Check their forum under 'Changes at PowWeb'.

well, didnt find their forum (though didnt look to hard) - but, their home page doesnt work properly in FF

Direct link - http://forum.powweb.com/showthread.php?t=63602

Wow that's interesting

well, didnt find their forum (though didnt look to hard) - but, their home page doesnt work properly in FF
At least the other pages work right. And the home page works properly in IE. :)

At least the other pages work right

they appear to

And the home page works properly in IE.

wouldnt know

Direct link - http://forum.powweb.com/showthread.php?t=63602

Most interesting part is this:

"This May, we will begin the process of migrating customer Web sites and e-mail to a new hosting platform"

and

"we will need you to be involved in the migration of your site"

We are speaking a pretty large migration here with apparent client intervention required. I'm sure they know what they are doing, but, Im getting dizzy trying to wrap my brain around this one...

Quite interesting.
Let's see how it goes: I do wish them the best however.

Note: Grab the popcorn, requiring client interaction during a migration of any sort -- that's a bit iffy. They don't know their clients well enough... :)

I'll be waiting for their customers with open arms. Wait did I think aloud ?

How many clients are we talking? Ballpark? I know they are a popular choice for hosting solutions...

How many clients are we talking? Ballpark? I know they are a popular choice for hosting solutions...

Just short of 90,000 domains.
To be honest I'm hoping it goes well for them: As long as the management has the best intentions of the client's in mind it will.

90% of the time when the company is acquired by a new company, the migration process never goes as planned. Always some problem arises and a lot of angry clients. I hope this is not the same case, and I wish PowWeb the best of luck.

Ps. I would highly recommend EVERYONE (not just powweb clients) to regularly backup their files.

You know, when selling a company, the last thing you want to do is to announce it like "big changes coming to X company". People don't like change, and the change in ownership is unsettling enough, but to then migrate clients to new servers and a new billing system, well that's just a recipe for disaster, imo. These migrations rarely ever go smoothly.

You know, when selling a company, the last thing you want to do is to announce it like "big changes coming to X company". People don't like change, and the change in ownership is unsettling enough, but to then migrate clients to new servers and a new billing system, well that's just a recipe for disaster, imo. These migrations rarely ever go smoothly.

Bob,

While it might be a bit unnerving to hear about big changes on the way.. it'd be even scarier to not hear a peep and everything suddenly goes missing one day. ;)

I'm glad they're being upfront with clients: Although I personally don't think a billing/server migration of 90k domains is the best thing to do...

People don't like change, and the change in ownership is unsettling enough, but to then migrate clients to new servers and a new billing system, well that's just a recipe for disaster, imo. These migrations rarely ever go smoothly.The migration is part of the acquisition. It's inevitable, so the best thing to do is discuss it openly.

The migration is part of the acquisition. It's inevitable, so the best thing to do is discuss it openly.Well now, as factories aren't moved around, servers/websites don't have to be moved around either.

Powweb had a more or less unique system in place, one that their customers were used to. In a cutthroat industry such as this one, you really don't want to give people a reason to think about changing providers.

Buying a company that was doing OK and starting to change things around immediately, and radically, is a serious risk. Heck, things can go wrong when the job is handled by the employees alone. Relying on interaction/action with/from the customer, just spells out "very serious trouble ahead". I already envision 2-3 huge "Powweb sucks" threads. :)

Well now, as factories aren't moved around, servers/websites don't have to be moved around either.I don't want to speak for them, but the company that is taking over PowWeb has a significant data center operation running on the East coast. It doesn't make sense to leave the PowWeb data center on the West coast when your admin staff is 3,000 miles away.
Relying on interaction/action with/from the customer, just spells out "very serious trouble ahead". I already envision 2-3 huge "Powweb sucks" threads. :)Well those threads are inevitable. But the vast majority of the users won't have to have any interaction with the move. Being able to handle things yourself will be an option, and the only acceptable option for someone with dynamic content such as forums or blogs. Wouldn't you rather be in control of moving your forum? I would.

Well those threads are inevitable. But the vast majority of the users won't have to have any interaction with the move. Being able to handle things yourself will be an option, and the only acceptable option for someone with dynamic content such as forums or blogs. Wouldn't you rather be in control of moving your forum? I would.Well, good to know customers will have options to choose from. :)

I am sure Powweb selling is a good thing but how the migration/new ownership communicated it is the key thing here. Not all acquistions work out well (Dinix/Webhostplus) but how it is dealt with is crucial. I don't off hand know anything about this but I hope the best for the new management. This market is constantly changing so best of luck. ;)

Thanks,
Jay

Seems like it these guys who have picked up Powweb,

http://www.enduranceinternational.com/acquisitions/management.bml
Domain was registered on : 13-may-2003

No idea who they are and what they have done previous..

-Jay

The migration is part of the acquisition. It's inevitable, so the best thing to do is discuss it openly.
Yeah, I agree with discussing it openly. Although IMO, the new owners would be better off if they rushed very slowly into any mass migrations. Sure, these things look good on paper, but don't always pan out when implemented. Give the client base a chance to get used to the new owners, and then talk mass migrations etc.

Good luck to the new owners and the clients. :)

Has it been said what the actual migration will be too in terms of a hosting platform? No migration is fun and easy... Regardless of the money behind it..

-Jay

I have seen the pictures of the company executives before, correct me if I am wrong but isnt that the same company that bought INet?

Although IMO, the new owners would be better off if they rushed very slowly into any mass migrations.No rush. It's going to take a few months, it's a very gradual and painstaking move.

No rush. It's going to take a few months, it's a very gradual and painstaking move.
Yeah, no doubt you're looking forward to this. :D

wow, this is huge. Changing platforms from BSD to Linux ... that alone could be an issue for a lot of customers - especially if it means re-writing their scripts, etc.

I wish everyone the best during this transition.

Well they are promising better changes, lets hope their clients don't regret it

...correct me if I am wrong but isnt that the same company that bought INet?

I don't think so. I think that was Interland; which hey... they just became Web.com, didn't they? (Not to change the subject...)

It looks like this will be another ho-hum thing for this group. They bought a hosting company in New Mexico a couple years ago. I also get the impression that they're not another PowWeb-sized group... they seem huge... good luck to ME. I'm a customer and I hope it all works out.

I don't think so. I think that was Interland; which hey...
Communitech.net was bought by Interland, and then Gabriel started INET. They then sold INET to a private equity group (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=460447) called Stoddard Hill Capital (http://www.stoddardhillcapital.com/).

they just became Web.com, didn't they?
Yes (http://www.hostingtech.com/?m=show&id=1019).

Thats gonna be one hell of a migration.

I remember we moved 40 servers (~5000 sites) a couple of years ago and it was NOT pretty at all... no matter how prepared you and your customers are, it never goes to plan.

Alright... I'm lost? I admit that there are loads of things I don't know. What I don't get this time is... Umm... Exactly why do they want customers to assist during the migration??? I'd want them to back their data up COMPLETELY but I'll buggered if I'd want 'em mucking about any more than that?

Anyone?

I suppose we'll get some new customers through this if it doesn't go smoothly. ;)

KGIII

. . . Exactly why do they want customers to assist during the migration???
The clients might have to make changes to their nameservers, depending on how they have all that setup.

I think that initial announcement was a little misleading. The vast majority of the clients won't have to do anything to migrate. As Aussie Bob points out, something like changing nameservers for domains is incumbent on the client, since domains are managed by the users. But Endurance has done this many times before, so they have pretty solid plans of action and communication in place for each step of the migration.

. . . But Endurance has done this many times before, so they have pretty solid plans of action and communication in place for each step of the migration.
Yeah, reading over their site one cannot help but be impressed with their credentials. They seem to know what they're doing. :)

I've seen smoth transfers of clients and those who can be absolute nightmares. Moving clients to a different company is a major workload. I hope they don't underestiate the time and issues that will follow or try to do something like move their FreeBSD clients to Windows boxes heh.

This is going to be an interesting story to follow.

usually in these sort of financial deals part of the money is held back and paid six months or a year later depending on how the migration goes.
Therefore a seller will want a smooth transition but a buyer may budget for a lot of customer losses.
This is why these processes sometimes appear careless....

I think that initial announcement was a little misleading.I know one thing: If I were a customer, I would be worried. :)

Yeah, with that many customers, any changes that need to be made by the customers is surely going to meet some difficulty.

I don't know if the move from FreeBSD to Linux would really be that big of a deal. I've moved sites from FreeBSD to CentOS before with no problems whatsoever. However, I do know that those who advocate FreeBSD surely won't be happy with the change

This sort of move can be catastrophic.
I once had to move a server with 20 reseller on it, all who had thier own personal name servers.
Ten of them had domains registered through us so i was able to update the IP's for the name servers at the .com registry.
Two of the others were able to make the change themselves.
The other eight were unwilling or unable to change the IP's at the registry so they cancelled their accounts.

The lesson i learned from this is not to push personal name servers.
We have about 1100 resellers now and only about 200 have their own name servers. Most of those are based on domains registered through us.
SO if this ever had to be done again the fallout would be far less.

For any interested PowWeb clients, I'd be happy to talk to you further about my experience with the migration from ReadyHosting (the last acquisition made by Endurance International Group (EIG)). I have over 50 sites hosted with them, and went through the migration process with each one.

In general, I found the following:

1) The migration process didn't always work as it said it would. I'd work a site through their "waterwheel," it would say that it had migrated, but the next day I'd discover it still pointing at the old platform. OR, I'd ask technical support to resolve a QA issue, and they'd dump it back on my lap to fix.

2) EIG did not understand how to deal with resellers. One of the beauties of RH was that they were pretty much transparent to the end user. If the user didn't understand DNS entries, they wouldn't know (nor care) where they were hosted. The new RH doesn't understand that I can't ask a client to go to mail.readyhosting.com or username.readyhosting.com, or stats.readyhosting.com. It took a lot of work to convince them that they needed to set those subdomains up properly so that mail.domain.com would work, etc.

3) Customer support has been spotty at best. Tier 1 techs don't really know how to do anything, so they're always filing a ticket with a 'specialist.' At first, I thought that I could be more efficient by using the online chat (instead of the phone), but I quickly discovered that the online chat was really just a glorified way of writing a support ticket.

4) The ticket system doesn't always work. Managing 50+ domains, it's important to be able to associate a ticket with the domain. Techs have consistently done the following: merge tickets from multiple domains and put them together somewhere else; close tickets that weren't resolved; closed tickets while at the same time asking for more information; moved tickets from one domain to another without any explanation or communication; left tickets unanswered for days at a time.

5) Getting domains transferred away to another registrar has been a complete and total nightmare. I have one ticket that has been open for nearly 72 hours without significant action requesting that 11 domains be unlocked for transfer to another registrar. I am listed as the admin contact, I have provided the domain username/password, and I wait...and wait...

Lot's of lessons to be learned here, I'm sure.

If you're going to proceed with a migration to the new management, be sure of a couple of things: backup your files, keep good records of billing and payments, register your domain somewhere other than your host. You may also wish to prep your customers for downtime.

Feel free to contact me if you wish more information on my experiences with Readyhosting/Endurance International Group (EIG).

Isn't Endurance International Group behind Cocentric as well?

A migration of this caliber is not an easy task especially if the OS's will change. Some will be moved just fine and others will not. It is just a simple fact. Good luck to all Powweb customers as I am sure they will do the best humanly possible. Support needs to be around all the time during/after the migration as nothing can be moved flawlessly.

-Jay

Yeah, no doubt you're looking forward to this. :D
Not my problem anymore. I took a position with a different host in town. ;) I wish the PowWeb users and remaining staff luck, it was a fun ride.

The migration is going to be interesting, but Endurance has done it many times in the past with their previous acquisitions, and they seem to have it down to a science, so there you go.

Not my problem anymore. I took a position with a different host in town. ;) I wish the PowWeb users and remaining staff luck, it was a fun ride.

The migration is going to be interesting, but Endurance has done it many times in the past with their previous acquisitions, and they seem to have it down to a science, so there you go.

If we were talking about a small or middle big hosting service acquisitions by a big hosting service, i would think that the migrations will be a nightmare like it happens in any migration however this is a very big acquisitions [owner changed not just an acquisitions at all] and i am pretty sure the new owners whom invested $millions first thinked of the migration produce and well planned, well prepared.

I wish you well on with your new position. :) You've been with PW for some time.

Not my problem anymore. I took a position with a different host in
town. ;) I wish the PowWeb users and remaining staff luck, it was a fun ride.

The migration is going to be interesting, but Endurance has done it many times in the past with their previous acquisitions, and they seem to have it down to a science, so there you go.

If we were talking about a small or middle big hosting service acquisitions by a big hosting service, i would think that the migrations will be a nightmare like it happens in any migration however this is a very big acquisitions [owner changed not just an acquisitions at all] and i am pretty sure the new owners whom invested $millions first thinked of the migration produce and well planned, well prepared.
Yes, that might be right, but I don't blame mjp for not wanting to be around for that, as an employee. Even the best planned and perfectly executed migrations have a way of going terribly wrong.

With 78,000 accounts and 90,000+ domains to migrate, there are going to be glitches, it's unavoidable. Yes, Endurance does have an excellent migration strategy, but PowWeb is hemorrhaging employees, which doesn't bode well for a smooth transition.

Of course Endurance anticipated that too, so it could be that they take over all support operations sooner than planned. Either way, it's unlikely that most users will be inconvenienced by the migration. The problem is, the most active and vocal users are the ones with the most complex sites, so it may be rough going for them. It's a numbers game. If 95% of the sites transfer without a hitch, that still leaves four or five thousand who will feel it in one way or another. That's a substantial number of people who will be looking for answers (or simply moving to other hosts).

Could be a good opportunity for others to target those users. ;)

You can find some facts about The Endurance International Group (ticc.com/portfolio.html#endurance), the company that acquired Powweb. I think they own FatCow as well.

Yes, that might be right, but I don't blame mjp for not wanting to be around for that, as an employee. Even the best planned and perfectly executed migrations have a way of going terribly wrong.

I do not want to cause speculation for the price of powweb acquisitions however assuming $ [5-20] Millions, who spent that much wont let any waiters to dropped the tray ;)

You can find some facts about The Endurance International Group (ticc.com/portfolio.html#endurance), the company that acquired Powweb. I think they own FatCow as well.FatCow, Ready Hosting, and about 30 other hosts. So far PowWeb is their largest acquisition.

however assuming $ [5-20] Millions, who spent that much wont let any waiters to dropped the trayUnless they already took a certain dropping trays ratio into account. It's reasonable for a company to consider that a certain number of customers will leave after a buyout, even without a migration of this size, but evem more so when the migration is taken into account.

As mjp said, it's a numbers game.

Could be a good opportunity for others to target those users. ;)
I see ****** is already going after PowWeb users with a post card mailing that uses the graphic of the woman from the PowWeb site with a ****** logo photoshopped to her shirt and the tagline; "Has your hosting company sold you out?" I assume they harvested mailing addresses from whois records (which was a big no-no last time I checked).

As for Endurance expecting losses, yes they do, that's factored into their plan. I don't remember the exact percentage mentioned, but I think it was in the 10 - 12% range.

I see ****** is already going after PowWeb users with a post card mailing that uses the graphic of the woman from the PowWeb site with a ****** logo photoshopped to her shirt and the tagline; "Has your hosting company sold you out?" I assume they harvested mailing addresses from whois records (which was a big no-no last time I checked).

As for Endurance expecting losses, yes they do, that's factored into their plan. I don't remember the exact percentage mentioned, but I think it was in the 10 - 12% range.

In Turkey we have a saying i dont know if i can translate it exactly but here it is " in the valley of the wolves it is the rule to eat the fallen ..."

I understand this is a real wild business however do you have any full e-mail content of them?

...do you have any full e-mail content of them?
Not sure what you mean there, Ace.

I see ****** is already going after PowWeb users with a post card mailing that uses the graphic of the woman from the PowWeb site with a ****** logo photoshopped to her shirt and the tagline; "Has your hosting company sold you out?" I assume they harvested mailing addresses from whois records (which was a big no-no last time I checked).
All's fair in love and war I guess? :eek2:

Yeah, depending on which nameservers powweb clients use, I guess others can mine the whois database for those nameservers, and spam away. Great stuff. So much for ethics. :rolleyes:

I mean the e-mail that ****** is sending, do you have one of them? And can you please share it with us?
It will be a good proof to let WHT community see how ****** is doing business.

Regarding harvesting clients e-mail of a host, since powweb has only 1 set shared hosting plan subscribers it maybe be more easy , at the end all hosted domains holders are also web hosting customers [ that is not easy for the reseller hosting providers ] however IMO listing 80.000 domains and extracting the registrar holders emails 1 by 1 from a whois database should be really a time consuming job that really does not worth at all because i do not think even 0.001% of SPAM email recievers will value a hosting service which is acting like a fraud.

Though the company whom is [or will] the new owner of the powweb is not a newbie nor a rookie company but very very experienced in running hosting services
http://www.enduranceinternational.com/acquisitions/index.bml
http://www.enduranceinternational.com/acquisitions/management.bml

I believe if someone try to hijack their hosting customer with such that SPAMs , they seek their rights via legal authorities very strictly without a tolerance.

I mean the e-mail that ****** is sending, do you have one of them? And can you please share it with us?
It isn't email, as I said, it's a post card mailing. Shows up in your mailbox at home. I haven't seen it, but a PowWeb user with several accounts over there reported receiving a few of them. PowWeb closed the thread, and I was told about it via PM. Sounded credible, and the guy is well known, but again, I haven't seen it with my own eyes, so what can I tell you. Maybe it's a bunch of crap, but it sounded legit.

It isn't email, as I said, it's a post card mailing. Shows up in your mailbox at home. I haven't seen it, but a PowWeb user with several accounts over there reported receiving a few of them. PowWeb closed the thread, and I was told about it via PM. Sounded credible, and the guy is well known, but again, I haven't seen it with my own eyes, so what can I tell you. Maybe it's a bunch of crap, but it sounded legit.

OMG sorry i seen "mail" but i even assumed you missed to type the "e-" because i even can not dream .

I hope one of 80k customer will see this thread and will share the post card with us if it has been really mailed out by ******.

A principal in Endurance spoke at the mergers session at HostingCon (http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2005/06/08/more_deals_funding_ahead_for_the_hosting_industry.html) last year. Here's an excerpt:
"In all of the deals we've done to date, we've migrated the seller's customers to our platform," said Joe Bardenheier IV of Endurance International Group, which has completed 25 shared hosting acquisitions in the past three years. The Boston company's brands include Hypermart, FreeYellow.com and FatCow.com, which it acquired this year.If there's any consolation for those having to migrate from Powweb, it's that these guys have done it a bunch of times and are bound to be pretty good at it. The bottom line: if they screw up the migration and customers flee, they don't make as much money on the deal. Customers are the only thing they're buying. They want the customers to migrate and be happy in their new home.

So much for ethics. Sometimes you're really surprised to hear about unethical actions being performed, sometimes less so surprised. It all depends on the company at hand IMHO. ;)

Sometimes you're really surprised to hear about unethical actions being performed, sometimes less so surprised. It all depends on the company at hand IMHO. ;)


Kinda confused by this comment? Why is it unethical for ****** to be targeted customers of a competitor that just got acquired. In my opinion that's a great marketing strategy. ****** is going after targeted hosting users that will probably churn from PowWeb. ****** is not emailing the users, they are direct mailing them, which is the same strategy that many of the larger hosts such as HostWay, Affinity, Interland (now Web.com) and 1and1 employ.

To be honest, I'm surprised my hosts don't go after the customers of direct competitors. I have friends that work at several different web hosts and they tell me all the time, it's a marketing war out there, he who is the most persistent, wins.

If whois data is mined, then the advertising technique is just wrong, no matter if the end users receive emails or mail.

Its not that they are going after the cutsomers, its how they are getting the data of the customers that is unethical.

If whois data is mined, then the advertising technique is just wrong, no matter if the end users receive emails or mail.

From what I understand, and I am no expert, it is legal to mine the whois data and direct mail the end user. It is illegal to mine the whois data and send email.

Also, users, when they register a new domain name, have the option to select private registry now, so it's not like domain owners do not have a way of protecting themselves.

Still failing to see where the ethics lie??

The bottom line: if they screw up the migration and customers flee, they don't make as much money on the deal.
Actually, the more likely scenario is there is a baseline set for acceptable loss, and anything over that comes out of the seller's take. The contract is complicated and full of stipulations for both parties, so if things deteriorate too much before or during the migration, there are penalties to be paid, depending on who drops the ball.

I wasn't privy to the details of the sale contract, but I was in migration meetings where the technical process was explained. Endurance has a very elaborate and detailed method for moving the files and ensuring that the users don't experience any problems. They have covered all the bases that can reasonably be covered. The majority of PowWeb users shouldn't be inconvenienced, and those running more elaborate or complex sites who are worried about the switch can manage their own migration, to make sure the transition is smooth for their sites.

It's probably apparent that I don't personally think the sale was a great day for PowWeb, but that's to be expected when a bunch of guys from the other side of the country come in and say, "Hi! Pleased to meet you! Ready to lose your job? Let's get started!" Though it worked out well for me, and for a lot of the other people employed by the "old" PowWeb, and in the long run, the users may actually be better off with Endurance, so I have mixed feelings. The loss of a significant "mom and pop" host is troubling, because it results in less choice for the consumer. But these consolidations are a fact of business life.

From what I understand, and I am no expert, it is legal to mine the whois data and direct mail the end user. It is illegal to mine the whois data and send email.
There are no U.S. laws against mining WHOIS databases. The rules are up to the individual registrar. But most prohibit the use of information in their WHOIS databases from being used for commercial purposes. From godaddy.com's WHOIS result:

In particular, you agree not to use this data to allow, enable, or otherwise make possible, dissemination or collection of this data, in part or in its entirety, for any purpose, such as the transmission of unsolicited advertising and and solicitations of any kind, including spam. You further agree not to use this data to enable high volume, automated or robotic electronic processes designed to collect or compile this data for any purpose, including mining this data for your own personal or commercial purposes.

Most registrars have similar rules. Is it illegal, strictly speaking? A registrar would have to bring a suit against a spammer to establish that in court. I'm not sure if that has ever been done. If it hasn't, it probably will happen one day.

Also, private registration is not an option for every TLD. .us, for example, prohibits it, and ICANN rules actually prohibit it, though those rules have been widely ignored.

There are no U.S. laws against mining WHOIS databases. The rules are up to the individual registrar. But most prohibit the use of information in their WHOIS databases from being used for commercial purposes. From godaddy.com's WHOIS result:

In particular, you agree not to use this data to allow, enable, or otherwise make possible, dissemination or collection of this data, in part or in its entirety, for any purpose, such as the transmission of unsolicited advertising and and solicitations of any kind, including spam. You further agree not to use this data to enable high volume, automated or robotic electronic processes designed to collect or compile this data for any purpose, including mining this data for your own personal or commercial purposes.

Most registrars have similar rules. Is it illegal, strictly speaking? A registrar would have to bring a suit against a spammer to establish that in court. I'm not sure if that has ever been done. If it hasn't, it probably will happen one day.

Also, private registration is not an option for every TLD. .us, for example, prohibits it, and ICANN rules actually prohibit it, though those rules have been widely ignored.


Although many registrars have clauses similar to the one like GoDaddy, most registrars will sell their whois information to hosts that want to direct mail domain owners. I do know that NetSol and Register.com do this.

How do we know that ****** didn't buy access to a registrars' whois information to target specific domains that are hosted at a specific host, like PowWeb. Would people consider this unethical?

The way I see, whois information is public information, much like information at a library. If it's public information, then anyone can mine the information for any type of purpose. Whether you purchase access to a registrars whois information or you mine the whois, anybody can still use it for marketing purposes. Some people would call this a good targeted marketing strategy.

The data mining thing reminds me of Aplus, who usually calls people when they register their new domains or move them.

How do we know that ****** didn't buy access to a registrars' whois information to target specific domains that are hosted at a specific host, like PowWeb. Would people consider this unethical?They would have had to buy the WHOIS data of a lot of different registrars to do that, so it seems unlikely.

Ethical? I wouldn't say one way or another. Ethics are subjective. But mining the data is prohibited by the majority of registrars, so if they did that, there's no question whether that is ethical, it is not.

I do like ******'s rip of goldenpalace.com's publicity strategy of buying weird things and then issuing press releases. They've executed it well, but it's still a rip. http://www.defyinggravity.com/ ****** are followers, but most hosts are.

MJP I definitely agree with you that none of ******s marketing moves are original.
But I truly don't understand their logic and why they continue to push such marketing moves, particularly when they seem to be losing more accounts then gaining.

I believe Aplus still calls a person when they register a domain name. In my opinion it is unethical although I believe you could retrieve any persons whois data and use it for your own purposes.

Has anyone got an account after May 30th? I'm thinking about going with Powweb, Dreamhost, or IPowerWeb.

I'd also like to know how the transition with powweb turned out as many times we have seen transitions kill a business on WHT.

I'd also like to know how the transition with powweb turned out as many times we have seen transitions kill a business on WHT.

I think the fact that we haven't heard of it alone (with the insane # of clients they have) means it went very well or hasn't gone at all. :p

I think the fact that we haven't heard of it alone (with the insane # of clients they have) means it went very well or hasn't gone at all. :pIt hasn't gone at all. I talked to someone over there last week and they haven't migrated one account yet. DNS has been flipped, but the files are still on the Los Angeles servers.

All the support email and phones have been routed to India and Canada, so Los Angeles staff are sitting on their hands waiting for the axe to fall.

Another outsourcing success story!

It hasn't gone at all. I talked to someone over there last week and they haven't migrated one account yet. DNS has been flipped, but the files are still on the Los Angeles servers.

All the support email and phones have been routed to India and Canada, so Los Angeles staff are sitting on their hands waiting for the axe to fall.

Another outsourcing success story!

Are you sure? Mine website has been migrated... I scheduled my migration 5 hours before, and it is done perfectly, although I am having some problems with their server's php. I might change to another host just because of the php problem, but overall PowWeb is great.

PowWeb is still great, around 65% of the calls are outsourced to thick accented indian person... But I got one of my clients Dynamic Sites (running vBulletin 3.5.4) migrated over to the new server in about 1 hour 23 minutes + 1 phone call. Everything is running nice and smoothly so far. gooo powweb!

ok to trhow in my two cents. There is not one hosting company or major corporation in the world that doesn't sell there contact information lists to actual List Distributors. This is how ****** and Powweb for that matter aquire there leads.
I think it was more admirable that ****** chose a postcard campaign instead of mass emailing perspective clients. I would further challenge other hosting companies to use the same standards and practices.
Its not like other companies are not going to try and go after ****** customers. Throughout this discussion I think that everyone just missed the main point of the fact that everyone does it, and its just something that as customers were going to have to deal witih. There are ways for people to get off lists, there are domain privacy locks, and there's a national Do Not Call List. What more do people want.

nyca

Nyca,

I think you're a bit off on the following:
There is not one hosting company or major corporation in the world that doesn't sell there contact information lists to actual List Distributors

I can assure you there are a lot of companies that do not sell contact information and would never even consider it as a source of income.

. . . There is not one hosting company or major corporation in the world that doesn't sell there contact information lists to actual List Distributors.
Totally false. There are huge numbers of hosting companies that would never dream of selling their customer's information to "List Distributors". Your statement is wildly absurd.

90% of the time when the company is acquired by a new company, the migration process never goes as planned. Always some problem arises and a lot of angry clients. I hope this is not the same case, and I wish PowWeb the best of luck.

Ps. I would highly recommend EVERYONE (not just powweb clients) to regularly backup their files.

well, lets hope it isnt the same people who bought/destroyed DINIX!

well, lets hope it isnt the same people who bought/destroyed DINIX!
They are not WebHostPlus however WHP did not destroyed dinix but the domain has been merged with webhostplus.com

Hopefully their client base wont feel the changes and the transition.

Best of luck to them and their clients.

The Powweb forums are open, and taking a quick browse, it seems there are some growing pains, but no one in there shouting blood murder like we did in 2001 when I was a customer of POWWEB and they had some MAJOR downtime.

Not really "open" when they are deleting overly-critical posts and banning people who complain too loudly.

Sold.... and gone... with a legendary service... probably.

The transition is indeed going on and they are trying their best I guess, being open about it. Three of my customers' webs have been moved. Most of the static parts have survived but many dynamic elements have been screwed during transition and will require long hours to be rebuilt (cron jobs, DB driven pages, password protection, etc.).

The worst is the front line customer support that has been outsourced somewhere abroad. The "agents" who answer are very polite but they apparently don't bother to read questions in detail, let alone trying to understand them. Or may be they can't. Jugging from their replies, they probably can't tell a computer from a microwave oven.

The new owners have probably foreseen that mess as they increased the available space per package just before the migration took place in a attempt to put everybody in a good mood. The problem is that the vast majority of their customers don't need even 5% of that space, anyway.

So... I am shopping around...