Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 36
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Posts
    48

    I don't want a budget host

    I have a few sites I'm looking to host. Nothing particularly onerous. No massive disk space or bandwidth requirements. Just the usual stuff in any VPS account should suffice.

    But I do want one with top class service and tech support that's responsive, smart and customer service oriented. Such service would be expensive to provide and I'm happy to contribute towards it via higher hosting fees. But such a host does not seem to exist... or am I looking in the wrong places?

    In the last couple of weeks I've tried hostgator and servint and I'm distinctly unimpressed with both. I appreciate that many here have had good experiences with those two (I've done a bit of research). But the type of support they offer seems to me a tad at the cheapo end of the market.

    servint: not intuitive, log in and you get irrelevant rubbish on the first page and their "kickstart" program is hidden away in a location that they don't provide in the welcome email. When you do find it, it's nothing but a series of pre-prepared texts. That's fine. But each time you reply the support assistant takes 10 minutes to get back. Bear in mind that all he's doing is copy and pasting. Ten minutes to reply with the next in a series of standard texts is ridiculous. At two different times on two different days he was "unusually busy". That's not good enough. I dread to think what would happen if I ran into a tech problem.

    hostgator: I spoke with seven techies over the course of two weeks. Only one came across as both competent and efficient. Two terminated the calls when they screwed up. How rude is that? And none was able to solve a simple problem with Frontpage extensions. Most didn't know the first thing about the topic and the conversation read more like a training course conducted by me. I gave them a second chance after the hostgator owner, Brent, contacted me by PM and very kindly added $x to my account as a goodwill gesture. But that was obviously a mistake on my part.

    So, any suggestions? Or does tech support not get any better than the above two whatever the price the customer is willing to pay?

  2. #2
    I recommend you try deckerservices.com. I use them and I consider it a top class web host.

  3. #3
    I would definitely recomment onesmallorange host, They have 99% uptime and they're support is one of the fastest I have seen. Not to mention their pricing is fair.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    40
    I'm looking at CrocWeb at the minute. They started in 2009 and their brand looks superb. I have paid $28 or so for a year with the coupon code "halfcrocweb" and it saves me a hell of a lot of money throughout the year.

    I will let you know how I get on but sales were very helpful and their hosting looks great.

  5. #5
    Isn't CrocWeb a reseller of iweb?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    /roof/ledge
    Posts
    28,088
    Quote Originally Posted by Denii View Post
    I would definitely recomment onesmallorange host
    I can't seem to find that company. Do you have the name correct?
    Your one stop shop for decentralization

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Montreal
    Posts
    1,697
    Quote Originally Posted by thezombiehunter View Post
    Isn't CrocWeb a reseller of iweb?
    We currently lease iWeb's dedicated servers and are soon expanding to colocation.

    Quote Originally Posted by FreebieHost View Post
    I'm looking at CrocWeb at the minute. They started in 2009 and their brand looks superb. I have paid $28 or so for a year with the coupon code "halfcrocweb" and it saves me a hell of a lot of money throughout the year.

    I will let you know how I get on but sales were very helpful and their hosting looks great.
    Thank you for the recommendation.

    Quote Originally Posted by bear View Post
    I can't seem to find that company. Do you have the name correct?
    I believe he is referring to www.asmallorange.com
    CrocWeb Cloud - High Availability Cloud Website Hosting
    > NVMe Storage, LSCache, Redis, Global CDN, Unlimited SSL
    > Triple Data Replication, Automated Server Failover
    > Bad Bots, Malware, DDoS Protection

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    40
    Quote Originally Posted by thezombiehunter View Post
    Isn't CrocWeb a reseller of iweb?
    What is wrong with this?

    Also CrocWeb, how long until you move?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Montreal
    Posts
    1,697
    We are planning to colocate our own hardware within the next few months. Also a VPS service may be launched during this time.
    CrocWeb Cloud - High Availability Cloud Website Hosting
    > NVMe Storage, LSCache, Redis, Global CDN, Unlimited SSL
    > Triple Data Replication, Automated Server Failover
    > Bad Bots, Malware, DDoS Protection

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    California
    Posts
    2,786
    Quote Originally Posted by tryaxiom View Post

    <snip>

    And none was able to solve a simple problem with Frontpage extensions. Most didn't know the first thing about the topic and the conversation read more like a training course conducted by me.

    <snip>

    So, any suggestions? Or does tech support not get any better than the above two whatever the price the customer is willing to pay?
    I'm happy at MDDHosting, a smaller provider than the ones you've tried. I find that the full-time, small hosting companies are usually more responsive.

    One note about FrontPage; while most hosts still support it, it is past its official EOL from Microsoft, and you can expect your extensions to "break" at some point in the future. No one will be able to help you at that point. While I have a couple of customers still using FrontPage, I have urged them to start transitioning now rather than be down when a random update of Apache, PHP or MySQL breaks it.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Kepler 62f
    Posts
    16,703
    But I do want one with top class service and tech support that's responsive, smart and customer service oriented. Such service would be expensive to provide and I'm happy to contribute towards it via higher hosting fees. But such a host does not seem to exist... or am I looking in the wrong places?
    You just described my primary host. And it's why I've been with them for 5 years now. Sometimes uptime and support knowledge/quality is more valuable than a few extra dollars stuffed into your wallet at the end of the month.

    Wise choice to seek a premium host, instead of the budget hosts.
    || Need a good host?
    || See my Suggested Hosts List || Editorial: EIG/Site5/Arvixe/Hostgator Alternatives
    ||

  12. #12
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Iowa
    Posts
    2,613
    Mddhosting.com is a pretty good host and no extream space and bandwidth accounts.

  13. #13
    Unixy fills those requirements and more for me. Very easy to work with and seems very knowledgeable. I am sure there are others. I have only been on board for a short time here at WHT and mostly lurk.

    Agtech

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Posts
    48
    Thanks for all the replies.

    While I have a couple of customers still using FrontPage, I have urged them to start transitioning now rather than be down when a random update of Apache, PHP or MySQL breaks it.
    I appreciate your advice but one or two of my sites still need to be converted over from FP. However, they need to have hosting that can handle FP extensions till those changes are complete in the next month or two. cP has an option for FP extensions.

    If a tech assistant doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to FP extensions (or anything else) not working he should get the hell out of the chat rather than bluffing his way. When it's immediately obvious he's out of his depth he shouldn't try to blag his way which just wastes my time and often makes him look like an idiot.

    A quality service would not impose on my time any more than necessary. I'm in business, time is money. I don't want to spend 30 minutes on telephone hold any more than I want to spend a useless extra hour or two on tech chat because the operator is out of his league.

    Thanks to everyone for their input, but may I ask how many times you've used your host's tech support facility before coming to the conclusion that it's good?

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Paradise
    Posts
    12,052
    Which are your real needs in space/bandwidth and budget? Maybe it can help us to guide you better.
    Shared Web Hosting - Reseller Hosting - Semi-Dedicated Servers - SolusVM/XEN VPS
    LiteSpeed Powered - R1Soft Continuous Data Protection - 24/7 Chat/Email/Helpdesk Support
    Cpanel/WHM - Softaculous - R1soft Backup - Litespeed - Cloudlinux -Site Builder- SSH support - Account Migration
    DowntownHost LLC - In Business since 2001- West/Center/East USA - Netherlands - Singapore

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    California
    Posts
    2,786
    Quote Originally Posted by tryaxiom View Post
    I appreciate your advice but one or two of my sites still need to be converted over from FP. However, they need to have hosting that can handle FP extensions till those changes are complete in the next month or two. cP has an option for FP extensions.

    If a tech assistant doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to FP extensions (or anything else) not working he should get the hell out of the chat rather than bluffing his way. When it's immediately obvious he's out of his depth he shouldn't try to blag his way which just wastes my time and often makes him look like an idiot.
    Totally agree with you there. I just thought I'd mention the Frontpage issue, as I'm dealing with it myself.

    Quote Originally Posted by tryaxiom View Post
    Thanks to everyone for their input, but may I ask how many times you've used your host's tech support facility before coming to the conclusion that it's good?
    I did a count of my support tickets the other day, and was at 25 with MDDHosting with three month's service. That's more than I care to admit, frankly, because they were for the most part not real issues with the server I'm on (makes me feel stupid!) I was transitioning from a shared reseller account to a VPS, and had some issues getting nameservers to work, FTP for my customers to work with passive connections, etc.

    There were a couple of tickets for a promo that Mike extended to existing customers as well as new customers, and two added today for some billing issues that were quickly resolved. Anyway, the resolution in the majority of those tickets was under 30 minutes. I'm on the west coast, and even when I submitted some of them in the middle of the night (3 AM for MDD), they were answered promptly.

    The longest one was tagged low priority by me; it was update to WHMCS that (I think) required WHMCS to provide the update and for it to be posted for download. I needed it for ResellerClub functionality. That one took 4 hours.

    I'm happy enough that I just signed up for another 6 months.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    3,587
    You can check out www.medialayer.com if you want amazing performance and no budget host + overselling. They're pretty darn solid from what I've experienced, and they seem to have only positive reviews here.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Kepler 62f
    Posts
    16,703
    Over the course of 5 years, I'd say at least 50 tech support contacts.
    || Need a good host?
    || See my Suggested Hosts List || Editorial: EIG/Site5/Arvixe/Hostgator Alternatives
    ||

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Pakistan
    Posts
    45
    Have you checked RackSpace, they provide good support.
    Web Hosting Pakistan. Affordable and Reliable Web Hosting Services by FMEOS.PK
    Professional website designing and web development services.
    Pakistan web Hosting, Domain Registration and Web Designing Services.

  20. #20
    http://www.asmallorange.com/ :good

    I have a good experience with them. Go try it !

  21. #21
    I have looked at DreamHost in the past - but their business model seems to be to offer a year at an unbelievable price, offering an unbelievable amount of space and transfer, and then hope people stick about with them in the next year.

    Thanks for the LunarPages recommendation. I'll bear them in mind, but would have to wonder whether their servers will be overloaded with them offering 35000 Megabytes Storage and 800 Gigabytes Data Transfer for $6.95 a month

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Posts
    48
    Which are your real needs in space/bandwidth and budget? Maybe it can help us to guide you better.
    Jedito, those aren't concerns for me. Space/bandwidth etc., varies from host to host but from my experience even the lowest allowance they give is above what my needs are. Budget is similarly flexible. I won't specify it in dollars and cents, I don't have a "budget". But I make a good living online and would be happy to pay far more for good service.

    What would constitute top notch, price no object service? In an ideal world that would be 24x7 immediate tech response (except in times of real datacentre emergencies when there may be a sudden flood of tech requests - this should not happen to the host more than once a year if that). The route to that response would be at the choice of the customer - chat, ticket or phone. The first person the customer speaks to would have the technical expertise and problem solving ability of the higher level admins at other hosts.

    Such a service may not exist. However, I'd like to get as close to it as I can.

    But, of course, it doesn't make sense to pay a large sum unless I can first convince myself that the host does offer a superior service (otherwise I end up wasting time to repeat what I've just experienced with the two hosts I've tried). Hence my research here - the best place for this kind of information.

    Thanks to everyone who's taken the trouble to come back with the number of times they've tried their host's support. I will take some time over the next few days to do some research on the various host options suggested so far.
    Last edited by tryaxiom; 03-30-2011 at 06:41 AM.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Hollywood, CA
    Posts
    7
    As far as I'm concerned, Dreamhost has been pretty good for my needs. I have a small VPS with them and I'm not using nearly all of it yet, so we'll see, but their prices are straightforward (it looked to me like carenstanley was saying that they have introductory pricing, which is usually not the case) and relatively low.

    When I've had issues, I open a ticket and they're good about getting back to me, and the same tech stays on throughout the process and I can email back and forth to their real email address after the ticket is replied to. Add to that the fact that the guys seem to actually know and care what they're doing, and that equals a recommendation from me.

    The only thing they don't offer is reseller hosting, which is no big deal for me at the moment, but down the road I'll have to decide whether to go somewhere else for that or to pay for a dedicated server and install all the important **** (cPanel, WHMCS, backup, whatever) myself. Considering how lazy I am....

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Paradise
    Posts
    12,052
    You may want to visit different hosts, some of them have in real time the average response time on their sites, and also, live chat.

    About the uptime, you can ask them a third party uptime report that you can use to check, and of course, check this forum for reviews.
    Shared Web Hosting - Reseller Hosting - Semi-Dedicated Servers - SolusVM/XEN VPS
    LiteSpeed Powered - R1Soft Continuous Data Protection - 24/7 Chat/Email/Helpdesk Support
    Cpanel/WHM - Softaculous - R1soft Backup - Litespeed - Cloudlinux -Site Builder- SSH support - Account Migration
    DowntownHost LLC - In Business since 2001- West/Center/East USA - Netherlands - Singapore

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Posts
    48
    When I've had issues, I open a ticket and they're good about getting back to me
    I know this ticket system is quite common in the hosting business, but if you think about it, it's not the most convenient for the user. We have to type up the problem, take care to explain it fully (or it WILL be misinterpreted/misread), send it off and wait for a reply. Keep hitting send/receive and see if you've got mail. When you get mail you then reply to clarify a point or two and sit back again with your finger on the send/receive. Rinse and repeat.

    It seems to me a cut-price, lower efficiency, less customer friendly method of dealing with support. What can be done in a five minute phone conversation could take an hour via ticket replies even if the response is quick.

    It appears I may be the only one who thinks that this tortured back and forth ticketing in the hosting business is like playing tennis on the ocean floor.

    Jedito, thanks again. Yes, uptime can be checked. I'd be interested in any more information you have on checking hosts' average response times. I don't believe I've come across that anywhere.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Replies: 0
    Last Post: 07-31-2008, 06:09 AM
  2. Budget Host / Budget Reseller Down?
    By tweakerxp in forum Web Hosting
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 07-05-2007, 06:20 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •