Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Cloud Hosting : UK FAST CLOUD HOSTING REVIEW

[glenn kilpatrick]

This is a write up of my overall experiences of UK FAST CLOUD HOSTING.

I decided on cloud hosting in early December 2009. I did a little research and narrowed things down to 3 hosting companies : Rackspace, UK Fast And rapidcloud.

The website of rapid cloud looked a little unprofessional, I had a chat with the owner and he appeared very helpful and willing to get me transferred over to his company. However the website put me off.

I tried Rackspace but they had no UK datacentres at that time.

I then contacted UKFAST via email. Within minutes the phone rang and a charming female by the name of Charlotte told me all about UK FAST. He sales pitch made it sound like the best thing since sliced bread. A totally managed package with 24/7 support and telpehone support answered within 3 rings - garunteed. She looked at my site and promised that the 512 ram cloud would run my site "No problem". Charlotte pressed me for information on how soon I would be looking to move to a new host. I told here the deadline was Jan 1st (It was Now Dec 10th). I told her I would be in touch in the future if I decided to choose UKFAST.

The very next day the phone went. Guess who ??? Charlottee asking if I had made my mind up. I told her I hadnt and I was researching other options. She said she would phone back at the end of the week if I hadnt contacted here. I told her not to phone and said I would make contact if I required their services.

The end of the week she phoned again despite me asking her no to. After this happened several more times I agreed to sign up with UK fast. At the moment of writing this, I really regret my decision.

On January 1st I changed my nameservers and went live on UKFAST. Within hours the site was dead. No response. I phoned the 24/7 support and got an instant answer. They said the server needed fine tuning and they would sort it out. The following 3 weeks were a nightmare. The server was down more than it was on and they continually tried to sell me more resources. I must have phoned support over 100 times in those 3 weeks. Many times I got no answer (despite the promise of 24/7 support within 3 rings) Sometimes they would answer and promise to ring you back later in the evening. Often this did not happen and the only explanation of the problem came the following day via email, often 14 hours or more later.

After 3 weeks of hassling them, they agreed something was seriously wrong and put a team on the server to find out the problem. After another 3 days where the site was down all the time, I was told the hardware was knackered and that they had now placed me on a brand new server (Top of the range).

The issues resolved somewhat and the site became accessible. I took stock of the damage and I had lost a considerable amount of adsense income. I spoke to UKFAST about this but have to date, not been offered compensation.

My site continues to have downtime about twice per day. Their support line continues to be at best - very poor. Just this evening I have been trying to contact themsince 8pm, it is now 9.15 pm. I have sent a priority ticket which has gone unanswered and I have tried to phone on 4 occasions and noone answers.

It is now time for me to jump ship. I am looking at vps.net or rapid switch.

I hope this saves some of you guys the hassle of having to deal with UKFAST.

Best wishes - Glenn Kilpatrick

whitbyseaanglers.co.uk

[RSkeens]

Hi Glenn,

Thanks for the review and for the URL. Sorry to hear about the downtime and lack of service - at least you are making a solid decision by moving if you have been hassled for so long.

Remember to keep us updated with any further developments

[HostThree]

Glenn,

Really sorry to hear you've had so many problems with that company, I must admit I've never heard of them before.

I've heard a lot of great things about VPS.net and Rapidswitch so it may be worth while moving over.

Thanks for posting the review

[DephNet[Paul]]

VPS.net are part of the UK2 Group, so they have a pretty solid background.

If you do not need a cloud service, I would say have a look at Linode.com, their cheapest VPS, although they are "semi-cloudy", is $20, and they have a UK location now.

One of the downsides is that they are self managed servers, so you would need to look for a management company on top of the VPS if you are not too hot on Linux.

The plus sides are a helpful, and very fast, support team. Whenever I have put a ticket into Linode I have not had to wait longer than 15-20 minutes, and I have a solution, or am on the way to a solution. On top of the helpful staff they have a thriving IRC channel, and the users of that are willing to help you with your issues, or they can point you in the right direction.

[wfhouses]

Wow that is a tough position to be in. Thanks for sharing this article. Hopefully others will learn from your experience.

[dazmanultra]

I believe Rapidcloud resell Rackspace CloudSites, correct me if I'm wrong... It's quite a different product to vps.net/ukfast cloud/rapidswitch being more akin to shared hosting (albeit very scalable, and very easy to use) than a dedicated server or a virtual server provided on "cloud" infrastructure. Is a virtual/dedicated server what you actually wanted?

What specification of virtual server have you ordered with UK Fast? Are UK Fast supposed to be providing management of the server for you?

[layersevenhosting]

We use UKFAST (manoc, Manchester) for our dedicated servers and so far they have been awesome, but we pay an expensive premium for our setup and I expect nothing less in return.

[dazmanultra]

Originally Posted by layersevenhosting

We use UKFAST (manoc, Manchester) for our dedicated servers and so far they have been awesome, but we pay an expensive premium for our setup and I expect nothing less in return.

I love how you say on your website

We are the first hosting provider in the UK to offer true Layer 7 hosting

[layersevenhosting]

Hi Daz, thanks for pointing that out. That line should say offer true Load Balanced Cpanel Layer 7 hosting (which is true).

[Knowndesigner]

Sorry to hear incident with UKFAST.

I would also advise you to have a look at VPS.NET (UK2GROUP)

Good Luck!

[Stratogen]

Cloud hosting really comes into it's own when using enterprise kit. This is VMware on a proper enterprise SAN. Unfortunately many of the cheaper hosting companies are jumping on the cloud bandwagon without investing in the infrastructure. You would probably be better going for a dedicated server than a cheaper cloud offering.

[TheChemist]

wow, when I was reading the review I thought you were going to say the called me when I told them not to so I decided to go with them and they disappeared.

But what would have been worse? I think if they ripped you off and disappeared you would have been better off. Thank you for the review. I don't think they have infrastructure. Maybe they heard cloud was going to be a huge thing and they decided to setup a DC on a 5mbps connection in there home/basement.

Any Datacenter with good carriers and hardware shouldn't have any problems as they most likely have MIT techs on hand 24/7

I agree with the recommendation of VPS.net

[Cerberuz]

I've just moved my sites from UKfast, Good to see that im not the only one getting crap support from them. Ive now had to invovle trading standards as they (ukfast) wont refund me for the three months that i paid for and will not be ing using as i had to move away from them!
all in all just an awful company to deal with!

[UmbeeHosting]

I checked out UKfast whilst researching the market. I believe they have a Microsoft Hyper-V cloud. The sales was excellent but the price was super expensive and not worth it from what you guys are saying.

[Cerberuz]

Originally Posted by Cerberuz

I've just moved my sites from UKfast, Good to see that im not the only one getting crap support from them. Ive now had to invovle trading standards as they (ukfast) wont refund me for the three months that i paid for and will not be ing using as i had to move away from them!
all in all just an awful company to deal with!

Now happy to report that my problems are being resolved by UKfast's customer support and that at first I was offered a more suitable managed hosting solution, but now that i've bought my own kit and had them colocated I've now been offered a refund for the remainder of the hosting I will not be using.

I just wish I had been given the hosting package that I was expecting from the start, as Im sure that I would have been a very happy customer of UKfast's.