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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    63

    Review of Hostgator, LunarPages, SLHost, HostingZoom, and JaguarPC

    Hi Folks:

    I thought I would do a review of some of the web hosts that I have used or am using over the last year or so.

    I'll start off by talking about the 3 webhosts i currently am using.

    1. Lunarpages (regular shared hosting account).
    2. HostingZoom (regular shared hosing account)
    3. Hostgator (Reseller Account)

    Lunarpages:
    I have had a shared account with Lunarpages since early July.
    Positives: Of the different webhosts I have used, they seem to keep php, and other software the most up to date (on the elara server). A webhost that uses older versions of software that have security issues makes me nervous. Another positive of Lunarpages was the free "Coffeecup" software.
    Negatives: I really wanted to like Lunarpages when i signed up with them. Of all the hosts I have used in the last few years, the Lunarpages server I'm currently on is down the most. In fact, I currently use my space there just for testing out software (like Joomla) and setting up demos for my current web design clients to learn on (they can learn on the demos as opposed to messing up their live sites!). The server generally has some issue at least ever couple of days were the site is unreachable (either a hight server load and everything times out) or some other issues. Here are a couple of links to problems I posted on their forum: http://www.lunarforums.com/lunarpage...-t42735.0.html
    and
    http://www.lunarforums.com/lunarpage...-t42548.0.html
    The second link involved an addon domain that was set up incorrectly by support. It took 18 tickets (from me... support sent me 14 or so) to fix the problem. Like some webhosts, support would never look at previous tickets and I had to send the same info over and over.

    HostingZoom:
    HostingZoom has been ok. There haven't really been any issues with the server being down, high cpu usage or any "server" issues. Support has been "ok." No real problems.
    Positives: Server has had good uptime, and very few problems. Support responds to problems within 2 to 3 hours usually.
    Negatives: I guess its maybe not a "negative" but the thing that sticks out to me the most is the HostingZoom has generally been so "average." What I mean is while the server has running well.... there is nothing that is really outstanding about the server or support. Nothing bad or good really jumps out at me. Support/help is not rude or unprofessional but do not seem to be "warm" and friendly. I tried out ResellerZoom for a week or so and had the same experience.

    Hostgator:
    I currently have my "live" sites at Hostgator with a Reseller Account (I don't resell....but with designing websites i like having the sites with separate cPanels,etc.).

    In the past: a little over a year ago I was with Hostgator and had problems (I asked to be on a server with php5 and MySQL5). This was the only server Hostgator had at the time that had php5 and MySQL5 on it. It was a painful experience (database and many other issues). I decided in November to give Hostgator another try (again on a server with php5 and MySQL 5), and they have been outstanding. I have not had any downtime since signing up.
    Positives: Excellent uptime, Support is friendly, The forums have lots of friendly people also. Support answers tickets in about 1/2 the time as HostingZoom. I have not had any of the issues I had a little over a year ago. Lastly, they also offer WHMCS for free with reseller accounts.... awesome program.
    Negatives: The main negative for me has to do with backups on the Hostgator accounts. Hostgator uses cPanel. cPanel has built in the ability to do a full cPanel backup of an account and then ftp it to another server. Hostgator has disabled the ability on cPanel accounts to ftp cPanel backups... and only allows the user to download them to their computer or leave them on the server (I'm a backup fanatic).

    SLHost
    Because of the issue with backing up using ftp, I decided I would try a VPS (plus I liked being able to choose which versions of php, MySQL, Apache, etc. I run). I had a VPS with SLHost for the first half of 2007 (I decided to save some money after the 6 months I had paid were used up and went with Lunarpages...). I tried another VPS with SLHost in late November/ the first half of December this year.
    Positives: SLHost has the quickest AND most effective support staff of any host I have ever been with. When I had issues (caused by myself) the support staff responded back quickly (usually about 10 minutes) with a response that indicated they were fixing or working on the issues (I messed up the DNS and other things... not their fault... mine). Other hosts I have been with will trade support tickets with me before they finally work on the issue. SLHost support actually read the tickets (amazing!) and fix the issue. With Lunarpages (above) it took 30 tickets total (between me and support) over a 2 1/2 day periond before an addon domain was fixed. SLHost had more complicated issues fixed in 15 minutes from when the ticket was submitted! The server was never overloaded or down.
    Negatives: SLHost is really the only host I have been with in the last few years that I can't find anything negative to say.

    Why did I not stay with them the second time? While I know a lot about web design... I just don't know enough about Linux/VPS. I'm sure SLHost would have continued to help me with any issues I caused, I decided to go back with a Reseller account and let someone else manage the server. I decided I could live with the ftp backup issue with Hostgator and signed up for a 1 year contract with Hostgator.

    Summary:
    For a VPS I had excellent support in every way from SLHost.
    For a Reseller Account: Hostgator has a warm and friendly forum, very good server performance and no downtime.

    Average: HostingZoom. No major issues or major downtime. The forums and support don't seem as "warm" or inviting as Hostgator (I know thats subjective).

    Poor: Lunarpages- a lot of frequent network issues and downtime. In fact, while writing this review, I wanted to check the server load at Lunarpages. I had to put in a support ticket this evening because I could not log in through either cPanel or FTP (support later said it was a network issue).
    Last edited by Certifiedwebpro; 12-27-2007 at 09:22 PM.
    Matthew
    WCZone -- Quality Web Design @ Affordable Prices!
    Currently Hosting with Downtownhost.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Edinburgh
    Posts
    3,883
    thanks for the reviews

    owm
    ‹(¿)›
    Life's what you make it.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    50

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    63
    Quote Originally Posted by adult100mbps View Post
    wow Nice info! Thanks!
    Thanks. I just posted this to a question in another thread, but since it applies to my review today, I'll post it here too:

    I'm not sure how accurate it is, but using: http://www.myipneighbors.com/

    Hostgator: It says for wczone.com I have "106 neighbors" (10 of those are mine. The myipneighbors.com seems to only report the actual cPanel accounts/main domains, not the parked domains). I must say up front though that I'm not on a "regular Hostgator reseller account. When I signed up I asked to be put on a reseller server that has php5 and MySQL 5 (most have only MySQL 4).

    Lunarpages: (hookedonphones.com) says there are 273 (not including parked domains).

    I also have an account with HostingZoom, but since they gave me a static IP, I'm not sure how to check how many total are on the server.

    Server Load as measured using cPanel (I know its not real accurate.....)
    Hostgator: stays 0.50 and below. I think I saw it get up to 1 before. There aren't many sites on the server so it may use more processor in the future. (2 cpu's)
    Hostingzoom: cPanel usually shows between 1 to 3 (right now its 3.6), but the server is a 4 processor/2 core.... 8 cores total. So the load per core is almost always less than 1.
    LunarPages: Usually a load of 2 to 5. (daily spikes to 50 or 60 at times, usually for a short period ... 1/2 hour or so). 2 Processor/2cores... 4 cores total.
    Matthew
    WCZone -- Quality Web Design @ Affordable Prices!
    Currently Hosting with Downtownhost.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    540
    Quote Originally Posted by Certifiedwebpro View Post
    Thanks. I just posted this to a question in another thread, but since it applies to my review today, I'll post it here too:

    I'm not sure how accurate it is, but using: http://www.myipneighbors.com/

    Hostgator: It says for wczone.com I have "106 neighbors" (10 of those are mine. The myipneighbors.com seems to only report the actual cPanel accounts/main domains, not the parked domains). I must say up front though that I'm not on a "regular Hostgator reseller account. When I signed up I asked to be put on a reseller server that has php5 and MySQL 5 (most have only MySQL 4).

    Lunarpages: (hookedonphones.com) says there are 273 (not including parked domains).

    I also have an account with HostingZoom, but since they gave me a static IP, I'm not sure how to check how many total are on the server.

    Server Load as measured using cPanel (I know its not real accurate.....)
    Hostgator: stays 0.50 and below. I think I saw it get up to 1 before. There aren't many sites on the server so it may use more processor in the future. (2 cpu's)
    Hostingzoom: cPanel usually shows between 1 to 3 (right now its 3.6), but the server is a 4 processor/2 core.... 8 cores total. So the load per core is almost always less than 1.
    LunarPages: Usually a load of 2 to 5. (daily spikes to 50 or 60 at times, usually for a short period ... 1/2 hour or so). 2 Processor/2cores... 4 cores total.

    What makes you think myipneighbours does not include parked domains in its results?

    I have just checked the server my web sites are on and included in the results was a parked domain of mine
    Host to avoid at all costs - Real Web Host

    Mouse potato - The online generations version of a couch potato

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    63
    Quote Originally Posted by Keith W View Post
    What makes you think myipneighbours does not include parked domains in its results?

    I have just checked the server my web sites are on and included in the results was a parked domain of mine
    Hi Keith:

    I have 10 main domains on my Reseller account. Each of which has parked domains (a total of 59 domains... with 49 parked domains).

    None of the parked domains show up, only the main domains (I said parked, not addon domains). Maybe it depends whether they are shown or not on the server or how the server is set up? I think its probably more accurate to NOT include parked domains since they are parked on the main domain that gets the traffic (I use Wordpress/Joomla and if someone accesses the site through a parked domain, they are automatically taken to the main/active domain).
    Matthew
    WCZone -- Quality Web Design @ Affordable Prices!
    Currently Hosting with Downtownhost.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    540
    Hi Matthew,

    Sorry, I totally missed the part where you said you were on a reseller account, I am not on a reseller myself so maybe that made a difference?

    Anyway enjoy the rest of the festive season buddy.

    Take care, Keith
    Host to avoid at all costs - Real Web Host

    Mouse potato - The online generations version of a couch potato

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    U.S.A.
    Posts
    3,928
    I think you forgot to add your review on Jaguarpc

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    63
    Quote Originally Posted by Matt.G View Post
    I think you forgot to add your review on Jaguarpc
    Hi Matt:
    I was going to comment on Jag, but decided not too. I only used their services for a few days so I decided it wasn't enough to get a good feel for them.
    Matthew
    WCZone -- Quality Web Design @ Affordable Prices!
    Currently Hosting with Downtownhost.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Certifiedwebpro View Post
    Hi Matt:
    I was going to comment on Jag, but decided not too. I only used their services for a few days so I decided it wasn't enough to get a good feel for them.
    cool. very professional.
    Looking forward to your further review soon.
    Keep it up.
    Affordable Managed Hosting Solutions for Professional & Business since 2001
    Mxhub.com - Global : USA - UK - Canada - Europe - Asia Pacific


  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    2,357
    Great detail on a select choice of hosts. Well done!
    Personal Website: Here | Currently Hosted By: HostGator | Twitter: @Quartz87

  12. #12
    Nice sharing. I think Lunarpages is at the risk of overselling even it still not too serious.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    8,154
    Nice reviews, thank you for sharing this useful information with us.

    How did you find these web hosting companies, and what attracted you the most towards them?

  14. #14
    thanks for the review. i was just about to pull the trigger to go with lunarpages but will have a harder time doing so now.. ;-)

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Manila, PH
    Posts
    9
    Nice reviews. I'm with Lunarpages since last year, had no problems, but my sites kept going down last month. Now I'm planning to switch to another host...

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    326
    I had a VPS Account with slhost.com and I must say that their support was outstanding. They were always there to help me fix things or advice me on things. I had an account with slhost.com for about a year. I wouldn't mind using their shared services but I don't like nor do I want cPanel!
    Charles

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    31
    Thanks for the reviews and sharing the other comments, very informative thread

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    3,587
    I wish all reviews were written like this, very well done there!

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    63
    Quote Originally Posted by WN-Ali View Post
    How did you find these web hosting companies, and what attracted you the most towards them?
    Each company had something that attracted me to them.

    For Lunarpages, I had been with them for a short time (maybe a couple of years ago?). At the time they only allowed I think it was 2 domains/websites (with extras costing extra). Since then they allow unlimited (for linux servers) which maybe why they have more resource usage.

    For HostingZoom I was tired of the server issues with Lunarpages... and HostingZooms "Failover" service sounded great. I liked the idea that if one of the servers in the cluster went down, another would take over.

    Hostgator: I heard positive things ALOT here on WHT.

    SLHost: I'm not sure how I found them originally. I don't think they advertize here at WHT (maybe they did last Jan/feb, not sure). I wanted a VPS and their prices were very good.
    Matthew
    WCZone -- Quality Web Design @ Affordable Prices!
    Currently Hosting with Downtownhost.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    63
    Quote Originally Posted by Boardwalk View Post
    Nice reviews. I'm with Lunarpages since last year, had no problems, but my sites kept going down last month. Now I'm planning to switch to another host...
    Its difficult sometimes when picking a Host because the reviews are usually based upon an individuals experience on one server. A web host can have a hundred servers that are running fine, but you don't know if you'll end up on the "one" server that has issues...
    Matthew
    WCZone -- Quality Web Design @ Affordable Prices!
    Currently Hosting with Downtownhost.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    63
    Quote Originally Posted by Neosmith View Post
    I had a VPS Account with slhost.com and I must say that their support was outstanding. They were always there to help me fix things or advice me on things. I had an account with slhost.com for about a year. I wouldn't mind using their shared services but I don't like nor do I want cPanel!
    They really do have quick and professional support. I personally like cPanel/WHM better than the plesk and others, but I have read its more "resource intensive" than some others (I don't know about the new 11 version though).
    Matthew
    WCZone -- Quality Web Design @ Affordable Prices!
    Currently Hosting with Downtownhost.

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    63
    As a side note, I thought I would let folks know that Lunarpages does have someone who reads these forums (I don't know if I've ever seen them post here though?).

    The reason I know this is that when someone bumps this thread back up (so it ends up on the forums 1st page again), I get a phone call at home! Lunarpages has called my house twice now, though I work during the day and haven't been there to talk to them.
    Matthew
    WCZone -- Quality Web Design @ Affordable Prices!
    Currently Hosting with Downtownhost.

  23. #23
    Thanks for the very professional reviews. Great detail on a select choice of hosts. Looking forward to your further review soon. Keep it up.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    404
    Like everybody here, thanks for sharing with us your experiences with these
    hosts. It feels like a vacation when we get a break from the "negative, horrible
    reviews" haha

    Quote Originally Posted by Certifiedwebpro View Post
    The reason I know this is that when someone bumps this thread back up (so it ends up on the forums 1st page again), I get a phone call at home! Lunarpages has called my house twice now, though I work during the day and haven't been there to talk to them.
    You get a phone call at home - why? (I couldn't help myself to ask - I'm curios)

    cris
    I've been using HostGator for 38 months.. and it's been awesome.
    Get The Maximum HostGator Discount With These HostGator Coupons!

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
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    A Gigopolis In The Making
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    Oh this is an old thread, however I think I have a relevant experience and question to share.

    I am a customer with SLhost also and I admit that their support is very good. Excellent indeed.

    But they have reseller plan also, not just VPS.

    Have you consider taking the reseller route with them?
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