Good morning,

My hosting account has run out with a hosting company and as I am not pleased with their service I would like to have my website hosted with a new hosting company. Is this easy to do? What would I need from my old hosting company to move to a new one?

Thanks in advance for any help.

There are two ways, do with yourself or do by your new service.
Some of web hosting services support their clients transfer website from old host to new host. You can ask your new service for this feature. And if they don't have this feature, you will move your site with yourself.
Step:
- Come to the old: backup database (download back to localhost)
- Download all files into a directory or in localhost folder
- Come to the new: create new database -> import SQL
- Upload all files into root directory.
- Change nameservers in domain cpanel if you buy domain with outside hosting service company. Or transfer your domain name if you buy domain and hosting with the same company.
- Terminate contract with old service -> Finish.

Good luck!
PS: midPhase support transfer customer, and you can use coupon ONEOFF to get 1 month free!

We can help you to transfer account from old to new account for a nominal charge. We are a hosting and designing company. We have experience in moving domains across the servers. If interested Please PM me. If you are intrested I recommend an excellent hosting service from here: http://www.dynamicwebsol.com/hosting.html from Hostgator.

Originally Posted by pixelsara

Is this easy to do? What would I need from my old hosting company to move to a new one?

It depends on the construction of your website (e.g. static HTML, database driven etc.).

static HTML (or otherwise non-database driven) website

1. Download all files from your old hosting company (e.g. via FTP)
2. Ensure all emails are downloaded from the server (e.g. if you just access via webmail, they'll all be stored on the server, and will be lost when you close your account with the old web host)
3. Select an appropriate hosting provider offering whatever scripting features etc. you require
4. Upload your files (downloaded in step 1) to your new hosting provider
5. Re-create any mailbox(es) etc. that you wish to use with your domain
6. Change the nameservers for your domain to those provided by the new hosting provider - then wait (up to 72 hours) for DNS propagation to complete so that your domain correctly points to your new hosting provider's server instead of your old one
7. Cancel the hosting service with your old hosting provider

Database driven website

1. Download all files from your old hosting company (e.g. via FTP)
2. Create a backup of the database(s) required for your website (e.g. via phpMyAdmin) - if the database(s) is large then you will need to ask your old hosting company to create a backup for you via shell.
3. (optional)Disable the database driven parts of your website (e.g. turn the forums off) to avoid any changes to the database - any more changes will not be included in the database backup that you just created when you restore it to the new hosting service
4. Ensure all emails are downloaded from the server (e.g. if you just access via webmail, they'll all be stored on the server, and will be lost when you close your account with the old web host)
5. Select an appropriate hosting provider offering whatever scripting features etc. you require
6. Upload your files (downloaded in step 1) to your new hosting provider
7. Re-create the database(s) using the backup(s) taken in step 2 (e.g. via phpMyAdmin) - if the database(s) is large then you will need to ask your new hosting provider to restore the backup(s) for you via shell.
8. Re-create any mailbox(es) etc. that you wish to use with your domain
9. Change the nameservers for your domain to those provided by the new hosting provider - then wait (up to 72 hours) for DNS propagation to complete so that your domain correctly points to your new hosting provider's server instead of your old one
10. Cancel the hosting service with your old hosting provider

Important note
The above may appear to be complicated, but it isn't really! The instructions above are quite explicit and detailed (without knowing what control panel software you'd be using), but the whole process shouldn't take long to complete and should be quite straight forward...

If you need more help during the migration process then please ask around on here - there are plenty of people willing to offer further advice!

I feel that it's very important to move hosting provider if the one you're currently using isn't offering the quality of service you need - it's the only way to improve the overall quality of the hosting industry (i.e. those hosts who are rubbish go out of business ).

Thank you very much to all of you for taking the time to help me. I understand now, I thought it was a very difficult process but it looks easy. Have a great day all.