[Player99]

I am looking for a new hosting service. My current one has upped their rates again and I am not happy with their tech help. So I would appreciate any recommendations for a host that will offer both email (RoundCube) and hosting web sites with servers in Canada.

Thanks

 

[torndownunit]

Nope. I do web design work and where the hosts are don't factor into my recommendations. Only the quality. I've dealt with so many crappy Canadian hosts. A lot of the ones advertising as being Canadian aren't actually Canadian anyway. I am sure there are some decent Canadian hosting companies, but I don't feel like looking for them.

I don't trust even the best hosting companies email services, and always recommend Gsuite. Especially if it's for business. For hosting I like Siteground, but I am generally working on sites using a CMS and it's geared towards that. Their basic plan is a great deal though if you lock it in for a few years. Their support and s great, which is a key reason I use them.

 

[LexxM3]

If you’re looking for email/calendar/notes/groupware of any sort and for some reason don’t want Gmail, Microsoft Office 365 Exchange is actually rather awesome (I cant believe I am using such words together with Microsoft), even for personal/family use. I believe that you can choose your data/servers to be in Canada, but I’d have to research exactly how to request that (they definitely offered it as a proactive switch option at one time).

 

[Player99]

Nope. I do web design work and where the hosts are don't factor into my recommendations. Only the quality. I've dealt with so many crappy Canadian hosts. A lot of the ones advertising as being Canadian aren't actually Canadian anyway. I am sure there are some decent Canadian hosting companies, but I don't feel like looking for them.

I don't trust even the best hosting companies email services, and always recommend Gsuite. Especially if it's for business. For hosting I like Siteground, but I am generally working on sites using a CMS and it's geared towards that. Their basic plan is a great deal though if you lock it in for a few years. Their support and s great, which is a key reason I use them.

I was looking at this one:
Signup - Canadian Web Hosting

 

[Player99]

If you’re looking for email/calendar/notes/groupware of any sort and for some reason don’t want Gmail, Microsoft Office 365 Exchange is actually rather awesome (I cant believe I am using such words together with Microsoft), even for personal/family use. I believe that you can choose your data/servers to be in Canada, but I’d have to research exactly how to request that (they definitely offered it as a proactive switch option at one time).

I like using online servers and never download emails to my PC. I use Round Cube to view and send and receive emails. Not super business oriented, but I can get what I want from any device.

 

[LexxM3]

I like using online servers and never download emails to my PC. I use Round Cube to view and send and receive emails. Not super business oriented, but I can get what I want from any device.

Exchange has an extremely usable web client, no need to download.

 

[Kerry Brown]

If you want the best webnames.ca They are 100% Canadian. One of the the owners is John Demco who started .ca. He personally got the delegation from John Postel. They are expensive but they will hold your hand if needed. Full disclosure, I served on the board of CIRA with John. I don’t use their services though. I’m cheap and I don’t need that level of support.

I use namespro.ca For a lower priced registrar/web host they are surprisingly quick with email based support. They are a Canadian company with an office in Vancouver. Last I checked the servers my site is on were in Dallas.

If you want the best email look at Office365 Microsoft Hosted Exchange. You can specify your data be hosted in Canada if you want. I have a few clients that contract with various levels of government that need to have this. Since I switched to them a few years ago I’ve never had a problem. I’ve switched most of my clients to Microsoft, almost 1,000 users.

 

[Kerry Brown]

Exchange has an extremely usable web client, no need to download.

I agree. I use Outlook on my Windows pc’s but the web client (Outloook Web Access) on macs and linux. I prefer the web client but I need to know Outlook to support my clients.

 

[Player99]

I don't want to use any USA servers because they are harvesting all our data, which they can't do if it is a small Canadian company with no US servers. If the Canadian company has US servers then the Americans can harvest everything from Canada.

 

[torndownunit]

If you’re looking for email/calendar/notes/groupware of any sort and for some reason don’t want Gmail, Microsoft Office 365 Exchange is actually rather awesome (I cant believe I am using such words together with Microsoft), even for personal/family use. I believe that you can choose your data/servers to be in Canada, but I’d have to research exactly how to request that (they definitely offered it as a proactive switch option at one time).

I should have worded my post better, I meant a service like Gsuite or Outlook. Just something that's a dedicated email solution, not just a hosting companies email service.

 

[torndownunit]

If you want the best webnames.ca They are 100% Canadian. One of the the owners is John Demco who started .ca. He personally got the delegation from John Postel. They are expensive but they will hold your hand if needed. Full disclosure, I served on the board of CIRA with John. I don’t use their services though. I’m cheap and I don’t need that level of support.

I use namespro.ca For a lower priced registrar/web host they are surprisingly quick with email based support. They are a Canadian company with an office in Vancouver. Last I checked the servers my site is on were in Dallas.

If you want the best email look at Office365 Microsoft Hosted Exchange. You can specify your data be hosted in Canada if you want. I have a few clients that contract with various levels of government that need to have this. Since I switched to them a few years ago I’ve never had a problem. I’ve switched most of my clients to Microsoft, almost 1,000 users.

My issue with webnames is that the other hosts I recommend to clients all have cPanels that have free SSL (multile options, including Let's Encrypt for both single and wildcards), Cloudflare integration, their own caching systems, and a ton of other backup and security features that I consider essential at this point. And all in the same price point. I don't believe Webnames offers any of this, or at least didn't the last time I checked (and they use Plesk and only go up to PHP 7.0 on the tech side of things). It makes it hard to recommend them over services with way more value. But, to answer OP's question, you are correct, I have always heard they are reliable.

 

[1SweetRide]

I've been using Rebel.ca for about 15 years now. Very happy.

 

[Kerry Brown]

I don't want to use any USA servers because they are harvesting all our data, which they can't do if it is a small Canadian company with no US servers. If the Canadian company has US servers then the Americans can harvest everything from Canada.

Your data transits through the US. None of the big Canadian ISPs peer in Canada so your data almost always goes from your ISP to the US then back to Canada. The US government can snoop your data whenever they want to. The reason to have your data resident in Canada is so it is governed by Canadian privacy laws if someone other than a government wants your data they would have to apply to the courts in Canada.

 

[GuitarsCanada]

For about the last 3 years that I owned the forum I had it with Cloud Servers | Cloud Hosting | Web Hosting - Cirrus Hosting my server was in Toronto. They may have them all over but that's where mine was. Pretty much all automated in terms of choosing your package and add-ons. Whenever I needed support they were very responsive and no charges.

 

[1SweetRide]

One think to look for (which I have with Rebel.ca) is a warning that your payment didn't go through (i.e. you changed credit cards) before they release your domain.

 

[Private Hudson]

Set up a LAMP server on a Raspberry pi with a nice UPS. Voila, you've got another hobby

 

[1SweetRide]

Set up a LAMP server on a Raspberry pi with a nice UPS. Voila, you've got another hobby

Don't like UPS, prefer Canada Post.

 

[torndownunit]

One think to look for (which I have with Rebel.ca) is a warning that your payment didn't go through (i.e. you changed credit cards) before they release your domain.

I've had to move a lot of clients off Rebel. I do not recommend them. Very antiquated panel and support compared to most hosts in the price range.

 

[1SweetRide]

I've had to move a lot of clients off Rebel. I do not recommend them either.

Jeez, my wife and I have never had an issue. She uses it for her business.

 

[torndownunit]

Jeez, my wife and I have never had an issue. She uses it for her business.

The issues I have run into would take too long to post here. I have some concerns with their security is a primary issue.