Networking

Two charismatic gentlemen: Minister Paul Fletcher and NBN CEO Stephen Rue
Image: Chris Duckett/ZDNet
The company responsible for the National Broadband Network (NBN) has dispensed with its previous earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) games as it gears up to report positive earnings at year end after a solid first half.
For the six months to the end of 2020, NBN reported a 25% increase in revenue to AU$2.26 billion, which it said was thanks to 660,000 premises joining the network and increased demand for higher speed plans. Revenue from business customers was also up by a quarter compared to this time last year, and was reported as AU$397 million. Average revenue per residential user remained flat over the past year at AU$45 each month.
On the EBITDA front, the company reported AU$424 million, a AU$1.1 billion turnaround on the AU$663 million EBITDA loss reported last year, and included AU$809 billion in payments to Telstra and Optus as users switch onto the government-owned network. Those payments had previously been excluded as NBN paraded an “adjusted EBITDA” figure as its headline number.
The company said it was “focused on raising AU$27.5 billion of private debt” by the end of the middle of the 2024 calendar year and has repaid AU$3 billion of its AU$19.5 billion loan from the federal government during the half, thanks to the AU$1.6 billion it raised in medium term notes at 1% interest and AU$1.4 billion from its bank credit.
“The strong total revenue growth in the first half puts us in solid position to achieve positive full year statutory EBITDA for the first time, which will be a significant financial milestone for the company,” NBN CEO Stephen Rue said.
“We will continue to put our customers at the centre of everything we do. We will support businesses by extending the competitive benefits of NBN to more regions, and we will continue to co-invest with state governments and local councils to help ensure that the benefits of fast broadband are extended to more Australians than ever before.”
Across the first half, the company spent AU$1.42 billion on capital expenditure, and announced the next 100,000 premises to hooked up with its fibre-to-the-node upgrades that will cost around AU$4.5 billion.

In NSW, the suburbs and towns of Campbelltown, Elderslie, Narellan, Maitland, Singleton, Tarro, New Lambton, Bathurst, and Orange are on the list; in Victoria, Deer Park, Sydenham, Berwick South, Cranbourne, and more parts of Narre Warren will be next; Albany Creek, Ashgrove, Bald Hills, Ferny Hills, Robina, Burleigh Heads and Townsville will get the upgrade in Queensland; for South Australia the list is Elizabeth, Gepps Cross, Salisbury and Golden Grove; while in Western Australia the suburbs are Girrawheen, Kingsley, Wanneroo, Canning Vale, and Jandakot South.
The company said it was “currently engaged in consultation” with ISPs on how customers will be informed of the upgrades, and what they need to do to get a fibre lead-in. NBN has previously said when a customer orders a service that their copper connection cannot handle, it would at that point build the fibre lead-in to the premise.
At the start of February, NBN confirmed it was pausing connecting new HFC premises to its network, due to coronavirus-related supply chain issues. Nevertheless, the company claimed its HFC footprint was “progressing well”.
“As at 10 February 2021, 94% of the 2.5 million premises in the HFC footprint can access the NBN Home Superfast [250/25Mbps] wholesale speed tier, and 46% of premises in the HFC footprint are able to access the NBN Home Ultrafast [500-1000Mbps/50Mbps] wholesale speed tier.”
NBN reported it had decreased its net loss by 25% to AU$2.1 billion for the half. In August, it reported an EBIT loss of AU$3.78 billion for the full 2020 fiscal year, compared to AU$3.89 billion a year prior.
The company reported its employee expenses increased by 3% due to restructuring charges and unused annual leave by its employees. Rue said the company had reduced its employee number by 800 during the first half, but would not be drawn on further cuts.
“The size and composition of the workforce changes all the time — it can change up, it can change down,” Rue told ZDNet.
“We’ve been hiring people in regional Australia, we’ve been hiring people … to go into people’s homes.”
Last week, Telstra resumed its T22 job shedding process as it flagged 1,425 employees would leave the incumbent telco.
On Monday, the CEPU informed its members that under the plans to restructure Telstra into three business, that “pretty much all the jobs at Telstra” are technically redundent.
“The truth is, that even if your role is redundant at Telstra, the three subsidiaries are going to have a whole lot of work with no employees to perform it. So, the scenario is one of thousands of jobless ex-Telstra employees and thousands of vacancies at the subsidiaries,” the union said.
“As you can see, the solution is the problem.
“In our preliminary discussions, Telstra has indicated the subsidiaries will seek to employ the same people from Telstra, to continue doing the same work once they have taken it over.”
The CEPU added the existing Telstra enterprise agreement for workers would follow the employees across until it is terminated or a new agreement is signed.
Updated at 11:10am AEST, 10 February 2021: Added more information
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Cisco on Tuesday published better-than-expected second quarter financial results, with growth coming from services and security products.  
Non-GAAP net income for the quarter came to $3.4 billion, or 79 cents per share. Revenue was $11.96 billion, flat year-over-year.
Wall Street was expecting earnings of 76 cents on $11.92 billion in revenue.

Overall, product revenue was down 1 percent year-over-year, totaling $8.57 billion. Within that category, security revenue was up 10 percent to $822 million. Revenue from infrastructure platforms declined 3 percent to $6.39 billion, while applications revenue was flat at $1.35 billion. Revenue from “other products” declined 39 percent to $4 million. 
Service revenue was up 2 percent year-over-year, reaching $3.39 billion. 
“Over the past year, our customers have relied on our innovation to accelerate their digital and cloud capabilities while protecting them from an expanding threat environment,” CEO Chuck Robbins said on a conference call. “In my numerous conversations with customers, it is clear that our technology will be a powerful engine for their recovery and growth as their technology needs continue to evolve at a rapid pace”
CFO Scott Herren noted in a statement that Cisco continues “to grow deferred revenue in double-digits through the shift to more software and subscriptions.”

Deferred revenue in Q2 was $20.8 billion, up 12 percent in total, with deferred product revenue up 16 percent. Deferred service revenue was up 9 percent.
Remaining Performance Obligations came to $28.2 billion at the end of Q2, up 13 percent.
Tech analyst Patrick Moorhead noted that, in addition to its double-digit growth in security sales, Cisco also reported strength in Cat 9K, data center switching, wireless and Webex portfolio numbers. 
“For webscale customers, it was the 5th consecutive quarter of rapid order growth increasing to triple digits,” Moorhead added. “This is important as these customers had walked away in many parts from Cisco opting for their own designs. In a very rough period for infrastructure providers, I believe Cisco proved its resilience by balancing infrastructure against software, security and collaboration businesses.”
Cisco on Tuesday also declared a quarterly dividend of 37 cents per common share.  
For the third quarter, Cisco expects revenue growth of 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent year-over-year.

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Image: SoftBank Group
SoftBank Group’s CEO Masayoshi Son has labelled his company a “golden goose” in response to its Vision Funds bouncing back from a record loss last year to post profit of ¥844 billion during the third quarter.
According to Son, the ¥1 trillion year-on-year turnaround was due to sectors such as e-commerce, entertainment, healthcare, education, and food delivery benefitting from the accelerated adoption of digital services that arose during the pandemic.
As of 31 December 2020, Vision Fund 1’s 82 investments have increased their value by 18% to $90 billion, compared with their purchase price of $76.3 billion.
Unrealised valuation gain for Vision Fund 1 as of the end of the third quarter totalled ¥1.5 trillion for listed portfolio companies, with DoorDash and Uber being the primary reasons for this uptick. The two companies have provided unrealised valuation gains of $8.3 billion and $3.6 billion, respectively, as of December.
Vision Fund 2, meanwhile, currently holds 26 investments with fair value amounting to $9.3 billion. The second fund’s investments had initially cost $4.3 billion.
Moving forward, Son during the results presentation said he expected SoftBank’s funds to produce between 10 and 20 initial public offerings a year.
“We’ve finally entered the harvest phase,” Son said while presenting an image of a golden goose laying golden eggs, which were meant to represent SoftBank’s IPOs and exits.

SoftBank Group’s Japanese telco, SoftBank, also reported being in the black by posting almost ¥213 billion and ¥1.37 trillion in profit and revenue, respectively.
For the third quarter, the telco’s consumer segment continued to carry the lion’s share of sales by posting ¥697 billion in revenue. Meanwhile, its enterprise and Yahoo segments chipped in ¥153 billion and ¥270 billion, respectively.
The telco also revealed that its smartphone subscriber base increased by over 1.2 million across a six-month period to December. Its broadband service, SoftBank Hikari, also gained an additional 450,000 subscribers over that same period.
In total, the gains from SoftBank Group’s various segments culminated in net profit of ¥1.17 trillion from ¥1.38 trillion in sales during the third quarter.
SoftBank’s profit marks a shift from the year prior, when the company revealed significant losses from WeWork and the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the company to sell assets.
At the time, Son said he expected 15 companies in Vision Fund 1 to go bankrupt as the company tightened its financial belt.
Looking at the sale and monetisation of those assets, the company has amassed ¥5.6 trillion over the six months from April to September 2020 from partially selling its T-Mobile, Alibaba, and SoftBank Corp shares.
Providing an update on how the ¥5.6 trillion would be used, Son said the company would seek to make new investments for sustainable growth and return profits to shareholders.
He added that while share repurchases of up to ¥2 trillion were originally intended to be executed across 12 months from March last year, uncertainty in market trends has meant that the repurchases may not be completed by the end of March 2021, as originally scheduled.
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Telenor Myanmar said it was ordered by the Myanmar Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) to temporarily shut down its data network in Myanmar on Saturday, while voice and SMS services remained open.
“In the directive, the MoTC cites legal basis in Myanmar’s Telecommunication Law, and references circulation of fake news, stability of the nation and interest of the public as basis for the order,” Telenor said in a statement.
“Telenor Myanmar, as a local company, is bound by local law and needs to handle this irregular and difficult situation.”
Despite following the orders, the telco giant expressed their “deep concern”.
“We have emphasised to the authorities that access to telecom services should be maintained at all times, especially during times of conflict, to ensure people’s basic right to freedom of expression and access to information. We deeply regret the impact the shutdown has on the people in Myanmar,” the company said.
However, data networks that were shut down was restored by Sunday. Telenor said it was “following instruction from the MoTC”.
The halting of data network services over the weekend followed a directive that was issued by the MoTC on Friday to block social media platforms Twitter and Instagram, until further notice, according to Telenor.

“Customers in Myanmar trying to access the affected services on web will be directed to a landing page, which states that the site cannot be reached due to the directive by MoTC,” Telenor said.
Telenor added the MoTC also decided to “temporarily” block access to Facebook in the country last week. Users began turning to the social media platform to protest against the military coup.
Meanwhile, Twitter has expressed concern regarding the situation.
“We’re deeply concerned about the order to block Internet services in Myanmar. It undermines the public conversation and the rights of people to make their voices heard. The Open Internet is increasingly under threat around the world. We will continue to advocate to end destructive government-led shutdowns,” a Twitter spokesperson told ZDNet.  
A similar sentiment was echoed by Facebook. 
“We are extremely concerned by orders to shut down the internet in Myanmar and we strongly urge the authorities to order the unblocking of all social media services. At this critical time, the people of Myanmar need access to important information and to be able to communicate with their loved ones,” Facebook APAC Emerging Countries director of public policy Rafael Frankel said.
Since last week, the country has been suffering internet and phone service disruptions amidst a military coup that has reportedly resulted in the National League for Democracy’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior political leaders being detained.
Military-owned TV network Myawaddy News reported that the military was taking control of the country for a year, during which a state of emergency had been declared. It pointed to a section of the constitution, drafted by the military, which outlined the army’s powers to assume control during a national emergency. 
Updated at 11:05am AEST, 8 February 2021: added comment from Facebook. 
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Vocus has informed the Australian Securities Exchange on Monday morning that it has fielded an indicative offer from Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets Holdings (MIRA), the infrastructure investment arm of the eponymous group of companies, and started to explore the deal.
MIRA is proposing to acquire the whole company for AU$5.50 a share, at close on Friday the company was trading for AU$4.38, which would put the deal in the range of AU$3.4 billion in total.
“After consideration by the board and its advisers, the board has concluded that it is in the best interests of Vocus shareholders to explore the potential for a transaction with MIRA, and has granted MIRA due diligence access to enable MIRA to potentially put forward a binding proposal,” it said.
“Vocus has appointed Credit Suisse as its financial advisor and Allens as its legal advisor.”
Back in the middle of 2019, Vocus had a torrid month as both EQT Infrastructure and AGL walked away from AU$5.25 and AU$4.85 per share proposals, respectively.
In its latest full-year results posted in August, almost AU$280 million in significant items turned a AU$101 million underlying profit into a AU$178 million statutory loss.
The significant items included a AU$202 million impairment to the goodwill of its retail division.

For the year to June 30, the company reported a 6% drop in revenue to AU$1.78 billion, with its recurring revenue down 1.1% to account for all but AU$25.5 million of the total and the remainder flowed from the large infrastructure line item, which was down by AU$94 million due to the completion of the Coral Sea subsea cable.
Statutory earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 3.5% to AU$361 million, before the significant items came into play. Statutory EBIT dropped AU$215 million to a AU$109 million loss, thanks mainly to the impairment, and statutory net profit fell by a similar number to a AU$178 million loss.
In November, Vocus said it would look to spin out and list its New Zealand business.
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Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto
The Elon Musk-fronted SpaceX has told an Australian parliamentary committee that it could begin to offer its Starlink broadband services to the nations external territories as early as 2022, while much of Australia will be covered in “early 2021”.
“Certain more proximate islands within the external territories, notably the Ashmore, Cartier, and Coral Sea Islands, could be served by early 2022, when SpaceX has more fully populated its satellite constellation with ongoing launches and with the establishment of gateway earth stations at proximate mainland locations,” the company said in a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories’ Availability and access to enabling communications infrastructure in Australia’s external territories inquiry.
In order to fully cover Australia’s external territories, SpaceX would need more polar-orbiting satellites with “space-based lasers”. The company launched its first 10 polar-orbiting satellites last month.
“The more remote islands and the southernmost Heard Island and McDonald Islands will require deployment of polar-orbiting satellites employing inter-satellite optical links, a technology that allows customers to be even farther removed from supporting ground infrastructure,” SpaceX said.
“More satellites on orbit are needed in order to provide continuous services to those locations, likely nearer to the end of 2022.”
At the end of last year, SpaceX was among the purchasers of area-wide apparatus licences for 5G millimetre wave spectrum across Australia.
While geostationary satellites have latency in the order of 600-800ms, those in low Earth orbit can provide 20-40ms of latency. Starlink users last year were seeing internet speeds of 134Mbps.

“These new satellite networks are expected to be capable of providing cost-effective, high-speed backhaul which to date has been a barrier to delivering high speed fixed and mobile services to remote communities and territories,” Australian telco Pivotel wrote in a submission.
“Providers such as Pivotel will be in a position to launch 4G and 5G mobile networks together with high-speed wireless internet access to the home or premise, using small cells powered by battery-backed renewable energy sources like solar and/or wind. Small cells connected over low latency high-speed data links opens up the possibility of servicing the most remote locations with affordable, high speed and low latency mobile and broadband connectivity, comparable to what is available in urban areas.”
However, the Norfolk Island Regional Council is pushing for the island to return to the way it was, which means restoring a cable connection to the island, this is despite the island have its own NBN Sky Muster spot beam.
The council has spent AU$8 million over five years on satellite connectivity, and for its money, it gets a 113/37Mbps primary link with a 20/4Mbps redundant link. Norfolk Island previously had a cable connection, but it was cut. The island still has a cable landing station, and in 2003 the Australian government paid to have an “extensive underground” fibre to the node network installed, which now uses satellite backhaul.
In its submission, the council pushed for a branch off the Hawaiki cable that links Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.
Council said the island was previously offered the chance to connect in 2016 with 100Mbps of guaranteed bandwidth, but it was not taken up.
“In return for a (one off) ~AU$14m investment (plus on-going costs), Norfolk Island would have received a branch of approximately 90km long, unrepeated (unpowered) 2 fibre pairs branch with a design capacity of 100Gbps. This opportunity did not proceed, and efforts for improved connectivity have continued ever since,” it said.
“The last proposal was put forward to the island in 2020.”
Consequently, any branching on the cable will be further away and have to rely on the New Caledonia branching unit, but the window on that opportunity is closing.
Hawaiki, in concert with Vocus, said in a submission that the now approximately 400km long branch would cost around $27 million, which could be lowered if synchronised with rolling out other branches.
“The only constraint is the timing: A decision would need to be taken before New Caledonia builds their branch. Once the New Caledonia branch design is finalised (expected Q2 2021), there will be no future opportunities to connect Norfolk Island to the Hawaiki cable,” the submission said.
Another option could be the Chilean-backed Asia-South America Digital Gateway (ASADG) cable that would land in Chile, New Zealand, and Australia, and provide 270Tb of bandwidth.
“Vocus estimates that a connection to Norfolk Island as part of the ASADG initiative would cost ~$23.2 million, based on the assumption of 583km of cable to be manufactured and installed as a spur from the main ‘trunk’ cable’,” it said.
“A spur from the ASADG cable would cost approximately one-third as much as a stand-alone cable from Sydney to Norfolk Island, estimated at ~$74.9 million for 1,700km of cable. This estimate is based on the current indicative ASADG route and does not assume any adjustment to the main cable, which could potentially reduce the length, and cost, of the spur to Norfolk Island.”
Vocus said funding decisions for the cable would be made in the second quarter, and once the design was finalised, Norfolk Island would not have another opportunity to be a part of it.
In its submission, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications provided a glimpse of the state of connectivity on Norfolk Island.
“As of December 2020, there were 804 premises on Norfolk Island with an active NBN service. Across the 2020 calendar year 54 service faults were recorded. NBN Co’s [business satellite] services are not currently available on Norfolk Island,” it said.
“Many residents have both NBN Sky Muster and Norfolk Telecom ADSL services to provide redundancy if one service is not working. Some Norfolk Island premises have their own commercial satellite service agreements and dishes.”
Although the department said a cable would improve connectivity, it baulked at the “high cost both in absolute terms and per head of population”.
“While a submarine cable connection could provide Norfolk Island with high-bandwidth, low-latency backhaul not subject to disruption from weather and atmospheric conditions, the cost to lay and connect submarine cables is typically relatively high and the benefit relatively isolated compared to a satellite system that can service a much larger population,” it said.
“In other contexts, submarine cable operators have identified that the useful life of a submarine cable is about 25 years, and if cable was funded replacement capital would need to be factored in.
“Users of a cable’s capacity would also be subject to ongoing access fees and charges from the cable operator. Additionally … the condition of the existing network connecting premises on Norfolk Island would limit the quality of services available.”
Firmly in the pro-satellite camp, due to it running its own fleet, Optus pushed for the territories to remain dependent on space-based connectivity.
“Optus believes the territories could act as a test-bed environment for the government to satisfy itself as to the performance and reliability of satellite technology. If proven successful, this trial could be expanded to include those geographical areas serviced under the Universal Service Obligation in mainland Australia,” the telco said.
“Satellite connectivity would offer the greatest value for government whilst providing the broadest and most reliable form of network coverage to consumers and would serve as an effective alternative to subsea cables or other access technologies.”
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T-Mobile delivered better-than-expected fourth quarter financial results on Thursday, with the wireless carrier touting record postpaid phone net customer additions and progress in post-merger synergies with Sprint.

T-Mobile said Q4 earnings were $750 million, or 60 cents per share, on revenue of $20.3 billion. Wall Street was looking for fourth-quarter earnings of 51 cents a share on revenue of $19.9 billion.
The carrier added 1.7 million net additions in the fourth quarter, along with 1.6 million postpaid. T-Mobile’s postpaid churn came in at 1.03%, a slight increase for the company.
For the year, T-Mobile said non-GAAP earnings came to $2.65 per share on revenue of $68.4 billion. Analysts were expecting the company to report fiscal 2020 revenue of $67.7 billion on earnings of $2.70 per share.
By the numbers:
The company ended the quarter and fiscal year with 102.1 million customers.
For full-year 2020, total net customer additions were 5.6 million, with 5.5 million postpaid.
T-Mobile added 824,000 branded postpaid phone net additions in Q4, and 2.2 million for the full year.
Branded prepaid additions were 84,000 in Q4.
Service revenue in the fourth quarter was $14.2 billion and $50.4 billion in full-year 2020, driven by the Sprint merger.
T-Mobile said it covers 280 million people with Extended Range 5G.
For 2021, T-Mobile said it plans to add 4 million to 4.7 million branded postpaid net customers. Adjusted EBITDA will be between $26.5 billion and $27 billion.
On its Sprint synergies, the company said it delivered $1.3 billion of synergies in full-year 2020, exceeding its guidance from last quarter. Meanwhile, customer network migrations began in the fourth quarter and more than 4 million have been completed, the carrier said. Once the migrations are complete, T-Mobile will fully decommission and shut down the Sprint network.
“These results show that we’re pulling way ahead of the pack on what matters – overall 5G network performance – and executing to stay ahead,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “2020 was quite simply our best year yet, with our highest ever total postpaid net additions of 5.5 million. Our team delivered – leading the industry on customer growth, while being the only major player to grow profitability as well, with our synergy-backed business model.”

Shares of T-Mobile were down just over 1% after hours.

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Can you really buy a month’s worth of quality web hosting for less than the price of a Starbucks Grande cappuccino? Indeed you can, as we discovered when researching the web hosting services in this buyer’s guide. The average advertised monthly price for the 10 hosting providers we looked at is a low, low $3.19 — just add content.

We also discovered, when we looked a little closer at the details of those cheap web hosting plans, that three of the immutable laws of bargains still apply here. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Always check the fine print. And, most important of all: You get what you pay for.
You’re an ideal candidate for the services we review here if you already have experience with web hosting and don’t need much hand-holding. If you lack those technical skills, consider hiring a designer/consultant who has the requisite background, and let them help with the comparison.
The listings that follow offer a starting point for your research and do not represent hands-on reviews or formal recommendations. All information was accurate as of February 2021, but details can change on a moment’s notice. Because the details of promotional prices and hosting plans vary so greatly, we haven’t included prices in the capsule listings that follow and instead recommend that you compare prices and plans carefully based on your long-term needs. Our goal is to provide the information you need to build a shortlist and then evaluate and compare alternatives, ideally using the trial period each provider offers.

Makes it easy to get started

Customer Support: Phone, chat, ticket available 24/7/365
Backup: Complimentary backups are provided for accounts up to 50GB “on a best effort basis.” Each weekday backup is kept for seven days, each Sunday backup is retained for a month. Options for manual backups include full server, home directory, MySQL databases, and email forwarders/filters.
Security: SSL support is free, via Let’s Encrypt, and two-factor authentication is standard. Out-of-date version detection is included, with WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal installations patched automatically.
A2 (the name is a shout-out to the company’s home in Ann Arbor, Michigan) makes it easy to get started, with free migration, one-click Softaculous installers for a wide range of software packages, and “optimized” WordPress installations. Website building software is included with all shared plans. Non-promo pricing of the high-performance Turbo Boost and Turbo Max tiers ranges from $21 to $26 a month, compared to $11 for the Startup tier.
View Now at A2 Hosting

Platform runs two million website

Customer Support: Available via call and chat, 24/7.
Backup: Automated backups are not free; instead, you can pay $2.99 per month for Codeguard, a site backup tool that does unlimited daily backups of your websites.
Security: Two-factor authentication is standard, and free SSL certificates are offered via Let’s Encrypt.
In business since 2005, Bluehost claims that its platform runs two million websites. Shared hosting plans above the basic level include one Microsoft Office 365 Email Essentials license, which is free for the first month. The company offers three tiers of managed WordPress hosting, with hundreds of free WordPress themes and a high-end option geared to online shopping. For $150, you can transfer up to five sites and up to 20 email accounts from another provider. The Weebly website builder is standard for all customers.
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Full range of higher-end plans available too

Customer Support: Support is available 24/7, but live chat is limited to 5:30am to 9:30pm (Pacific Time) and phone support is via callback.
Backup: Automated daily backups are retained for two weeks.
Security: Two-factor authentication is standard. Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates are free on shared plans; Comodo certificates start at $15 a year. The DreamShield malware scanner costs $3 per month per domain, and you’ll pay $199 for assistance in cleaning up a hacked website.
You won’t find any introductory pricing here. Instead, the low prices come with three-year commitments. Shared plans come in only two options: Starter (one website, email is an extra charge) and Unlimited (as many websites and email accounts as you wish). For those shared plans, there’s a 97-day money-back guarantee. The company also has a full range of higher-end plans, including managed WordPress, VPS, and dedicated server offerings. Site transfer is included with managed WordPress plans and costs $99 with shared hosting plans.
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Generic hosting provider

Customer Support: Phone and live chat options are available 24/7/365 via phone and LiveChat.
Backup: Daily CodeGuard backups and weekly offsite backups are included.
Security: Two-factor authentication is not available. Server monitoring is standard.
If we were looking for a generic hosting provider, we found it here. The prices are competitive, and you get free site transfers and a decent website builder package with every plan. The “QuickInstall” feature allows one-click access to tons of apps. We like the no-contract policy and the 45-day money-back guarantee.
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Absolute lowest introductory prices

Customer Support: We were slightly put off by the lack of live chat for new customer inquiries, and a customer service rep confirmed that phone service is not available; instead, customers get live chat and email support options.
Backup: Daily backups are standard.
Security: Two-factor authentication is not available. Most of the security features they highlight are intended to protect against DDoS attacks.
Hostinger has some of the absolute lowest introductory prices we’ve seen, with limited-time offers starting at 99 cents per month. Their website builder is limited, but the templates we saw looked well designed. They also boast of cutting-edge “Next Generation Tech,” such as “customizable server-level caching solutions that can serve up to 3x more requests per second” and data centers in seven global locations. That’s an odd mix, but we suspect it will be appealing to tech-driven bargain hunters.
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Entry-level tiers include strict limitations

Customer Support: The support center offers an almost overwhelming number of options, but traditional chat, phone, and ticket options are available for customers.
Backup: Automated backups are an option, “available at checkout.”
Security: Two-factor authentication is standard.
InMotion Hosting’s landing page features a list of reasonable price tags on a wide range of plans (“no hidden – anything”), with commitments to open source and investments in technology like PCI compliance, as well as the promise of a U.S.-based customer service team. Entry-level tiers include strict limitations on the number of websites and allowed storage. Management tools include a CPanel option that’s different from most. Free “no downtime” transfers are available. The BoldGrid website builder package is free with all plans, or you can pay $99 for a custom-built QuickStarter website with a promised 2-day turnaround.
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One-size-fits-all options perfect for SMBs

Customer Support: 24/7 phone and chat support is standard.
Backup: Backup plans are an extra-cost option, with Basic and Pro tiers ranging from $1.27 to $2.99 per month based on contract length.
Security: Two-factor authentication is not available.
iPage has been around for more than two decades and offers one-size-fits-all options that are perfect for any small business that has a hard time making decisions. The $1.99 per month starting rate resets to a not-too-painful $7.99 tariff when the introductory period ends. The free web-builder software offers hundreds of themes but supports a maximum of six pages. The VDeck control panel might confuse anyone expecting the generic CPanel option (see this review for a detailed comparison).
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Reliable provider of low-cost domain name registration

Customer Support: Support is quick via a chat and ticket system. We couldn’t find a phone number for support calls.
Backup: This is the most thorough backup regimen we’ve seen, with a rotating schedule that retains the most recent six daily backups, three weekly backups, and 11 monthly backups. Email accounts are backed up, too.
Security: Two-factor authentication (with TOTP support) is standard. SSL certificates are free for the first year.
Wait, Namecheap does web hosting? As longtime customers, we had the same reaction, given the company’s long reputation as a reliable provider of low-cost domain name registration services (thus the name). But you will indeed find a full range of services here. The lowest tier is extremely basic, with no backups and metered bandwidth. But other offerings, especially the EasyWP managed WordPress plans, deliver a competitive mix of features and prices. Namecheap is famous for its Black Friday specials; if you’re attracted to their offerings, we suggest marking your calendar and checking for deals in late November.
View Now at Namecheap

Normal prices after the first year can cause sticker shock

Customer Support: SiteGround offers 24/7 chat, phone options, and a ticket system. In our experience, the chat system offers extremely quick response times.
Backup: Free daily backups are retained for 30 days; on-demand backups (up to five at a time) are available on the mid-high tiers.
Security: Two-factor authentication is standard. Let’s Encrypt SSL support is free and standard. The company has a long history of attention to security and it shows in its approach to updates.
Full disclosure: We’re longtime SiteGround customers, so our descriptions here are based on firsthand experience and not feature tables. The company’s introductory prices are attractive, but the normal prices after the first year can cause sticker shock for some. Higher tiers offer some impressive performance tweaking tools. One-click WordPress transfers are free; professional transfers (managed by an actual person) are also free above the basic tiers. A new client area offers “friendly site tools” with an easier interface for databases, email account creation, and other normally intimidating tasks. This interface can replace the traditional CPanel.
View Now at SiteGround
Is the price right?
All the above web hosting providers are well-established companies, and at a glance, they all promise pretty much the same entry-level offerings. The cheapest plans offer shared hosting for an introductory price of a few dollars a month. So, what’s the catch?
For starters, these plans offer storage space and bandwidth on servers that are shared with other customers. The more sites that share a single server, the more likely your visitors are to encounter slow performance; shared servers also offer a greater risk of security breaches.
Some of the low, low prices you see on the landing page for these web hosting services are introductory offers. When the promotional period ends, the regular prices can be significantly higher. 

Likewise, the low advertised price might require a lengthy commitment. At HostGator, for example, the advertised starting prices range from $2.75 to $5.95 a month, but when you click the Buy button, you’ll see that those rates are for a three-year contract. If you’d rather go for a month-to-month deal, the price ranges go up dramatically, to $10.95 to $16.95, which is also the price you agree to pay when the promo period ends.
Another common gimmick is the “limited time” offer: Buy now before the price goes up! Some of the hosting providers we checked out included a countdown clock on the home page. When we went back a few days later for a second fact-checking pass, the countdown clock had been magically reset.
Those prices might still be a good value, but you’ll have to dig a bit to make accurate long-term comparisons.
Upsells and options
Those dirt-cheap teaser rates are designed to lure you in, and some web hosting providers are not shy about making up the difference by charging extra for features like backup and site migration; here, too, you’ll have to factor those costs in before you can make an informed choice.
A low-cost shared hosting plan is probably good enough for a personal website. It’s also adequate for a basic business site whose main purpose is to serve as an online calling card and a landing page for visitors who want to know more about your organization. It’s not a good choice for a site that occasionally needs to handle large spikes in traffic or e-commerce.
If you choose a cheap plan, expect regular upsell offers for more full-featured (and significantly more expensive) plans. Those upsells come in a wide range of plans. Some of the most popular include these:
Website builder tools Typically, you don’t get much hand-holding with these services, as you might with turnkey solutions like Wix, Squarespace, or Wordpress.com. Some hosting providers do offer wizard-driven tools that allow less technical sophisticated customers to build a site by pointing and clicking. DreamHost, for example, offers its theme-based Remixer tool as part of a shared hosting plan.
Managed WordPress hosting Most of the companies listed here have a managed WordPress offering that insulates customers from the chore of managing the underlying web server or installing and maintaining their own WordPress instance. Most such offerings include a selection of ready-made themes; others include WordPress-oriented website builders.
Virtual private servers (VPS) In the bare-bones shared hosting environments, multiple tenants share the hardware and software resources of a single server. In a VPS, multiple tenants share the physical server hardware, but each server instance is isolated from the others using virtualization software, with resources (memory and storage, for example) assigned directly to the VPS. This configuration ensures that performance remains consistent, regardless of what’s happening with other sites that share the physical server hardware. It also dramatically reduces the likelihood of security issues that can affect accounts in a shared hosting environment. This type of solution can be managed or unmanaged, and costs significantly more than a shared hosting plan. 
Dedicated servers This is the most expensive option of all, with physical hardware dedicated to a specific customer and not shared with other accounts. This option is most appropriate for high-traffic websites that can’t afford any downtime, but the price is far from cheap. At A2 Hosting, for example, the non-promotional price for a managed dedicated server starts at $200 a month, compared to $70 for a managed VPS, and $11 for a basic shared hosting plan.
Other evaluation criteria
When choosing a hosting package, there’s more to consider than just a low price and a feature table packed with checkmarks. We considered a wide range of extra factors that can be crucial when it comes time to separate contenders on your shortlist of hosting providers.
Let’s start with the most important factor of all: A money-back guarantee. Every provider we surveyed offers at least 30 days during which you can try the service risk-free. DreamHost has a 97-day “zero risk” guarantee for its shared hosting plans, and A2 Hosting offers a full refund for the first 30 days and a pro-rated refund for unused service after 30 days. We strongly recommend taking advantage of that trial period to test the following factors:
Customer support How many contact options does the provider offer for the plan you’ve chosen? If phone support isn’t available and email and ticket-based systems are the primary mechanism for problem resolution, how quickly does the support team respond?
Bandwidth and storage For shared hosting plans, most providers offer “unlimited” data transfers and storage, but there’s invariably a page full of fine print that requires you to abide by “reasonable” restrictions and acceptable-use policies. More expensive plans typically include hard limits on storage and monthly data transfer.
Backup Every provider offers the ability to create manual backups and download them to local storage, but automated online backups are the most reliable way to recover from a disaster such as a sitewide compromise. Most hosting providers offer automatic backups, but some charge extra. Bluehost, for example, offers the Codeguard site-backup tool for an extra $2.99 per month. Be sure to check the retention policy to see how long backups are preserved.
Performance As a rule, the less you pay for a shared hosting plan, the more likely you are to encounter slow page loads, because those low-cost plans typically cluster more shared accounts on the server. The simplest way to boost speed is to choose a higher-priced storage plan, especially one like A2 Hosting’s Turbo plan, which includes support for caching and HTTP/2. Also, look for content delivery network options such as Cloudflare.
Security Every provider brags about its secure infrastructure, and as a solitary customer, it’s impossible to put those claims to the test. You can, however, look for basic security best practices. Does the provider offer multi-factor authentication? Are crucial software packages updated automatically, or are you required to stay on top of updates yourself? How easy is it to add SSL support, and how much does it cost to renew a certificate? Ask the support department whether they will assist if your website is hacked, and if so, how much the repair will cost.
Email and domain options Several providers offer free domain registration as part of a hosting package, but of course, the cost of that registration is built into the bill for the plan itself. And don’t expect to find any loopholes: Every provider that we checked with will assess a fee to recover that registration cost if you cancel your plan and try to transfer the domain. In addition, you can expect basic web-based email options from every provider, with some offering more advanced features. If email is important, make sure to test those offerings during the free trial period.
More resources:
Susan Preston of Clearly Presentable, a New Mexico-based website and presentation design firm, provided research assistance for these listings.  

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