Hostgator Review : Horrible with SMF!

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This is a hostgator review posted by Richardgm on 05 January 2009

While I haven’t had a HTTP downtime since I registered to test out their services on December 20, 2008, the main problem I have is their MYSQL issues.

Two issues:

1. Pages took .2 to .5 seconds to load. On my previous host they took .05… Database server packed? This was a minor, so I blew it off.
2.

Is the timeout problem. Members constantly get timeout messages (“Lost connection to MySQL server during query”). When I looked into this with SMF, I was told that it was caused when the timeout values were turned down on the database server. I never had this problem with my previous host. This was another minor inconvenience, so I blew it off; again.

3. Everyday, my forum gets “CONNECTION PROBLEMS” errors. I was told at one point by the staff here that it was caused by the forum system (SMF) using persistent connections.

I know that I never enabled the option, and the forum worked fine the first few days. The problem was the IP address. When did it change? I don’t know! How long did it take for this issue to be resolved? 3 hours! Fine, ok, the IP address changed or something! The forum is back up.

The next day? Same thing again, “CONNECTION PROBLEMS”. SMF is unable to connect to the database. After one hour, I was told they added my host’s IP to the firewall and remote access list. It’s the 3rd time I’m hearing them do this. The problem has not been fixed.

I then got: “There’s about 34% packetloss on the 7th hop from the server. I recommend contacting your other host and having them investigate this issue.”

No. I should not be doing so much everyday, just to keep my website running. I moved my database back to my previous host, and no issues so far.

I will be requested my money back, let’s see if that will go through hassle free.

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