I don't know, maybe its just my provider being stupid but HostGator hasn't worked for me for quite some time now. They were pretty big even back in 04 so I cant see why their site would be down. It's prob just my end.

Honestly, I'd say just grab a lists of hosts, email their sales teams and if you like what they hear, give them a try unless you need your site to be up 100%. If thats the case, your going to have to fork over a bit of money.

If you're looking for any Shared Hosting, I'd recommend the site in my sig, elsewise, you may need to give us more specs.

I think that VPS might be very good start for you. I would recommend you have a look at http://www.justgotvps.com/. I think that it might be good deal for you. They offer low cost VPS solutions.