Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : After One Year with WebHostingBuzz from a Power User's perspective.

[FlxGrey]

This was my first web host, and I figured it'd be appropriate to put in an honest review of their services. Keep in mind this review is written from a power user's perspective. Some of the things I gripe about you may not have issue with at all if you're not doing the things I am. I hope this all helps.

Pros
I was looking for an inexpensive host, and I found one! Hot dog, it wasn't a bad deal when I registered. I can't quite remember the price, but I shopped around. For what they gave, you couldn't find much else cheaper.

I liked how they didn't limit the number of databases you could have, or anything silly like that. It was quite spacious and left room to grow. Got decent rates of about 500 kbps from the server from where I lived.

Once they received payment I remember being up and running fairly promptly. I've happily run several small sized sites... Perhaps 200 people using little services I wrote. I haven't had *too* many downtime issues or anything.

They gave me shell access to the box on request, which was nice. Moving things thru scp is so much easier than thru ftp.

Technical Report ususally responds within 24 hours.

They give you free domains! I haven't quite tried transferring any of them to my own registrar, and I don't exactly know if they'd permit that.

Cons
They're using cPanel. Ragh, I hate cPanel. I'm not sure how much of these set up issues are the way cPanel is built, or the way they set it up.

If you add a subdomain, it goes to ~/www/subdomain, I would have MUCH prefered ~/subdomain or something similar... That way you couldn't fish through my public directory.

They had a rather restrictive jailshell on the system. I couldn't access my logs, or connect to mysql thru localhost. I had to use their hostname (which was frustrating.)

At one point I was running a cronjob, and for no explained reason it stopped running for a week.

They asked me to transfer control my domain to them when I set up my site... which I didn't quite want to do. I was told it wasn't possible to have it set up any other way, but... it actually was. I just had my domain point to their ip, and set things up by hand.

Technical support wasn't helpful at all -- or even coherent at some times. I would ask two questions, one would be answered and the other would be ignored. Each time I sent back the email, it felt like there was an entirely new person answering my question, that hadn't read through all the previous emails. Answering the same questions over and over again, etc.

I've got about four or more usernames and passwords for the site. One for the shell, one for the forums, one for the finance end, one for their ticket system... I can't remember any of them after a period of time. It would have been nice if they were all unified into one system.

Summary
I got what I paid for, really. I did. Rarely do I need tech support, because I can normally handle issues myself -- so they weren't too much of an issue. The real issue I had with them was their setup was just so poor (whether it was due to cPanel being trash, or their way of setting cPanel up). It was usable, but frustrating.

Tech support, although usually unhelpful at first, would generally come to once you MUNG'ed them enough. So aside from that, I'm happy for the price, but at this point their setup is bugging me too much.

If you're looking for a cheap web host that's decently reliable, they're not all that bad. But for me, they're not quite right.

3 / 5 stars.

[iHubNet-Matt]

Thanks for your very detailed review. As you said you will get what you pay for. Support is rarely needed by you and even then you have got problems with them. If some clients who is not having such technical support will do what? Even they can't under stand the set up problems.
But for the money you are paying the are giving what you can get from them for that money. Any way you have explained all the aspects and thanks for that once again.

[cPanelDavidG]

Originally Posted by FlxGrey

...

Cons
They're using cPanel. Ragh, I hate cPanel. I'm not sure how much of these set up issues are the way cPanel is built, or the way they set it up.

If you add a subdomain, it goes to ~/www/subdomain, I would have MUCH prefered ~/subdomain or something similar... That way you couldn't fish through my public directory.

They had a rather restrictive jailshell on the system. I couldn't access my logs, or connect to mysql thru localhost. I had to use their hostname (which was frustrating.)

At one point I was running a cronjob, and for no explained reason it stopped running for a week.

...

The real issue I had with them was their setup was just so poor (whether it was due to cPanel being trash, or their way of setting cPanel up). It was usable, but frustrating.

Hosting providers have a significant ability to customize the appearance and behavior of cPanel/WHM. However, I just wanted to make some clarifications based on the statements above and the default installation of cPanel/WHM.

cPanel has supported the ability to place subdomains in any path within your home directory (such as ~/subdomain) since version 11 was released over a year ago. However, if your hosting provider is not placing you on the x3 theme (our default theme in cPanel 11), you may be unable to utilize this functionality.

Regarding logs, you can access raw Apache logs via FTP. If you prefer, a direct link is provided on the screen called "Raw Access Logs" in the "Logs" section of the cPanel interface. This functionality is also available in outdated themes such as x and x2.

By default, cPanel/WHM environments do allow connections to localhost. However, in some instances (such as using a remote MySQL server integrated with the cPanel/WHM server), connecting to localhost may not be appropriate.

Cronjobs ceasing to function would be something you'd need to discuss with the server's administrator.

I just thought I'd offer some clarification regarding the technical capabilities and default behaviors of cPanel/WHM so I can resolve misunderstandings you may have about our software.

[Cybercon]

Awesome info David. I'm learning about cPanel now.

[gigapros]

Originally Posted by FlxGrey

Technical Report ususally responds within 24 hours.

From a customer's point of view, 24-hour response time may be good for a FREE hosting provider...but for a PAID hosting provider this is totally unacceptable. Just my 2 cents.

[ldcdc]

If you add a subdomain, it goes to ~/www/subdomain, I would have MUCH prefered ~/subdomain or something similar...

Like David above said, this capability is now built into cPanel. Upon request, your host may be willing to switch your cPanel theme for you, if they didn't do so when they upgraded cPanel.

[FINDHOSTcom]

Thanks for the good honest review. I can relate to the frustrations of dealing with multiple people regarding support. A total headache! That reminds me I have to go call my cable company =(

[mdrussell]

Originally Posted by FlxGrey

This was my first web host, and I figured it'd be appropriate to put in an honest review of their services. Keep in mind this review is written from a power user's perspective. Some of the things I gripe about you may not have issue with at all if you're not doing the things I am. I hope this all helps.

Pros
I was looking for an inexpensive host, and I found one! Hot dog, it wasn't a bad deal when I registered. I can't quite remember the price, but I shopped around. For what they gave, you couldn't find much else cheaper.

I liked how they didn't limit the number of databases you could have, or anything silly like that. It was quite spacious and left room to grow. Got decent rates of about 500 kbps from the server from where I lived.

Once they received payment I remember being up and running fairly promptly. I've happily run several small sized sites... Perhaps 200 people using little services I wrote. I haven't had *too* many downtime issues or anything.

They gave me shell access to the box on request, which was nice. Moving things thru scp is so much easier than thru ftp.

Technical Report ususally responds within 24 hours.

They give you free domains! I haven't quite tried transferring any of them to my own registrar, and I don't exactly know if they'd permit that.

Cons
They're using cPanel. Ragh, I hate cPanel. I'm not sure how much of these set up issues are the way cPanel is built, or the way they set it up.

If you add a subdomain, it goes to ~/www/subdomain, I would have MUCH prefered ~/subdomain or something similar... That way you couldn't fish through my public directory.

They had a rather restrictive jailshell on the system. I couldn't access my logs, or connect to mysql thru localhost. I had to use their hostname (which was frustrating.)

At one point I was running a cronjob, and for no explained reason it stopped running for a week.

They asked me to transfer control my domain to them when I set up my site... which I didn't quite want to do. I was told it wasn't possible to have it set up any other way, but... it actually was. I just had my domain point to their ip, and set things up by hand.

Technical support wasn't helpful at all -- or even coherent at some times. I would ask two questions, one would be answered and the other would be ignored. Each time I sent back the email, it felt like there was an entirely new person answering my question, that hadn't read through all the previous emails. Answering the same questions over and over again, etc.

I've got about four or more usernames and passwords for the site. One for the shell, one for the forums, one for the finance end, one for their ticket system... I can't remember any of them after a period of time. It would have been nice if they were all unified into one system.

Summary
I got what I paid for, really. I did. Rarely do I need tech support, because I can normally handle issues myself -- so they weren't too much of an issue. The real issue I had with them was their setup was just so poor (whether it was due to cPanel being trash, or their way of setting cPanel up). It was usable, but frustrating.

Tech support, although usually unhelpful at first, would generally come to once you MUNG'ed them enough. So aside from that, I'm happy for the price, but at this point their setup is bugging me too much.

If you're looking for a cheap web host that's decently reliable, they're not all that bad. But for me, they're not quite right.

3 / 5 stars.

Thank you for the review. Good to see that we're meeting expectations in some areas but I'd be interested in discussing further with you the areas you feel we lack.

We do run x3 as default and run Cpanel 11 across the board.

Also, jailshell is enabled for security reasons. Any hosting provider not running jailshell is opening themselves up to additional security vulnerabilities. If you need true command like access without restrictions, a VPS is your best bet.

When you are our size, it is impossible to deal with just one person for support. We have an 1a 1b / 2a 2b / 3a 3b shift system and try and keep the same technicians working with one issue throughout the shift but inevitably, when shifts change you will have a new tech.

Matt

Originally Posted by gigapros

From a customer's point of view, 24-hour response time may be good for a FREE hosting provider...but for a PAID hosting provider this is totally unacceptable. Just my 2 cents.

Our average (median) response time across the board for August was 42 minutes 3 seconds. This was taken from the responses from the ~7000 tickets we processed during this month.

Originally Posted by ldcdc

Like David above said, this capability is now built into cPanel. Upon request, your host may be willing to switch your cPanel theme for you, if they didn't do so when they upgraded cPanel.

Switching fundamentals such as this is not a wise idea on a live production server. Cpanel can screw up httpd.conf enough as it is (no animosity towards Cpanel, we like Cpanel, their tech support is second to none and it's great to not support the Parallels monopoly).

Our newer servers are deployed in this method.

[MikeDVB]

Originally Posted by mdrussell

Switching fundamentals such as this is not a wise idea on a live production server. Cpanel can screw up httpd.conf enough as it is (no animosity towards Cpanel, we like Cpanel, their tech support is second to none and it's great to not support the Parallels monopoly).

Our newer servers are deployed in this method.

You can switch the theme for an individual user/account to x3 if they needed it without doing it across the board.

[UH-Bobby]

He might have been referring to the subdomain issue, but I'm not sure.

[mdrussell]

Originally Posted by UH-Bobby

He might have been referring to the subdomain issue, but I'm not sure.

Yes, I was talking about the subdomain issue.