I’ve been a happy customer of pair.com for Web hosting for 7 or 8 years, but I’m putting some thought into moving to dedicated hosting. The advantage is that I’d have root access so that I can run my own install of Apache and Tomcat. I’ve been working on a Java web application that I’d like to run somewhere other than my desktop, and so I’m going to need someplace to put it. The ability to manage my own email would be nice. I’m growing increasingly irritated by the spam that makes it through my filters, and I’d like to try some other strategies for managing it. On the other hand, managing my own email would be a downside as well. I’m not sure I have the system administration ability to manage an email server, and I don’t know jack about DNS and several other essential services. I’m not sure I want my hosting bill to go from around $30 a month to $100 per month. And I fear that the level of customer service would drop if I went from pair.com, a company with lots of expertise in running shared servers, to one of the companies offering affordable dedicated or virtual servers. pair.com charges $250 for their cheapest dedicated server. How can these other companies get away with charging $99 or less per month? I’ve created a QuickTopic to discuss hosting.