Insane hosting plan

11 February, 2006 (01:13) | General | By: Andreas

In my everyday work I register a lot of domains for my clients, and because of this I have affiliate deals with several different hosting companies. Through those deals, I've seen a lot of hosting offers. But never before have I seen anything like the one I found today.

First, a short background: I have recently switched host, from a really bad one to a new one. I have now made myself comfortable with the new hosting, which is provided by SiteGround, a great host that offers a package that I can recommend with all my heart. Thanks to their affiliate deal and the people who have signed up through my link, I now have my hosting paid until october 2010 which is of course great. I see no reason to switch host again in a long time, so I will stay with SiteGround as long as everything works well. I chose it based on recommendations, reviews and the good features that their package included, and I'm very happy with it.

But today I discovered that there was another host that offered an even better package, atleast when it came to numbers. If I would have seen the offer a few weeks ago, I would probably have signed up without any doubt. And while I wouldn't want to switch hosts again now, I still felt that I wanted to promote the offer since it was the most powerful I had seen so far. The numbers were totally insane, and if SiteGround looked too good to be true, the features of this new host were even more striking…

But unfortunally the new host was DreamHost, and at first I had no idea about the number of people all over the world who have got their websites shut down, suspended and deleted by DreamHost for various strange reasons. In only a few hours after posting the link, I got several e-mails from people with terrible stories about their service. So, from what I could tell, DreamHost is far away from being a good host. And I can't support something that can't give a top service to my clients…

At first, I fell for the temptation and signed up as an affiliate, and I posted the affiliate link here without reading any comments from other users. However, after reading the scary e-mails and a lot of comments and host reviews on various sites, the decision was easy. The link is now removed, and I will never recommend anyone to sign up with DreamHost again. Sorry for my rush, I should have known better.

Instead of chasing the extreme features (DH offered 20gb storage and 1tb monthly traffic!), I will simply recommend something that I know is good instead: SiteGround (12gb storage, 500gb monthly traffic). I know they are a good host, since this site is hosted by them and I am not planning to switch to any other host anytime soon. I may write a follow-up to this post some other day, with some of the "bad hosting" stories I got in my e-mail. But I really need some sleep now to get this out of head…

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Show comments (23)

Comments

Comments can be only posted for 14 days after the post date. If you have comments about an older post such as this one, feel free to send me an e-mail!

Comment from Caroline
Time: February 11, 2006, 2:35

Andreas, maybe you should read the WP support forum. There are lots of people that have mayor problems with Dreamhost!
They do not deliver as good a service as they promise, that's for sure!

Comment from Andreas
Time: February 11, 2006, 3:09

Yes, I need to check that out! So far, I have mostly heard the opposite. Most of the WP-related problems I have seen on other hosts have been caused by a limited user knowledge rather than bad hosting, so I always want to try the service myself before I draw any conclusions. But if DreamHost would appear to be a bad host, I will of course not promote it in the future.

For now, until I have tried the actual service and read up on other users experiences, what I promote is their great numbers and their friendly affiliate deal. I'll edit the post text tomorrow morning to make this even more clear.

Comment from Randy
Time: February 11, 2006, 3:12

They also charge $49.95 for set up, which is free at many hosting companies.

Comment from Andreas
Time: February 11, 2006, 4:10

Edited: Rewrote almost the entire post. Thanks Caroline for sending me to the forums, I had a feeling that it was too good to be true. While DH may have improved lately, those problems were way to big to ignore. I'm not ready to risc the sites of my clients, I'll stick to hosts that I trust. I'll think twice before posting an affiliate link again. ;)

Comment from Ainslie
Time: February 11, 2006, 9:45

Choosing a host can be a nightmare! I am now with SiteGround like Andreas, and so far they have been very good. There support is almost instant and the storage and bandwidth are excellent for the price.

I have noticed the odd problem, but not many. Any host can have problems! Especially with shared hosting. It only takes one website that's using too many resources and it can bring the server down and all the other sites hosted on it.

Comment from Michael Pate
Time: February 11, 2006, 12:02

I have had an account with Dreamhost for a year and a half now that my brother and I share. The only problem of any significance came when one of his sites was accused of using too much processor time. DH switched us to another server, and the problem went away. I could tell some hosting horror stories but I don't have one for them. And I fully intend to keep renewing the plan for a long time to come.

Comment from Dennis
Time: February 11, 2006, 12:32

Hi there

Don't know if this post is concidered as to much advertising, but i'll write it and let Andreas decide. :)

I read the post and saw that it was about hosting, and followed Andreas link to siteground, looked at the prices and then found out that i use a similar host but for my case cheaper.

The host i'm using is servage.net i've been with them for allmost a year now and the few problems i've had, have all been solved very quickly, and haven't had any downtime while being with them. this isn't any way better than siteground, it's posted as an alternative and because i'm very happy to be with them.

i'll leave my affeliate link here, and if you sign up by this link you'll recieve additional 2500MB of storage, and I get 2 month of hosting for free, thats it.

the link is:

http://www.servage.net/?coupon=cust13936

Siteground runs great, and so does Servage

Dennis

Comment from Andreas
Time: February 11, 2006, 13:03

Dennis: As long as the comment follows the post topic, I don't mind an affiliate link. I'll check it out, I am always looking for good hosts for different projects.

Comment from isecore
Time: February 11, 2006, 13:26

I prefer to be my own host. That way I know what I am responsible for, and what the host (i.e. myself) can and will do.

Yes, it's not cheap or free. I pay a lot more for my server per month than US$4.95. But it's worth it for the control.

Comment from Dennis
Time: February 11, 2006, 14:59

thanks for the note Andreas.

And thank you for this excellent site. Always looking forward too seing updates at this site. :)

Comment from jeremy
Time: February 11, 2006, 16:25

I switched to bluehost, http://www.bluehost.com and have been very happy with them.

Comment from Adolfo Tavizon
Time: February 11, 2006, 17:13

I`m whit bluehost, the hosting its great, fast service, fast server, lots of space, lots of bandwidth and great affiliate link program, give them a visit.
The URL its http://www.bluehost.com

Comment from Ed
Time: February 11, 2006, 20:36

I use Global Internet Solutions. It has 35,000 mb disk space and unlimited data transfer, unlimited domain names for $9.95 per month. Been with them for years.

Comment from Andreas
Time: February 11, 2006, 20:54

Ed: I still have never seen a host that has truly offered "unlimited data transfer". Most hosts will close down the site if the transfer goes too high, while claiming that the bandwidth usage is "harmful" to the server and the other sites hosted on it. I would be surprised if Global Internet Solutions would be different from the other hosts, but I would be happy if someone could prove me wrong!

Comment from Gogol
Time: February 12, 2006, 2:02

I have been with three hosting companies and the first 2 were really bad, now I am with Micfo. They do not have big number, but the service in the best I could found.

Comment from Mutahir
Time: February 12, 2006, 2:59

Any suggestions for Yahoo host?

I am still confused which host to go for :)

new to wordpress and webdesign

regards
Great site Andreas.

Comment from Quozl
Time: February 12, 2006, 5:17

I have 16 domains that I host with DH and have absolutely no horror stories to share. They have been reliable with minimal downtime. I will continue to use them as my host though we are seriously investigating SiteGround as they are located in here in Houston, Texas where I reside.

Thanks for all the great insight Andreas, my wife and I appreciate you hard work and music.

Comment from LobserMan
Time: February 13, 2006, 13:59

The SiteGround plan looks awsome! I might consider switching, the thing is, I'm on a pretty small host now, where I don't get as much space or bandwidth, but service is excellent. how is SiteGround service?

Comment from Dennis
Time: February 14, 2006, 9:55

according to andreas the siteground plan runs smoothly and without problems, haven't tried it myself though, but a recomendation from Andreas who runs this site on siteground, should be considered thumbs up if you ask me :)

Comment from petter
Time: February 14, 2006, 15:25

Why didn't I read this before signing up…? :)

Well, now I have moved so I'll stay there for some months before moving anywhere else.

I used to have my stuff at Powweb but that was REALLY bad. No resources on the servers and too much down-time.

Maybe SiteGround then…

/petter

Comment from Matt
Time: February 15, 2006, 0:29

I use http://www.laughingsquid.org because they offer a "starving artist" discount and are small and OS, things i truely beleive in. $8-6 a month though…

Comment from David Elfstrom
Time: February 15, 2006, 0:41

I've been a customer with Dreamhost since 2003 and host a number of customer sites with them without any problems. It's a fantastic service for power users.

Comment from Adam
Time: February 16, 2006, 15:38

just a test

andreasviklund.com