No, I am NOT going to advertise my server.Well, not technically.Long story short, I am thinking of starting my own server for personal use amongst friends(and maybe some events for EMC! )And wanted to know if you guys new of any server hosting companies that are cheap but still worth the money.
Depending on what size you're going for, I've found http://cloudcrafting.com to be very good and well priced. The control panel is a little bit limited though, but if it's just for you and your friends then it should be fine. EDIT: They seem to be sold out right now, although they seem to get back in stock pretty quickly most of the time.
Minecrafted.net are the best. $5GB I use them. (Cheapest out there) There out of stock at the moment (Sold 2 servers out in 14 hours) So you'll have to wait 24/48 hours. for them to build more.
Pennsylvania, US, You can check the ping by putting this into the multiplayer screen, demo.minecrafted.net
Cheapest one I could find: https://www.creeperhost.net/cart.php?gid=6 I have used them in the past, but due to other financial things I had to close the server. I was using Mini Slime at first, and then I upgraded to Slime, then the server closed
I recommend that you don't use Servercraft, they have a lot of bad reviews, among other things. Although there are positive ones, the negatives seem to always be the same. http://www.bestminecrafthosts.com/servercraft/ http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/270314-servercraft-review-and-host-request/ - Pretty old, but I hear the same issues are still abundant. http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/328507-servercraftco-do-not-use-review/ http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/571023-do-not-use-servercraftco/ - Links to other negative reviews
I just host it myself on a spare computer, but you gotta have good internet (high upload, we have 4Mbps upload) and access to your router software to do this.
Costs more for me to leave the PC on 24/7 then to get it hosted (£30 to leave it on instead of 6 for hosting p/m)
I have a core 2 duo wolfdale slightly undervolted with an integrated video card I host on... with an 80+ power supply. With my kill-a-watt it takes ~8w out of the wall when idle and ~30w when fully loaded (prime95). That isn't too expensive, especially if you already have the right parts sitting around already. It sits in a corner out of the way, next to the intel atom file server, which is even less power draw.