video website advice needed

[lindastamps]

Ok - Thanks in advance for reading my question and even more thanks if you actually respond back with any help.  Here is the set up of facts before the quesiton:

I have a website that is being hosted by Infinities.  It is a video tutorial website library. The home page has a video that is free to anyone and if they like it, they go to the shopping cart and thru pay pal, pay for a one yr subscription of $28.

The library itself (once they are a member) contains fifty to eighty  5 minute videos that are around 10 mb with the player attached to them.  They are Flash, streaming and embedded to play right there and not link somewhere else.  (which still may be an option but prefer not to)

With my current host, I am paying 39.00 a month, 4 gb and 20 gb monthly transfer.
They said with that I can get 2000 views per month.

Just my freebie video on the front will get 1000 a month.  THEN if only 50 people are logged in and watching videos, my bandwidth will be gone right away.  They say they can't handle more without me paying another 39.00 only to add another 2000 views and that may not be enough either.

I have looked at Cirtex and wirenine - do I have other options?  I need the bandwidth so hundreds can play the video at the same time but don't want to pay more than $50 a month.

Any advice?

[ldcdc]

do I have other options?

If there's one thing you have when it comes to hosting, is options. There are plenty of hosts out there.

I need the bandwidth so hundreds can play the video at the same time but don't want to pay more than $50 a month.

Something doesn't really add up. If you really expect hundreds of people downloading your files day in and day out, shared hosting is not what you're after.

Just to run a few numbers, lets assume you get one of the low priced, overselling fueled shared hosting packages out there, that comes with say 1TB of data transfer. That means you'll be able to serve 50 times more videos that you can right now. That comes to 100,000 downloads per month. Dividing that evenly over a 30 days period comes to ~3000 downloads per day, or ~130 per hour. That's just over 2 downloads per minute. Not anywhere near the hundreds you predict.

With my current host, I am paying 39.00 a month, 4 gb and 20 gb monthly transfer.

It sounds to me like your current host may be targeting webmasters who host application heavy websites (typical ecommerce sites tend to be that way). Yours on the other hand is (potentially) file transfer heavy. Your site won't need high amounts of server resources (CPU power, memory), but need as much data transfer as you can get (maybe not as much as you're assuming right now though).

Personally, I think you're heavily overestimating your site's traffic, especially considering that only those who are willing to pay will get access to the extra files.

[bfarrell]

Look around for a VPS. I do not know your skill level with running one, but managed options are easily/reasonably available. If you are not sure what a setting in your control panel does, ask support before changing it:) Other than that, the basic functions are the same as any control panel.

It appears the plan you are on is a shared account? If you are expecting a lot of downloads, just not the best option in most cases. The monies you are spending now and the extra quoted, the amount you state you are comfortable with, should have no problems finding a decent setup.

Plan for the future. What is your site and time worth to you? Here is what I mean. You already have a site up and running. You are stating traffic expectations and needed resources. You did not say what your actual is, or I missed it. But you are selling services that can be a bit intensive and needs to deliver for paid customers. So do not just look at this from a pure cost point up front, but where are you going and how long does it take to get there and the repercussions of bad server performance to your growth.

Look up a few VPS providers, pick out a couple you feel will be a good choice and present your needs to them. See what the replies are and make a choice. Look for someone that can let you start off based upon your current needs plus a bit more and upgrade as you need. Most will be able to do this happily. If moving the site is an issue for you, ask about having it transfered for you. If the control panels are the same, usually not a problem. In any case, always make backups, not just the one the new host will make, your own too.

Hopefully this will help a bit.