Over the past several months I decided to start signing up with different reseller accounts, in an effort to get an idea of what services each host offered, technical support etc. The whole point of this being, to review each host and give my honest opinion. Here's the basic layout:

- I was a client of each host for at least 60 days.
- I tested their sales, support and technical knowledge.
- I setup at least 2 client accounts for each company.

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Ventures Online
The Team
In terms of speed to responding and resolving requests, VO was by far the fastest, sometimes getting 3-5 minute response times and the average response was around 15 minutes.
When sending sales emails, their staff seemed to intimately know what they offered, pricing was straight forward, and all my questions were answered acceptably.
The support and technical staff was very intellegent and very straight forward about problems, which in all honestly were very limited. They were excellent about explaining what they did and how they did it, which is highly important for a reseller learning the industry.
Score: 5/5

The Network & Hardware
Very fast would be the best description. Network & Server downtime hardly existed. Overall, the network was wonderful, load times remained very low and ping times were always excellent.
Score: 5/5

Pricing & Upgradability
Pricing was reasonable for reseller packages, although, it may be considered high by WHT terms. They don't offer a discount on higher packages ($2.00/GB on bandwidth on every package) which I didn't like. They do offer complete upgrade packages (Reseller >> VDS >> Dedicated), but I wasn't all impressed with the VDS pricing.
Score: 4/5

Overall, VO is an excellent solution for someone looking to start small and work up to a full dedicated.
Overall Score: 4.75/5

==============================================

Splash Host
The Team
Splash Host is quite a bit smaller then VO, however email speeds were acceptable. This seems to be a much smaller group of support, as the owner (Alan) answered many of my requests. Response times averaged around 1 hour, some being very fast (15 minutes) some taking 3 hours+ to respond to.
When it came to technical and support knowledge, the team truely shined. They understood problems, were very straight forward and fixed them very very quickly. Sales was much the same, no BSing, just straight forward answers that matched the information on their site.
Score: 4/5

The Network & Hardware
Ran into some network problems along the way, but nothing horribly drastic. Hardware seemed very stable overall, and problems were fixed rather rapidly. Ping and load times were very good and uptime was excellent as well.
Score: 4/5

Pricing & Upgradability
Pricing is fair, but again, they don't provide discounts as your package size increases. They don't offer a VDS solution, and the P4 dedicated packages start fairly high. Would like to see an intermeadiate solution, instead of the big jump in pricing.
Score: 3/5

Splash Host is pretty good overall. The community seems highly inactive which is unfortunate, and they need an better solution for the Reseller >> Dedicated upgrade.
Overall Score: 3.75/5

==============================================

Cybrisk
The Team
Originally, Cybrisk was a one-man show, but apparenly it was recently bought out by StormWire. Overall response times averaged from 1-5 hours, which is to be expected with a budget provider. Sales questions were answered effectively and matched information on their site.
Support and technical knowledge was completely unimpressive. They answered several questions completely wrong. Many questions were answered with a "It's supposed to work that way" when that simply wasn't the case. The lack of technical knowledge from their company was frustrating to say the least.
Score: 2/5

The Network & Hardware
Overall uptime was very good, one day of nearly 2 1/2 hours downtime was painful, but the rest of the time was in very acceptable limits. Ping times were excellent, as expected from The Planet's network. Load time were almost always very high... sometimes reaching over 3.00. Load times almost always averaged over 1.00.
The network is excellent, but the high load times need to be worked on.
Score: 3/5

Pricing & Upgradability
Pricing is very very low. One of a few low-budget providers, they were under half the price of Spash Host and Ventures Online. They did turn on overselling by request, which may be the cause of the load times. Upgradability doesn't even exist on Cybrisk's main site, as they only offer reseller accounts.
Although they do offer VPS throught the main company (StormWire) the pricing is way above Cybrisk's offering, targeting a completely different audience.
Score: 3/5

Cybrisk has some of the cheapest pricing you can get an Cpanel/WHM reseller accounts, but as you can see they come at a cost. They seriously need a more knowledgable support staff, and need to fix the problems with the load times. The lack of an upgrade system could be a problem for someone looking for a company to start and finish with.
Overall Score: 2.75/5

Good reviews - it's refreshing to read some informed reviews based on factual experiences with a company, instead of reviews written 5 minutes after signing up with a company.

just an fyi: server load is almost entirely irrelevant for performance measurement. posting cpu idle percentages would be much more useful.

paul

Good reviews - it's refreshing to read some informed reviews based on factual experiences with a company, instead of reviews written 5 minutes after signing up with a company.

Thanks Matt :), that was the primary reason for me deciding to signup with reseller companies. I wanted everyone to have an honest review of each company. If it saves a few people some hardships along the way, it'll be worth it :).
just an fyi: server load is almost entirely irrelevant for performance measurement. posting cpu idle percentages would be much more useful.

I agree Paul, unfortunately I didn't think about monitoring CPU idle processes until recently. I thought about it after I saw Cybrisks load times, but I really couldn't compare them to VO or SplashHost so I left it out. I can say now Cybrisk is jumping between 60%-80% idle, but that doesn't mean much unless I had monitored it over a period of time. Will definately remember this for the next set of reviews ;).

Excellent information and nicely presented. Nice work comphosting. :agree:

Great work! That's what makes WHT a lovely place :gthumb:

Greetings,


Eboy
_______________

wow thanks, very good review. I was looking at cybrisk.com to be my future host until I read it. You surely save me alot of headache and support request. Well, have to find someone else now. Thank you again.


Alex

Wow, amazing review. Best I've ever seen - good work. :)

Yeah and where is the Sites that correspond to these reviews :confused:

If this was his 1st post I be screaming :spam:



ehhehehehehehe I'm JK Comp :P :laugh:

Nice to see well thought out and professional reviews :D

Nice review comphosting...should almost be made a sticky or something so it doesn't disappear from the forums :)

wow, very nice review "form"... good post..

Thank you for the EXCELLENT reviews.

I was thinking about signing up with Cybrisk but now I am having second thoughts. I PM'd them on WHT a WEEK AGO and still have not received a response to my sales inquiry.

I'd love to see similiar reviews for dathorn, HTTPme and Voxtreme :)

Originally posted by RossMAN
I PM'd them on WHT a WEEK AGO and still have not received a response to my sales inquiry.


No offense but I don't blame them.

I ignore any sales inquiries made via PM here! as this is not my place of business ;)

I'd love to see similiar reviews for dathorn, HTTPme and Voxtreme

And for TopResellers ;)


Eboy
_______________

Thanks for the review comphosting. Did you try the live support on our site?

I guess the review will be irrelevant in a few weeks but I cant say why just yet ;) Unless your a customer then you can find out in our announcement area.

And this is why I love WHT! Too cool!
Thanks comphosting.

Thanks for the comments everyone, more to come soon :).

Originally posted by RossMAN
I'd love to see similiar reviews for dathorn, HTTPme and Voxtreme :)

Expect a Dathorn review next. I've actually reset my approach here, and will be doing 2 budget hosts and one more expensive host. Primarily, because of my excellent experience with Splash Host and VO and how horrible things went with Cybrisk. Personally, I don't think HTTPme and Voxtreme really *need* reviews. Both companies have proven themselves excellent choices on more then one occasion, but that doesn't mean they won't EVER be reviewed (watch out Aussie Bob :D).

Thanks for the review comphosting. Did you try the live support on our site?

I guess the review will be irrelevant in a few weeks but I cant say why just yet ;) Unless your a customer then you can find out in our announcement area.

I used it on a few occasions, but decided against including it in my review... looking back I think I should have. Live Support was almost always available at Splash Host. I have yet to see it even active at Cybrisk...

Yes I did notice the annoucement, but since you requested it remain private I decided to write the review as if it didn't exist. But yes, it did really make a portion of my review irrelevant :D.

Originally posted by comphosting
. . . I don't think HTTPme and Voxtreme really *need* reviews. Both companies have proven themselves excellent choices on more then one occasion, but that doesn't mean they won't EVER be reviewed (watch out Aussie Bob :D) . . .
Just make sure you go further than 60 days. I'm thinking around 180 days. (6x$35/mth) ;)

ROTF, Mr Bob. Don't forget a Plesk reseller host - our VirtNex-5 plan would suit you even at 90 days (3x$99.95). :D

hehe, you've started something now comphosting :-)
You guys should give him a free account for a free review for the number of days you want him to review you...what do you think comphosting?

Cybrisk.com :agree:

You guys should give him a free account for a free review for the number of days you want him to review you...what do you think comphosting?


If the hosting company knows they are going to be reviewed then they would probably give him special treatment which would then make the review worth less.

Point very well taken! :-)

'The lack of technical knowledge from their company was frustrating to say the least.'

===> This is absolutely reiculous ... why would our user think they know more about our systems then the admins that actually set the server up :) or the way we configure our systems.

===> Funny thing is that we have an entire team of level 1 & 2 techs that have at least 2+ years experience in linux/cpanel and 2 lead admins with over 5+ years linux experience and 3+ years of cpanel experience. (not to mention me) What is inexperienced about that ?

Load time were almost always very high... sometimes reaching over 3.00. Load times almost always averaged over 1.00.
The network is excellent, but the high load times need to be worked on.

===> I have no clue where this user got his average numbers from ?? They were on a server which averages .70-.80 consistently ?? Is that a guestimate ... LOL

The lack of an upgrade system could be a problem for someone looking for a company to start and finish with.

===> If you want to upgrade your account, you simply submit a support request and let us know which plan you want ... Then you can move to dedicated servers once you outgrow those ... again, I think this user has a serious lack of information for posting this review ...

===> stormwire.com just took over this company about weeks ago .... It was a one man show and now is part of Stormwire Internet Services, LLC with a strong team of techs and associates who have been doing this since 1999.

===> Also, it is worth noting that we have been spending much of our time upgrading the servers and getting to know the clients to make sure we are meeting the needs of our clients since we took over.

===> At any rate ... not trying to slam the author of the post, but would think that they would get a bit more information about a few things before they think they can pass judgement on the rest of us.

nate,

If you just took over Cybrisk a few weeks ago, I think he was referring more to the "pre-stormwire" days in his review than to what you have provided since taking over.

Originally posted by Matt
nate,

If you just took over Cybrisk a few weeks ago, I think he was referring more to the "pre-stormwire" days in his review than to what you have provided since taking over.

right ...

I would just like everyone to know that we have been working on all of the stuff that the old owner completely neglected. We are basically fighting fires as they come up, but are trying to keep all clients as happy as possible in the mean time while all of the upgrades occur.

Hopefully this negative review does not effect Cybrisk to much because I believe most of the negativity comes from before we actually owned it.

Originally posted by nate
===> This is absolutely reiculous ... why would our user think they know more about our systems then the admins that actually set the server up :) or the way we configure our systems.

===> Funny thing is that we have an entire team of level 1 & 2 techs that have at least 2+ years experience in linux/cpanel and 2 lead admins with over 5+ years linux experience and 3+ years of cpanel experience. (not to mention me) What is inexperienced about that

Really Nate? Well I've been in this business for 4 years so far... and to be honest, your replies were not only some of the most stupid I've heard, but at times were quite rude. You answered questions incorrectly... but I'm not going to get specific.

===> I have no clue where this user got his average numbers from ?? They were on a server which averages .70-.80 consistently ?? Is that a guestimate ... LOL

https://www.cybrisk.com/stats/stats.php?serverip=64.5.48.252|nameless2

Enough said.

If you want to upgrade your account, you simply submit a support request and let us know which plan you want ... Then you can move to dedicated servers once you outgrow those ... again, I think this user has a serious lack of information for posting this review ...

I think YOU have a serious lack of intellegence. I was speaking in terms of Reseller >> VDS >> Dedicated, just like with the other companies. Read first, then reply.

===> stormwire.com just took over this company about weeks ago .... It was a one man show and now is part of Stormwire Internet Services, LLC with a strong team of techs and associates who have been doing this since 1999.

Funny, you were the only one answering requests, and for about a month. No team, strong or otherwise. Just YOU. Honestly, consider yourself lucky Mathew Hale owned the company prior to you, otherwise it would have received a 1/5.

===> Also, it is worth noting that we have been spending much of our time upgrading the servers and getting to know the clients to make sure we are meeting the needs of our clients since we took over

===> At any rate ... not trying to slam the author of the post, but would think that they would get a bit more information about a few things before they think they can pass judgement on the rest of us.

My information was sound. The company was acceptable prior to you owning it, and went completely downhill since that point. Your information is flawed, as well as your attitude towards customers. You're "team" (meaning you) has been completely unprofessional, and unwilling to do anything correctly.

And your advertising in the 2nd to last paragraph wasn't needed. No one cares what server upgrades you do, when you can't even treat customers correctly.

If you just took over Cybrisk a few weeks ago, I think he was referring more to the "pre-stormwire" days in his review than to what you have provided since taking over.

Unfortunately just the opposite...

well, to be honest, most of this does not even merit a response, as I am not simply making up lies and making incorrect statements like you seem to think ....

regardless of whether I was the only one answering your specific tickets or not, I am certianly not the only one running the 6 hosts that Stormwire Internet Services, LLC owns/operates ...

lastly: 'The company was acceptable prior to you owning it, and went completely downhill since that point. Your information is flawed, as well as your attitude towards customers.'

Funny that you are the only one that has anything negative to say about cybrisk ... and also funny that your definition of 'going downhill since that point' is upgrading all hardware, updating kernals and other backend software, adding new APC's & RRP'S, adding 6 techs to the support team where as there used to be 1 ... yep ... sounds like downhill to me ... ;)

... LOL ... Everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinion ... LOL ...

Your professionalism speaks for itself.

Originally posted by comphosting
Your professionalism speaks for itself.

thanks LOL ... ;)

.... moving on

Originally posted by comphosting


If you just took over Cybrisk a few weeks ago, I think he was referring more to the "pre-stormwire" days in his review than to what you have provided since taking over.

Unfortunately just the opposite...

As it appears, thank you for the clarification on that.

Originally posted by nate
right ...

I would just like everyone to know that we have been working on all of the stuff that the old owner completely neglected. We are basically fighting fires as they come up, but are trying to keep all clients as happy as possible in the mean time while all of the upgrades occur.

Hopefully this negative review does not effect Cybrisk to much because I believe most of the negativity comes from before we actually owned it.


I cannot comment on the specific issues with the thread starter but I will sure comment about this.

It is not only unprofessional but extremely cocky and rude to make a comment such as the one above. I can only assume you have no contracts with the former Cybrisk owner that deal with that sort of statement being made by you after acquisition. There is usually a clause dealing with references to the former company, owners, and employees that spells out acceptable communication about the takeover or acquisition. That usual at least partially covers a slanderous remark such as the one you have chosen to make.

'I can only assume you have no contracts with the former Cybrisk owner that deal with that sort of statement being made by you after acquisition. There is usually a clause dealing with references to the former company, owners, and employees that spells out acceptable communication about the takeover or acquisition. '

This assumption is correct ... there are no such clauses what so ever in our contract. And it is not slanderous, it is factual.

I was not trying to be cocky or rude. There were some serious issues with certain aspects of the company when we took it over and I was simply trying to say that we have been working as fast as we can to try and make sure that all of the various issues are addressed. There is nothing wrong about saying that there may have been certain shortcomings at th time of sale, and my team and I are trying our best to iron them out...

How can we be at fault for trying to stabilize the servers and the over all environment to better meet the needs of our clients ? All of the upgrades that I previously mentioned is our attempt at making bold strokes in a positive direction for the Cybrisk clients. So far this is the only negative thing I have heard to date from any of our clients ... and it appears that I am not even allowed to defend or give opposing facts about the situation ...

Nate,

Comphosting had every right to post his review of cybrisk as he seen it, as this is his personal experience and personal opinion of you. At the same time, you have every right to post a statement of clarification if you feel that others are being misinformed.

However, it is always best to post clarification statements that do not include making negative comments about any one particular person, as others on WHT do frown upon it, and well, to be frank, you'll get bashed.

To me and from what all I've read here, it looks like you have been working very hard trying to get things running smoothly with Cybrisk, and maybe due to the stress of things, you just simply jumped the gun a bit on comphosting.

I personally think it would have been best to just have thanked comphosting for his review, let others know that you have recently taken over the company and are working as hard as you can to make the service better, tell others what you are doing to improve, and ask comphosting to consider a review of you again in the near future.

Maybe it's not too late for that. Why not just say your sorry and ask him. He just may take you up on it, and then I'm sure others will certainly look upon you with a new light.

This is just my two cents worth. Good luck to the both of you.

Originally posted by kymber
Nate,

Comphosting had every right to post his review of cybrisk as he seen it, as this is his personal experience and personal opinion of you. At the same time, you have every right to post a statement of clarification if you feel that others are being misinformed.

However, it is always best to post clarification statements that do not include making negative comments about any one particular person, as others on WHT do frown upon it, and well, to be frank, you'll get bashed.

To me and from what all I've read here, it looks like you have been working very hard trying to get things running smoothly with Cybrisk, and maybe due to the stress of things, you just simply jumped the gun a bit on comphosting.

I personally think it would have been best to just have thanked comphosting for his review, let others know that you have recently taken over the company and are working as hard as you can to make the service better, tell others what you are doing to improve, and ask comphosting to consider a review of you again in the near future.

Maybe it's not too late for that. Why not just say your sorry and ask him. He just may take you up on it, and then I'm sure others will certainly look upon you with a new light.

This is just my two cents worth. Good luck to the both of you.

all points taken ! I agree with you 100%. I do apologize for anything that I said that was negative, as it came out of frustration from trying to turn the company around.

I would just like to list some of the positive changes that we have made since our acquisition:

- added full remote backups of all servers (no system/client backups existed previously)
- added a team of 6 techs (24/7) for level 1 & 2 support issues
- added new APC's and RRP's to all servers
- have moved clients from a server that was maxed out to a new server to address various load issues
- have performed numorous security & backend system updates

comphosting ... (taking kymber's advice) i appreciate the review and I will use it as the basis for the next round of improvements. Feel free to try us out again in the future and see if we have made any progress.