Host experiences and testimonials thread

[TheKdd]

I as well have inmotionhosting and for the first 6 months didn't have a problem whatsoever. Now, I am having all kinds of problems with them. They continue to block my IP address when ever I access the server with an FTP program even after multiple phone calls saying there is no issue.

Good luck chatting with them online or getting a decent email response time. You have to call and speak with someone and even then the techs are not that knowledgeable. This is day #2 my site is down and I have yet to have a reason from them.

I will be looking into this GlobalGold hosting service. Thanks for everyone's reviews.

I am currently with GlobalGold, and I will say they were a great company to be with. However, make note that they are in the UK. I am in the U.S. and am now having problems with their back-ups taking my site down in the evenings for about 15 minutes or so. My forum is an Entertainment website, with many members coming over while shows are airing to discuss, so having the site run slow or go down during prime-time is unacceptable. I have been told that the time of the back-ups cannot be changed, or it would affect many other sites. Totally understandable, especially for sites overseas in midday, but unacceptable for me. So... I am looking for a new host unfortunately. So far my top three are URLJet, MDDHosting, and HostHawk. Servint is a little too high still for my budget.

If you live overseas, or don't really care about the updates being in the evenings (around 8-10p Pacific time) then GlobalGold is a terrific host. They helped out immensely with the initial move, and are very responsive to any issues you may have.

[cyberchief]

I am a newer VB Owner... have had my forum up for 4 months now. After searching many sources... I went with URLJet. Now... they are NOT the cheapest around. BUT.. the hosting and services they provide.. have been WAY WORTH IT!!! and... I have been COMPLETELY satisfied. I have had NO problems with software, hardware, etc. And... They will install any FREE mods at NO charge! There is a charge for FTP'ing files... but that is pretty limited. They also offer free upgrades when vBulletin updates. They have saved me sooo much in headaches! URLJet has EARNED my loyalty!!!! Great communication! Great services! Great up-time! A little pricey compared to others... but oh, so worth it!

[ryan1918]

Yeah it's more or less what you like, I tell people that ask me for quotes, if they don't mind paying for more at another company for the same service then go for it, and if they don't wanna switch providers and pay more there stay with them, if it's not broken don't fix it, but when you can save several hundred dollars a year people start noticing it's smart to find a good provider that is a decent price with the same features if not more. It's like when I used to have several dedicated servers at softlayer they were very expensive compared to other providers until I starting realizing I was paying 50% more for the same thing, when there network was good I could get just as good at like Phoenixnap and the upgrade prices at softlayer were expensive and do I mean expensive like 90% more than my new provider, which is ridilaous when you have more than 15 servers at a company they give you no breaks in prices unless you have a 100 servers, you can't co-locate your servers so you have to use there equipment it just sucks.

[Bacon Butty]

I am currently with GlobalGold, and I will say they were a great company to be with. However, make note that they are in the UK. I am in the U.S. and am now having problems with their back-ups taking my site down in the evenings for about 15 minutes or so. My forum is an Entertainment website, with many members coming over while shows are airing to discuss, so having the site run slow or go down during prime-time is unacceptable. I have been told that the time of the back-ups cannot be changed, or it would affect many other sites. Totally understandable, especially for sites overseas in midday, but unacceptable for me. So... I am looking for a new host unfortunately. So far my top three are URLJet, MDDHosting, and HostHawk. Servint is a little too high still for my budget.

If you live overseas, or don't really care about the updates being in the evenings (around 8-10p Pacific time) then GlobalGold is a terrific host. They helped out immensely with the initial move, and are very responsive to any issues you may have.

Thanks for this information. I'm looking at GlobalGold now for my forum. Although I'm in the UK and so is the majority of it's traffic, I still dont like the sound of downtime for back-ups? Your website went down at some point every day for 15 minutes or so? That can't be good...

[Mark.B]

If you're on a Globalgold VPS, you *may* be able to get them to reschedule backups. I was having similar issues at one point, even though I'm in the UK. they did eventually move them, and changed the way they were done so it didn't actually take the site offline.

Drop them an email and outline the issues, they are usually very helpful with this sort of thing. Having your site go offline every day for a period is clearly not sustainable.

[traen]

I am looking for a new host unfortunately. So far my top three are URLJet, MDDHosting, and HostHawk.

I have had a great experience with urljet, and would recommend them any day. Best support I've encountered, fast server, can be a bit pricey though you get what you pay for.

[zeus_r6]

I stumbled across this thread while doing a search for something else.

I'm sure that with 30+ pages in this thread, HostGator has already been written up. Since I don't feel like going through all 30 pages right now, I'll just say that I've used HostGator for quite a few years and am extremely happy with them. For me it's all about customer service. There's nothing worse than being in a panic and waiting days for a response from customer service of any organization. HostGator gets back to me almost immediately. Our board is small so I can't really judge connection speed et al, but we've never had any problems. We are very, very pleased with HostGator.

Something is happening with hostgator...their customer service is going downhill fast, uptime is patchy and response time to tickets has gone from hours to days. A big thumbs down to hostgator. BAD REVIEW.

[zeus_r6]

After speaking with a hostgator technical support person via their online chat, I received this response after I pointed out their service is going downhill:

"We have had a massive increase in customers in the past months, and have been hiring as rapidly as possible to meet this demand. Unfortunately, there really aren't too many people who are qualified to be Linux Security Administrators, so their ticket que's have gotten rather long."

Guess it's time to move on.

[Mark.B]

After speaking with a hostgator technical support person via their online chat, I received this response after I pointed out their service is going downhill:

"We have had a massive increase in customers in the past months, and have been hiring as rapidly as possible to meet this demand. Unfortunately, there really aren't too many people who are qualified to be Linux Security Administrators, so their ticket que's have gotten rather long."

Guess it's time to move on.

Indeed it is...what a ludicrous response.

[Steve Machol]

Hostgator has billboards throughout the Phoenix area saying they are hiring Linux Administrators. And they don't even have an office here. They are in Houston.

[Solitaire]

Personally I would never go with a major hosting company ever again. Originally I used Network Solutions. At one time, they used to be the considered the best, but in March of 2010 they started having a lot of security issues, where blogs, forums, and even their own ecommerce templates were being attacked on a daily basis. The downtime for sites were anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours while they had their engineers work to close the gaping holes in their security. I was given 1 month free hosting after I repeated called and complained of my site being down. The next month, I decided to move my site to a smaller company with better personal customer service and pricing. I remember being on the phone with Net Sol canceling my account and them offering me another month free, I turned them down because a free month of hosting doesnt really equate to my time and aggravation when my site is down. The Net Sol employee practically tried to beg me to stay saying that a lot of the engineering staff was being replaced due to all the problems they had. My response to that was, show me. Restore the confidence that you once had publicly and maybe I will come back.

However, I don't think I ever will. There are so may smaller mom and pop hosting companies and/or resellers out there that can give you the type of hosting you need as a hobbyist. If you are a big board runner then you should be able to afford your own independent server at least.

[Thomas J]

I have a VPS with Hostgator and I am very happy with them.

[diggity1]

Personally I would never go with a major hosting company ever again. Originally I used Network Solutions. At one time, they used to be the considered the best, but in March of 2010 they started having a lot of security issues, where blogs, forums, and even their own ecommerce templates were being attacked on a daily basis. The downtime for sites were anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours while they had their engineers work to close the gaping holes in their security. I was given 1 month free hosting after I repeated called and complained of my site being down. The next month, I decided to move my site to a smaller company with better personal customer service and pricing. I remember being on the phone with Net Sol canceling my account and them offering me another month free, I turned them down because a free month of hosting doesnt really equate to my time and aggravation when my site is down. The Net Sol employee practically tried to beg me to stay saying that a lot of the engineering staff was being replaced due to all the problems they had. My response to that was, show me. Restore the confidence that you once had publicly and maybe I will come back.

However, I don't think I ever will. There are so may smaller mom and pop hosting companies and/or resellers out there that can give you the type of hosting you need as a hobbyist. If you are a big board runner then you should be able to afford your own independent server at least.

I have having this problem right now with Godaddy. There support is nothing short of horrible. I am anxiously trying to pick a new home.
The first year was fine & the second year we've been having some sort of problem once a month.
When I call for help when I'm down or have a problem, they never take the blame then "magically" everything works again an hour or 2 later.

Any experiences with inmotionhosting out there with vbull databases?
I use them at work & have never had a problem with them but I've never hosted a forum on them either.

[Eruss]

I use bounceweb shared hosting.

It's something like $7 a month and is completely ready for videos which is why I chose them. I have unlimited everything but have about reached the end of it. They do keep increasing my disk space but only by a little.

Response time to tickets is usually within 12 hrs.

Control Panel is super easy.

I am very happy with them. I would recommend anyone starting out who deals with pics / vids to look into them.

[deatheyes]

I use godaddy Deluxe 4GH, they don't have auto schedule backup, addon domain too slow
CPU very good and network speed limit at 2MB/s per IP