How depressing. I've been using OLM for about 3 years and I'll say this much. Sales and administrative support used to be good. Now they can't figure out their a@@ from their elbow with all the silly forms you have to fill out online that don't work and are hidden in areas with no discernible order. I couldn't care less until it started to become a problem as I realized what I was missing the more I added to my web site. A simple change domain name cost me a weekend and 2 full days downtime because they hadn't a clue what they were doing and everything needs to be done through sales.

Recently I came up with a big problem. PHP was an old version (RC1) when stable versions were long since released. That was upgraded to a semi-recent release (4.0.3). But mysql still is at 3.23.10-(alpha) and my request to upgrade it to *any* stable version was replied with a "we don't plan any upgrades unless you purchase a dedicated server. You can't expect much with that account. However, you can be a reseller!" My disappointment was that they wouldn't even upgrade to a *stable* version which leaves me unable to complete a few commands that are standard, some used with common scripts like myphpnuke and other things I'm sure will be an issue.

The standard account is pretty impressive which I just switched to. $19.95 for 500MB, 15GB traffic -- wow. Can't beat it. But I'd rather not continue to be so far behind the rest of the world with regard to what is installed when i would think that, at the very least, one *stable* version of software should be running on your servers.

I'm wondering whether I should leave OLM, which has had excellent uptime and terrific throughput. I don't feel like spending a minimum of $80/mo. yet on the two sites that I have as they are still growing and I don't anticipate tremendous traffic for a few months at least. Hostrocket has a very competetive plan with only 400MB but it does provide some other stuff that OLM does not -- subdomains (not), perl (not officially supported), error logs (extra), more than 4 mysql databases (extra) -- all of which are pretty significant.

What do you guys think? I haven't had to ponder this question for over 3 years and now I'm left to making a pretty big decision...

I use the economy plan for hostrocket. I have three accounts with them. They are great. Sense it seems that you are looking for tech support. They have excellent tech support. They are always willing to help you even if you have a stupid question that is posted on the FAQ or forums they'll still give you a manual response. As far as down time I've only had my site go down twice due to someone trying to hack there host 12 webserver. It was put back up within 15min's. There always watching there servers and whats going on. I higly recommend them and you will be very happy with them.You can trust hostrocket.

It seems like most everyone on this forum agrees to stay away from host with *unlimited*. These guys offer unlimited POP's and MySQL databases. I would really like to see a unlimited database server. MySQL can only support so many connections.

Try running unlimited databases with them. You will be shut down for high server use. You can go to their own forum to read about this -
http://forums.hostrocket.com/

Just my 2 cents.

Thanks - I feel the same way about "unlimited" but this scares me away only with regard to bandwidth and HD space. How many dbs will you really have on mysql?

Unfortunately OLM is limited in many ways. Limited perl support, old versions installed (that's really bad), error logs are extra, more than 4 dbs (regardless of usage and sessions) are extra, no subdomains, no anonymous ftp (not terrible), presents problems. I really don't need the support and I find that almost every error has been resolved with:

(1) update old version to whatever latest they will permit
(2) contact sales because it costs extra

If they are permitting 14gb of bandwidth per month than I'd have to believe that they allow some reasonable usage and I'm not worried about being shut down for a while. I'm sure they'd do the same at OLM pretty quickly...

My only point is that there are many good host which can be found here with very similar offerings not playing the "unlimited" game. I would recommend them over any "unlimited" host.

Originally posted by slinky
I'm wondering whether I should leave OLM, which has had excellent uptime and terrific throughput. I don't feel like spending a minimum of $80/mo. yet on the two sites that I have as they are still growing and I don't anticipate tremendous traffic for a few months at least. Hostrocket has a very competetive plan with only 400MB but it does provide some other stuff that OLM does not -- subdomains (not), perl (not officially supported), error logs (extra), more than 4 mysql databases (extra) -- all of which are pretty significant.

What do you guys think? I haven't had to ponder this question for over 3 years and now I'm left to making a pretty big decision...

I'm preparing to leave Webaxxs, which was bought by OLM. They have an older version of PERL that is not stable and they are charging us a fortune for bandwidth over 10 Gigs. We can't handle the cost or the message board not working for a couple hours every few days. I've been lurking here for a while and I'm leaning toward Site5. They have all the features we need and they seem to have a good reputation.

Originally posted by FWC
I'm preparing to leave Webaxxs, which was bought by OLM. They have an older version of PERL that is not stable and they are charging us a fortune for bandwidth over 10 Gigs. We can't handle the cost or the message board not working for a couple hours every few days. I've been lurking here for a while and I'm leaning toward Site5. They have all the features we need and they seem to have a good reputation. Didn't OLM buy axxs quite a while ago? I remember being told to send certain report requests to support@axxs.net for a long time.

Site5 has a strange pricing plan. The low end is almost as much as the top of the line and there is nothing in the middle. I also don't like setup fees. I'm thinking I want to try first these days and see if they can handle ALL of what I need -- and that isn't that much. I'm looking to run a vb board, perl, about 15 subdomains max, would like to have 3-400 MB of space and at least 10-12GB of transfers, error logs, at least 20 pop accounts, at least 5 mysql dbs (shouldn't need more.. should I?) and the usuals (cgi, telnet, ftp, etc.).

One big issue that isn't an issue with OLM is throughput. OLM is incredibly fast. I've been using chicagowebs for a bit (when I was thinking asp at one point) and they are quite slow in comparison. I'm not sure how to rate this before you buy.

I checked and hostrocket seems to be running a very current version of php on the server I'm on. 4.0.5 I think....

Originally posted by wert
I checked and hostrocket seems to be running a very current version of php on the server I'm on. 4.0.5 I think.... Thanks guys.... you really helped and confirmed suspicions.

While Hostrocket's stuff is up to date and they do have a great control panel with all the options I don't get at OLM (oh yeah, ONE cron job allowed per account!!!!) they are a smaller operation than I thought running some older equipment. On the "executive" account I want I'd probably get only a 500-900 MHz server with between 500-768 MB of RAM. I can't imagine that performance limits won't be taxed very quickly by one of the sites very quickly. You guys have me convinced...

UmBilly was right too as I received mail from someone else who had similar problems and the data above says it all. I'll check out site5 too...

Thanks again guys and all suggestions welcome.

Just FYI all new accounts with us are going on servers with dual p3 933 and 1gb ram.

-Brendan

Thanks for the info and while I'm sure it's a good service, given the recommendations here and with regard to other specifics I've got a toss up between site5, venturesonline, and f5hosting. Between the three I'll say this much for each:

site5:
Pros: top features at most competetive price, sounds like a great c-panel, 24x7 support, sounds like a larger more mature business, good reviews.
Cons: No phone number or address - even presales or business issues (I think this is very bad), $20 setup fee and 3 month minimum commitment (30 day guarantee is fine but still don't feel great without contact info), client list is unimpressive and mostly work in progress (but it seems many true clients with good sites lurk here), some inconsistencies/old info on site, from reading other posts it seems that the "usage" limits may not be explained well and what you see might be limited by other things you should know (this too can be taken care of).


VenturesOnline:
Pros: Great reviews, contact information (people in the office even on Sunday!), no setup fee, competetive features (site5 slightly superior on disk space and bandwidth but I wonder about practical limits at site5), very honest up front about what to expect (very impressive).
Cons: 16x7 support and 24x7 with pager for emergency issues (can be acceptable), may still be more upstart than site5 (also not necessarily a bad thing).

I'm still incredibly impressed with them telling me up front that they have everything under control and the pager system for the few hours while they are getting to 24x7 is working well ... as expected. Have heard nothing but raves and this impressed me more than anything. 30 day MBG and no commitment.

f5hosting:
Pros: Best space/bandwidth for price - I think (but no details on subdomains, cron jobs, etc.), some contact information (no phone number although "emergency number" listed, nice friendly pictures on the site (LOL)
Cons: Only some contact info listed, seems less established than the above two.

What I can't check is how the speed of the network compares to OLM, which is fabulous. Speeds can vary greatly and unfortunately it can't be tested prior...

Just curious, when you said we were a smaller operation, what were you comparing us to? As for checking the speeds of hosts, ask some of their current customers where theyre located and what they usually get when they are uploading/downloading their site and if its consistant or not. The current customers of a host are almost always the best people to ask on these things. Lots of hosts have forums where you can talk to their current customers.

-Brendan

F5 is brand new. Really. WHOIS shows that it was only registered in the beginning of May. Besides, they're reselling for VO anyway, so why bother going with them if you're interested in VO anyway. For the life of me, I can't understand why people base their choices on the theory that more is somehow better. Do you really believe that it is affordable to offer 20-30 G of transfer for $20-$25 a month? I'd be more concerned about the company going bankrupt when they offer that sort of thing. It's a clue to me that they don't know proper valuations and are only trying to cash in on peoples ignorance. I'd pick a host that understands that you can't give away the farm even when you say you're trying to make up for it volume.

"people in the office even on Sunday"

This cracks me up. Do you think any of the places you've named has an office somewhere other than whatever room they've carved out of their house to work in?

Based on what I've seen in the forums and responses to email, I'd choose Site5 in a heartbeat over the others, if those are the only choices. The attitude that has been displayed in this very forum by Daniel and Paul would steer me away from VO, and F5 doesn't seem to be able to answer what would be some very simple questions without upstream support.

Remarkably, no matter how many times I see threads like this and the types of posts people make, I am continually astonished at what passes for research and the choices that people make.

We have a 3000 sq. foot office in this building.

http://hostrocket.com/noc/newbuilding.jpg

In Beautiful, Sunny, Clifton Park NY :)

-Brendan

Originally posted by Peeps
the life of me, I can't understand why people base their choices on the theory that more is somehow better. Do you really believe that it is affordable to offer 20-30 G of transfer for $20-$25 a month? I'd be more concerned about the company going bankrupt when they offer that sort of thing. Not so important if all I have is a month to month agreement and my site isn't my day job and can be moved easily. The site I am running may be of great importance someday but right now it's in the "getting there" category. I regularly backup and I can always switch hosts pretty easily. I also have a day job and don't commit nearly as much to this endeavor as you would to yours.
It's a clue to me that they don't know proper valuations and are only trying to cash in on peoples ignorance. I'd pick a host that understands that you can't give away the farm even when you say you're trying to make up for it volume. I agree with you completely -- which was my point about site5 and the 27gb of transfers, the site that you heartily recommend. I don't know what this means and I've seen other people who didn't approach this limit get kicked off for usage. One wonders how one can attain this limit without getting dumped for server usage -- unless you are downloading large files. "people in the office even on Sunday" This cracks me up. Do you think any of the places you've named has an office somewhere other than whatever room they've carved out of their house to work in? No -- but they are answering the phones. There is a person there who can answer the questions I have and I have the confidence they will do something. If they don't then I know that they can't give me some technical excuse of the request being lost. It's a whole lot better than not having a phone number published at all -- site5 has no information whatsoever. This is not practice of established, reputable companies, despite the fact that they may be reputable - I don't know.
The attitude that has been displayed in this very forum by Daniel and Paul would steer me away from VO, Agree with you about f5hosting, which was just recommended but I'm not sure what you are talking about regarding Daniel and Paul. I saw a few intellectual property disputes but I can't say that some of their responses weren't attempting to be professional.
Remarkably, no matter how many times I see threads like this and the types of posts people make, I am continually astonished at what passes for research and the choices that people make.What I find astonishing is your limited thinking in this regard -- with all due respect. If I was running my entire business I wouldn't be screwing around with a virtual host and would spend the extra 50-100/month (is that what it is?) without thinking. What kills me are those people nickel and diming to death their own bread and butter.

But for the rest of us who aren't putting up industrial strength solutions or other mission critical systems -- and have other day jobs (I work in an executive capacity at a public Internet based play so you can say I have a pretty good idea about what this business is about) -- there are areas that I am not as concerned as you. The last thing I want to have is my site generating extra charges in the very areas where it could cost me the equivalent of several months of hosting.

well..tera-byte does offer 20 gb at $9 - the service is not bad - in fact recent raq4 s are good - the posts in this forum on terabyte are also more or less favourable - and the company has not gone bankrupt yet

Slinky,

I too am an OLM refugee, rapidly becoming disheartened by their lack of updates, lack of information, and poor customer service (Plus all of the other items that you mention).

It's funny how similar our situations and requirements are on this one.

I have so far narrowed it down to a couple of hosts:

1) HostRocket (http://www.hostrocket.com)

2) AletiaHosting (http://www.AletiaHosting.com)

#1 has been addressed already in this thread, although from what I've read they appear eager and are beefing up their systems quickly. Feedback is mostly positive, except for one server meltdown, and most customers are positive in teir remarks.

#2 seems to have nothing but good comments, and the package seems right in line with what I have been looking for -- Good features, minimal setup fees nickel-and-dime'ing you to death, and great user comments.
You haven't mentioned them yet, so I thought I would.

Just my $0.02.

Desi

Good post Archilea and thanks. My latest dispute was OLM's continued usage of mysql 3.22 or 3.23beta, which hasn't been current since some time in early 2000 per mysql.com. Endless dispute about my ability to get $60+ webmaster account to solve the problem resolved in that they do not support anything past 3.22. Updates hopefully in August after my extensive explanations... yeah, heard it before. Yes....you know exactly what I am going through.

Thanks for the recommendations. I was also suggested Ventures Online (http://www.venturesonline.com) and I was pretty impressed. The control panel is cpanel too. They do allow you to check it out before you buy, a big plus IMHO.

Are any of those guys resellers? I've heard of Hostrocket and there were some mixed reviews, otherwise it seemed ok. Host5 was another suggestion but I can't accept their lack of any contact information other than email/icq. I'm just hoping any one of those guys provide reasonably fast servers because OLM has been good in that one area. Aletia is very, very expensive, though, if you exceed their relatively low limits compared to the others.