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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
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    richmond / heidelberg
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    Steadfast, the first 7 days ...

    After having been with mediatemple for more than five years and becoming increasingly frustrated with the steady decline in the quality of their services and the support (I'm talking "shared hosting customers"), I recently concluded that it was time to ditch mt and move on.

    I knew beforehand that I was ready for a solution that offered more flexibility than your average shared hosting account but wasn't sure whether or not I really needed a dedicated box (and all the hassles that go along with that), so I settled for the "mid-range" and decided to investigate what's out there in terms of VPSs.

    While doing my due diligence I stumbled across WHT (which has proven to be an invaluable source of information) and started to read up on various providers.

    I make my living as a self-employed interactive designer / consultant (*), so I do know my front-end and have the the ability to "sound dangerous" when talking about back-end stuff. But even the most mundane item you'd find in the job description of your average sys admin is way beyond me ("An MX what record? Vinyl? Macromedia?"). To me that meant support was one of the important factors when picking my next provider.

    After reading dozens and dozens of posts which (amount-wise) felt like wading through NYC's yellow pages, I decided to take Steadfast (steadfast.net) for a spin and signed up for a month with their Silver VPS (steadfast.net/services/vps.php) package - pricing seemed reasonable at $49.95/mo with free setup.

    I asked Karl a couple of inane pre-sales questions and the virtual box was set up within a couple of hours - I was ready to go and explore my new toy. As expected, it only took me a few days to encounter my first "serious" hurdle and make a mess of things, namely my VPS's DNS zone file. Fully expecting to be charged for this (no one but me messed it up, after all) I submitted a ticket, asking for help. To my utter surprise Curt and Ray took care of me within a few hours and fixed my blunder without charging me a dime.

    That's when I decided to extend my subscription prematurely and signed up for the six month plan (which also lowers the monthly cost).

    pros:
    • I can't say enough about how wonderful the support has been so far. Tickets, regardless of when they were submitted (e.g., my first one was submitted at 3am), actually got *worked on*, and not just *responded to*, within the hour. Ray, Curt, et al have been most friendly, patient and helpful.
    • Competitive (not the most expensive nor the cheapest) pricing for VPS packages.
    • Great pricing for add-on packages/apps ($5/mo. for Plesk, $5/mo. for the Plesk Power Pack)
    • Connectivity seems great - mid-30's pings from my cable modem and my DSL line here in VA. Pings from Europe (Germany, to be exact) are more than sufficient, which is important for me because quite a few of my clients are located in "Krautland".


    cons:
    • Pre-sales/product info on SF's website could be organized/structured better (it's an "occupational disease", I can't help but stumble over such things)
    • Setup could have been a tiny bit faster, but an extra 2 hours or so didn't make a difference for me personally
    • Initial configuration of Plesk (the license, rather) was a botched a tiny bit (rectified very swiftly)
    • Control panel interfaces (Plesk/HSPcomplete) seem a bit on the slow side


    (personal) conclusion:
    Even though I can't speak to Steadfast's long-term reliability after having been with them for only a week (I will report back here after a few months), I would highly recommend their services to anyone who is in the market for a reasonably priced VPS that offers more than just "barebones service". If you're in a position similar to mine (= "need good customer service") I'd say give those guys a try - I doubt you'll be disappointed. None of the "cons" listed above come even close to outweighing a single one of the "pros".

    The only thing I'm left wondering is whether or not Karl will give me a discount on my VPS after he reads this review ... </kidding>



    (* - More than 90% of my work is strategy/branding/information architecture and usability-related stuff)
    Last edited by effgee; 09-29-2006 at 04:30 PM. Reason: because I can't spell worth a doo-doo

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    New York, NY
    Posts
    10,710
    Control panel interfaces (Plesk/HSPcomplete) seem a bit on the slow side
    HSPComplete is generally slow from my experience. I'm not really sure why though...I guess it's an intensive app.
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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    richmond / heidelberg
    Posts
    10
    Quote Originally Posted by layer0
    HSPComplete is generally slow from my experience. I'm not really sure why though...I guess it's an intensive app.
    D'oh! I never even thought of that. Makes perfect sense, especially since I haven't experienced connectivity issues/slow-downs when accessing the box(es) the various cp's are hosted on. Well, if any further proof of me being a total noob in all things VPS was necessary, there you have it!

    :-)

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Chicago, IL
    Posts
    6,957
    Quote Originally Posted by effgee
    Pre-sales/product info on SF's website could be organized/structured better
    I would have PM'd you, but you don't seem to allow PM's, so I'll ask here. We are always looking to improve our site and services, so what do you think we could/should do to structure it better? What issues did you have with finding information on our site?
    Karl Zimmerman - Founder & CEO of Steadfast
    VMware Virtual Data Center Platform

    karl @ steadfast.net - Sales/Support: 312-602-2689
    Cloud Hosting, Managed Dedicated Servers, Chicago Colocation, and New Jersey Colocation

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Brighton, MI
    Posts
    1,583
    your long term experience will be much like your short term. Steadfast has always been great to us and we are going on well over 1 year now.

    GREAT people over there, nice work as usual Karl and crew

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    richmond / heidelberg
    Posts
    10
    Quote Originally Posted by KarlZimmer
    I would have PM'd you, but you don't seem to allow PM's, ...
    Karl, methinks PMs are turned off for members with a post count lower than five (as well as links, smilies, etc.) - if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it's a dirty-rotten-spammer-deterrent (which is perfectly fine by me, canned meat makes my toenails curl). I'll be happy to share a few observations ... just give me until sometime tomorrow to "hack my answer together".

  7. #7
    Your experience mirrors mine. I had a VPS a little more than a year ago and I have only good things to say about it. Also, in my experience Plesk and HSPComplete are a tad slower than all other control panels, I am not really sure why. For Plesk I think it's becuae of the little "loading" bars, but nobody really knows.


    Alex

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    richmond / heidelberg
    Posts
    10
    Quote Originally Posted by KarlZimmer
    ..., so what do you think we could/should do to structure it better? What issues did you have with finding information on our site?
    Hi Karl

    Apologies for being a day late with my reply, had an urgent project to wrap up. Anyway, I "hacked together" a few observations about the steadfast site in general, the services/purchasing area in particular as well as quick whck-up of what I would have done.

    WHT doesn't allow inline images, so I whipped up my "review" (note the quotes, they're intentional) of the steadfast site in HTML and stuck it on my shiny new VPS.

    Please make sure you read at least the paragraph labeled "introduction" ... I wouldn't want my intentions to be misunderstood

    On to the link: micro-evaluation of the steadfast.net site


  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Florida, USA
    Posts
    364
    EFFGEE..... Nice work!
    Host, YES!
    Reselling? Partner for profit instead!

  10. #10
    Wow, you should really get paid for that. Pretty amazing stuff. Effgee, Do you have a website where we can find out more about your services?

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Ahh' UnderPants
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    1,013
    Steadfast looks great with great people, But what i think is their VPS plans and prices need lot changes to compete in market.

    they need to work on VPS plans to make it a hot market price, since they have expanded enough to make people assure that they are reliable, supportive and can provide quality.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Chicago, IL
    Posts
    6,957
    Quote Originally Posted by D'Godown
    Steadfast looks great with great people, But what i think is their VPS plans and prices need lot changes to compete in market.

    they need to work on VPS plans to make it a hot market price, since they have expanded enough to make people assure that they are reliable, supportive and can provide quality.
    For us, VPSes are not our core market, they pull in about 3.5% of our total revenue, yet take about 40% of our total support resources. For us, it does not make sense to offer the VPSes at a lower price, as if we sell them for less they aren't worth the trouble. If that doesn't work for you then I guess we're not the right fit for you. As a note though, we are planning to offer Windows based VPSes shortly but that is really the only change we are planning.
    Karl Zimmerman - Founder & CEO of Steadfast
    VMware Virtual Data Center Platform

    karl @ steadfast.net - Sales/Support: 312-602-2689
    Cloud Hosting, Managed Dedicated Servers, Chicago Colocation, and New Jersey Colocation

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Ahh' UnderPants
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    1,013
    Well not only prices, But a balanced structure with reinvented plans too, As far as i think 128MB guaranteed RAM offering doesnt seem a nice thing now a days, Esp from steadfast.

    Well if it really takes 40% of your efforts, If i were steadfast i would be doing a lot to make revenue share of VPS line to a higher percentage. I know it takes complete attention like a dedicated because of similar root access, but 40% attention for a 3.5% revenue share doesnt sound good to anybody. They surely need a change. Because your company have calibre and repute.

    Hey congrats for new windows VPS line.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Chicago, IL
    Posts
    6,957
    Quote Originally Posted by D'Godown
    Well not only prices, But a balanced structure with reinvented plans too, As far as i think 128MB guaranteed RAM offering doesnt seem a nice thing now a days, Esp from steadfast.
    Then if 128MB isn't enough don't go for our lowest end plan. The Bronze Plan, with 128MB guaranteed, is still our best selling VPS plan... That plan is offered to give people an inexpensive entry point into the world of VPSes, a point from which they can upgrade to our other plans or simply familiarize themselves to the environment.
    Karl Zimmerman - Founder & CEO of Steadfast
    VMware Virtual Data Center Platform

    karl @ steadfast.net - Sales/Support: 312-602-2689
    Cloud Hosting, Managed Dedicated Servers, Chicago Colocation, and New Jersey Colocation

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    richmond / heidelberg
    Posts
    10
    Quote Originally Posted by TCP/IP Warrior
    EFFGEE..... Nice work!
    Why, thank you! Most appreciated

    Quote Originally Posted by rohitj
    Wow, you should really get paid for that. Pretty amazing stuff. Effgee, Do you have a website where we can find out more about your services?
    Who the <insertfavoriteplaceofdamnationhere> wants to pay for unsolicited stuff?



    Seriously though ... Karl should of course not pay a dime for that stuff since: a) no one ever asked me to this, and b) it *really* was done to > 95% for my own pleasure with < 5% actual business value. I surely wouldn't want to pay for something like that.

    As far as your question about my website is concerned: "Yes, I do" and "No, I don't" are both applicable here. When changing hosts the other day, I decided that this would be a good opportunity to (**cough**) "quickly" (**cough**) whip up a new design for my site. So yes, the content's still there while the templates and the design ain't.

    "Quickly" in quotes because I am currently also in the process of wrapping the redesign of a huge vBulletin installation which I have come to call "my project from <insertfavoriteplaceofdamnationhere>". So it'll be another 10 to 14 days until my business site is back up (which is gesamtbild.com, btw)

    Generally, I dabble in three areas of design ...
    • Identity design (anything to do with logo/corporate identity development)
    • Interaction design (anything related to visual design/information architecture/usability of interactive environments like websites, kiosks, etc.)
    • Environmental design (trade show/expo booths, signage systems and the likes)

    In the meantime, and in case you'd like some more detailed information, feel free to drop me a PM and I'd be happy to "flood your inbox" with a more elaborate explanation of the things I play with all day long and/or work samples/screenshots.

    Cheers,

    eff


  16. #16
    Just thought I'd chime in here...

    For those of you saying Karl's VPSes are overpriced, you really need to try out the service. At most other hosts, $35.00 will get you a VPS with a control panel but no management. Karl is selling $35.00 for a VPS with management and a control panel, and Steadfast's management is top notch too. They were able to fix every and any problem I had with them and were always there and always helpful to answer even the stupidest of questions (and I had some pretty stupid questions).

    So before you go criticizing his pricing, you need to try out the service. It's worth every dollar you spend.


    Alex

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by adb22791
    Just thought I'd chime in here...

    For those of you saying Karl's VPSes are overpriced, you really need to try out the service. At most other hosts, $35.00 will get you a VPS with a control panel but no management. Karl is selling $35.00 for a VPS with management and a control panel, and Steadfast's management is top notch too. They were able to fix every and any problem I had with them and were always there and always helpful to answer even the stupidest of questions (and I had some pretty stupid questions).

    So before you go criticizing his pricing, you need to try out the service. It's worth every dollar you spend.


    Alex
    Not In my case

    I dont agree with your statement, I am still waiting for a solution..( to decide whether to start hosting or not ) from steadfast, my first week with steadfast ends tomorrow...

    and what I was doing for that 1 week, karl only knows..


    --

    The main reason I am not complaining much is that, steadfast was kind enough to offer me 4 weeks of free hosting in their bronze vps. But the sad part is, 1 week is already over and I am yet to start hosting my site coz of an unresolved issue.

  18. #18
    oh wow... the redone site is awesome... did you use a CMS to do it?

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Santy_
    The main reason I am not complaining much is that, steadfast was kind enough to offer me 4 weeks of free hosting in their bronze vps. But the sad part is, 1 week is already over and I am yet to start hosting my site coz of an unresolved issue.
    What's the issue?


    Alex

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Chicago, IL
    Posts
    6,957
    Quote Originally Posted by adb22791
    What's the issue?


    Alex
    Yahoo! is putting email from his VPS in the Bulk Mail folder, no issues with anyone else, that we have noted, and Yahoo! refuses to give us anything but canned responses making it difficult to resolve. The IP is not on any blacklists, etc. that we are aware of either, so it does seem to be something internal with Yahoo!.

    Note: Changing his IP has been attempted and did not resolve the issue.
    Last edited by KarlZimmer; 10-05-2006 at 02:57 PM.
    Karl Zimmerman - Founder & CEO of Steadfast
    VMware Virtual Data Center Platform

    karl @ steadfast.net - Sales/Support: 312-602-2689
    Cloud Hosting, Managed Dedicated Servers, Chicago Colocation, and New Jersey Colocation

  21. #21
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Coimbra, Portugal
    Posts
    236
    Are the e-mails being sent with a valid header, reverse-ip is valid and there are a SPF record on that domain?


  22. #22
    Yahoo seems to decide what is spam and what isn't spam on their own, sadly. Good luck in figuring out the issue.


    Alex

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Chicago, IL
    Posts
    6,957
    Quote Originally Posted by sspt
    Are the e-mails being sent with a valid header, reverse-ip is valid and there are a SPF record on that domain?
    Headers appear to be valid, reverse DNS is setup, and I had requested that he assure the SPF record was properly setup, etc. and we have not heard of any issue with setting that up from the client.

    Mail from our main shared hosting mail server goes through just fine, so it definitely doesn't seem to be a network-wide issue, and the issue remains with his VPS no matter whih of the two /24's we put it in, thus the issue does not seem to be IP related.
    Last edited by KarlZimmer; 10-05-2006 at 04:05 PM.
    Karl Zimmerman - Founder & CEO of Steadfast
    VMware Virtual Data Center Platform

    karl @ steadfast.net - Sales/Support: 312-602-2689
    Cloud Hosting, Managed Dedicated Servers, Chicago Colocation, and New Jersey Colocation

  24. #24
    Thanks for your reply Karl,

    I am an amateur in VPS hosting and I completly depend on you for getting a solution to this issue.

    I changed the nameservers of a domain parked earlier in steadfast to servint. And here I dont seem to get the same issue. I.e when a mail was sent from the domain, it reached properly.

    So I feel you should further investigate in this and find from Yahoo why is that treated as bulk, rather than telling them via forms to deliver it in the inbox.


    - Santy

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Chicago, IL
    Posts
    6,957
    Quote Originally Posted by Santy_
    So I feel you should further investigate in this and find from Yahoo why is that treated as bulk, rather than telling them via forms to deliver it in the inbox.
    That is exactly what we have been doing. We've sent them four emails so far, and we received responses to three, all cookie-cutter responses which had little/nothing to do with our issue. Unless we can figure out why Yahoo! is doing this there isn't much we can do.
    Karl Zimmerman - Founder & CEO of Steadfast
    VMware Virtual Data Center Platform

    karl @ steadfast.net - Sales/Support: 312-602-2689
    Cloud Hosting, Managed Dedicated Servers, Chicago Colocation, and New Jersey Colocation

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