Hi everyone,

I was using Netnation for three years without any problems. Very customer oriented company. Unfortunately, for technical reasons, I had to move to another host. I am not satisfied with the support of our current web hoster so I have to move again. We tried FeaturePrice and that was a disaster.

After being out of the market for a few years, I am dismayed over the deterioration in support in the marketplace, but I guess that is a result of poor company management by web hosters (untenable pricing schedules, lavish spending, scam marketing tactics, invisible customer support) which has led to constant churn and is now putting the profit squeeze on many web hosting companies. This in turn has led to the inevitable deterioration in overall web hoster performance. A real mess.

So, if I can ask for a miracle:

I am looking for a reasonably priced company that provides good technical support (live support in emergencies when the host is down), daily backups, 200 megabytes of disk space and about 2 gigabyte monthly bandwidth. Good security and most important pleasent customer service. I would really appreciate recommendations. Thank you.


Regards,
Rich Finkelstein

I've been using QWK.net for about 3 months now and have been very happy with their service. Support is very good and they really seem to know what they are doing.

The only drawback (although I don't really consider it a problem) is that they don't really have much in the way of a web based control panel. You can add e-mail addresses and view account info, but that's about it.

I understand that they are reviewing a web based control panel, but I don't know which one or when they would implement it.

Their web site is http://www.qwk.net

What kind of support are you looking for. Do you need assistance with setting up your web pages for example or do you have more technical related support requests.

I think this might be an important factor in deciding which host to go with.

Hi Addaction,

Thanks for asking for the clarification.

We are OK with setting up and managing our domains, but there are certain times such as downtimes or when we are trying to figure out some issues during setup time that I would like to talk directly to a technical support person as oppose to trading numerous messages - and getting really frustrated. Once things are going, it is pretty straightforward.

During my brief visit with FeaturePrice, we discovered all kinds of issues and questions. The voice technical support refused to answer any questions (kind of a redirector to the email helpdesk) and then the helpdesk starts answering my questions with a cryptic Sphinx-like questions. I felt like I was talking to some smart-alec kid. The head of the technical operation was no better.

Netnation was always very pleasent and helpful and I always knew that questions would be answered promptly and correctly. Plus they were very reliable. This is what I am looking for now. Hope you can help.

Rich

Many web hosting companies outsource their support. If they do so, they can only work with e-mail and to stay transparent, the support company answers in cryptic terms, such as, "restarted, support team" in stead of some more information about what was wrong or a name of the person on the other side.

It is hard to give advice on with which host to go. Ask them questions ahead of time and see if you like the response and the way they responded.

Hi addaction,

These are very good points. Outsorced support is usually pretty poor because the outsourced personnel have almost no knowledge or contact with the installation. Therefore responses take forever and are of poor quality.

So maybe the right question I should ask is - "Does anyone know of hosting companies that maintain their own internal technical support personnel and apparatus?" I feel that Netnation had this kind of in-house support because they seemed to be very knowledgeable about what was going on.

Rich

Hi,

I would recommend www.splashhost.com They have what you need, futhermore, Alan(splashhost.com) is a very knowledgable and experienced person with servers and so far my reseller account with them runs smoothly without problems. Perhaps you can email him or contact him using ICQ as he is most of the time online. They have very flexible packages to suit everyone needs.

Hope this helps

Hi,

Thanks for trying to help. I went to the Splash Host site and unfortunately they are located in the UK and have absolutely no telephone number posted. You cannot imagine how frustrating it can be to have a problem and there is no way to get ahold of a live person to talk to. Particuarly when a server becomes inaccessible or when there are some financial matters to be settled.

Thanks for trying,

Rich

Hi rich,
Not sure if youve done this but you might try checking some of the directories and do a search based on requirement?
This can help narrow some choices down...
WHD offers an advanced search and they also have a new Host Quote option...you can use.
http://www.webhostdir.com/hostsearch/search.asp?SearchType=Advanced
and there is always www.hostsearch.com

Good Luck
:D