In my current search for an upgraded hosting package, it came down to two finalists: JaguarPC and Surpass Hosting (the latter of which was called to my attention by the graphically talented Pketh).

My first inclination has been towards Jaguar, as I have had a site hosted with them for one year and 9 months, and in that time there has been only one rather limited disruption of service (ironically it occurred as I was writing about them recently). My thoughts of changing hosts came as I heard that Jaguar had a new offer, called the “Gigadeal,” which offers a gigabyte of disk space, 45 GB of bandwidth, 30 MySQL databases and 5 add-on domains for $10/mo.–a leap above standard offers. Usually I would take such offers with a grain of salt–many less-than-reliable web hosts entice people with grand offers but then boot anyone who tries to take full advantage of them–but since I had been with Jaguar for almost two years, I felt I could trust them on it, to a certain extent.

Then when Pketh suggested Surpass, I took a look–and though initially cautious about a service I’d never heard of before, was interested in what they had to offer. They start with a GB disk space deal at $40 a year (about $3.33/mo.), but for the same price as the Gigadeal ($10), they offer 7 GB of disk space, 75 GB bandwidth, 3 add-on domains, and “unmetered” MySQL databases. The Jaguar deal only does better in add-on domains, and only by 2. But there is no doubt that Surpass lives up to its name and offers much better features.

More study found that Surpass offered more in other areas too–for instance, something called Scripta, which allows installation of open source or freeware scripts for the site. That’s a normal feature, but the list of additions in Scripta is much more fleshed-out. They also offer something called Xoops, a site development tool, which I do not yet know the value of but looks interesting.

I emailed Surpass to check out a few of their unmentioned policies–for example, database usage. They replied: “We do not have a specific set limit on SQL usage, but it cannot use a high server load. If the server starts running slow or if there is packet loss due to the script, we would have to disable it.” Which brings up a bit of a doubt about what they consider to be “high server load.” This seems to fall in line with what the less scrupulous web hosts do–offer unlimited use but then cut you off when you reach an unspoken limit. Not knowing exactly where the limit is is the problem.

A check on WebHostingTalk’s forums uncovered a few bad reviews, but fewer than normal and mostly in the range that I would consider acceptable. In fact, they received fewer poor reviews than Jaguar. Some veterans also spoke of it as being a reliable service. (Pketh, what’s your experience so far? Or have you signed up with them yet?) So in that area they seem to check out OK.

Something that has in a way sealed the deal with me, however, is a new promotion they will be offering from June 5 to June 7: a 2-for-1 deal. Buy one account, and receive another at equal or lower value for free. If I read that correctly, it means that if I pay $10 per month for the “Deluxe” account (7GB disk space, 75GB transfer, etc.), I can get two of that account and pay for just one, indefinitely. Effectively, 14GB of disk space, 150GB bandwidth, and 6 add-on domains for $10 a month. That sounds spectacular–and trips some of my too-good-to-be-true alarms. Still, there is a 90-day money-back guarantee, and I would opt for the monthly payment so I could get out of Dodge should things become dodgy. So I figure I’ll start getting geared up for the switch on June 5th–though that comes very close to the billing deadline for my current host.

I’ll keep you notified of any new information, and would appreciate your comments and advice on the matter!