Fatcow sucks! Moved to a new better host.

[Jethro]

I got to say, everyone is great in the beginning. Even the sucky ones.
Looking at hawkhost's homepage, it looks like they oversell too.
I don't know how they can sell hosting that cheap.
Good luck. Be sure to backup often.

Steven I had the same thought when we moved to hostgator, seems if the hosting company gets big enough they can drop prices and still make a handy profit without degrading customer service.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

Most got lost within the online advertising war that started some years back with hosting. When it became easy to just open your own server and sell... the space became chaos. Human behaviour is addicted to getting a deal, so whoever was selling the most over the top deal, sounds to good to be true, etc etc... got the sale. Now that its no longer a selling point, but more people are realising a big fat lie, many of those same hosts have now removed all the unlimited nonsense and again meeting the market demands, being they want figures associated to each area, not unlimited. Now you are beginning to see them slowly offering more space, more bandwidth, etc, in figures... because unlimited is a big no-no.

Mind you, they still do the same thing, being that if you remotely attempted to use the space, they come up with the age old lie that you are using excessive resources and must upgrade or your account terminated. Same result, just meeting market trends to get there.

I loaded up gigs of data on hosts over the years, using them as file storage to test their sales pitches, and every single one kicked me off their $4 a month plan for excessive usage of their resources, even though I paid for unlimited space and what I was doing was uploading gigs of zip files and making them available via a webpage... to meet their TOS that the space is being used for the purpose of your hosting, ie. hosting a website. Still got booted from these so called unlimited nonsense.

Even with figures now... go load them up with gigs of files and see if you can reach your limit before they boot you for excessive use of the resources you paid for.

 

[Netsultants]

I agree that unlimited is not really unlimited. Though, for companies that want a hosting solution and don't have any clue about mb and bandwidth, these solutions are helpful. You don't have to guess, etc... If your site expands or your load is more than what you thought, you can upgrade to a different plan. If a company really thinks, or wants, unlimited everything for pennies then I think the issue is on their end. I have many domains. Most I park on an small "unlimited" account that's very inexpensive. If one of the domains grows and needs a better plan then I'll look for a solution for that domain and pull it. I expect my hosting company to pull domains using excessive resources.

Jamie & others, if you're happy with your hosting company please provide the name.

The one quick thing I look for in a new hosting company is info on their data centers and actual info on their address. I see a lot of hosting companies that hide all that info because they are actually in another hosting companies data center.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

The one quick thing I look for in a new hosting company is info on their data centers and actual info on their address. I see a lot of hosting companies that hide all that info because they are actually in another hosting companies data center.

Could be a bit hard pressed to not be though... considering there are only x amount of them, which usually all companies have allocated space / share space.

ServInt is one of the biggest around, and their equipment is contained in ThePlanet datacenters (Soft Layer) now. There are only so many true datacenters around to physically host within.

If you mean resellers... absolutely agree.

 

[Netsultants]

Anthony, I specifically mean hiding it. HostGator is using ThePlanet too, but they are clear about it. That doesn't concern me. What would concern me is if a hoster doesn't divulge it and doesn't provide their address.

 

[HannahP]

Hawkhost dosent oversell, fatcow does...

Every host "oversells" - every one. If they didn't they would go out of business.

If everyone on your telephone network decided to make a call at the same time, the system would go down. It isn't built to serve all its users simultaneously. But it rarely has to, so it's not a problem. Your host is the same way. About a third of the sites on the average shared web server are active at any given time. There is no need to have the resources to support them all at their maximum use. It would be bad business to do so.

Fatcow sucks because it's an Endurance International Group property. Endurance buys up hosting companies and migrates the users to their Boston servers (forcing all their hosting properties to use the same platform - the only difference between any Endurance host is price and name; under the hood they are identical) and all of the tier 1 support comes from India. They have their own call center there. There are about a dozen people up in Canada who do all the tier 2 support.

If your host is on this list you are an Endurance customer (surprise!):

2slick.com
AccountSupport
apollohosting.com
berryinfosysllc.com
bizland.com
bluedomino.com
carielweb.com
computersconcepts.net
dollar2host.com
DomainHost
dot5hosting.com
easycgi.com
ehost.com
entryhost.com
fatcow.com
freeyellow.com
globat
hostaday.com
hostcentric.com
hostingbyexcel.com
hostwithmenow.com
hostyoursite.com
hypermart.net
IMOutdoorsHosting
ipage.com
iPowerWeb
JustHost
lunarpages (this has been rumored for a long time, but may not be happening)
myresellerhome.com
networkshosting.com
osullivansystems.com
powweb.com
purehost.com
readyhosting.co.uk
readyhosting.com
sabapro.com
southeastweb.com
spry.com
startlogic.com
tighthost.com
usanethosting.com
VirtualAve.net
vpslink.com
web2010.com
webdevhosting.com
webhost4life
WebstrikeSolutions
xeran.com
YourWebHosting.com
zipitdesigns.com

 

[Elizabeth]

I loaded up gigs of data on hosts over the years, using them as file storage to test their sales pitches, and every single one kicked me off their $4 a month plan for excessive usage of their resources, even though I paid for unlimited space and what I was doing was uploading gigs of zip files and making them available via a webpage... to meet their TOS that the space is being used for the purpose of your hosting, ie. hosting a website. Still got booted from these so called unlimited nonsense.

Even with figures now... go load them up with gigs of files and see if you can reach your limit before they boot you for excessive use of the resources you paid for.

Because of the store I had, I had gigs of files up on mine, and it was doubled because I had a backup on site in case a designer deleted something by accident. I had over 100 gigs on the server by the time I closed my store just over a month ago. Never heard a word out of WiredTree...I did get yelled at by my cPanel tho as we had it set to yell full at 80% and we had excess stuff that needed deleting besides the files.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

Whew... I'm good then... ServInt & WiredTree.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

WiredTree don't sell bulk shared hosting with unlimited everything... as many of the above names do. I can load up my VPS or dedicated as well... we pay for that though... not when you pay $3 a month though for unlimited storage and bandwidth.

 

[Elizabeth]

WiredTree don't sell bulk shared hosting with unlimited everything... as many of the above names do.

I know, that's why I like them.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

I know, that's why I like them.

Yep... their price is why I just shifted my site hosting from ServInt to Wiredtree. Get more CPU at WiredTree than ServInt.... which is what sites usually need vs. RAM. My RAM is lucky to get over 500Mb... but CPU I eat up quickly the more I keep adding.

I couldn't add anything at ServInt to my sites because the vb4.x was maxing out the CPU allocation, so changing over the WiredTree fixed that dramatically, then wiping VB4.x... now I am adding in all sorts of mods to eat up all that extra bandwidth I gained. Doh!

But my sites are becoming better as a result, and still cheaper in my pocket, which I like best.

 

[HannahP]

Not to belabor the point, but here's that Endurance list with some customer counts for the larger properties:

2slick.com
AccountSupport - 29k
apollohosting.com - 10k
berryinfosysllc.com
bizland.com - 18k
bluedomino.com
bluehost.com - 1.25 million
carielweb.com
computersconcepts.net
dollar2host.com - 4k
DomainHost
dot5hosting.com - 21k
easycgi.com - 19k
ehost.com - 4k
entryhost.com - 4k
fatcow.com - 177k
freeyellow.com
globat - 25k
hostaday.com
hostcentric.com
hostingbyexcel.com
hostmonster.com - 712k
hostwithmenow.com
hostyoursite.com
hypermart.net - 14k
IMOutdoorsHosting
ipage.com
iPowerWeb - 402k
JustHost - 20k
lunarpages - 92k
myresellerhome.com
netfirms.com - 350k
networkshosting.com
osullivansystems.com
powweb.com - 118k
purehost.com - 4k
readyhosting.co.uk
readyhosting.com - 34k
sabapro.com
southeastweb.com
spry.com
startlogic.com - 125k
tighthost.com
usanethosting.com
VirtualAve.net
vpslink.com
web2010.com - 3k
webdevhosting.com
webhost4life - 9k
WebstrikeSolutions
xeran.com
YourWebHosting.com - 3k
zipitdesigns.com

The actual counts are slightly higher in most cases. It's well over a million 3 million sites, which is why they have trouble providing quality service. After a certain point it isn't possible.

 

[Jamie]

Jamie & others, if you're happy with your hosting company please provide the name.

I use a host called FutureQuest They started their own company back in 1998 with one server and six T1's, now they own their own data center and have grown in a manner that keeps the customer happy without sacrificing their system and others on the same server.

Their prices are good, a bit higher than the cheapy cheap hosts, but I have hosted sites with them for 12 years have never had a problem.

For me, it doesn't matter what the web host promises you, it all boils down to what they actually deliver.

Jamie

 

[Dean]

ServInt is one of the biggest around, and their equipment is contained in ThePlanet datacenters (Soft Layer) now. There are only so many true datacenters around to physically host within.

I'd like to know where that information comes from. Our vps is in a 'carrier hotel' in Los Angeles, one wilshire. Unlike many other hosting providers they actually provision their own hardware and give detailed instructions to the 'in house' staff at that location. When we were with Hostgator it seemed the other way round, HG would do level 1 tech support and other issues needed to go directly to The Planet staff (using different email address). At least that is what my experience is with them.

In addition Servint has their own datacenter on the east coast, and provision in a few other places, most in the Washington DC area (as far as I know).

 

[AnthonyCea]

Most hosts will provide the data center information on where they house their servers if you just ask, for example www.rochen.com is a UK based company and has machines at ThePlanet DC in Texas.

http://www.rochenhost.com/about/hosting-infrastructure

 

[Anthony Parsons]

Traceroute will usually tell you where you endup with the actual datacenter. Mine with ServInt is located in ThePlanet DC, from memory.

My one with WiredTree lands me in ThePlanet in California.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

Unlike many other hosting providers they actually provision their own hardware and give detailed instructions to the 'in house' staff at that location.

Most do provision their own hardware and tech support... but the DC itself is typically owned by a larger corporation. The hosting companies just have their own access to their equipment.

A hosting company would be broke if they tried to pay for the backbone cost into the web, along with the sheer infrastructure required to establish a datacenter.

If you look at even the primary telco's, the majority are still puppets to someone larger. The Australasian region for example is pretty much all controlled by SingTel, a Singaporean company. Power, telecommunications, etc, all the big boys plug into them as the backbone provider for this region. Telstra near own the majority of equipment in Australia for telecommunications, the rest rent it via them... but they plug into SingTel at the end of the day, thus they pay them.

 

[Dean]

Both of ours went to sc-smv____.servint.net, where the ___ is the node number. One on the east coast, one on the west coast.

Traceroute will usually tell you where you endup with the actual datacenter. Mine with ServInt is located in ThePlanet DC, from memory.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

Pop your domain or ip into the traceroute at dnsstuff.com and it will tell you quickly.

 

[Dean]

Most do provision their own hardware and tech support... but the DC itself is typically owned by a larger corporation. The hosting companies just have their own access to their equipment.

A hosting company would be broke if they tried to pay for the backbone cost into the web, along with the sheer infrastructure required to establish a datacenter.

If you look at even the primary telco's, the majority are still puppets to someone larger. The Australasian region for example is pretty much all controlled by SingTel, a Singaporean company. Power, telecommunications, etc, all the big boys plug into them as the backbone provider for this region. Telstra near own the majority of equipment in Australia for telecommunications, the rest rent it via them... but they plug into SingTel at the end of the day, thus they pay them.

I agree with everything you are typing, makes no sense to handle things any other way. But unless I've been completely mis-informed, Servint actually owns a data center.