I've been interested in hosting with GearHost.

I read in one of the longer GearHost threads a comment by one WHT member that site access was slow for them (their own site hosted on GearHost, not the GearHost site itself).

So I ended up picking through a few domains of people hosted on GearHost and checking them, and for the past few days, they've been loading up really slow. (I'm on cable).
GearHost.com, on the other hand, loads up very quickly for me.

I would appreciate some comments on web site speed from any GearHost customers or people who have also tested out the various sites hosted on GearHost. I don't want to post the sites I've been checking with the owners' permissions, but you can find their posts with their domains by searching through the GearHost threads.

I'd love to sign up with them because of their generous plans, but I guess all that bandwidth isn't going to help when everything loads up nice and slow.

A domain I own, http://www.specializedpc.net, is hosted on GearHost. I haven't had any experience with it running slow in the time with that company. I don't have anything graphic intesive of the site but mine has always loaded up as fast as it has with other hosting companies. I also have a cable connection.

Let me know if it is slow for you.

Thank you,

I just visited your site on a t3 connection and it's too slow. I'm hosting a site expiredpineapples.com and it's very slow to load too and believe it or not I just checked on it a few seconds ago and it's down (2.6.02 - 11am est).

I would like to know how many sites gearhost is hosting on thier servers, because their site loads very quickly.

Im on Gearhost and my server has been crashing since yesterday evening. Its down again now . Something about intermittent connection problems. Keeps shutting down

Hi,

Be aware that web hosts keep their sites on separate servers, either for security reasons (customer data might be there) or to keep it running as fast as possible.

The reason for the slowdown of customer sites could either be overloaded servers or they are assigning too little bandwidth to each server.

Their accounts are very low cost... they could be cutting costs either on server power or bandwidth. Check a similar posting on that situation on the addr thread a few days ago...

Peter :)

My site was with them about three week now. On the first two week, no complain at all!
However, since last week, my site is slow and sometime down! :( And it's down now! :( :(

I'm monitoring my site at EasyMonitor.com and my current
support@easymonitor.com

The web page monitor on http://................... failed at 11:43 on 02/06/2002.

---------------

The current status for this monitor is Failed.

---------

Uptime: 90.96%
for the last 5 days

Cocu

Our forum http://bookies.gearhost.net/forum has been well looked after in the whole, with any problems sorted. We did get timeout errors for a while, but they moved our forum to another server, which was top class, and its been reasonably quick ever since, for an ASP forum.

However it has also been down for the last 3 hrs

Right now most of our web servers are having some connectivity issues, they will be fixed shortly. The problem with the site loading is not bandwidth or server performance but a cross connect from our datacenter into the primary Juniper router. The cross connect is going slow as hell right now something we can't control (level3's issue). Most of it comes from users on the west coast but we have been getting reports from everywhere. ETA is about 48 hours. At that time connections will be backup just fine. We don't even peak at 40% of utilization. If you look at the graphs we only utilize a consitent 150-200mb per second, (100 mb) off peak. The GearHost website is on the same network as well in the Denver NOC just different subnets.

Thetis (web server), is acting up a little too with the disk crash last night so that was offline for about 30 min while the disk was repair itself.

***
Edit: For those who are on the alter.net backbone (mci/uunet) then you won't see the difference. Most are on that backbone since they are the largest in the world but for anyone that isn't then it could present a problem with the cross connect mentioned above. The Colorado Springs datacenter is not experiencing these issues though.
***

I have two sites hosted at gearhost and both have been in slow side fron the very beginning. One site is very graphic intensive and I ended up with moving it to another host. I'm still keeping both sites there hoping the speed gets better when they take care of all the initial fuss around. I'm in MidWest area and mostly connect via cable connection.

<<Removed, already posted once>>

Originally posted by Mission Spec
<<Removed, already posted once>>

http://www.mediatemplate.com =

"This page is a place holder for your future web site"

Originally posted by Mission Spec
<<Removed, already posted once>>

Now, what the heck does this post have to do with gearhost's sites being slow?:eek: :confused: stop trying to flame a good host...

I have also noticed the slow response times from sites hosted on GearHost. I host sites with several different hosts (including GearHost) and I uploaded the same test file to all of them to test download speeds. Two of my hosts consistently offer speeds upwards of 150 KB/s (kilobytes per second). GearHost seems to linger between 5 and 20 KB/s depending on the time of day (with higher speeds usually seen late at night.).

Furthermore, I was using NeoTrace to test responses from my sites and this is what I observed. I live in a suburb of Denver. To reach GearHost’s data centers (which I believe are in Denver and Colorado Springs), my trace routes go all the way to San Francisco, CA, then to Sacramento before heading back to Salt Lake City and finally on to Denver. Sometimes they go from SLC past Colorado all the way to St Louis before going back to Denver. I realize GearHost probably has no control over this, but who could I (or GearHost) contact to improve routing between our locations? It looks like att.net takes the trace from Denver to San Fran and then Alter.net takes the trace back to Denver. Would I be correct in assuming this is an issue mainly with the att.net network?

Edit - Removed MediaTemple remark.

I'm trying to steer this thread away from the mediatemplate debate. The comments posted above were split off and moved to its own thread.

Um, so is Gearhost ever *not* slow? I started an account last night. Since 9:30 est this morning, I've repeatedly tried to download a 1.3 MB mpg and not once has it loaded. Not even if I try to save. It keeps freezing at 10-20%.

Is it always like this?

I cancelled my account with GearHost (although I need to call them because they never sent me a confirmation). Gearhost's speeds are terrible. I only started testing the servers a little while ago (1 1/2 weeks ago) but they've been slow since then dropping all the way down to 900 bytes. When I informed Gearhost of this, they said they had cross-connect issues and that the problem would be resolved in 48 hours (kinda like *nix coming up every weekend) The fastest my speed has been since that 48 hours is 30-40Kbps.

I could host my sites faster on my own computer using a capped cable modem. So if anyone is happy with these god awful speeds, lemme know and I'll host you on an ochiba platinum plan for 13.95 ^_~

Even if they did come up with their *nix plans, I seriously doubt their hosting services will be adequate. It's not really that the speeds suck that gets me, it's the constant selling with nothing to show for it. I wasted 15 bucks on Pizza Hut pizza money waiting for their *nix server.

Janet, I honestly recommend that you seek another host. GearHost may be great in the future, but right now, well, you're getting what you pay for, perhaps even less considering...

This is just my opinion. I feel kinda bad since Ryan is a nice guy and I wish him the best for his company, but I just felt like I got suckered by a salesman.

ochiba

Well thanks for the heads up. The speed or lack thereof reminds me of those free f2s sites. It's too slow to be usable for what I need -- I'm just glad I found out right away while testing so nothing is depending on Gearhost. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is, I guess.

I figured I'd give them a try because they answered my pre-sales questions promptly and in a friendly manner.

Huh -- well, things took a turn for the speedier about 45 minutes ago, and my stuff is working well now. Curious ... well, I'm staying in "wait and see" mode for a bit, seeinghow my first day was a bit hairy.

The turn would be because of a cross connect that has been fixed for users that don't run off of UUNet upstreams. You should notice a huge difference.

Does anyone have a file of any size (even a meg would be a good start) hosted on a server at Gearhost that I could try downloading?

-Joe

Wow, I just tested my site, and it's way faster now. :) I hope it lasts that way.

Also as a positive comment on gearhost, I love its email service. I need pop3, IMAP, and webmail which is integrated to IMAP, and so far gearhost and crystaltech are only hostings which meet those requirements. I know its more of what email solution they use than hosting itself, but still a big plus selling point at least for me. Also gearhost gives out a static IP (maybe even to silver plan?) while most others are offering name based hosting and asking extra for IP's. As long as gearhost can keep up the speed like tonight, I think again it can be considered as one of the better hosting companies. I will see.

http://williamg.gearhost.net/download/carolcent.mpg

It's 1.5 MB. It's loading much better for me now. Let me know how well it works for you.

Originally posted by Abby
http://williamg.gearhost.net/download/carolcent.mpg


170 KB/sec on a cable modem. Pretty good.


-joe

Originally posted by Abby
http://williamg.gearhost.net/download/carolcent.mpg

It's 1.5 MB. It's loading much better for me now. Let me know how well it works for you.

I got 369.73 KB/s from my server at rackshack.

Edit:
My server @ VDI got: 601.79 KB/s

"So if anyone is happy with these god awful speeds, lemme know and I'll host you on an ochiba platinum plan for 13.95 ^_~" :laugh:

Earlier this morning I was seeing transfer speeds from GearHost fluxuating between 0.5 and 2.5 KB/s. :mad: This evening I am seeing speeds upwards of 130 KB/s. It's not blazing fast, but it certainly is a huge improvement. I am curious to see how well the speeds hold up tomorrow.

See, this is the biggest problem with hosts today.

They buy really cheap bandwidth, and then sell it to others cheap. Unfortunately, cheap stuff means cheap quality. I hope some day, someone will realize this without having to get a bad experience first.

Originally posted by lowhosting
See, this is the biggest problem with hosts today.

They buy really cheap bandwidth, and then sell it to others cheap. Unfortunately, cheap stuff means cheap quality. I hope some day, someone will realize this without having to get a bad experience first.

While I understand your point, is it not true that you offer "cheap stuff" as well?

Originally posted by lowhosting
See, this is the biggest problem with hosts today.

They buy really cheap bandwidth, and then sell it to others cheap. Unfortunately, cheap stuff means cheap quality. I hope some day, someone will realize this without having to get a bad experience first.

lowhosting, you must of not understood the original problem. The issue did not reside on the GearHost network, ever. This was a cross connect (public route) that went down. While UUNet hardly ever engages on public exchange points (they have the bigest network by far, thus the point is mute) so anyone on the UUNet backbone would of never had seen any latency problems. The particular cross connect was for mostly western states (level3/sprint) but we were getting reports from all over the country. While this only affected about 35% of our clients it still was a big issue and UUNet, from what I understand now is dropping them and re-routing from the downtown Denver long distance backbone. Again, just to clearify the situation.

See, this is the biggest problem with hosts today.

They buy really cheap bandwidth, and then sell it to others cheap. Unfortunately, cheap stuff means cheap quality. I hope some day, someone will realize this without having to get a bad experience first.

I hope this wasn't made in reply to my post, lowhosting. If it wasn't then don't mind me ^_^

Just for the record, it wasn't GearHost's speed (I figured they'd correct their problem, just not in a timely manner) that I was complaining about. It was the way they would say they'd do something and then not do it in a timely manner. That is what I meant when I said you get what you what you pay for. GearHost is cheap and a lot of folks signed up before they were ready to handle them. So while some may get good service, others kinda get shafted. But that's what happens with a lot of cheap hosts. Supposedly they did respond quickly to some people, but for me a month of waiting for a *nix plan and a week of slow speed was enough. If the speeds went down again, and the response was as slow as it was this time, then it would hurt my website. I don't think it's worth the risks. Now I'm paying almost double, but I was able to completely test my main site in 24 hours. I just wish other hosts on this board would get some more good hype other than GearHost, especially since some of them really deserve it.
My new host (voxtreme.com), has been very responsive, and setting up my accounts have been a breeze. They cost twice as much as GearHost, but they are still cheaper than my main host that I'm trying to move from after 6 months. Plus I can finally host all of my domains on one server.

hope that clarifies.
ochiba

ochiba, GearHost is by no means a "cheap host", our prices are introductory for our first 8k accounts. Meaning, the first 8k accounts will recieve that pricing forever and it will never change, we're doubling our pricing next week so stating that we are cheap just because our prices are cheap means nothing. I'm sorry you had probems with GearHost, as I recall you had some issues with not being on Linux which we didn't offer at that time, I guess when the release is done this week you'll miss out. Again, my applogies.

When the *nix plans come out, are they going to have introductory pricing as well? I know you stated this before but this is the first time I've heard that pricing is going up. I want a *nix account but would rather wait until they're out. I just don't want to pay double because I waited.

Thanks,

Today I am still getting speeds upwards of 130 KB/s via my cable connection. My friend is getting speeds upwards of 375 KB/s via his corporate network. I am happy. :D

Me too! Speeds are solid today.

Yeah, I pretty much figured I'd miss out, but after three weeks of next week, next week, next week... I couldn't wait much longer, remember I had a 30 day guarantee. Going on your word, I waited for your company's "next week" *nix plan, and lost my guarantee (even though you said you wouldn't charge me if I waited) After I called you twice about billing me you said again that you'd credit my account, but you never did. I had to make a choice, pay another month for waiting, risk jeopardizing my new site with questionable hosting (it's most likely a coincidence that the week I tested your speeds was when you were having cross-connect issues), and risk putting my main site on a hosting service that doesn't respond in a timely matter (or who says they will and then doesn't), or move on. I chose to move on.

When I would call with issues, GearHost would say that I'd get a call back, I never did. When I called about the *nix plan, it was always "Next week." or even "We're moving accounts over tonight." Then when I called about bad speeds, it was, "Give us 48 hours" now the issue has been resolved in a week. Someone said in the "Host Abusers" thread that it should only take 10 days to see if a host is good. After 30 days with no delivery, an invalid charge on my card, and a waste of my time. I think I can fairly say that GearHost is *not* as good as the hype on this board.

Again, I'm taking into consideration that I may just be really unlucky when it comes to webhosting. And I'm only one customer out of your first 8K, so who is to say that every other single customer didn't get the best hosting service ever. I signed up early for your account because I wanted to lock in the price, but by day 30 I felt as though I was being suckered into buying indulgences for a webhosting heaven I'd never get to see.

As far as you being cheap, honestly if I paid more and ended up being charged for services non-rendered like I was last month with GearHost, I wouldn't chalk this off to bad luck. I'd be really really *really* upset. As you're a new company, and your rates were really cheap, and you were always very polite, I'm shrugging this off as I got what I paid for (even though... I didn't get squat in reality) I could care less about how great your services are for other people, if it comes down to suckstobeme when *I* host with you, then your services are no good. I didn't pay for other folks hosting, I paid for mine. Plain and simple.

I sincerely wish you the best of luck, but I wouldn't recommend you to anyone. In fact if someone asked me, I'd tell them not to sign up with you until your services had proven themselves, even if that meant higher pricing. Again, you get what you pay for. I would have rather paid 30 bucks for your services and been able to get my accounts up and working rather than pay 15 bucks for nothing, and not even get my 30 day guarantee honored.

BTW: GearHost never sent me a confirmation email of my account cancellation either.

Ummm... now that I'm a GearHost reject, did I lose every chance of being cool in this forum ^_~

bleh.
ochiba

Totally understand ochiba. I'll look into that charge since that should and will be refunded as well. If you ever want a free account to test, let me know ... I'm your man. I totally understand about you needing to move to a host that is ready to accept you. Since you kinda were added mid-stream it put both of us at a lost, you may of only been 1 client out of 8k, as you stated, but that still means something and it always will. Once please accept my applogies and I hope you take my offer up one day.

I'm also extremely happy with the speeds I'm getting on my website (expiredpineapples.com). With the options, price, and now speed I plan on transferring some of my other sites over.

They will not responded to your request to use your 30-day money back gaurentee. They have responded to every other email, but my request to cancel my account. Poor response time to.

Sean

P.S. My site load time doesn't seem to be that bad, but then again it is very graphic non-intense, only (2 or 4).

Totally understand ochiba. I'll look into that charge since that should and will be refunded as well. If you ever want a free account to test, let me know ... I'm your man. I totally understand about you needing to move to a host that is ready to accept you. Since you kinda were added mid-stream it put both of us at a lost, you may of only been 1 client out of 8k, as you stated, but that still means something and it always will. Once please accept my applogies and I hope you take my offer up one day.

Hehe, when you do get your *nix plans and when you x-connects get worked out... I may come a knockin' ^_~


ochiba.

Originally posted by ryank
I'm sorry you had probems with GearHost, as I recall you had some issues with not being on Linux which we didn't offer at that time, I guess when the release is done this week you'll miss out. Again, my applogies.

Well, ochiba, looks like you proved your point again. "this week" is long past and with no linux plans in sight.