I started off in a shared hosting plan back in 2005 / 2006 and had numerous issues with it. The server was always over loaded, and causing my site to be very slow, or not load at all.
It was then in November 2006 I first used a VPS, with 128mb ram and 10gig space, and that ran the site OK for a couple of months. and then in January 2007 I got my first dedicated server:
Code:
Celeron 2.0
+ 512mb ram
+ 1 x 80gb IDE hd
+ RHE 4 (32-bit)
+ Plesk 8 w/powerpack (100 domain license)
+ 1300gb monthly transfer
setup: $25
monthly: $119
and to think by today's standards, that is a lower spec than the $5 DigitalOcean droplet!
I then moved the site back to a VPS in July 2009, as the technology had come along a hell of a lot in the 2 years since I first tried one:
I was with the same company for the next 4 years, and only moved elsewhere in 2013 due to increase in SSD hosts available. I've since moved about a few more times in 2013, but mainly because I enjoy building them up, and trying new things, and I can move the DNS over in 60 seconds, so there is no downtime to any of my members on the main site.