Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with provider

Which web publishing provider?

jouke — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 02:03:27 -0800

What blog/community/wiki provider do I need? I'm looking for a way to publish stuff and I'm not very knowledgeable about the differences between wordpress, blogger.com, google/yahoo groups, ning.com etc.

What I'm looking for is:
- time sequential publishing. A log.
- topical publishing. Either hierarchical like mini-books with chapters or wiki-like as a network of related topics.
- possibility to share some content only with chosen people
- collaboration features where other people can add content
- content remains owned by the people who contributed and can be exported
- personalisation of the look and feel
- free is nice. Very cheap is also a possibility
- I'd rather not have to host this myself.
- Of course with an online provider it's important that it will be around for a while.

There's probably not something that has it all but I'm looking for a good match.

So what are the best options for me to look into?

I want to use this as an online professional presence and as a way to hash out some topics collaboratively with some colleagues and other interested people.

Thank you for your insight.

Secure and Reliable Web Hosting?

meta.mark — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:13:52 -0800

Do you know of any secure & reliable web hosting providers? I am part of a startup company and we manage multiple websites. The problem is they keep getting hacked and it is a hassle to fix because our engineers are in India. Currently our host is GoDaddy but we are thinking of switching to someone more secure and reliable. Can you recommend any good hosts?

I want everything!

gjc — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:41:54 -0800

Communications madness... I have an email address that it's time to dump. It's from a dialup service that I used, and had kept around for emergency purposes. But I almost never use it anymore, and it's costing me something like $7 a month just to keep that email address. So in making the switch, I'd like to switch to something more portable, not tied to whomever I'm paying for internet access at the moment. I tried to get a gmail address, but they had nothing available that I liked. All the ones based on my name have been taken already.

I don't want to use hotmail or yahoo because those domains sound... uncool. And as much as I hate to admit it, I like to have a short, respectable email address. My current one is xxxxx@yyy.net. That's how I like it.

I do own firstnamelastname.com, but that's a lot of typing and looks unwieldy. lastname.name is not available- held by some company with my name as its acronym. And I'm just not willing to pay $1500 to get them off of it.

Question 1- Can anyone recommend a good, free email provider? All I require from them is pop3 and no ads.

Question 2- Does anyone have any experience with using NetZero (or some other free dialup) service? I would only use it maybe 4 times a year when the cable goes out.

Question 3- Any other general tips on squeezing the most out of ones communication dollar?

Do third party hydro providers save you any money?

perpetualstroll — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:59:31 -0800

Has anyone tried using a third-party hydro provider? What are your experiences with it? A friend of mine keeps on being pestered by people coming by her door asking to sign up for third-party hydro providers. Any AskMeFites in Ontario ever sign up for this service? Does it save you any money on your electricity bill?

saving money to spend on more daytime cellphone calls!

twistofrhyme — Wed, 30 May 2007 15:29:32 -0800

How to be a (cheapskate) grown-up in Toronto? I seek advice about good utilities providers in Toronto.
Who should be my provider for:

RENTER'S INSURANCE:
this is tricky.
i have 2 roommates, and between us 3, we'd like to insure about $30K worth of stuff. most insurance providers balk at splitting the policy. any ideas?
we used to pay about $18/month total but that company changed their minds about splitting the policy.

CELL PHONE:
i currently use about
400 weekday minutes,
200 weekend minutes,
100 weeknight minutes a month.
this in about 20 calls a month.
i send maybe 15 texts.
i currently pay about $90/month to Ma Bell- too damn much!
I can keep my phone number now when i switch teams, right?

I'd want:
400 weekday minutes
per second billing
answering machine
call display.
phone can be ugly.
is pay as you go a good option?

LAND LINE:
i need to be able to check msgs from away from home.
that's all i need.
it would be nice to keep our current phone number (Bell).

INTERNETS:
currently backpacking it onto my Bell landline bill.
needs to be pretty fast, we're laptop geeks around here.

piggybacking landline and internet and cellphone would be fine if it actually worked* and saved us money. (*bell promised me they could do it when i signed up and it never worked out.)
(bell = jerks.)

A nest of voipers

asok — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:28:19 -0800

VOIP providers in the UK. It's about time for another UK VOIP thread.

I am looking for a SIP (i.e. not skype) VOIP provider that is pay as you go for home use. Making local UK calls to PSTN numbers will be the main use. We have cheap international calls via the landline.

We have a SIP phone.

Vonage, who people have previously recommended, seem to be a bit unsteady at the moment regarding the prospect of continuing to trade.

So does anyone have any experience with other VOIP providers in the UK?

Multiline cell phones?

SpecialK — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 08:28:53 -0800

What cell phone providers will allow you to have two phone lines/ #'s on one phone? I know that T-Mobile won't, and they claim it's a technical restriction with GSM and simm cards, so I'm pretty sure that means that Cingular is out as well.

Basically, I need to retain my old Portland, OR (503) area code number, which I've had for nine years or so, but I need to have my local (979) number for work as well. I've got this set up right now with T-Mobile where I have two phones and two simm cards and one phone simply has forward all calls turned on... but this means that I get charged twice for minutes that come in on the forwarding line, and I have to maintain two accounts. (which is $$$.) It'd be much easier if I could have a multiline phone and choose which number to dial out from.

Bonus if the provider doesn't suck as much as T-Mobile, customer-service wise.

Knowing a phone number's provider.

silusGROK — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 16:23:06 -0800

Is there a way — given a phone number — to know the provider of the phone service? For example, given my phone number 801 555 1517, is there a way for someone to learn that I use Cingular? Why do I ask? Well, I have free minutes when calling other Cingular users, and I'd like a way to vet my phone list for Cingular users.

Broadband providers in Oxford, England?

Mossy — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 08:35:05 -0800

Can anyone recommend a good broadband company for a 1Mbps connection on 1 year contract in Oxford? We don't want to have a phone line and will probably stick it on a wireless router to 5 computers around the house.

Inexpensive telephone providers in NYC?

naxosaxur — Tue, 03 Aug 2004 09:45:34 -0800

Alternative telephone providers in the NYC area?: I need to find an economically viable solution to run 3 telephone land-lines and 1 fax line for a small business in Brooklyn. Our current provider is Verizon: we use >500 minutes a month, and pay about $350 (MI). My concerns are that by latching onto an “illegitimate” company, I may leave our business open to 'slamming' and invoice padding. Does anyone know of a cheap, yet reputable service provider? Particularities: I'm not interested in VOip. Also, what about just installing a local plan, and using calling cards to make all long distance calls. Is that asinine?

This project has become the bane of my existence, as google yields such a quagmire of results, and this sort of admin work does not get me motivated. Thanks in advance...