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GoDaddy, Media Temple, and the Horrible World of Web Hosting

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Re: GoDaddy, Media Temple, and the Horrible World of Web Hosting

#81

Post by joering2 »

Trufa wrote: post #59

I would like to know what other people experiences are with regard to Hostgator. Honestly, I chose because I didn't know many other options at the time but I've never had any sort of trouble and their chat assistance is pretty awesome. I would like to know if I'm actually just lucky or if other people have had this experience too.

Confirmed from someone who has been them for 4 years now. The only reason I had to (sadly) switch was because I needed fully blown unix machine with SSH access, something that their offer was too pricey for me. But I had great time with HostGator. The nicest thing, other than their friendly knowledgeable tech support chat, was they many times they went off their ways to accommodate my needs like opening ports (sharing hosting), re-installing some mods, reconfiguring .ini files on the fly, etc.

Re: GoDaddy, Media Temple, and the Horrible World of Web Hosting

#82

Post by tomca32 »

Trufa wrote: post #59

I would like to know what other people experiences are with regard to Hostgator. Honestly, I chose because I didn't know many other options at the time but I've never had any sort of trouble and their chat assistance is pretty awesome. I would like to know if I'm actually just lucky or if other people have had this experience too.

That's exactly the thing I'm wondering about.

I'm using Hostgator for around 3-4 years now. Never had any problems with them and the support was always great.

Re: GoDaddy, Media Temple, and the Horrible World of Web Hosting

#83

Post by MatthewPhillips »

davidandgoliath wrote: post #73
MatthewPhillips wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't take this the wrong way but $5/month for a single static site is crazy expensive. I understand wanting to have a sustainable business but for $5 you should give customers 20-30 sites IMO.

Ha. But you're not paying $5 a month for a static site, you're paying for a sustainable business to be behind your website when things go awry. $5 a month is cheap, too cheap in fact.

Yeah, I have to disagree. Hosting a static site costs the provider practically nothing. Apache or Nginx can chew through requests for static content like it's nothing. $5 is prohibitively expensive because static sites are often one-off projects that you don't want to have to worry about. If I'm paying $5 for each one then I would worry about it.

Re: GoDaddy, Media Temple, and the Horrible World of Web Hosting

#84

Post by MartinCron »

cylinder wrote: post #6

Hosting is like commercial airlines. Everyone wants excellent service, but they shop on price, and expect it to be low. Those who can actually spend a lot, do it themselves anyways (private jets). This could be the beginning of a consolidation phase in the hosting industry just like what took place with airlines.

That is a great analogy. Makes me feel better about spending a little more for Rackspace and Virgin America, whenever possible.

Life is too short to follow the race to the bottom.

Re: GoDaddy, Media Temple, and the Horrible World of Web Hosting

#85

Post by unclebucknasty »

And before it was Ev1Servers, what is now IBM, was RackShack. So, it was RackShack, ev1, ThePlanet, SoftLayer, IBM. We started as a dedicated customer with RackShack, then on to a managed customer on ThePlanet. FWIW, we are on the same dedicated rack as when with ThePlanet, though SoftLayer tried to sell us on their "pod" solution (i.e. VPS).

So, we are overpaying for our current hardware, but haven't had the stomach for another migration. Contrary to what the article states, small companies with already limited resources don't want to spend time moving a moderately complex infrastructure around, on top of the considerable work already on the table.

But, yeah, GoDaddy engages in questionable practices. Automatically adding stuff to your cart (and/or making it confusingly easy for you to do so), bumping renewals to 5 years by default, and otherwise making their UI "consistently inconsistent" in ways that miraculously always seem to benefit them are part of the equation. To be pushy with upsells is one thing, but they take it a step further.

These are kind of ingrained business practices and part of the same ethos that says selling IT services with sex is OK. It is hard to imagine them acquiring a company without that company getting at least a little of that stink on them.

Re: GoDaddy, Media Temple, and the Horrible World of Web Hosting

#86

Post by Osiris »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #85

And before it was Ev1Servers, what is now IBM, was RackShack. So, it was RackShack, ev1, ThePlanet, SoftLayer, IBM. We started as a dedicated customer with RackShack, then on to a managed customer on ThePlanet. FWIW, we are on the same dedicated rack as when with ThePlanet, though SoftLayer tried to sell us on their "pod" solution (i.e. VPS). So, we are overpaying for our current hardware, but haven't had the stomach…

GoDaddy is revamping and changing a lot of those billing practices. With new management, there is a push to simplify even at the cost of conversions with the hope that a better reputation will push further customer growth.

Re: GoDaddy, Media Temple, and the Horrible World of Web Hosting

#87

Post by dwd »

prawn wrote: post #46
lelandbatey wrote: post #4

Web hosting customers are nomads. If your host hasn’t been ruined yet, just wait. This line right here is absolutely sage wisdom. Here are some of the companies I've bought services from, as well as what I remember happening to them: ClubUptime Closed in a disastrous closure due to basically being conned. DirectSpace Still around, haven't changed much VolumeDrive Very sketchy, I don't really know how they're still in…

True! Started with one place I can't remember - started with S. It was cheap and allowed multiple small sites to run off one account. Eventually turned to crap and so we bailed. WebCentral - gave up on their silly control panel. Used a place in NSW or Vic that started off OK, then was acquired (BlueCentral, I think?) and turned into a bit of a rude disaster. Abandoned that. Had a site break on Friday of a long weeken…

Similar experience.

CrystalTech were very good and only had one issue with a dedicated server in 5 years when a network cable came loose which was fixed after a quick phone call.

WebCentral has a horrific control panel, only one possibly worse is the cutdown Telstra Business version.

Currently using VentraIP/Zuver for a handful of VPS servers and they are always friendly and responsive.

Re: GoDaddy, Media Temple, and the Horrible World of Web Hosting

#88

Post by unclebucknasty »

Osiris wrote: post #86
unclebucknasty wrote: post #85

And before it was Ev1Servers, what is now IBM, was RackShack. So, it was RackShack, ev1, ThePlanet, SoftLayer, IBM. We started as a dedicated customer with RackShack, then on to a managed customer on ThePlanet. FWIW, we are on the same dedicated rack as when with ThePlanet, though SoftLayer tried to sell us on their "pod" solution (i.e. VPS). So, we are overpaying for our current hardware, but haven't had the stomach…

GoDaddy is revamping and changing a lot of those billing practices. With new management, there is a push to simplify even at the cost of conversions with the hope that a better reputation will push further customer growth.

That's promising. If you are willing to watch out for their gotchas, you can manage. And, they make some things super simple and relatively affordable (e.g. SSL certs). Having accumulated a good number of domains there over the years, I haven't wanted to switch.

So, that shadier/confusing stuff is unnecessary. They have a chance to be a really good company. Glad to hear they are working on it.

Re: GoDaddy, Media Temple, and the Horrible World of Web Hosting

#89

Post by gmazzotti »

Trufa wrote: post #59

I would like to know what other people experiences are with regard to Hostgator. Honestly, I chose because I didn't know many other options at the time but I've never had any sort of trouble and their chat assistance is pretty awesome. I would like to know if I'm actually just lucky or if other people have had this experience too.

I am they client since 5 years ago, and I always saying my partner (after chating or e-mailing their support) that "please do me remember to never change of hosting company". The host is very good but what is really wonderfull is their support (many times they even solve some coding errors I made, so my code works without problem)

Re: GoDaddy, Media Temple, and the Horrible World of Web Hosting

#90

Post by bobfunk »

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #83
davidandgoliath wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha. But you're not paying $5 a month for a static site, you're paying for a sustainable business to be behind your website when things go awry. $5 a month is cheap, too cheap in fact.

Yeah, I have to disagree. Hosting a static site costs the provider practically nothing. Apache or Nginx can chew through requests for static content like it's nothing. $5 is prohibitively expensive because static sites are often one-off projects that you don't want to have to worry about. If I'm paying $5 for each one then I would worry about it.

You don't just get a static site though. We handle all the whole build process: minifying, bundling, image optimization, giving each asset a unique content based URL and pushing them all to Akamai.

BitBalloon also makes forms work without having to do any brackens programming (or fitting in an external form service and try to get it to look like part of your site).

There's lots more timesavers included as well, so if your time is with anything to you, those $60 for a year of hosting will pay for themselves.

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