Inmotionhosting is great, super fast servers, SQL is super fast and I'm running a bunch of cron jobs and have DBS with 200000 records being referenced.
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Also, they're no problem in cases where you need kernel modifications or odd support requests. I run software on my vps, they've never been the least bit aggervating when I need libraries added or anything else.
We have hosted a number of domains with CrystalTech.com, customer service is great (phone, chat, email, forums). A number of plans to chose from.
Shared hosting environment is fine to a certain point. If a host starts to cram sites/accounts onto their servers this is where most issues stem from (load times, outages, hardware failures, etc). $5/Month hosting may sound great on paper, but when your site is sitting on a server with 300 other domains / accounts, it becomes penny wise pound foolish.