Dear Experts,

I am based in the UK and have several websites/domain names. I am experiencing this terrible thing called time-difference with my Webhoster (the Internet was suppose to be 24-7?). Once I have a problem during the day, there is no-one awake on the other side of the Atlantic, which means that there is nowhere for me to go, which results in 8 hours downtime (time difference UK/Massachussets).

So my question is - Where are the British/European webhosters, or the US-hosters with 24 hours service?

Gerard Kroese
gerard@kroese.worldonline.co.uk

Hi, Well There are a few hosts that are Based in the UK...
http://www.webfusion.co.uk - seem good they have there own "£1 million" DataCenter Though very they are a little Expensive. But i've Heard they have great Support...
http://www.twelvenet.com/ I've not really Got any information on these guys

There are a few UK hosts that are Based here but they locate there servers at a US NOC.. (Like us :-)

Well I hope you have sucess Getting a UK host!

Dominic Buono http://www.unixfusion.com
sales@unixfusion.com

[This message has been edited by unixfusion (edited 07-12-2000).]

theres also these few -
http://www.webnetics.co.uk - They have a cheap reseller package and are just starting to turn the corner and could one day be as good as they where in the middle of last year. They went through a very bad patch at one point with technical support when they didnt have enough staff but they are getting better.

http://www.cyberquest.co.uk - Servers like a rock i havent noticed a day when they have been down a little pricey if you just host one site there but do very good discounts if you purchase large amount of services. There email support is slow around 48 hours to answer but if you phone them they fix the problem whilst your on the phone and even phone you back :).
http://www.fasthosts.co.uk - Service seems a bit strange everyone in there firm covers support,sales,accounts etc etc. Pricing is good though. Phone support is good email support sucks.

http://www.architec.co.uk/ - I think they are resellers for webfusion.co.uk not sure but offer cheap hosting with a good reseller package.

http://www.ghoulnet.com - Now this is one company id give a 5 star rating to out of 5 they answer your emails within 8 hours, there servers are stable and pricing is cheap there about to launch a reseller package for £200 a year. Where you get 400mb of space on there cobalt raq3i servers.

i know of more if you have any further questions you can email me at djsy99@netscape.net or post here :).

Dear Experts,

Thanks for your suggestions and I will shop around today. I also got some replies via e-mail so I will be busy all day. I will return in 60 days time with my feedback from this session. Thanks to WebHostingTalk.com for taking up their space.

Gerard Kroese
gerard@kroese.worldonline.co.uk

Actually, Gerard, the time difference between Western Europe and the Estern U.S. is 6 hours, 7 when we're on Daylight Savings Time. We have nearly as much difference between the Eastern U.S. and our westernmost state, Hawaii.

The time difference is not an insurmountable problem. For instance, 9 am to 5 pm ET corresponds to 3 pm to 12 m in Western Europe. Of course, many hosting companies have support available before 9 am and after 5 pm. Some have 24 hour monitoring (not the same as 24 hour support), and some have 24 hour support.

You might have some difficulty communicating in real time before noon your time with some companies, but you hardly need to wait until the middle of the night.

So, you see, much of the U.S. is awake as the same time as you. It's just that it's closer to breakfast for us when it's tea time for you. :-)

[This message has been edited by Duster (edited 07-15-2000).]

Gerard,

I don't know of any european host with 24 hour service if you don't want to shell out an obscene amount of money. But I do know at least one US host (from personal experience) that's "awake" all the time. I am with www.dids.com (http://www.dids.com) and they haven't failed me so far.
They have the wonderful policy of full disclosure, which I haven't seen any other place. They are very quick to tell you if something has gone wrong and what's done about it.

Feel free to mail me if you have any questions.

T-bear

Dear Experts,

What is worse - paying $15/month too much or a useless host and not being in the air? I rather choose the former than the latter, but opinions differ on that.

One thing is clear, there is an opportunity for American webhosters to enter the European market as e-commerce/Internet is now picking up! And I only had about 4 responses from the UK to my questions above (13,000 webhosters in the US?).

Duster, my 8-hours difference comes from the following. I have not received an e-mail from my webhosting company (address Massachussets (apologise for spelling errors)) before 16:00pm Greenwich Mean Time (UK). I gave them an extra hour (not 7 hours but 8 hours - I am too nice), which makes 16:00pm - 08:00 hours = 08:00am. If I follow your calculations it could be even worse and they start at 10:00am/11:00am?!

Gerard

Actually, I was off by an hour. It is a 5 hour difference, and 6 on DST. I know the time setting we use is GMT-5. That certainly doesn't make your host look any better. They probably don't answer e-mails in the first hour or two. Regardless of the reason, and I'm certainly not making excuses for them, a 5 hour difference is better than 6. That puts you at the same differential as the Eastern U.S. and Hawaii.

Imagine Eastern Europe. They have a huge differential, close to half a day.

[This message has been edited by Duster (edited 07-15-2000).]