I would appreciate some enlightenment from the many experienced webmasters here on the following. I have no clear idea as to the costs involved in hosting business, such as bandwidth, datacenters, etc...
But how is it possible for Cyberwings to offer hosting for $3.9/year(0.325/mon)(115mb with all the features) but not other hosts?
Is it because they do this as a service rather than business? Or
Are thing cheaper in their State(Maine)? Or
Are they using low end equipment(servers)?
Or what?
Although personally I have had no problem with Cyberwings I am beginning to see many negative posts in their forums regarding frequent down time, mail problems, lack of support, etc... as opposed what used to be, only praises.
So wonder if they were planning enough for future. How long can they continue like this.
The common notion is the slower the steadier; but cyberwings seem to like "surprise sales". Will Cyberwings prove an exception?

thanks

I believe Cyberwings made a wrong move offering this. Not very wise.

But if he continues like this, most likely I will see this company stay up but not for long, until they can't take the comments from people. I do believe they will stay up, but reputation from them is starting to get worse and worse everyday, that it is just not enough to start or to build up later on the future.

The best example as I can say is www.dellz.com, they have been up for a year, now down, went from reselling from fasthosts.co.uk they went down for a while, got dedicated servers, still offered cheap like cyberwings, couldn't take it, ....., goes good-bye. Company in trouble, vanishes in thin air with money.

Plus there are many many many more, I believe cyberwings.com is going to make the book soon, with a new chapter if he continues to gain customers.

They just wish you don't use all what they offer. If you use a lot of bandwidth, they will simply say you caused the server slow down or something like that and suspend, then delete your account.

They just assume people will not put more resources (time, money, etc.) to deal with the cheap plan.

By the way, I didn't see the $3.9 plan on their site. Maybe a bypo?

Don't buy they suck
I had more than 30 domains with them and 2 reseller plans
I cancel all them because every time they have mail server problems. and no support.

Until a few days ago, cyberwings was offering rather substantial web accounts under $5 a year.(No typo, per YEAR)

I don't really know how good the accounts are, except by all the adverse posts on their discussion boards, but if you are into waiting, buy an account and see how long it takes to get it. Days, weeks, who knows, at this point maybe never.

Originally posted by Gordo
Until a few days ago, cyberwings was offering rather substantial web accounts under $5 a year.(No typo, per YEAR)

I don't really know how good the accounts are, except by all the adverse posts on their discussion boards, but if you are into waiting, buy an account and see how long it takes to get it. Days, weeks, who knows, at this point maybe never.

So even if they place 500 accounts on a server they will only take $2500 per year on that server, running at a loss.

So very incorrect. But I'm not going to get into it. Cyberwings is running in the black, always has been, and will continue to expand, grow, build our community. Period.

It's easy to understand and appreciate your concern. And you can always ask for a refund and it will be given you, no questions asked.

You have a legitimate question about how Shawn can do all that he does and do it so inexpensively. And the answer is that Shawn doesn't think it is necessary to gouge the customer to make a profit.

Consider, for example, that network solutions is still charging $35 a year for domain name registration. Yet Namecheap and Godaddy - and even Cyberwings - can offer it at less than $10 a year. Who is gouging the customer?

The secret is in the volume. If you have a high enough volume, you can charge significantly lower prices... that's the way the economy works. Having a high volume comes with a price while you're still a small company. You don't have all the bells and whistles that a large company does... such as automatic accout setup software. That's why it takes so long to get the accounts set up... every single account is handled by a real, live human being. And as the volume increases, the delay time grows. Eventually, it will all iron itself out, and Cyberwings will be back to its usual 3-day setup time. In the meantime, however, folks DO get a bit antsy. It's only natural. Delay does often cause anxiety, and nobody likes to wait for the things they want.

You don't get confirmation emails because there's no autoresponder set up to send them. This, too, causes anxiety. There's no reassurance that your order was actually received. And folks want that reassurance so they can know that their money didn't fall into that great bit bucket in the sky. But the way things are, you'll get your account set up as soon as possible, and if the accounts for your order date are set up and you don't get your welcome letter, you are given the address of the company president to send your information to so he can personally expedite your account setup.

Try to be patient. It isn't easy sometimes, but it will be worth it.

Blessings,
Apacapacas

I am a customer of Cyberwings and have 10 hosting and one
reseller accounts with them.

I find it amazing to see such negative comments in this forum
about them.

I have had the best service and support from them.
My sites load fast, everything works and I couldn't be happier.

As far as the prices are concerned, you will notice that the
reseller prices are more substantial and provide the kind
of income required to keep adding servers and bandwidth
required by their rapid growth.

Their set up time for new accounts did become a little long
(although at these prices I think that shouldn't be a concern)
and their response was to hire more people to speed things up.

If you are unsure about this company, I suggest you enter their
support channel and forums and ask customers what their experience
has been.

Personnally, I absolutely recommend them.


GoToAndPlay

Aren't they buidling a new datacenter?

Originally posted by AcuNett
Aren't they buidling a new datacenter?

Yes Shawn is opening his own Private DataCenter:
Have a peek at: http://www.cyberwingsdc.com

It seems so simple now that others have explained it -- how they could have offered 80M, 6 gig accounts for three dollars a year.

Volume. Why didn't I think of that.

I have seen some posting to defend Cyberwings and others slamming.(perhaps too chilidish!) I expected unbiased explanations.
I had nothing against or for Cyberwings when I started this thread; I just was curious to find out the real facts.

Simply put is Cyberwings strategy feasible in the long run?

Surely income and profit(margin) are two different things. Be it high or low volume, business without a reasonable margin is highly risky in the long run, isn't it? Do they get enough to cover all the overhaeds and unforseen disaster in the future with such low pricing? If they do why don't other host offer similar plans; at least half of that?
Why does this strategy not come to a single host of the thousands of webhosts in this world? If any other follow(or preceed) them they could win a good share of that high volume?
(Everyone wants more profit)
That's why I asked in the first post whether Cyberwings is an exception?
I frankly wish find out; don't want offend.
thanks

Originally posted by Gordo
It seems so simple now that others have explained it -- how they could have offered 80M, 6 gig accounts for three dollars a year.

Volume. Why didn't I think of that.

should I charge $5 for one year domain registration?

I am sure I can get tons of customers if I do this.

:D

hahaha...

Any hosting company can be close without warning indeed.


Cyberwings is good to me.. Hihi , gotoandplay :)

The secret is in the volume.

Unfortunately, what he is inferring is that the servers have a high volume of users, thus lowering the profit-loss on each.

Also, it seems as if Cyberwings uses inferior hardware (generics...) to decrease their total server cost. I'm not throwing out insults... head on over to their forum and check out all the problems. Never have I seen that many; is Shawn the only one there with enough knowledge that can diagnose these problems?

I'd like to save money too, but cutting corners isn't the way to do it: every host should maintain it's server through knowledgable support staff that can properly diagnose hardware AND software problems... and have enought OF these personnel.

If you're afraid you might have an inferior server config, contact me and I'll hook you up with a nice, new server. ;)

I paid for one of those bargain promotions...got billed quite awhile back....I'm beginning to wonder if the delay is to make it too long to complain to your bank?


I have no idea when I'm supposed to scream...next month? August?


I saw 'located in Maine' which was unusual.People in Maine don't rip people. If I have a problem I can knock on their front door.



i.e. my backyard....

I almost signed up since it was too tempting a deal. However, my main concern is the type of customers they have been attracting - I've read in several forums that many plan to use their cheap Cyberwings accounts (with generous bandwidth and space) to run download sites. I doubt Cyberwings have enough manpower to always catch those "abusers" before they bring the whole servers to their knees. As a result the other sites on the same servers will have to suffer.

Is this a valid concern? I'd love to hear others' views too.

Shawn seems very straightforward a guy. I don't really doubt their good intentions to run a decent service, but reality is they're been taking in more than they can handle even now.

The main thing I don't like is they often have this "we're charging so little so if you're not happy just leave." attitude. Shawn has said that in their forums, and some of his loyal supporters (mostly teen boys it seems) continue to say that in their forums. The way I see it, the customers don't "owe" them anything. They volunteered to "offer" the cheap price and the customers "accepted" it. There was offer, acceptance, and consideration was exchanged no matter how small. It's a fair deal and they shouldn't treat customers with this condescending attitude. This attitude is going to hurt them sooner or later if it continues.

Support is a critical issue. Cyberwings continued to offer "sales" after I joined but support questions went unanswered. Even before I experienced support issues, I had to laugh at Shawn's attitude towards customers experiencing problems. I formed this mental picture of him pouting as he typed replies. He used to fume when people said "you get what you pay for" but it seems to have become his mantra these days.

I jumped ship and I ain't going back, even for $1/yr.

I use Cyberwings for hosting of 5 domains and have no complaints! Rock solid pricing, EXCELLENT uptime, quick responses to my questions to name a few of their benefits!

It's true it may take a few days to set up your account, but for the price, I think anyone can afford some time to them to make sure everything is up and working first. They are first class, grade A people and I will continue to give them my business in the future. :)

Hold up...I came over when someone said that CW was being abused over here....THERE IS DEFINETLY NOT inferior hosting at Cyberwings...But, If you REALLY want to listen to the people that would LOVE to have you pay 10 TIMES more than CW for their host plans...go ahead.
You just dont have any Idea about how much EXTRA you are paying!

I have 11 accounts at CW.....

Just pop in the chat or ask someone that actually HOSTS there and you will get a different story than this.....

PM me and I will give you VERIFIABLE addys :-)

Jaydee

This is LONG, but if you want the facts, here they are... (I have 2 reseller accounts, 6 individual accounts and 1 dedicated server with Cyberwings, not to mention other sites at other providers)

1. What I have always expected, 2. What I've seen others expect, 3. What I expect in the future


1. I have always expected companies to be able to keep their word. I expect people to make mistakes, and I expect new users to SOMETIMES blame their problems on support people who do not deserve it because of each newbie's own individual learning curves. If a hosting provider says they'll take a couple days to set up an account, I expect that. I also expect that if it's impossible to set up those accounts and still provide adequate support to existing customers, they need to make changes or additions to accomodate that.

When I came to CyberWings, the homepage said that sites would be set up within days of the time you originally signed up. I think it said under a week. I now know that I came during a massive influx of people. Despite what others have improperly suggested about CW putting to many people on servers, I know for a fact that part of the reason so many people had to wait is because they were building brand new servers instead of just packing everyone on a couple.

I was upset that they didn't keep their word about the setup time, but I do understand the importance of building servers to accomodate the growth.

Shortly after this massive influx of people that was mainly due to word of mouth spreading of their prices, CW staff had to change the html on their page to say setups would take a couple weeks. Worried about my future site, I watched their 24 hour irc support channel #cyberwings for any word on my account setup... Granted, not everyone has the time to watch that irc channel like I did, but I learned about problems others had, and learned many of the most common mistakes... Which brings me to #2


2 What I've seen others expect... Some seem to expect to move their business and businesses that they host immediately, without any glitches. This CAN'T BE DONE 100% of the time. DNS issues, misspellings and the like are the most common problems that I've seen in CyberWings forums and IRC channel. Whether or not the end users realize it, most of the problems they've been having are NOT the fault of CW, but their own individual problems. Few people swing back around after they have figured out their own mistakes to apologize for making such a ruckus to hosting providers staff. It's the same everywhere! At my other host, I pay around $40 a month for 3 nice size hosting plans, and their forums are packed with users with the exact same problems that CW has, they put more people on the servers than CW does, and they do not have a 24 hour irc channel for support.

The bottom line here is, if you doubt CW, yet you still need to move from your old host, TRY them for a while before putting your clients on them. Try them for a while before moving ALL of your business there. Log into their IRC channel for a while before using their service and watch for a little bit. If you're not willing to do this, maybe Cyberwings ISN'T for you.

I expect that some of you who have properly expected your sites to be set up in a certain amount of time stated have the right to be mad and will be, but I also think that it's only fair to have the record set straight. I'm still learning about the company and I haven't put 100% of my business there yet, however I am getting very happy with results I see over and over... From what I can see, much of the setup lag is waiting for servers to put them on, and the ability to train CW employees to do things that Shawn simply can't keep up with anymore because of the growth.


3. What I expect in the future. Ever since I came on board as a CyberWings customer, I've had issues with having to wait for services to be provided as promised. The services ALWAYS come, and they always perform as promised (Actually they've always performed better), but setup time and their webpage html layout are the only real issues I've ever had. In the future I expect that this company will have to get better at handling rapid influxes of customers due to unexpected peaks in popularity. They've already started on this apparently as they've posted in their forums and in their irc channel... They've added many new boxes and 3 or so new people to help out.

I also expect that if they upgrade their presence on the web, i.e. their homepage and account setup procedures, that other people and businesses will be able to view them better as what they are, a growing yet professional web host provider that has hit a few bumps along the way but still sticks with their customers 100%.


Just today the CEO of CyberWings had a hosting sale in their IRC channel. Dozens of dozens of current and not-yet customers received discounted and free accounts.



BOTTOM LINE: Turnkey E-Business MultiMillion page view per hour web hosting provider? No. Good for beginners who want 24 x 7 online support from either CW Staff or CW customers? Yes. Good for people who don't want to spend 10 - 15 bucks a month to host their websites as they learn different internet technologies? Yes. Good for resellers who want a fair price and good support with help desk tickets and irc chat? DEFINATELY YES!

I can see why some other web hosting providers might be upset also... Cyberwings is taking their customers. The ones that go to Cyberwings with appropriate expectations are STAYING, too!

Like me...
Spifted


P.S. When my original account finally got set up after a month, I realized that I had apparently forgot a step in the setup procedure. Once I completed that step, the techs got me going in a few minutes of time in the #cyberwings irc channel. I can't tell you how many times I've watched new users blame CW for setup problems when they in fact forgot to fill out the form online. Just a little FYI

I think anyone that sells hosting at $3.90 per year and expects to make money is crazy, but hey, if they can make it work, then good for them...but from the number of complaints I've seen recently, I'm not so sure it's working out...

They are making money, from what I found out.

I was so afraid to join because I thought they were a scam or they would take my money and run, or they would be out of busines soon... Or even that they were JUST opening and giving these insane prices to attract customers b4 jacking them into higher prices soon after.

Although I am still a wee bit worried about some things I have since found out that they are not in any major debt to anyone else, they've been open for well over a year, they have hundreds of repeat customers. All of their growth was by word of mouth. Now I'm not CyberWing's biggest fan, because they really do have a lot of work to do. But I can't sit back and keep letting them get badmouthed because of people who don't know the truth. Also, the price you sign up with is the price you keep. Period.

Truth is, many of those onesy twosie $3.90 account per year account people turn into people who have dozens of accounts, or who buy reseller packages. Most other hosts charge an outrageous amount. CW just seems to be charging what's fair and should've been done all along. That's their goal though, trying to cater to resellers. That's what I read about from their founder from day 1...

I hope that if there's anyone who doubts as much as I did/do that you at least give CyberWings a chance...

Just my 3 cents, again :)

Spifted

Who ever started this "lie" about support being a problem. There are 100% wrong. And so is anybody who spreads it.

Cyberwings has got to be the only host with incredible support.
Questions asked in the chat room are answered to by at least 2 people or more.

Some of what include: Cyberwings Support Guru's and Assistants. Cyberwings Volunteers and even CUSTOMERS!

I've got a reseller package with Cyberwings at one hell of a low price! And you know what? I am looking to buy more accounts from Cyberwings simply because support is the best, and these people know what they are doing.


Read the reviews made this YEAR alone by customers: http://www.hostsearch.com/addcomment.asp?Companycode=2916

It surprises me how quick things can change....... :cartman:

Originally posted by WCSWEB
It surprises me how quick things can change....... :cartman:

Yes, I was just wondering how many of these people are still "satisfied Cyberwings customers". :blush:

I thought these people were crazy until i looked at the post dates.

-Brendan

short and sweet

"You Get What You Pay For!!!"

I thought these people were crazy until i looked at the post dates.

:laugh: I hadn't noticed that! I was beginning to think these people were creepy, like the lotus eaters or something.

yea obviously the answer to the original question is "they can't offer webhosting that cheap"

im just hoping they get back on their feet, start charging normal prices and those of us who stuck with our little investment / gamble will be winners :)

but im not holding my breath..

Originally posted by ebird
Maybe a bypo?

:stickout