| Posted by maxzimum, 03-05-2004, 04:27 AM | | Hi,
We have about 18 websites that are hosted on different servers / hosts. I was thinking of getting a reseller account and moving all under 1 roof. Going through findmyhosting.com and the forums here, we've narrowed down on p4host.com & webhostingbuzz.com.
We would like to spend no more than $20.00 per month and are willing to pay anually. Can someone please tell us if these 2 hosts are ok or recommend any others.
The hosts must be stable and have a good uptime since most of our accounts are used for email and need to be up and running.
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| Posted by net-trend, 03-05-2004, 04:45 AM | | Use the search feature , as i'm sure p4host has been mentioned many times over;
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/search.php?s=
On a related note, please try not to pay in annual terms. Although the host may be very stable, you just never know what will happen in the span of 12 months.
You might outgrow your account and move to a dedicated machine and etc.
Just some thoughts for your consideration.
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| Posted by rv_irl, 03-05-2004, 07:42 AM | | Why not try contacting the webhost(s)?
Test their support in all departments. Ask technical questions, ask general 'dumb' questions. If the host appears to answer 'dumb' questions in more detail than advanced 'technical' questions it could be an indication that maybe it tech department isn't so knowledgable.
Can you ring them for emergencies? Where is their own website hosted? Same server(s)? datacentre? or in a different location (different location is better because if the current location experiences problems, you will still be able to contact the host.
What methods of support do they have?
What guarantees do they offer you? If they fail to meet a guarantee, how and when will they reimburse you?
Do they have any forums to allow members speak their minds amongst themselves or other potential customers?
All this must be taken into consideration when you are choosing a host and plenty more. They key is to ask ask and ask again. It's the only way you can find out from a first hand experience on how you will be treated and how well they live up to general expectations of a host. Some hosts answer the first 4 or 5 emails, and just can't be bothered answering the rest. So it's important that you ask a lot of questions. Don't feel that you will be a bother to them or anything by asking a lot of questions. You are paying for the service, you are entitled to support. Read the SLA. Do they even have an SLA (service level agreement). Do they have proof from an independant company of uptime? Do a spot check at alertra.com and check the pings. Do a test download file. Get the server specs etc. etc.
Find out what is so different about them then any other host?
As Net-Trend said, do a search on the host here as well to see what others have said about them.
The reason for asking all these questions is like i mentioned, to get more info about the company. But also to ensure that you're not going to be in this same position in a few months time looking for a new host. Make sure you that you are comfortable with staying with this host for a long period of time
Rameen
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| Posted by maxzimum, 03-05-2004, 08:13 AM | | Stealthdevil,
Thanks for your excellent advise.. although this is now going to make it more difficult than I thought!!
Anyone else have any suggestions.. please feel free.
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| Posted by r2h, 03-05-2004, 09:03 AM | | Some of the tips you must remember while choosing your Host :
How many tech support do they have ?
What's the process of obtaining support with them ?
Do they Back up regularly ?
What are their support hours ?
Good practice monitoring and maintenance such as procedures for detecting errors, backing-up data and the time response guarantee for the support queries ?
Above all do a background search..that's MUST.
1) Check how old the main domain of the co. is ( If a co. is 2 -3 years old you can assume that they are still financially stable..though that should not be the only way how you can judge a co.)
2) Check Google & some other host directories for their PTR.
3) Do a search on hosting forums about them.
4) Never ever trust_a_hosting_co. who offers dead cheap ....theirs a difference in between offering cheap & offering competitive costs, use your instincts to analyze the difference. Remember, a co. offering dead cheap may not sustain the high prices which comes when they grow their infrastructure & then they eventually collapse.
5) Don't be in hurry while ordering..check their response time to your queries during first 2 -3 days and try to speak with them on phone, that way you can ensure that the co. is not run by a 14 years old kid under his garage
6) Always insist on phone no's & an emergency cell no where u could reach them during the time of crisis.
and finally remember ..experience is the best teacher...so learn from your experiences and never do the same mistakes you did in past while choosing your host.
Wish you all the very best
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| Posted by gate2vn, 03-05-2004, 10:57 AM | | if you have your narrowed list there, I can recommend p4host services. Just because I was using their services before, so I know Send Kevin an email, and he will help you.
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| Posted by maxzimum, 03-05-2004, 12:59 PM | | Thanks everyone for your time and suggestions.
I tried signing up with Dathorn.com but for some reason my credit card was declined. Spoke to my credit card issuer and they say all is fine. Just to make sure I went to cdnow and ended up buying a $22.00 CD without a problem. Mailed Dathorn and got a reply saying there is nothing they can do - so they're out.
As for P4host.com, I asked them a few questions 12 hours ago, no reply yet.. so they're out.
Think I'm going to sign up with equivity.com - lot's of nice things about them here. Will move 1 site at a time and see how things go. Will post a follow up review for others once I've expereinced their service.
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| Posted by deet, 03-05-2004, 01:17 PM | | just wondering have you tried bluewho.com ?
There are a lot of reviews on here about them.
d00t
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| Posted by belgarathc, 03-06-2004, 11:02 PM | | I have been looking for a reseller account too. P4host.com seems to be a one-man show. While there are good reviews for equivity.com, there's also an unfavourable one here. webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=239427&perpage=15&highlight=equivity.com&pagenumber=1
Sort of interested in webhostingbuzz.com now. Will look around somemore.
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| Posted by fuse1982, 03-06-2004, 11:13 PM | | i recommand Dathorn.com, their server is rock solid in the recent months, and no one can beat their price.
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| Posted by maxzimum, 03-07-2004, 01:10 AM | | OK. So I went and signed up with Equivity which took 5 tries since the login pages kept timing out. They have a speed test on their site which showed 110 Kbps and all site pages load fast. Therefore I feel they have a problem with their secure server which is super slow.
I finally paid $10.00 through Paypal and was taken to a confirmation page which gave me my username/password (chosen by me) and other details. I didn't save the page thinking I would receive a confirmation mail which is quite normal. I was able to however login to my control panel, which BTW looked nothing like the one they show on their demo page.
24 hours later I had still not received a confirmation email from equivity although I have received one from Paypal saying payment was made. I am unable to login to my account or use their support ticket system as it won't accept my password. I sent in 2-3 emails but received NO REPLY. Then I thought that if there service and support with a new customer is so slow it's probably going to get worse later so I sent them an email requesting cancellation of my account and refund of my payment as per their Money Back Guarantee. It's been 36 hours now and I still haven't received a single e-mail from them.
In the meantime, Kevin from P4Hosts.com has responded to my first and further questions. I have also been looking at dathorn.com. According to me, they're both very similar and offer mostly the same plans with the exception that dathorn includes an IP Adddress (which you have to justify) and P4hosts charges $3.00 per month per IP. On the other hand I think P4hosts offers audio/video streaming.
I am going to make my decision on either of these 2 in the next few hours and if anyone can shed some more light, please do.
With regards to P4hosts being a 1 man show, I think most of us buying reseller programs are 1 man shows, right?
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| Posted by Servstra-Sales, 03-07-2004, 02:04 AM | | Sorry to hear about your experience with Equivity. I would of thought you would of received your login details within 24 hours of your order being placed.
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| Posted by maxzimum, 03-07-2004, 02:21 AM | | Guess they're out for the weekend!!
Has anyone had any experience with amazed.net or solidrack.com ???
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| Posted by CPQIS, 03-07-2004, 02:40 AM | | If your looking for reliable reseller hosting, check out amzia.net. Their not cheap, but you get what you pay for.
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| Posted by IceCell, 03-07-2004, 04:19 AM | | very nice post.. although I do agree with most of what you mentioned.. I do take exception to this statement.
If they are confident in their services, why would they host their own site, on servers other then the ones they offer you?
Yes, I do believe in having an emergency backup.. but why should that be your Main site? we have our primary site hosted on the SAME servers as our customers.. to show how commited we are to keeping everything running smoothly, on a continual basis.. we don't rent a special 'uber server' just for our website, as to decieve prospective customers into signing up for our services and then putting them on inferior servers... (as often is the case, sadly)
just some things to keep in mind.
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| Posted by rv_irl, 03-07-2004, 08:29 AM | | I can understand the point your trying to make. But what happens, if the server you are on goes down? You'll need to tell your customers two site addresses. One on another server and one on the existing server. Talking about downtime before a customer signs up can be worse than having your main site on another server in another location. That said, if you choose to host on same servers as customers, and your servers go down, your customers will get frustrated about not being able to see your site. If you look at some other posts on WHT, you'll see how fast clients jump to conclusions about the company closing down etc. What could be a simple short network problem, can be misinterpreted by clients as something much worse since they have no form of communication to put their mind at ease.
Rameen
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| Posted by IceCell, 03-07-2004, 11:56 AM | | that's one of my points.. we all realize how important it is for our PRIMARY site to be up and accessible. Hosting your primary site on the same servers you put customers on, gives you more crediblity as a Host. It also forces the host to ensure they're doing their job correctly. It's that investment, that I think plays a key role in showing potential customers the type of service they can expect.
Yes, we do have a completely distinct emergency backup server.. but this will only be used, if the primary is unavalible, which we hope is very infrequent..
Last edited by IceCell; 03-07-2004 at 12:00 PM.
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| Posted by IHSL, 03-07-2004, 12:22 PM | | Icecell;
Reasons why corporate site should be kept away from main servers:
1: In case of emergency
2: In case of emergency
3: In case of emergency
Simon
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| Posted by Yaroslav, 03-07-2004, 08:10 PM | | IMO, there is absolutely NO host without a downtime. And when sh*t happens, it's really critical to be able to get an update of things and communicate.
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| Posted by maxzimum, 03-08-2004, 04:14 AM | | UPDATE:
Some 60 hours later, I have still not heard from equivity. No email, no refund, NOTHING.
In the meantime, I have signed up with P4host.com and everything went off smoothly. So far so good... will update on experience after a few weeks.
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| Posted by boeki, 03-08-2004, 12:51 PM | | Did you check out equivity's bb? There are several postings there re server maintenance and upgrades. You should sign up for automatic notification so you'd know what's up with them and your server/account.
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| Posted by maxzimum, 03-19-2004, 03:19 PM | | 12 days and many email later I had still not received a response from Equivity.com.
Finally had to file a refund with Paypal and got it within 2 hours!
Have 18 domains hosted over at P4host.com and so far all's well.
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