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phanio
02-09-2010, 06:10 PM
Can I ask what hosting service people on here use? I am having the hardest time with my hosting company and am getting tired of it.

vangogh
02-09-2010, 06:40 PM
I currently use Liquid Web for all my sites including this forum. I have a virtual private server though so it may not compare. They do have shared hosting. It's a little more expensive than some, but the customer service I get makes me think it would be worth it.

As far as shared hosting is concerned I had an issue with the provider I used to recommend so I've been looking for someone new. I hear good things about Bluehost and HostGator and have begun using them for clients. Too soon to know what I really think of them, but so far it's been all good and people I trust speak well of both.

Harold Mansfield
02-09-2010, 06:51 PM
Personally I use WebAir for my sites. There have been issues in the past, but not all of them were their fault and for the most part, the customer service has been pretty good.

From an outside perspective , working on clients sites..I was really impressed with the customer service from Blue Host, and (believe it or not) Go Daddy.

Both gave good phone support and the people on the other end seemed to be knowledgeable with hosting and everything involved...unlike 1and1 where you can tell they are reading from a troubleshooting script, so you can't really talk to them in tech terms (and believe me, I don't have many of them, so if I had to dumb it down...that's pretty sad).

You probably don't need the same things, or the same size that I do, nor will you be on with tech support much as long as your site is up and running...even I only have to call a couple times a year and usually it's my fault.

If I were to look at my suggestions and choose one, I would probably go with Blue Host, on the back end, they have a lot of one click install apps and products that Go Daddy didn't have that would probably make life a lot easier for someone running their own site that doesn't do this everyday.

I was really surprised in this day an age that they (Go Daddy) didn't have 'one click' Wordpress install..that's just me being lazy....nor were they running the latest version of PHP, but still functional.

phanio
02-10-2010, 12:06 PM
Thanks - I will look into your suggestions. I have been with Go Daddy since I started in 2007 - but recently have been having tons of problems especially when trying to insert data into my databases. One day it works fine the next day it does not. When i call - eveythign they tell me it is my fault that it is my script. I then tell them, well it worked yesterday - then they reply you must have changed your script. When I say, they tell me that is the only explaination, that I changed my script. Thus, I then feel they are calling me a liar - as I know what I have changed or not changed.

mattbeck
02-10-2010, 01:09 PM
We use Acornhost (Acorn Host :: Portland Oregon Web Hosting, Green Web Hosting, Non-profits, Blogs, E-commerce (http://www.acornhost.com/)) for simple hosting and Slicehost (Slicehost - VPS Hosting (http://www.slicehost.com/)) for heavy lifting when we need root access on a dedicated machine.

For most uses basic cPanel (or Plesk, or whatever) hosting like Acorn is just fine.

Some platforms (like Magento) really need a VPS.

Whatever you do stay away from MediaTemple. Service and uptime are just terrible, although their presentation is good and their custom web-admin is really good.

KristineS
02-10-2010, 01:39 PM
I use LunarPages for my personal blogs and have had no problems with it.

rezzy
02-16-2010, 03:32 PM
I have heard nothing but bad things about Godaddy. I am surprised you have had such good service from them over the years.

vangogh
02-16-2010, 04:02 PM
I think GoDaddy's hosting may have improved over the years and many of the complaints are older. I've never used them for one of my sites, but I've had a couple or three clients on GoDaddy hosting and it seemed easy enough to work with.

billbenson
02-16-2010, 06:55 PM
I have heard nothing but bad things about Godaddy. I am surprised you have had such good service from them over the years.

The only bad things I've really heard about Godaddy hosting was comparing them to a "real" host. To the best of my knowledge, they do have 24/7 phone support, ftp access, a site builder, and no tricks. I would say that for someone just starting out with a personal or business site, its a good place to start.

When I first started I quickly ran out of the need for phone support and moved to a less expensive host with better services. I've never needed phone support since the first 6 months and have always been happy with email support. It lowers the hosts overhead and is easier for me (on hold for 20 min for phone support vs fixed in 20 min for email support).

Harold Mansfield
02-16-2010, 07:45 PM
If I had to compare Go daddy with 1and1...Go Daddy definitely wins. Like Bill said, it's a good place to start, especially if you are only hosting one site.

The bad that I have heard, ( and can see it) is that they cram a lot of sites on the same server so you get slow load times, sometimes. But I guess that would depend on what kind of account that you have with them. I wouldn't get the basic package from anyone, but I think it's amazing that they give phone support for the basic service customers.

It seems that they have improved over the last 2 years and are taking what they do seriously, as opposed to other companies that just want to cram as many accounts as possible onto their banks, and upgrade infrequently, if at all.

I had occasion to call them 3 times last week and each time I wasn't really on hold that long....a couple of prompts, some self advertising and usually someone was there in about under 3 minutes...that's not bad! and, they were helpful.

I have been on hold much longer for Sprint, SW Gas (local gas company), NV Energy (local electric company) , and the cable company. They don't care if they get to you or not and it's only after waiting for 20 minutes, that they give you the option of a call back.

vangogh
02-16-2010, 09:35 PM
they cram a lot of sites on the same server so you get slow load times

The same could be said for many shared hosting accounts regardless of the company. A lot of it depends on the specific server. At the same company one server will run fine and the next might be either oversold past a reasonable point or have even a few sites that get more traffic than shared hosting is built for. Two people could open shared hosting accounts with the same company and one might be very happy while the other complains about their site being down.

It's one reason why I moved up a level to virtual private servers. Hosting is often a case of you get what you pay for. At some point I'll move up to dedicated hosting for all my sites. I think the extra cost is worth it.

nealrm
02-17-2010, 07:59 AM
I have use blue host for buying and redirecting some domains. In general just small stuff. They appear to do well handling smaller sites. However if you need a site that requires a large amount of bandwidth, you will need to look else where. The quote I receive from Rackspace look promising, but I can't say much more than that.

Patrysha
02-17-2010, 04:15 PM
I've been using MomWebs and love them. It is cheap and it is shared hosting, but it works for all my sites.

And they stand by their uptime guarantee which has only been invoked once in the 5 years or so I've been with them. (the next month's fee was waived when they had an issue with the servers that couldn't be fixed within the promised time frame - and that came from their end, communication was kept intact throughout the whole process)

And the service has always been spectacular, though there is no phone support - the email support has rocked every time I have needed them. Even when my site decided to go beserk on me on a Sunday afternoon.

Paper Shredder Clay
02-19-2010, 11:06 AM
I used Hostgator in the past for a couple of years, their online guaranteed went out the window. I will not use them again. It took a while to clear up my charges as well.

I have Godaddy for my ASP sites and WingSix for my Linux sites. So far both have been well.

phanio
02-19-2010, 12:57 PM
Thanks for all the information. I plan to switch companies just as soon as I find the time to map all my stuff over and it is financially viable to switch - don't want to leave money where I am currently at. Again, thanks - I think, from some suggestiosn here, that I have found the company I want to work with going forward.