Would anyone buy a USD2 per year hosting?

August 3, 2005

I’m going directly to the point.

* 40MB space
* 400MB bandwidth/month
* 1 MySQL database
* 5 E-mail accounts
* PHP 4.3.11, Frontpage Extensions, CGI Bin (Perl 5.6.1), Custom Error Pages, Server Side Includes (SSI/.shtml) supported
* cPanel/Fantastico
* Ability to host your domain with us at no additional charge/use a subdomain under our main domain.

All these for only US$2 per year = US$0.17 per month , that’s RM7.60 per year! (the price of two chicken rice).

If you’re interested, read on.

Me and boringest are planning to buy a resellers hosting package, break down the space + bandwidth to smaller parts and then sell it cheaply. If you don’t quite understand, it’s like buying 100 packs of chicken rice from the factory and then selling them to normal consumers pack by pack at a cheaper-than-normal price. In this way, it’s a win-win situation for us and also the consumers.

Enough of the chicken rice story. The above specification (40mb space and 400mb bandwidth) is only 1 basic module(or 1unit). We want to allow more flexibility, why pay for 2GB space and bandwidth if you’re only using less than half of it, right? That’ll be a waste of money. So with this package, you pay only for what you really need. You can also add more modules in case you need more space + bandwidth.

So, what we mean by modular is that if you want 200MB space + 2GB bandwidth, just get 5 of the basic module and you only pay US$10 per year, that’s only RM38 per year! (still a lot cheaper than any other host out there).

The more space/bandwidth you want, just add on more modules.

We are currently looking to sell a minimum of 80 modules (~20 people) before making a full commitment, so email me at 1 if you are interested.

FAQ:
1. How fast is the connection to your server and where is it located?
Our servers are located at DimeNOC, Orlando, Florida in the US. The connection to the servers are from TimeWarner Gig-E (~1000Mbps) and UUNET OC-12 (~621Mbps) and by the end of this year, another from Level 3 Gig-E (~1000Mbps).

2. How do we know we can trust you and boringest?
Well, once we get people who has agreed to buy 80 of the modules, we will show you the invoice of the bill that we have paid for the hosting for the whole year and you can contact the company in question to verify it. So, you are guaranteed at least 1 full year of service.
Also, to my friends, if you’re reading this, you know you can trust pandaboy.

3. Will you and boringest help us install wordpress/nucleus/b2evolution/mambo?
Yes, we can help you if you want, otherwise we’ll just let you have the fun of tweaking it yourself.
pandaboy: I can help you create forum as well. ^_^

4. I am the boss of a hosting company. Why are you spoiling the market?
We expect to get spam mail for this, but other service providers shouldn’t be angry ‘cos there are only limited accounts available! So, don’t worry, the market won’t be ’spoiled’ =)
pandaboy: Also, unlike other webhosting, we’re not aiming to make big money. We, ourselves are web publishers as well so we know what other web publishers really want.

5. Can I host porn/promote terrorism/store illegal files/send spam from your server?
No, we do not support piracy/spammers. We’re allowed to store porn actually but we rather not.

6. Can I put up ads on my account?
Yes, do anything you want as long as it’s not illegal or clashes with FAQ5.

7. What’s the catch?
You pay US$2/year for 1 module, we happy. We however need to IMterview you 1st before you’ll be accepted. (if you know us personally then there’s no need for the interview, we just want to prevent hackers/spammers from signing up). We accept payment by PayPal only at the moment.

8. Is this a joke?
No, me and boringest are serious. We will only start if we have firm commitments for 80 modules.

Thank you for your time and if you’re interested, mail me.. 2 or leave your comments here. Feel free to the spread words around.

UPDATE: If you were to pay by Credit Card instead of Paypal, the price would be US$2.40 per module due to bank transaction costs.

Posted in Technology, Internet |

21 Comments »

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  1. honestly, don’t spoil people’s rice bowl ler if you’re not serious. i used to offer really cheap web design but then i realsied that if im not going to make it my full time job im not gonna spoil real full time freelancer’s rice bowl

    Comment by Bootstrapper — August 3, 2005 @ 5:20 pm

  2. this is a great idea….I used to register hosting and looking at 100mb…gosh…my hard disk have 80GB….and now I only get 100mb….where got enough…but trust me….most things on website are optimize….40mb is actually more than enough for blogging and 400mb is sufficient for it too…until you get tones of traffic

    Comment by 8dee — August 3, 2005 @ 5:29 pm

  3. bootstrapper, I’m sorry but what makes you think this is not serious? This is serious, not a joke or anything. We’re going to invest a lot of money in this to help people get their own hosting plan at competitive prices. We know how expensive normal hosting plans are, we know how unreliable free hosting plans are (like the one I’m using now, I’m really disappointed of the downtime of Blogsome).

    Besides, we’re not spoiling anyone’s rice bowl. We will buy the reseller’s plan from webhosting company, in the end, we’re still paying the web host. If we managed to receive the threshold amount of 20 people who are interested, we can assure a 1 year commitment (as the reseller plan is pay by yearly basis). So if anyone is not satisfied, they can change their host after one year (although we definitely will try our best to keep our customers for many years to come).

    I hope you understand, bootstrapper. If you have any further queries, don’t hesitate to ask. Thanks!

    Comment by pandaboy — August 3, 2005 @ 6:10 pm

  4. 8dee, that’s what I realised too. I’ve managed two websites under paid hosting before and realised how much extra space + bandwidth wasted. I wasn’t paying what I really need, and normally web host offer more than enough space + bandwidth for a normal website.

    As for blogs, the content mainly consist of text and images. That would not consume a lot of bandwidth and space. Isn’t that unfair for them to pay the same price as high traffic websites?

    What we’re offering now is flexibility. You can start with one module, then if you have more and more traffic consuming the bandwidth, you can purchase more modules to suit your need.

    If you’re interested, 8dee… feel free to contact me. :) Thanks~

    Comment by pandaboy — August 3, 2005 @ 6:17 pm

  5. This is a brilliant idea. But it will be better if you can let ppl know where you get the hosting plan from (or at least show something that can prove how reliable the company is). And is there any money back guarantee(eventhough it is just a small amount of money)? And, are u waiting for 20 ppl to join, or waiting for 80 modules? 20 ppl can be only 50 modules maybe? :)

    Comment by Joshua — August 4, 2005 @ 12:23 pm

  6. Hi Joshua,

    ReCom.org (www.recom.org) is currently hosted under that host. I’m part of their team (forum moderator, under the same nickname) so I know about the reliability of the host.

    About the money back guarantee, I shall discuss this with boringest and see what he has in mind. I’ll keep you updated about this soon. We are currently waiting for 80 modules which is roughly around 20 people (some people need more, some need less, so it’s just an estimation by us).

    Thanks for your interest. :) By the way, did anyone email me at pandaboya[AT]gmail[DOT]com? Seemed like someone emailed me at that address but I did not receive it. From now on, I think it’s better to leave comments here instead, ok? Cheers.

    Comment by pandaboy — August 4, 2005 @ 3:22 pm

  7. I am kinda interested. See you on messenger ;)

    Comment by Life Feel — August 13, 2005 @ 4:53 pm

  8. Han Ching, email me if you dont see me online on messenger….cos nowadays I seldom online there… ok!

    Comment by pandaboy — August 14, 2005 @ 11:30 am

  9. Personally, I don’t find these packages to be an act of spoiling other’s rice bowl. This is a competitive market, if you could afford to grab a seat, then just continue to provide the service, or else sorry. Everyone has his/her own definition of “satisfaction”; some people wish to earn 3-5 folds, while some people may satisfy at little marginal profit in return of large quantity.

    Comment by Tien Soon — August 19, 2005 @ 4:27 pm

  10. “… spoiling other’s rice bowl…” ?

    What a bizarre idea. If Jaring/Streamyx started underselling the competition at a ridiculous price, they’ll do it to claim market share and they can sustain the losses because they’re so rich. In the US, that’s what monopoly/anti-trust laws are there to prevent.

    But if you’re a small entrepreneur, and you can give better service at a lower price, kudos to you. It’s called a free market. If they take business away from other providers, then it’s up to the other fellows to match what they have to offer in value.

    Although this looks attractive to me at first glance, I’m not going for it. I’m not signing up for this since “… you are guaranteed at least 1 full year of service” only. I want more than a year. I don’t want to keep jumping from one provider to another. (Also, even though the US provider seems reliable, they are new to the market, and may be a weak link). Despite this, I wish them the best of luck. Business is hard and rewards the brave and hardworking.

    Spoiling other people’s rice bowl? I say they’re making their own.

    Comment by dzof — August 19, 2005 @ 7:43 pm

  11. How things progress? I really want to get it for the site =)

    Comment by Life Feel — August 20, 2005 @ 7:37 pm

  12. Thanks, Tien Soon and dzof for your comments.

    dzof, you’ll be guaranteed 1 year of service because we’ll be buying the hosting plan on a yearly basis. Of course, we wouldn’t want to do this just for one year..we’ll definitely go for many years to come, unless we really make a big loss *touch wood*. So 1 year is just a minimum year (not 1 month as many would thought) of guaranteed service….it does not mean our commitment is just 1 year.

    Han Ching @ life Feel, we’re going to launch soon! I will keep you guys updated!~

    Thanks all.

    Comment by pandaboy — August 20, 2005 @ 7:50 pm

  13. can i buy 2xUSD2 web hosting ?

    Comment by jimmy — August 20, 2005 @ 10:11 pm

  14. Yes, of course you can. I’ll email you, jimmy. Thanks for your interest. :D

    Comment by pandaboy — August 20, 2005 @ 10:16 pm

  15. May i know where did u buy this reseller plan from? :) My friends and I maybe interested to get a basic hosting plan :) please do let us know by this month . Thanks

    Comment by chowsc — August 21, 2005 @ 2:04 pm

  16. halo ? did you receive my first mes? :) My friends and I am interested to get maybe one or two modules :) but please let us know where did u buy the reseller plan from :) Thanks

    Comment by chowsc — August 21, 2005 @ 2:07 pm

  17. Hi chowsc, I’ve contacted you by email. :) Cheers!

    To all, we’ll reveal the web hosting company only to serious buyers only~ Feel free to email me, ok?

    Comment by pandaboy — August 21, 2005 @ 2:11 pm

  18. I dont think i stand to lose a lot by trying this hosting out. Please put me in your list pandaboy. And thanks for the opportunity.

    Comment by Ms Wan — August 27, 2005 @ 1:10 am

  19. Thanks for your interest, Ms Wan. I’ve replied your email. :) Cheers!

    Comment by pandaboy — August 28, 2005 @ 12:53 am

  20. Hi pandaboy,

    I emailed you a request for the service, would like to hear from you, soon :)

    Comment by Silencers — September 26, 2005 @ 11:04 pm

  21. Cheers Silencers….I’ve replied to your email. Thanks.

    Comment by pandaboy — September 27, 2005 @ 12:19 am

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