Someone here mentioned virtual hosting, and I'm starting to warm up to the idea. I've found Linux virtual hosts as cheap as $5 a month.
At the moment my preferred hosting company is Lux Scientiae, primarily because they seem incredibly security conscious, and therefore also incredibly competent. From them I can get just about any mail protocol over SSL, an https control center and web email app, ssh/scp access to my disk space, and a shell account, not to mention most of the things you might expect (though I don't see mod perl listed). They even say they'll install perl modules for you. A user testimonial even mentions they reworked their webmail interface to work with his Mac OS X browser.
If anyone has any experience with LuxSci in particular, or another hosting company that stands out (good or bad), I'd love to hear it.
I typed "linux virtual hosting" into Google to find these; LuxSci was about the fourth on the list. I'm aiming at about $10/month, $100/year in services, although the first on the list was $5/month.
In related news, I'm getting hit by the big DirecTV broadband disaster. It's a shame I found out from Slashdot before I found out from DirecTV. I wanted DSL primarily for the always on connection and the static IP address, not the speed, because my purpose was to educate myself and be able to set up servers I fancied I might need, like CVS, or a prototype for a web-based school project I did this semester. With virtual hosting in mind, I am tempted to switch back to dialup!
