Well hello.
I recently picked up an account with Downtown Host to host my dad's site and wanted to start a thread that I will update as time goes by. I know there's a "honeymoon period" with most hosts and sometimes, like my wife (LOL.. kidding *hides*), things change as things progress..but I have been very impressed.
So, to get things started...
Ordering Process
Easy as it usually is these days. Although the space isn't really needed, I picked up their Bronze plan for 6 months and it worked out to be about $50 USD thanks to a handy coupon. This is the first time I have ever had enough preliminary confidence in a host to go for 6 months up front (outside of getting a ridiculous deal) and I hope to not to be disappointed and regret the decision.
DTH does use a phone call fraud verification system on new orders which I appreciate. I think it shows that they are proactive in sorting out bad purchases and is one of the nicer fraud-detection interfaces I have come across. I believe Wirenine is the only other host I have used that employs a similar system.
Jorge (Jedito on WHT) was very helpful in the ordering process which, again, I appreciate and was pro-active in helping me getting me on board quickly even going so far as to drop me a line welcoming me aboard.
Initial Transfer, Etc.
Once again, very easy. There were a few hiccups that were issues on the previous host's side in terms of creating cPanel back ups so things could get moved over. Both techs were extremely helpful and kept me updated throughout the process, notifying me of even the slightest issue (again, none on their side) in getting files moved over for two domains, some of which included add-on domains.
One of the sites I moved over included a wordpress blog that was previous its own account under a reseller plan so I had a question regarding the process of switching over the MySQL database information to ensure the blog worked off the tip. Again, DTH was very helpful and gave me instructions on what I needed to do to make sure there was no interruption in serving the blog. They certainly didn't have to help me with the changes so it was really nice of them to do so.
Performance
In a word -
fast. Once the nameservers switched over for the main site (cincihost-dot-com), I entered the address and *bam*. No lagged delays with larger-sized images, they just popped up. Previously, the page loaded somewhat "in order". Not anymore. I hit "Enter" and it was there. Nice.
cPanel loads fast and in checking the server load here and there, it is always below 1.00.
Support
As I have alluded to above, support is fantastic. The first ticket I submitted took a bit to be responded to which was worrying. Who knows what happened, but it was responded to, oddly, shortly after I mentioned it to someone. From that point, support has been lightning fast. As I think happens a lot of times, I have submitted a few tickets in order to get everything set up and going and they have all been responded to or updated within 15 to 20 minutes. I recently submitted a ticket to have my cPanel theme changed (it default to a RVSkin which I do not like) and it was resolved in, literally, one minute. Fastest support I have ever experienced.
Summation
Really the only thing I didn't like was that cPanel loads the green RVSkin which seems cartoony to me and I much prefer the original x3 theme. This was quickly changed so no biggie.
Everything else has been absolutely fantastic as you can probably surmise.
I look forward to being hosted with DTH and have a good feeling that my father and I will be with them for a long time to come.
Thanks to Jorge, Sebastian and everyone at Downtown Host!
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