Reseller account wanted, UK Based company if poss

MadSi · 18th March 2005

Hi,

I've had a bad week so far with two companies offering reseller packages (US and India), to the point that I cancelled one 12 hours into the deal and the other only lasted 5 days

Problems were poor support both technical and sales.

OK i've decided I should stick with a UK company if possible so please chip in with suggestions, deals and prices etc. My requirements are as follows:

1/ Windows server
2/ MSSQL DB (need to be able to create my own db's for customers - 1 or 2 db's is of no use to me). Also I would like to be able to connect remotely from my pc using SQL Server enterprise manager to maintain the db's
3/ Good quality sales and technical support (24/7, phone if poss + email/live chat?) i.e. where you actually read what problems/questions I have and reply to them accordingly & not miss things out!
4/ As much bandwidth as feasibly possible, I don't want unlimited as I don't believe it in, just a decent amount, min of 30 gig/month.
5/ I would like the ability to purchase domain names from you on behalf of my customers - good rates a must

6/ Decent amount of webspace, one of my customers alone has a site which is around 350 meg of data
7/ MySQL db option, also php would be nice, maybe a split windows/,linux package to do this???
8/ Control panel to admin my customers & create new accounts etc
9/ Some assistance in providing a billing system would be great but not essential
10/ Must support ASP.Net

Theres lots more but please come forward with your suggestions and help. This is the 1st time i'm going into reselling & have been badly bitten twice this week already. I am basically going to be providing managed services to my customers & providing bespoke asp.net development work i.e. ecommerce etc.

Price wise, i'm setting a max of £45 per month, in time & depending on how it goes, i'll be looking at a dedicated server so if you can provide that as well, is the transition easy?

My current host is with oneandone.co.uk & this is where three of my domains are currently hosted (two co.uk & one .com). Can you assist in transferring the domains over to the reseller account? The other hosts could not help here at all & still havent got a clue why!

Many thanks

Si

Also good pricing structure on extras i.e. bandwidth, other add on's etc

SynergyWorks · 19th March 2005

Dear Sir,

Our reseller accounts are available at: http://www.synergyworks.co.uk/reseller.shtml
All are based on the HELM control panel & it has a billing system for you and your
customers built in.

We provide full technical support via Kayako E-Support (email support@synergyworks.co.uk) and you can also contact us via MSN Messenger if you have a reseller account, because we feel you should have that extra contact with your host if your reselling to others.

We support MS-SQL & MySQL databases on the WebServer, and you can create both types of Database via the Control Panel.

The Control Panel allows you full access to all the user accounts stored below yourself, and you can provision any extra-features via the control panel.

All Servers are Windows 2000 at present, however in about 6-8 weeks we'll have some new Windows 2003 servers. Currently the servers connect into London Global Switch 1 using BT MPLS fibre, however we'll have new servers located in RedBus III (Sovereign House).

If you require a demo of our services, or a test file to check bandwidth, give me a shout.

markcastle · 19th March 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadSi

The other hosts could not help here at all & still havent got a clue why!

Probably because it takes a lot of time and effort and stress to get domains out of 1und1.

Anyhow.. perhaps try Vibus - although i don't think you'll find many reseller accounts where the host is prepared to expend a lot of effort to help you move domains.

MadSi · 19th March 2005

Hi

Thanks for the links, vibus seem good but don't mention how much their extras are on the site i.e. mssql & Synergy also seem ok although no mssql mentioned (only mysql) & only 30 gig/month, again could not see how much extras are.

I'll see who else pops up in this post and then put an email together for some more info for each of them

As for the 1 & 1 thing, I don't expect the hosts to do all the work for me but I do expect them to advise me the best and most efficient way to transfer my domains over. Do you have any suggestions on pulling out of 1&1 & why it's so painful? Heard many comments like this but never an explanation as to why? Is there an intermidiary i.e. 123reg.c.uk I would be better off transferring them over to then just pointing the dns over?

Cheers

Si

JSComputing · 19th March 2005

I use a very good reseller account - it has everything you have asked for and you can find it at http://www.catalyst2.com

Regards,

Jacob

MadSi · 19th March 2005

Thanks Jacob,

I'm taking a look now

Si

Cyberprog · 19th March 2005

I've sent you a PM

hosting365 · 19th March 2005

http://hosting365.ie/resellers_plans.php

Running Hsphere, so you get Linux, Windows 2003, MS SQL, MySQL and PGSQL with all the usual bells and whistles.

Prices from € 39.95 per month / approx. UK£ 27 per month

nitrohosting · 19th March 2005

I'll second the Catalyst2 option. We have done business with the guys there for over a year and can say from experience that their network and hardware setup won't be outclassed by too many ;-)

Regards,
Kris

MadSi · 20th March 2005

Some more questions/observations if I may? Listed as potentials & rejected along with the reasons why so far. I believe in giving fair feedback hence the post on my thoughts so far.

Potentials
---------
Catalyst2 - What control panel software is used, can I have multiple asp.net application directories, what asp.net components are installed apart from CDONTS, ASPupload & FileUP?

Synergy works - seem the best so far but need more info on their extras pricing, particularly mssql. Their support also seems more comprehensive & seem to be able to tailor create a plan which may be ideal for me. I also love the helm control panel based on the demo, played with hsphere & hated it, plesk was ok but lacking some of the features that helm has.

Rejected
--------
Vibus - 5 gig of bandwidth per month & for a reseller!!!

Hosting 365 - expensive for the amount of bandwidth provided & had setup problems using hsphere in the past, otherwise looked promising.

I'm surprised not many others have chipped in so far, maybe cause it's a weekend?? I'm also not sure on the domain transfer process from oneandone, I think i'll pop a post in one of the other forums for this one

Cheers

Si

jonny_b · 20th March 2005

Simon,

just out of interest, how much transfer are you looking for? you mentioned 30 GB was pretty low earlier...

Cheers,

MadSi · 20th March 2005

Hi,

I'm after 30 gig as a min but with reasonable charges for going above this. I've got one customer who, depending on how his ecommerce site goes, may use 10-15 gig on his own per month, another wants 5 gig etc etc

I've not come across a host selling 5 gig reseller packages before hence my surprise when I saw yours.

Regards

Si

TDMWeb · 20th March 2005

Just a note of caution: if you find MS SQL "bundled in" for no extra cost it is likely to be MSDE not full SQL Server (just check out the licence fees for MS SQL Server if you're unsure why!). You are expecting a lot for your ££ and I'd suggesting looking very carefully to ensure you will get the specs and service you are looking for.

(We don't do reseller a/cs BTW so no axe to grind here.)

MadSi · 20th March 2005

Thanks Chris,

Yup I know all about the licensing costs (unfortunately). The main prob is I cannot tell if someone is offering MsSQL server or MSDE which of course is free but has limited connection pools.

Whether I would notice the difference in performance on my sites is questionable though, I will admit that

Regards

Si

hosting365 · 20th March 2005

Well, if you tried to push 20GB in a month with a MS SQL site on MSDE you would know the difference