick »

  • "The more connected we get the more alone we become" - Kyle Broflovski©
  • "The good news is hell is just the product of a morbid human imagination.
    The bad news is, whatever humans can imagine, they can usually create.
    " - Harmony Cobel
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Re: [Solved] Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by Felasco »

For what it may be worth, I'm looking for something like this:

https://www.vbulletin.com/en/vbulletin-cloud/

If I understand correctly (I may not), they wrote the software, which they host, and they take care of everything technical. There's no third party to pass any bucks to, or so it seems.

Should anyone wish to comment on this concept, or this particular offer, please do. I've heard of vbulletin for years, but really know nothing much about it. I'm asking here because presumably members are not vbulletin loyalists, and thus may have an informed objective perspective.

Many thanks.
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Mick
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Re: [Solved] Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by Mick »

This is phpBB discussion not vB discussion. If you want to use vB go ahead but it isn’t free. I’m still not clear what you want from this topic.
  • "The more connected we get the more alone we become" - Kyle Broflovski©
  • "The good news is hell is just the product of a morbid human imagination.
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Felasco
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Re: [Solved] Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by Felasco »

Well, first, I've been advised by members here not to use free stuff.

Second, I was hoping to at least find a list of hosts who specialize in hosting phpBB. As I explained, I don't want a general host who does everything and anything, but a host whose business is forum hosting specifically.

I haven't been able to find that in the phpBB realm yet, so I'm expanding my search to include a wider range of options.

I assumed that members who've been here for years might have informed opinions regarding phpBB vs. VB. If that's not the case, ok, no problem.
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Re: [Solved] Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by david63 »

Felasco wrote: Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:02 pm first, I've been advised by members here not to use free stuff.
Where? On the basis the phpBB is free that statement is ludicrous.
Felasco wrote: Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:02 pm Second, I was hoping to at least find a list of hosts who specialize in hosting phpBB. As I explained, I don't want a general host who does everything and anything, but a host whose business is forum hosting specifically.
What difference do you think it will make? Any host who only supports one application/type of application will be out of business in next to no time - have you heard the phrase "Don't put all your eggs in one basket"?

In general hosts are not bothered what you run on their servers - all they are doing is providing a platform for you to use. Don't go around thinking that your host will set your software up for you and configure it - they might but I bet you could not afford for them to do it (try asking them how much they would charge!)

Any server that meets the requirements for running phpBB will be fine - and what happens if you should find your "dedicated phpBB host" and then you decide that you want to run some other application on your site?
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Re: [Solved] Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by bonelifer »

david63 wrote: Wed Sep 27, 2017 7:15 am
Felasco wrote: Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:02 pm first, I've been advised by members here not to use free stuff.
Where? On the basis the phpBB is free that statement is ludicrous.
david63, by free stuff I assume they mean FREE HOSTING. Which indeed is the prevailing wisdom around here. As they usually limit DB usage so much as to make it impossible to run a forum of any kind or size, without hitting their imposed limits fairly quickly. If they are a free phpBB host, then you also end up with limited ability to customize. So better off to avoid free hosters even if just starting off.
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Felasco
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Re: [Solved] Quality phpBB Hosts?

Post by Felasco »

david63 wrote: Wed Sep 27, 2017 7:15 amAny host who only supports one application/type of application will be out of business in next to no time - have you heard the phrase "Don't put all your eggs in one basket"?
Vbulletin hosts only their own software, and they appear to be a leading player in the forum realm, and have been for years. They seem to provide pretty much exactly the kind of service I've described in this thread. And, I've already told you about one dedicated phpBB host, who provides both free and paid options, and appears to have been doing so for years.
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