Alan,

>My problem is finding a company that will host such a site for a reasonable fee. It appears no site will entertain the idea unless I hire a dedicated server, for which the going rate here in the UK is around 250GBP (360USD) per month! That's pretty steep for a small UK business venturing out on its first web-site!

That's unfortunately the lay of the land with custom data-driven solutions like Web Connection or FoxWeb. I would think you could get that price down a bit for a dedicated server, especially if you provide the server and just have a friendly ISP (there are a few) hook it up and keep it running (and backed up).

You might talk with John Harvey at www.shelbynet.com, who is a Foxer and can provide a dedicated machine for $325/mo or co-locate your machine for $245/mo.

>Is ISDN or ASDL suitable for hosting a small site?

Yes, if the traffic is fairly light and the page content is not too heavy (not lots of large images, etc). ADSL will probably get you better uplink speed for the money than ISDN, based on what I've seen here in the US, but even a 128K line can handle light traffic. The bigger concern would be the consistency of the connection and the financial health of the provider. (Many of the DSL companies here are going down the toilet, leaving small businesses high and dry).

The other problem with hosting your own is that you don't have a redundant connection to the net, unless you add an additional line from another provider. If your ISP has router problems you're out of business until they get it fixed, and many of the phone companies masquerading as ISP's these days don't have a clue, much less a tech department.

For all these reasons, I say, "If it's worth putting on the net, then prepare to pay a few hundred a month as part of the cost of eBusiness." If you can't make a profit with a $300-400 connection, you might want to reconsider WHY you're doing this, and just stick with ASP pages and ADO.

>A more econimical solution (though not my favoured one) may be to use shared hosting using ASP pages with VFP COM objects.

You won't find any ISP who will let you do that on a shared server, since a hung COM object can require a complete restart of IIS.

>I am not averse to hosting via a non-UK site (and I am willing to be persuaded that I needn't worry), it's just that I feel more comfortable not having to phone 'across the pond' if I need support.

Don't worry, and you can always use email.

Good luck!