Hello all: I've actually been lurking here for quite some time, and have read about preferences for reviews, so I've actually taken those comments and suggestions to heart.

I've been with GearHost for about 6 months now. Before GearHost, I was looking at other companies, but the price and options swayed me. (Since signing, the fees have gone up) I am definitely a newbie when it comes to hosting, so there were mistakes I had made, such as not checking to see if they were on Unix, Linux, or WinNT. (GearHost uses WinNT) I prefer Unix, but it's a little late now...

Pre-sale: Very responsive, in fact, I had an e-mail "conversation" with an associate named Brooke at 8PM PST, which was 9PM at GearHost's location. After the replies, I signed up for a year to take advantage of the steep discounts. I started with their mid-range package, the gold. It was pretty easy to do the ordering online.

My only gripe is that on the website, it doesn't really say what OS they're on. I may not have considered them if I had known that it was WinNT, as that was one of my preferences.

Grade: A-

Setup: This is where it got a little tricky. It was pretty easy to get the domain registration taken care of, but the domain wasn't active for a few days. Minor mixup, but I didn't even have my site ready to go anyway. Would have been a big deal if I was transferring over a site. The iControl Control Panel took a while to get used to, but it was fine.

The first thing I uploaded was iKonboard (which is not out of my server, as I've replaced it with something better...) and because I did not understand the differences between WinNT and Unix, it took a while. Also, because iKonboard's index page was ikonboard.cgi, I had to contact a tech to make sure my subdomain can point to that file. When I had signed up, there wasn't too much documentation on how to use the system. Not exactly great for newbies like myself. Grade: B

Uptime/Downtime: Unfortunately, I don't use the tracking systems that most of you use, so I can't share a good Uptime/Downtime percentage. In April, the server I was on went on hiatus for a few days. GearHost was hit with denial-of-service attacks, but it was also acting faulty. Very frustrating, especially when you are trying to launch your site. It happened 3 times that month, so I wasn't particularly thrilled, especially after upgrading to platinum... Since then, there's only been one period of downtime, which lasted about 10 minutes. Grade: B

Customer Service: This GearHost's strong point. They were very patient with my questions. I've called them and set up support tickets, and in all instances they were quick to fix, setup, or explain things. This reassured that me I made the right choice with GearHost. Support ticket responses never exceeded 24 hours, and some responses occurred less than an hour, at very late hours. I've chatted with several techs, and even RyanK at one time.

I also had my server temporarily disabled because of some extreme activity going on. They did it so I wouldn't go over the bandwidth limit. As frustrating as that can be for some, I do see why they did it, and it was to look out for their customer. It ended up being a lot of activity I made on my server, coupled by some folks linking images directly to my site. Grade: A+

Overall: This experience has taught me a lot of things about web hosting, things to look for in pre-sale inquiries, etc... But I'm glad I found an outstanding company right off the bat. I would definitely suggest this company as a host, whether if you are a small site, to a moderate community. Perhaps when my site gets a little more activity, and as it grows, my needs can still be fulfilled through GearHost. Grade: A-

I plan to post a followup in April, since it will be one year.

Best regards,

Jay
jay@wasabiking.com

Out of curiosity, what is your URL?

Edit: Got it, thanks.

Setup: This is where it got a little tricky. It was pretty easy to get the domain registration taken care of, but the domain wasn't active for a few days. Minor mixup

This has nothing to do with GearHost, and there was no mixup, major or minor. No matter what host you go to, it will take 24-72 hours for the global records to update. Should you move hosts in the future, discuss this with them to make a smooth transition.

I'm not quite sure how you could have missed that it was an NT host.. DSN connections, Access, ASP, .NET, SQL Server, and the mention of Visual Studio are all unique to NT (except for the *NIX ASPs, and Mono).

I've had very good experiences with them as well. If they ever get remote desktop they'll be the perfect host.. ah well, i guess i'll have to wait for a dedicated for that.

Originally posted by Skie
I'm not quite sure how you could have missed that it was an NT host.. DSN connections, Access, ASP, .NET, SQL Server, and the mention of Visual Studio are all unique to NT (except for the *NIX ASPs, and Mono).

I've had very good experiences with them as well. If they ever get remote desktop they'll be the perfect host.. ah well, i guess i'll have to wait for a dedicated for that.

As he said in his post, he's not deep into the web hosting thing. He knows enough, but not the intricacies and whatnot.

Originally posted by Lurleene


This has nothing to do with GearHost, and there was no mixup, major or minor. No matter what host you go to, it will take 24-72 hours for the global records to update. Should you move hosts in the future, discuss this with them to make a smooth transition.

Well, the problem was, after 72 hours, it was still not active, even though the presale e-mail stated 24 hours. I called back and they had said that the order did not go through, and they were going to give it another run. It was rectified the next day. I'm sorry I did not mention it earlier in the post.

Best regards,

Jay

Out of curiosity, has GearHost changed their policy on linking? There was a posting in March of this year (http://webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=42921&perpage=15&pagenumber=2) where it was mentioned a person had to host their "whole" site with GearHost, not just part of it. This was confirmed by Ryan.

A few of us felt it was a limitation (I still do actually), but the person who started that post, made just the one post and never came back, nor did they provide a URL. Always interesting to see if someone who posts a "thumbs up" review is still with the same Hoster, a few months down the road.

Lots of people making these type posts -- about any Hoster -- never seem to include a site URL. As Jerry Seinfeld would say, "there's nothing wrong with that", but it does make one wonder.

mines in my profile.

You know, I've been trying to cancel my Gearhost account, and their contact email addresses don't work. Pretty creepy if you ask me.

mm... try calling them.

Much appreciated review Jay. I took a look at your customer service requests and in regards to the domain issue, it was actually our problem. The domain did get registered about 4 days after your signup, per your post, but was not registered the same day as your signup because our domain registration component (within iControl) responded with a "Timed Out" message from eNom, our domain registrar. But again, as you posted Jay, it was taken care of right away after we got the response on the third day.

Just a bit of clerification for those who might of wondered.

Glad to hear that you have a good experience with your host so far. I have to point out that I am glad I moved though. I have been waiting for their Linux package, but after waiting and waiting for weeks/months (I was repeatedly told its coming soon O_o)..I got a feeling that its not coming anytime soon. It has been 5 months since I moved..and the Linux plans has not been implemented yet. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Skie
mines in my profile.

Skie,

I didn't see your URL. Can you post it?