Please Recommend Good phpBB Hosting Site

drutgat · Post by **drutgat** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:38 am

Hi,
I am looking to set up a phpBB forum on a reliable and supportive host site (if that combination of things exists).

The host that I used for a couple of years (forumatic.com) offered a scaled-down free plan as one of its services, but stopped hosting in late 2016, and they recommend a company called Bluehost.

I have just finished having a live chat with a Bluehost agent, partly because I saw a thread on another forum here about the poster having had problems with Bluehost. Sure enough, the Bluehost agent told me what they told the original poster - that they help with server related issues, but not with phpBB application issues.

It would be great to find a host that provides a free plan as one of its services (like Forumatic.com did), but I am not impressed with the ones I have seen so far which offer free plans, and do not mind paying for hosting.

vBulletin has various plans, but the cheapest one that I can see there is US $19 / month, which is a little expensive for me, given my modest aims for the forum. 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 for my needs.

However, I should also say that I am not a developer, am not that technically minded, and have no desire or need to get into learning about SQL, writing scripts and the like.

Looking forward to any replies.

Thanks,

drutgat · Post by **drutgat** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:59 am

UPDATE -

Dreamhost and Host Gator have been recommended to me, although I do not know if they provide decent support, if needed.

What are your reactions to, and/or experience with, these sites?

Thanks,

Post by **Kailey** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:07 am

We cannot really recommend a host, but we do recommend that you visit WebHostingTalk.

Lumpy Burgertushie · Post by **Lumpy Burgertushie** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 4:56 am

but we can speak about experiences with different hosts.

even though blue host is an advertiser here, that does not make them a "good host". you can find plenty of people here that have had problems with them just lately.

hostgator is pretty good but has a bad reputation for support since they were bought by a large company a couple of years ago.

having said that, there is no special needs for phpbb, it is just a php script that uses a database and as long as the host provides that phpbb will work just fine.
the problem comes in with support when the user does not have much experience with running a website.

so, I would suggest you check the support out before making a final decision on a host. webhostingtalk.com is a good place to get lots of opinions and reviews of hosts.
a host that offers support for third party software is not likely to happen. even though the host offers installs of popular programs like phpbb does not mean that they support them.
and, as you have seen, phpbb does not fully support the one click installs offered by the hosts either.

you don't really have to know anything about mysql, php, or scripts etc. to install/manage a phpbb site.
as long as you can use the hosting control panel to setup a databse and ftp to upload the files, you are set.

robert

**My CDB Contributions** · Post by **HiFiKabin** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 10:53 am

Whatever host you end up using, YOU MUST NEVER use the one click install that they will offer you. When you have a problem (and you WILL have a problem with any one click install) they will not help you as they will say its a phpBB problem, and we can not help you as we have no idea how they have altered the files to enable a one click install.

Look at signatures and websites of long established members/members of "The Team" as some have links to hosts they use. Get real opinions from real users as any host will say they offer good support, but you only time you will discover how good it is you will be in the middle of a problem.

drutgat · Post by **drutgat** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 7:44 pm

Hi kinerity, Lumpy, and HiFiKabin,

Many thanks for your suggestions, and words of advice.

HiFiKabin, it is very helpful for me to hear that one should not use the one click install option/sites. and also good advice to look at the signatures and websites of long established members – one of the reasons that I posted this message here was that I wanted to tap into the experience and wisdom of people such as yourselves.

Lumpy, yes, I agree with you that one does not need to know anything about SQL, scripts and the like in order to successfully run a phpBB based site. I had that experience once I had become sufficiently acquainted with phpBB; but I have read about people having problems with servers and things like that, supposedly not interacting properly with phpBB. Since I know nothing about servers and the like, I had to take what I was reading about that at face value, so it is good to hear what you have to say about this.

And that is one of the reasons that I was talking to the support people at Bluehost yesterday, and am soliciting opinions about people's experience of support from various hosts, so it sounds like I am on the right track there.

Many thanks again. I will check webhosting.com next.

drutgat

Lumpy Burgertushie · Post by **Lumpy Burgertushie** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:13 pm

http://webhostingtalk.com not webhosting.com

drutgat · Post by **drutgat** » Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:24 pm

Thanks for this Lumpy.

Somehow, I was thinking webhostingtalk.com, even though I did not type it.

Registered there a few minutes ago.

Thanks again.