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[andre]

Old system was, all free members get:

1) 5GB Space
2) 300GB Bandwidth
3) FTP on by default.

New system (as of 18th Feb 09), all free members get:

1) 110MB Space (Upgradable to 15GB Space)
2) 10GB Bandwidth (Upgradable to 1TB Bandwidth)
3) FTP off by default (Upgradable to FTP on.)


Reason for this change was motivated by these factors:

1) Service is getting tini-wini too expensive to run. To point where expenses exceed profit - at least in near future. (Not good in business world). So taking action now to prevent possible future loss.

2) Less abuse (EG: when abuser goes over 10GB bandwidth in few hours, server stops their account. Else it would've keep suffering if they got 300GB Bandwidth as per old system.)

3) Better quality service: The more of #2, the better the service runs in overall for everyone.

4) Face it: Economy is bad. So are businesses loosing money consequentially. So is 110mb.


Guess, it's a logical step in life cycle of business that's growing too fast in comparison to profit needed to support it's growth.

If you'd like to complain, please read line above this one.


(This only applies to box17+ members. Old members are intact.)

[ZygZag]

Does this affect old members? Will we (old members) lose our space, FTP and bandwidth?

[andre]

Does this affect old members? Will we (old members) lose our space, FTP and bandwidth?

Nope. Only applies to Box17+ members.

Old members are intact.

[Ðaz]

Very interesting. I do have just one thing - why the FTP off? I mean, that's pretty darn standard across nearly all free hosts I've seen. I hope it doesn't lose accounts for you.

But yes, at least you're acting to maintain more stability/availability and more boxes with this "move". I doubt 95% of the accounts are using > 5gb bandwidth anyway, but I'm guessing I'm probably wrong  . Best of luck andre, keep this host chuggin along. (Along with you other dudes who chill in the background and don't make any noticeable appearances!)

Also: Liking the new options, like the 50gb storage upgrade. Nice.

Final note: By doing this, you are probably going to get more people buying upgrades. There have been so many people on these forums who haven't gotten their upgrades within even a week, so I hope you can talk with some other guys to check their pending upgrades more often .

[Nomzz]

Very interesting. I do have just one thing - why the FTP off? I mean, that's pretty darn standard across nearly all free hosts I've seen. I hope it doesn't lose accounts for you.

Not only to encourage a new area for revenue but also it's far easier to upload stupid stuff via FTP than a file manager system (movies, etc).

So yeah, I can see why it was done.

And I do agree with you that anyone who pays for something should get it activated within 24 hours. I can understand the slacking on free upgrades for post count based stuff, but if someone is willing to give them money, it should be activated asap. I mean, these are the people you need to please and ensure that they'll pay for more upgrades.

[warwound]

It's a move in the right direction i think.

warwound

[general vegitable]

i suppose that existing members would be able to get some of the extra stuff (if needed)

[warwound]

i suppose that existing members would be able to get some of the extra stuff (if needed)

Log into your 110mb Control Panel and give the Upgrades link box a click to see what existing members can now get.

warwound.

[general vegitable]

the new ones are quite expensive, but in these hard times, i can see andre's thinking, he needs to live, and we need somewhere safe for our sites ...

[Piotr GRD]

This mean that I can not recommend 110mb as the best free host anymore (for new users).

110mb is slowly but definitelly evolving into paid host.




100% understandable from the business point of view.
But 110mb is no longer "unique" (talking about free features) on a webhost market.

[Elight]

This mean that I can not recommend 110mb as the best free host anymore (for new users).

110mb is slowly but definitelly evolving into paid host.




100% understandable from the business point of view.
But 110mb is no longer "unique" (talking about free features) on a webhost market.

Yup, those old features were the reason for me joining (like everyone else here).

Andre and the admins might believe this is a wise move, but now less people will join 110mb, so it won't help them a bit.

If they would have just added Donate, I'm sure us, dedicated members would have donated...

[general vegitable]

If they would have just added Donate, I'm sure us, dedicated members would have donated...

i would donate on a regular basis, just to keep the server running ...

hang on, if 110mb did a paid plan aswell as the free one the company would get more money

[robleyd]

So, all you might have to do is donate the amount for the upgrades you want  

What is the difference?

[Elight]

If they would have just added Donate, I'm sure us, dedicated members would have donated...

i would donate on a regular basis, just to keep the server running ...

hang on, if 110mb did a paid plan aswell as the free one the company would get more money

Exactly.

So, all you might have to do is donate the amount for the upgrades you want  

What is the difference?

The difference is, that they won't attract new members with this offer.

A user who sees 5gb instead of 110mb(!!!!) is much more likely to join, and then pay for the upgrades.

A user who sees this new offer will just keep looking for a better free service.

[general vegitable]

So, all you might have to do is donate the amount for the upgrades you want  

but what if you already have the upgrades? what would you do then?

[uh_Iforgot]

Do whatever you need to do to keep the service running (I'd rather a host with less features than a bankrupt one).
^{But remember to only apply it to new members}

[Elight]

Do whatever you need to do to keep the service running (I'd rather a host with less features than a bankrupt one).
^{But remember to only apply it to new members}

Dude, such drastic changes is insanity, and as bad for business as can be.

Fine, I'd understand lowering it to 1GB space, and 100GB bandwidth, yes times now are hard.

But this...and no FTP. It's commiting suicide, like already pointing the sword into your stomach.

[general vegitable]

this also gives a benefit because there would be less abuse on the server

[Piotr GRD]

Everywhere (on good free hosts) there is FTP access for free. Sometimes limited with the speed of connection and/or FTP bandwidth per day, but that's large enough limits.
Turning FTP completely off is a mistake on todays free hosts market.

10GB bandwidth is enough for any "normal" websites (without large traffic), but when compare to the growing specifications of other services this will cause much lower number of new users.

110MB of disk space is a... step to the "second league" of free hosts.



As I wrote above - I can see that 110mb slowly evolving to the model of paid host. And if we compare the prices and specification of all paid upgrades - this is quite good offer for long term usage.

But. For short time this is high price. So if anyone wanna host for a 6 - 12 months to check if it's good or not - 110mb specification is too much costly just for a test. And only the persons that have enough trust in the host will buy the upgrades as that's a good prices for a 2+ years of hosting.

[uh_Iforgot]

Do whatever you need to do to keep the service running (I'd rather a host with less features than a bankrupt one).
^{But remember to only apply it to new members}

Dude, such drastic changes is insanity, and as bad for business as can be.

Fine, I'd understand lowering it to 1GB space, and 100GB bandwidth, yes times now are hard.

But this...and no FTP. It's commiting suicide, like already pointing the sword into your stomach.

Look at it this way: Do you own a webhosting company? Nope Do you have experiance of the business world? Nope
Do andre/110mb staff have both of the above? Yes
Maybe the changes are a little drastic, but remember the above and what I said in my first post.