This website started on Teleport in 1997. Teleport was the premiere internet provider in the Portland aread at the time, and one of the first, if not the first in the business in the area.

Why did I move the website in 1999?

I decided to move to something faster than a dial-up line, so I got ADSL (now commonly called "DSL"). Doing so required that I change my ISP. I hadn't been pleased with my old ISP, so I was glad to change. I switched to Aracnet, now called SpiritOne.

With ADSL I got rid of my second telephone line, and with an ISP that costs less I was paying the same amount of money. I was on DSL for 9 years, and it had been working great! And my old ISP is out of business. When I switched to FIOS, I was paying about half for ADSL as I was in 1999.

Why did I move the website again in March 2003?

I decided it was time to have my own domain. From this point on I've used a internet service provider separate from my web hosting provider. It's so easy to have my own domain -- in fact I have four -- and now I'll have a permanent address ever if I change providers. I went with Webmasters.com because I liked their policies and prices. It worked out well but was expensive. Webmasters.com is still in business.

Why did I move again in February 2004?

I switched to VizaWeb for hosting and GoDaddy for domain registration because I was able to save a sizable amount of money. Also, VizaWeb had a very good reputation. Unfortunately there have been problems and I might move again if I can find a host that offers the somewhat unusual features I need -- most hosts are oriented more toward turn-key customers, and I basically "roll my own". Note that as of this writing VizaWeb is out of business.

Why did I move again in September 2006?

Because of the problems with VizaWeb, I moved my sites to GoDaddy in September 2006. This should be much more reliable, actually costs a little less, but isn't as flexible as VizaWeb was. However I really need a host that works. What did I lose? Well the mail server isn't as flexible (and I can't set up mailing lists) but for some mysterious reason the amount of spam I was receiving dropped at least ten-fold with the change, even with the same addresses, and spam continued to hit my disconnnected sites. Hmmm. Also gone is the ability to have protected directories and some other security features (?) which I really don't need anyway.

Five years later I was still with GoDaddy. I didn't like their website (too busy and self-promoting of upgraded services) nor their advertising. However the service has been great. They have also increased their services over the years. The services they offer tend to be stripped of options, probably to keep system usage down, but it is easy to run your own applications if you wish.

Why did I move the website yet again in August 2019?

Godaddy pulled a "fast one". I was paying more per month ($4) for legacy hosting which includes email. Then they sent me an email stating they would drop all the unused "free" email accounts I have. Note that it would then be not possible for me to add new email accounts or change existing ones. They basically wanted me to go with a new plan and pay about $400 a year for email, much more than I pay for hosting.

So I've moved to Bluehost. I've now got all the mail accounts I want, with IMAP (Godaddy was POP only), HTTPS for my websites, and a Wordpress blog to boot. Cost after the initial trial will be about $50 less than Godaddy was, and I signed up for 3 years at half price. We will see how this goes.

Bluehost really pushes Wordpress and premium (Outlook) email, but if you click on "Advanced" you get CPanel and the ability to configure your own email accounts and set up your own websites like this one.