Hi there, new to this forum.

For 1 or two managed dedicated linux servers, would you choose
datapipe, rackspace or inetu? They all seem to offer the same.

Thanks for the input!

None of the above! :)



Kind Regards,

What specifically are you looking to host, and what are your management requirements?

RackSpace, considering their reputation amongst the others you offered to show.

But be careful before you signup with them - most of them require you to bind into long term contracts which makes leaving them a hell more difficult.

Datapipe or Rackspace. Avoid 12 month contracts if you can, and make sure to ask as many questions as you can think of before signing up to make sure they can provide you with a service that will fully suit your requirements.

RackSpace, considering their reputation.



That's the very reason I would suggest not going with them - their deteriorating reputation.



Regards,

Datapipe or Rackspace. Avoid 12 month contracts if you can, and make sure to ask as many questions as you can think of before signing up to make sure they can provide you with a service that will fully suit your requirements.

Definetly always read the TOS and AUP too. You'd be surprised how many hosts have some weird rule in there that might affect you.

None of the above! :)

Really? None of them?

Any specific reasons you won't recommend any of them? I wouldn't take any RackSpace server, for sure, but both Datapipe and INetU are still on my list.

Datapipe support isn't that good.

Be sure you find out what you can and cant do software wise that they will support and any costs associated with a non standard setup if you need it.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I went with liquidweb instead. Rackspace and iuetu where just plain rude (we are talking sales dept here) and datapipe was almost double the price. I have to say that i am shocked about the way Rackspace handles sales.

Well you have posted a very general question which is almost impossible to answer. When you choose between 3 companies that are popular enough, which means they are good in business you'd better specify what do you need. But You've obviously did the right things, to speak to each of these web hosts. Why do you say some of them didn't provide proper response? Post that. IT would be helpful for others.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I went with liquidweb instead. Rackspace and iuetu where just plain rude (we are talking sales dept here) and datapipe was almost double the price. I have to say that i am shocked about the way Rackspace handles sales.
They want only the big fish.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I went with liquidweb instead. Rackspace and iuetu where just plain rude (we are talking sales dept here) and datapipe was almost double the price. I have to say that i am shocked about the way Rackspace handles sales.


Would you be willing to share the quotes you got for the hardware you wanted? Always helpful to find out where the pricing is.



Kind Regards,

Would you be willing to share the quotes you got for the hardware you wanted? Always helpful to find out where the pricing is.



Kind Regards,

I am certain it would have been whatever they think they can get outa him.

Well you have posted a very general question which is almost impossible to answer. When you choose between 3 companies that are popular enough, which means they are good in business you'd better specify what do you need. But You've obviously did the right things, to speak to each of these web hosts. Why do you say some of them didn't provide proper response? Post that. IT would be helpful for others.

I try to keep this short.
Rackspace: First did not reply at all. Hang up on me several times. Emailed for a quote with the exact specs we wanted. Several days later get a reply with the question to talk on the phone. I say I prefer email, then just get the standard quote for a basic server, not matching my specs. This goes on and on, and ofcourse i gave up.

inetu: replied with a message about what specs i need after i emailed them with a question for a quote with the exact specs included.

datapipe: replied next day. After talking on the phone they quoted double from what i think would be fair.

We needed two servers. Small i understand. However we have another start up business using 6 servers but is growing very quickly.

They want only the big fish.

Looks like it. But what is small today can be big tomorrow.

I try to keep this short.
Rackspace: First did not reply at all. Hang up on me several times. Emailed for a quote with the exact specs we wanted. Several days later get a reply with the question to talk on the phone. I say I prefer email, then just get the standard quote for a basic server, not matching my specs. This goes on and on, and ofcourse i gave up.

inetu: replied with a message about what specs i need after i emailed them with a question for a quote with the exact specs included.

datapipe: replied next day. After talking on the phone they quoted double from what i think would be fair.

We needed two servers. Small i understand. However we have another start up business using 6 servers but is growing very quickly.


what were the specs (basics) and what price did datapipe give you?

Would you be willing to share the quotes you got for the hardware you wanted? Always helpful to find out where the pricing is.



Kind Regards,

1. Rackspace : $385 for essential server (didn't ask for it)
2. Inetu : didn't receive a quote
3. datapipe: 850,-- for dual core , 250 raid 1, 2gb

hope this helps

Rackspace: First did not reply at all. Hang up on me several times. Emailed for a quote with the exact specs we wanted. Several days later get a reply with the question to talk on the phone. I say I prefer email, then just get the standard quote for a basic server, not matching my specs. This goes on and on, and ofcourse i gave up

Two years ago I had exactly the same -worthless- experience.

And not to mention I still receive those annoying and useless follow-up emails from them. :disagree:

1. Rackspace : $385 for essential server (didn't ask for it)
2. Inetu : didn't receive a quote
3. datapipe: 850,-- for dual core , 250 raid 1, 2gb

hope this helps

It does, thank you.

We're working on the public release of our managed offering and it helps us see where our prices fall into the marketplace.



Kind Regards,

Wow, I alwyas thought Rackspace was expensive, but datapape....$850?! for those specs...wow.

Wow, I alwyas thought Rackspace was expensive

Actually, they are not that expensive. Have a look at logicworks.net...

Rackspace: First did not reply at all. Hang up on me several times. Emailed for a quote with the exact specs we wanted. Several days later get a reply with the question to talk on the phone. I say I prefer email, then just get the standard quote for a basic server, not matching my specs. This goes on and on, and ofcourse i gave up.

I seriously doubt that Rackspace hung up on you several times. Can you provide details about the conversations you had? Did you chat with a live rep at the web site? The ive agents goal is to route you to the appropriate sales rep based on your needs. I don't think any hosting company has a sales force that doesn't want to talk to a potential customer. :-)

As far as specs go, Rackspace does not provide every processor, drive, memory combinatin out there so it is very possible that you were offered the closest thing they could come up with.

I have had managed servers at Inetu and Rackspace. A few things to consider:

They have SLAs but they only apply if the disaster/downtime is covered in the SLA. If not, they won't credit you.

I had a server down for a month at Inetu, and they did credit me, but the downtime severely affected my ability to do business, causing me thousands of dollars in lost business. It was a technical issues they could not solve, and their technical groups kept passing the buck back and forth, never taking responsibility to fix the problem. Finally they replaced the server, but not after enormous costs to me, and my climbing down their throats several times as the month wore on. It was very irresponsible of Inetu to do this, and showed their lack of technical expertise, and I fault them heavily for this. It was recent.

Second, Inetu claims to have near-perfect uptime according to Netcraft. This is only for bandwidth. Not servers.. which actually are down just as much as Rackspace and others. Again, a disingenuous claim by Inetu that implies you won't have down time. I had a month of it.

Third, read the contracts. Rackspace is negotiable, Inetu is not. They post their contract on their website, and it's the same for everyone of their customers. If you have any problem with them, or dispute anything, they can shut you down with a moment's notice. And you're screwed. Their billing department runs everything, and fairly unsophisticated billing clerks decide things like whether to shut your whole site down for a DMCA notice on a page of your site, or on a moments notice, that they will close you down over a billing dispute.

Only one person in the company has any real power, besides the billing clerks and thats the founder/president. If you can't get him on the phone, they'll likely screw you whenever the like, because they can, and the people actually running the show aren't very sophisticated.

Rackspace, OTOH, has a lot of folks who can negotiate, and doesn't allow the billing clerk to run the show with customers or to be the face of the company with customers once the sale is done.

Lastly, Rackspace, when I got quotes recently for several servers, quoted 50% of the price Inetu did, for the same set of managed servers.

You can probably guess, I'm now at Rackspace, where I find the technical expertise to be far superior, the staff to be far more sophisticated, and the prices to be far more reasonable.

All the way round, Rackspace is a better experience.

I had a server down for a month at Inetu

I'm sorry, but this is not logical at all.

First, if I go to a "premium" provider, which charges a lot more than many competitors, it's because I'm expecting a higher level of service and uptime.

So, if I ever experience 24 hours (or much less) of downtime with that provider, the next day I will be moving to another provider, and that's for sure.

And you say you had a whole 1 month of downtime?

:eek:

So, if I ever experience 24 hours (or much less) of downtime with that provider, the next day I will be moving to another provider, and that's for sure.

All of the the providers here under discussion have a minimum of a one year agreement I believe, and many providers, by default, don't have a termination clause for the customer in the event of service interruptions. You can move, sure, but you'll still be on the line for the contract value. I always negotiate an SLA addendum with a termination clause if there is consecutive downtime of x amount of hours or cumulative downtime of y hours within a 30 day period.

We learned the hard way that what you suggest, a termination clause that kicks in under certain conditions is a must. In our case, we would have owed Inetu $60k if we'd left at the point one of the servers was down for a month. It wasn't really an option. Maybe we were stupid not to do it, but that's why I wrote the warning above: to warn people about the practice Inetu engages in, so they go in with their eyes open, or they avoid them, or they negotiate something else (don't think that will happen when every customer at Inetu has the same very tilted contract in favor of Inetu with no options for the customers).