Web Hosting : Mosso analysis – not ready for prime time

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This web hosting thread started by lasus on 17 September 2008

I’m still somewhat new to this forum, but hopefully this posting adds value.

Given the novelty, the backing of a primary hosting player, etc., I had expected more info on Mosso than I’m seeing. One advantage I bring is I’m not a developer or operate a hosting company, just an entrepreneur who deals with his own servers. Here goes -

I don’t think Mosso is ready for prime time. The marketing on their site is beautiful. When a friend recommended it (an entrepreneur like me), coupled with all the promises on their marketing pages, plus the pricing, I thought moving my service to Mosso was a no-brainer.

First of all, kudos to them for having a user forum. I firmly believe this is the right way to go. Unfortunately it also confirmed my experience was not unique. On the day I signed up, the control panel was not responsive. It took a long time and several attempts to load. The user forum also points to almost daily downtime, though granted for only a few minutes in most cases (via the pingdom links provided).

The forums are currently password protected, but a Mosso employee said this is accessible via a demo account. I suggest you review the forums before signing up with Mosso, it would have saved me time and effort.

In short -

1. The service doesn’t provide the uptime suggested by their marketing pages.
2. Initial review suggests the software needs security updates. I emailed them my findings, hopefully it helps them. No response after 2 days. I’m keeping this vague intentionally.
3. The cancellation of an account was a mini-AOL-like experience. You can’t cancel via the admin console. Turns out you cancel via email. What kills me most about this is the lack of understanding of security. They want me to email them my account’s username and password. Since I’m human, I only have 2-3 passwords for all my accounts (banking, registar, etc.). And for me to email them my password is not appropriate at best. I had to use the “forget password” function to create a new one so I could email it to them.
4. I really think they over promise on their marketing. I think they should label it as a “beta” product to better reflect its status. The parent company has a great reputation, and I’ve used them in the past, hopefully they’ll better protect their reputation by more openly reflecting Mosso’s status. How can they have an enterprise level system with almost daily downtime?
5. My bad, but I didn’t realize until after signing up that they offer no SLA uptime, just a partial refund when it goes down.

I really like the concept, and except for the fact I felt deceived, I would happily go back to Mosso because it provides what I’m looking for, once the marketing matches the delivery.

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