Hosting question - around 2600 concurrent users

[Pamela]

Hi,

Our forum soapchat.net has around 2600 concurrent users, that has sprung to 5 times that amount when there has been a major news story.

Im not sure what I should be looking at for a hosting solution. At the moment we have a lovely member of our community hosting the site via his company on a dedicated server. But recently its probably down 30% of the time.

We do not make any income so I need an affordable solution otherwise we will need to close after 10 years on the web.

If anyone can give me some advise it would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Peggy]

Pamela what do you consider an affordable solution? Most dedicated hosting runs anywhere from $70 and up per month.

[Pamela]

Thanks. I wanted to get any idea what we could have as a solution.

Would we need a dedicated server, if so I could manage the lower end of the scale at $70.00 if if means my forum lives. Do you have any recommendations ?

What are the options outside of dedicated ?

Thanks for your help with this, I really appreciate it as Im at the end of my tether now :)

[Peggy]

Check out these 2 sites -

www.servint.com (http://www.servint.com)
www.site5.com (http://www.site5.com)

[Joeychgo]

Would we need a dedicated server, if so I could manage the lower end of the scale at $70.00 if if means my forum lives. Do you have any recommendations ?

What are the options outside of dedicated ?




for 2600 concurrant users? Absolutely you would. But you dont have 2600 concurant users. Your cookie timeout is set way too high. I see users from about a 6 hour period. Reduce that down to a 30 min period and see what you have.

That said, you still have a busy site. You will need a dedicated. Frankly, If I see a dedicated for under $100 I wonder about its quality. I pay more then that for mine, and I 'OWN' my server. You should expect to pay around $200 a month for a good dedicated.