Hosting costs for sites with lots of images etc

[m1ntie]

I am considering a project that would involve a website with about 3000 still images, 2000 short audio clips (30 seconds) and 1000 short video clips (also about 30 seconds).

I am estimating that these figures would be reached gradually over a period of 12 months so in the early months there would only be 1 or 2 hundred of clips.

Would anybody be able to make a guess at monthly hosting costs, I have heard that costs are much less in India - but would the hosts be reliable, does anyone have any experience of hosting in India.

Any advice or comments welcome.

Regards m1ntie

[TWD-Tony]

The first thing you need to consider is where your target visitors will be visiting from - if the majority of your users will be UK based then you will need a UK server, this is simply because if you are planning on streaming media then using an Indian server will create problems with latency. The same goes for USA based servers (European based servers will be better but you ideally want the server as close to your users as possible).
The next thing to consider is how many visitors will be online (and downloading) at the same time? It's fine to have xxxx amount of bandwidth but if you choose a cheap server with a slow port speed / connection then this will soon choke with just a few users online at the same time.
Next thought is support - I don't wish to sound racist (because I am not) but it can sometimes be difficult to talk to someone in India when they have just a "basic" knowledge of English - whether it be via phone or email.

I have never owned or used an Indian server so I cannot trash talk their hardware or connectivity but it's a simple fact that to get good download speeds & a good streaming media server you need to get a good connection and a local one at that.

[timd1230]

Not indian but I have a hosting account with powweb in the states - used to be great - about £80 a year for huge storage and big bandwidth - Used to be very fast (Surprising for a photo site until they moved data centers from west coast to east coast .

Still very good value but now I have set up my main customer pages on fasthosts and link back to the US for customer galleries and bulk files - not my main selling propersition which needs to stay fast.

May be worth a look if you want good space and bandwidth cheaply.

tim

[jjmills]

Hi, check out Heart Internet....http://heartinternet.co.uk
Or Photuim for the images...see my web www.invernessphotographic.co.uk or my wifes www.namesakes.me.uk
John

[timd1230]

Thanks John - I will have a look when I am checking my imaging options for my next renewal also

thanks
Tim

[m1ntie]

Thanks for the replies - very useful


Regards mintie

[www.infoebookstore.co.uk]

not sure about costs, but I use 1and1, they have all sorts of packages.

It is currently hosting http://www.infoebookstore.co.uk

James

[studiobasement]

Hi m1ntie,

We offer hosting at a great price with a personal touch, drop me an email

mark@studiobasement.com

Regards

Mark

[CanzDesign]

Hi.

I used to own a stock photography website, with 20,000 images, our host has some great prices, and massive amounts of space, 30gigs is their largest package for $89 a month USD. heres there various packages
Monthly Price $19.95 $24.95 $34.95 $49.95 $69.95 $89.95
Web Space (MB) 4GB 5GB 10GB 15GB 20GB 30GB
Traffic (Bandwidth) 100GB 150GB 200GB 300GB 400GB 500GB
So you could concievable start out with 4 gigs and work your way up as you stock grows.

Since we have closed the stock photography website we don't need the space, but our 10 gig site has done us well, but the best of all is their service, they can't be beaten, they really do have a 24 hour backup service, we've been with them for a couple of years now, and have never had to wait for more than 20 minutes for an email reply, often they reply within 5 minutes, and if it's a big problem, then they will keep you updated.... I can't recommend them enough. Oh, their speeds and all that stuff is very very good too.

Incidently, what sort of website do you intend to host this bank on? Believe me, I know everything there is to know about database driven websites, and stock images, I ran the stock photography website for 4 years, we didn't even know what to call the image gallery when we first started out, and built our one up from scratch. The website is still online, although it's passworded now, I got very sick, and couldn't run it anymore, but feel free to contact me, and I'd be more than happy to give you a look around, or answer any queations about stock photography you might have. lynny@canzdesign.com

Lynn from CanzDesign