I'm having a real problem just trying to get some webspace. Maybe someone out there can point me in the right direction?

I used to use Pipex as my ISP. They give a whole load of space to customers and I hosted several websites of mine on the free space. I'm no longer using them as ISP as I now have a contract with BT broadband. Howeever, BT does my connection and all my domains are registered with a company called AQ, up in Leeds.

AQ has all my domains, so when someone goes to www.markhillary.com for instance, they divert to another URL where the site is actually hosted. That was on the Pipex server until the contract recently ended.

So, I need some space. But it seems quite complex as most hosting providers won't give space without you also handing them all the domains too... I have quite a few domains though. Some of them I am actively using and some are just parked because I might want them in future.

I just want to buy some space on a server, FTP my website files to that server, and then point the AQ redirections to a URL on that server. It should be simple. Why can't I do that?

BT offers me 5gb of free space, but I can't host a website there. It's just space I can backup files to. I tried signing up with Go Daddy for hosting space and then I got into the complexities of setting it up and found the same problem - they wanted my domains as well... I had to call them and arrange a refund of the money I spent. AQ can arrange some space for me, but they want £150 for 50mb. That's extortionate compared to the other hosting companies out there... for instance 123-reg offers twice as much space for about 10% of that price...

How can this be so complex? Once I get it set up and all working I will happily transfer my domains if I am happy, but why would I do that immediately to a company I don't know? I just want to buy a bit of server space - and I probably need something tiny anyway, no more than about 20mb!

Ideas please...