I was going to post this in the other post about hosting, but I decided not to detract attention from his question to answer mine.

I'm looking to get a host other than my college account (which only allows 10MB and I need more). I looked at pair.com, but I don't understand what the hell "virtual domain" means. It costs $15 startup and $1 a month. If I have my own domain name registered, do I need whatever this is? They have a page describing it but it was pretty vague and confusing. Can I just sign up for the FTP account and pay $4.95 a month with a $5 startup instead of the $5.95 a month with the $20 startup?

Thanks for your help.

Virtual Host simply means that they will run a DNS for you and you run your site in your own $home directory on a shared server. You do need your own domain name. All you do is sign up and then change your DNS information to point to TWO nameservers at your new hosting service.

PAIR.COM is really good for sites that have significant traffic. If you simply want low-cost, excellent speed, fantastic uptime and no hassles, then check out www.coastlandtech.com $35 for the year. THAT'S IT. No other fees period. 50MB directory with 1GB per month transfer. It's not a hard-capped limit. You can pay $70 for the year to get 2GB, etc. If you go over once in a while, it's $7 for each GB over 1 (DrD won't bother you if you only slightly creep over and especially if it's not on an ongoing basis - if you do 5GB on a regular basis, then it would be an issue :) Full support for secure shell (SSH) for lower-level maintenance (completely optional of course, you don't need to use it). CGI support: PHP, PERL, etc. You can install your own code, including forums, search databases, etc. You get 1 POP mailbox which is also accessible via a web interface if you need that route sometimes. Unlimited email forwarding - all non-specified addresses act as a catch-all and get delivered to your main POP box. SMTP so you can send mail out from the server (just configure your software for POP and SMTP with an address like MAIL.YOURDOMAIN.COM)

Ok, enough advertising. I don't know why some people stick with other poor hosts or complain about not having any web space when there are places like Coastland around. Sure, it might take some research to find, but they're out there. Oh, and I did the research. I didn't find anyone with both price and service to match Coastland.

Bruno