I've been doing some research into VPS pricing, and would like to know if anyone has any experience with WestHost? Actual Uptime? Hidden fees? What exactly does 'root-like' access mean? I'm inherently leary when there's one company aparently selling a service for substantially less than their competitors (Liquid Web, Myriad, etc), but the difference is enough to make my first business plan milestone feasible several months ahead... Thanks, -TF

I don't have any experience with WestHost, so I can't help you with that. However, when something sounds too good to be true, there's usually a catch. Low prices could mean limited customization or overselling.

As they state on their own website: "..WestHost VPS can not be considered the same as a root access VPS..". From glancing over their plans, which don't include basic VPS specs like minimum dedicated RAM and max. burst, choice of linux distro, etc., it looks more like their VPS plans are just meant for web/database hosting, while giving you a bit more access than normal shared webhosting plans. If that's what you're looking for, it sounds like they're worth a shot.

If you're looking for actual VPS hosting, you should check out Slicehost or Linode, which both are very reasonably priced, have active communities, and good reviews.

Thanks for the suggestions folks..

I'd been focusing strongly on GB/m, but that might not be the best parameter for choosing a VPS anyways... And I was looking at VPS plans rather than hosting plans mostly because of the higher allowed bandwidth than because I wanted to use any particular linux featues.

That's the annoying thing about diving into a brand new field... you don't always know what questions to ask!
-TF

I use rootBSD for VPS and love it immensely.

http://www.rootbsd.net

-me