Host unlimited blogs, websites for $4.95 only with this web host

Hostgator is our recommended web hosting provider. Sign up with hostgator here

This is a hostgator review posted by JewelCG on 21 May 2006

Let me start out by saying that I have been in the realm of ‘dedicated’ servers for a long time. I got my very first box way back in 1999. It was a cobalt raq4 and to be truthful, I barely remember it. I don’t even remember what kind of admin interface it had. A couple years later I upgraded to a better server with Ensim 3.1 and boy was that a whole lot better. Two years ago I upgraded again, this time with Ensim Pro. Now all this is only relevant because I did all these upgrades with the SAME company.

Imagine… Seven years with the same company. Amazing isn’t it, especially in this field.

About a week ago, after much soul searching, several trouble tickets, phone calls and instant chat, I came to the conclusion that not only was it time to upgrade once again, it was time to switch companies. Leaving my beloved company of seven years was not an easy decision to make. In all around service they were excellent. Excellent uptime, 24/7 tech support, good price. However, the con was the deal breaker for me…. 24/7 tech support is no good if they don’t actually support you. The canned answer I found myself getting way too much was ‘We don’t support that.’ and then being left out in the cold to figure things out for myself. Now, even after seven years I’m no guru. I can figure out an admin panel and I can do simple things in ssh, but I don’t really want to be mucking about in conf files. So needless to say that in the two years I had my last box it got no upgrades and I knew that even should I upgrade to a new box within the same company I’d still be in the same boat. So, I went on the hunt for a new dedicated provider.

I looked at several companies and in general, they wanted to give me less for more. Then I found Host Gator. The basic package they offer was just what I needed. I was excited at first glance. I wanted this package. I wanted it right now! But I calmed and did my research, read reviews, talked to my clients, talked to several of the techs through the instant chat. Needless to say, I was impressed, very impressed. Awestruck even. Here was a company that had a really nice package with everything I wanted plus lots of bells and whistles to play with. Tech support was 24/7 and they would actually support me. They did upgrades! They would help troubleshoot third party scripts! They were nice and personable too. I was in love. So I got a couple of my clients together and we pooled our resourses and voila! I was a new customer.

I, of course, saw the 24-48 hour blurb about account set-up. I, of course, disregarded it. I was excited. I wanted it now. Needless to say, I didn’t get it right now. I didn’t get it in 24 hours, nor 36… I literally didn’t get it until the 48th hour. By this time I’d had time to think about all the work that lay ahead of me and I wasn’t excited anymore. I was annoyed at the run around by the techs as to why it was taking so long to set up the account. Every time I checked in it was ‘it’s being worked on’. Well, I got to thinking, just how long does it take to set up already? I mean really! I was not a happy camper. When, at the 47th hour I started mentioning a refund I was promptly promised an account within the hour. It took approximately 30 minutes for the welcome email to show up. Now the person I talked to finally said that they had been waiting for new boxes or something like that. If someone had said that to me in the beginning I would have understood and been a whole lot more patient, but I was led to believe several times that my account was ‘almost done’.

So then I finally had the server. I went in to look around and my clean, new box had someone’s old accounts on it!! I was like what the….?? I was told to put in a trouble ticket to have the account re-created. I did so and resumed waiting. Well, patience isn’t a virtue I have normally and after waiting for two days I didn’t want to wait anymore! So after an hour or so I called up.. “Can I do this myself?”, I asked. The tech I talked to seemed a bit surprised but said sure, go for it. I did…and I haven’t looked back since.

WHM/cPanel looks pretty daunting when you first get in there, especially coming from Ensim, but I was able to figure everything out and what I had questions on, the tech guys were right there to answer them. I needed Zend Optimizer, something I’d had to fumble my way through installing on the old box, and they installed it. Fantastico wasn’t there, I dropped a note. They installed it. Everything I’ve had a problem with they’ve been there to help or at least try to.

So in the end, I’m very happy with my new server and with Host Gator. Although I have been irritated and annoyed and probably will be again at some time in the future, but they are and will remain a 100% better than the support I had at the old company. For this reason, I am very, very glad I made the switch. All the bells and whistles help too.

Discuss this review in detail or sign up with hostgator webhosting

This web hosting blog is proudly hosted with reliable Hostgator webhosting for only one cents through this hostgator coupon