Product Reviews

If you have an internet connection at home, the chances are that you've also got some web space. Almost every ISP includes a few megabytes of online space for storing a personal home page, but if you want a larger or more complicated site, you're likely to find this kind of facility inadequate.

To get the space and features needed to run a larger website you'll need to choose a dedicated web host. This month we've looked at cheap web-hosting options from two of the UK's biggest companies, 1and1 and Fasthosts.

Both packages include much more server space than most ISPs do: 1and1's 800MB and Fasthosts' 750MB should be plenty of space for even the largest website, even if you want to store large files for download. Whereas cheap hosting packages often set restrictive limits on the amount of data that can be downloaded to and from your site every month, 1and1 allows a generous 10GB of data transfers per month, and Fasthosts sets no limits at all.

The 1and1 package includes a free .co.uk domain name so you can set up a website from scratch. Fasthosts doesn't include a domain name, but it will sell you a .co.uk domain for just £3.47 per year, or a .com for £10.45. More valuably, 1and1's package comes with an impressive bundle of software that includes a full copy of Microsoft Frontpage 2003. If you are a Frontpage user, both accounts allow you to use Frontpage extensions on your website.

Both allow you

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to set up hundreds of email accounts in your domain (300 for 1and1 and 200 for Fasthosts). Fasthosts allows you to make three of these email accounts 'advanced', with virus scanning and spam filtering, and 1and1 lets you add virus scanning to up to five accounts and spam filtering to all. Both include webmail, but Fasthosts' system is better, allowing users to access their mail via http://webmail.yourdomain.com as opposed to 1and1's less personal http://webmail.1and1.co.uk.

Programmers are likely to prefer Fasthosts' package, which allows scripting in ASP, PHP and Perl as well as allowing you to assign one ODBC DSN on the server for easy access to a database. 1and1 allows only ASP scripts, but also includes a number of pre-made CGI scripts that will be more useful to beginners. These let you add features such as a forum or chatroom without any real programming knowledge. Experienced web designers who want to use FTP will dislike 1and1's FTP setup, which insists on adding a string of seemingly random digits to the beginning of every FTP account's username. Fasthosts lets you assign whatever name you please, but it allows only two FTP accounts.

There's also a difference between the control panel systems offered by the two companies. Whereas 1and1 uses a single, integrated control panel for domain names, hosting and email options, Fasthosts uses a number of smaller, simpler control panels for different functions. As with webmail, some of these are more personalised, such as the mailbox control panel at http://mcp.yourdomain.com. We found Fasthosts' system easier to use, but those new to website hosting and building will appreciate the all-in-one approach employed by 1and1.

Ultimately this choice will determine which package suits you best. If you want a new domain name and a copy of Frontpage, 1and1's package is good value, and its all-in-one approach is great for beginners. Experienced designers who don't need Frontpage and want better scripting support, however, will find Fasthosts preferable.