Virtual private servers. Cost effective?

[Eric Dunbar]

Hi all, I'm in the market for a "new" server to replace my aging
PowerMac G3/266 MHz Linux server.

I've been contemplating a shift to a used Intel clone server machine
and have been wondering how expensive they'd be to run (they can be
had for peanuts) but came across "virtual private server" (VPS) this
morning.

One company (https://www.rapidvps.com/) seems to offer 5 GB of storage
with an insane amount of bandwidth each month (100 GB) for $10 (US, I
presume).

For my web serving this machine would meet most of my needs. So, for a
grand total of $144 USD/a I'd have a web server with (presumably) good
incoming and outgoing bandwidth. I'd pay the same amount in
electricity to run my own webserver (200 W average draw) and I'd be
limited to the 80 K/sec outgoing rate of my ISP (ADSL - Bell Sympatico
HSE).

Have any of the sounder-denizens had experience with VPSes? Are they
worth it or should I stick with my own "bricks and mortar" setup which
also hosts a network file server?

Thanks, Eric.