going from wp.com to wp.org

I believe this is not possible but if you’re planning to move your wordpress.com blog to .org, you can export the content then import it in your .org blog.

do you have a webhost that you can recommend and why?

I am using 3 Webhosts actually. You might want to check out Hostgator, Hostmonster, and Justhost. Those webhosts are good in my opinion. Support is nice, good speed, and stable. The battle may just come into who’s cheaper. They change there price from time to time especially when they have a “promo”. Just do a bit of digging.

See WordPress ? PHP / MySQL Web Hosting and Importing Content ? WordPress Codex

What about the 4 recommended by wordpress, bluehost, dreamhost, media temple, and laughing squid.

Why do you use 3 web hosts?

You may want to check the webhosts recommended by WordPress. See if who offers better solutions/hosting features which you need.

Why do you use 3 web hosts?

It’s to personally compare the services of the webhosts and the 3 I mentioned are on par in my opinion.

Thank you for you help