I don't really tend to post reviews on individual providers, but I'm happy to report a clean year through 2010 with the providers I used.
If the WHT mods want to split this thread up in to Dedicated + VPS + Shared/Reseller to their appropriate sections, fair enough, but I wanted to compile it all together
I thought I'd used more providers than I actually did, when I think about it, I didn't use all that many.
So here goes:
Dedicated Servers
ServerBoost - I am really fond of ServerBoost and Jelle is a great person to deal with and in 2010, I decided to go with them and still am today. To me, they are one of those EU providers which aren't too big, but aren't too small and always deliver an awesome service.
Delivery Time - I ordered the first server on a late Friday afternoon (EU time) and I got it about 3 hrs later. Was receiving deployment update e-mails from Jelle throughout the delivery. I always believe communication is key and this was a whole new level.
Support - I haven't really had a need to use the support, I submitted some rDNS entries and they were added (with ticket response) in <30 mins. Have nothing to complain about, can't review Support too much having not used it, but I have no suspicion to question it either.
Network + Uptime - Not had a single network fault since I started using ServerBoost and uptime has been 100% since on my first box since I got it.
Overall: 9/10 - I believe no provider is truly perfect and there will ALWAYS be room for improvement. A definite fair rating of ServerBoost and I look forward to doing business with Jelle for time to come.
DediShack - Similar to the way I view ServerBoost, I love the attention to detail over at DediShack. It's definitely a smaller company, but Rohan & co are always delivering for me. I love using the smaller guys sometimes, they are often more flexible and much more personal, no reason for complaint
I started out with a few units in co-location with DediShack (which I still hold with them) and went on to order a Dual-Quad deal they listed here on WHT.
Delivery Time - Normal for any company in the industry IMO, ordered on a Sunday (late morning) and received the server Monday afternoon.
Support - I've had a real demand for their support, moreso on the co-location boxes. Whether it be OS reloads, hardware failing or general reboots - I've found DediShack to be really responsive to all of my requests and they too are also really good with communication and keeping you updated, I love it.
Network + Uptime - No downtime since I started with them, always a plus, isn't it heh? And I quite like the network, nothing crappy and I'm able to pick up some great global pings to it.
Overall - 9/10 - DediShack have really looked after me and always delivered when I've needed it from them. I definitely have no room for complaint and I also intend to continue doing biz with them through 2011 and beyond.
Hivelocity - I owe a thanks to Hivelocity - they are currently providing a server for a website I run after a a string of network attacks against the site (DoS) - decided to move the site elsewhere and work on a tactic to avoid these attacks.
Delivery Time - Very prompt, I wasn't after magic and they were. Ordered the server just before the sales office closed and the welcome e-mail was in my Inbox when I woke up the next day. Delivered as ordered, no issues.
Support - Haven't really used Hivelocity support. I submitted a reboot request via a ticket and it was handled in <1 hour and that's the only time I've opened a ticket to them. The guys over there are really nice and friendly, no reason to complain what so ever from me.
Network + Uptime - Not much to talk about here, the speeds are great. There was an issue in December when they had a small network issue (which was reported here on WHT) which caused some slow-downs but other than that, it's been great.
Overall - 8/10 - would have been happy to give a solid 9/10 (will never give a provider 10/10) but the network slow-downs make me think it's worth an honest 8/10. I look forward to working with Hivelocity through 2011.
TailorMadeServers - Missed TMS from the original post. Jose is a great guy and I had an awesome experience there.
Deployment Times - Nice time, ordered before 5PM, got it setup same night. All as ordered with the additional IP's, was great.
Support - Opened a few tickets, had the system die once or twice and needed reboots - all sorted promptly. Had a billing issue - card was charged after me transferring the account over and I e-mailed Jose (I was away at the time) and he got it all taken care of without issue.
Network + Uptime - Pretty sexy network going on there in Colo4 with TMS, no downtime issues, was an absolute treat.
Overall - 9/10 - A great provider, will always consider using TMS in the future. Love their automation for cPanel licensing and so on. Great provider, really are.
VPS Providers
I used a handful of VPS providers also in 2010 - I think all of which were great, but each deserved their own merits.
ServerComplete - I really like Daniel and ServerComplete and have used them several times now. I had a VPS with them early in 2010 which was on their Dallas network and unfortunately fell victim to a string of DDoS attacks so I decided to drop the VPS and look at other options.
Delivery Time - I think they were doing manual setups then, was perfectly good setup time. Was about ~1 hr after ordering when the details arrived and that's that
Support - Found the support there to be great, I'm a stickler for forgetting to use a helpdesk and instead hitting Daniel up on MSN (sorry Dan!) - but he was great and whenever I went through the helpdesk, had no room for complaint. Quick responses, knowledgeable people = win.
Network + Uptime - Uptime was fine apart from when there was DDoS attacks against my VPS in particular and the network was fine - nothing to complain about!
Overall - 9/10 - Nothing to complain about, some great people, awesome to deal with. I did cancel the VPS in 2010 and I'm not sure if I'll use them in 2011 - but I have nothing negative to say against ServerComplete.
GigeVPS - I didn't buy from GigeVPS when Jacob owned it, I picked up a UK VPS when Thrust/iomart bought it. I know a lot of people around here rant about Thrust - but I don't know where it's coming from, I don't concur with it.
Delivery Time - Perfectly fine, not sure if it was automated, most likely was. About ~20 mins after order, received my details. Job done.
Support - Granted, I didn't use support AT ALL whilst I was there. But I don't see any room for complaint on the service itself.
Network + Uptime - I had no downtime, I was only there for a month granted because it was a dev box, the network was fine for me and my use (only I was accessing it).
Overall - 8/10 - I didn't really get to fully test all aspects of GigeVPS / ThrustVPS - so I'll stick at an 8/10 based on what I did experience.
Ubiquity Servers - I love Ubiquity, Mike in Sales is a great guy and I enjoyed my VPS with them. I had a dedicated server with them in early 09 and in 08 and went on to get a VPS with them in 2010.
Delivery Time - Received the VPS in a few hours, wasn't too fussed about a prompt delivery, even a few hours is great. Delivered as-ordered, was missing an extra IP I requested but a quick ticket got it sorted promptly.
Support - Had several run-ins with Ubiquity support - the VPS was Fully Managed and sure, I used and abused that fact They did some neat security on the VPS for me, I was using it for a free hosting project I was working on at the time and needed them. They were always prompt, on the ball and friendly to deal with.
Network + Uptime - I got the VPS in New York because I was in the UK. Connection was great, users all over the world were happy using the service without complaint. Uptime was 100% during my period there.
Overall - 9/10 - Great provider, always happy recommending Ubiquity for VPS. I trust them wholeheartedly.
HostV - In November I picked up a VPS from HostV, they were good overall, but I do have some gripe. I canceled the VPS after the first month because it just wasn't enough and I moved my site over to a Cloud platform (and now it's on a server at Hivelocity), yet I still received many many "Invoice Overdue" e-mails and "Service Suspension" e-mails and so on, despite submitting cancellation and receiving a confirmation of it.
Delivery Time - Seemed like it could have been manual setup, took a few hours, no biggy. Ordered late at night my time, was with me when I woke up. All fine there. cPanel wasn't licensed (but was paid for) - had to open a ticket to request that. Fantastico wasn't licensed, having tried to install it, had to open another ticket for that.
Support - This was fine, the tickets seemed a bit slow in the uptake but when they got on them, they were perfectly fine and knowledgeable.
Network + Uptime - This was fine, I found the network to be a little slow on the running at times but there were no major issues and no experience of downtime.
Overall - 7/10 - They were fine as a VPS provider, but the small things really did add up at the end of the day and I feel that a 7/10 is what HostV truly deserve based on my experience with them.
Reseller Hosting
Being a Brit, I have also had UK Resellers from two providers through 2010.
JSHosts - John at JSHosts is a really great guy and I loved being with them. I've always worked with local clients and getting them to signup to use JSHosts, they're great.
Delivery Time - Perfectly quick, automatic I figured through their WHMCS, no issue.
Support - Great, John handles things himself and I got some really prompt responses to a ticket I opened Xmas day 2009 with them, absolutely perfect for me.
Network + Uptime - They were (not sure if still are?) in RapidSwitch and were affected by some of the RS outages over the last year or two, which wasn't the best, but it wasn't their fault at the end of the day.
Overall - 9/10 - what I call an awesome host, I have loved using them. I canceled my active service with them June 2010 and would always consider using them in the future. Continue to refer UK users to them.
EZPZHosting - I signed up with EZPZ for a UK reseller (in RackSRV) having secured an awesome deal from Dan (ask him for deals - he gives them!!).
Delivery Time - I know Dan was deploying a new node in the evening (I ordered early afternoon) so I had to wait a short time for them to get it up and deploy my account on it - no issue, wasn't in a rush.
Support - Feels personal but remaining professional, haven't really used it apart from a DNS query ticket. Great response time to that one ticket, however.
Network + Uptime - Getting some neat speeds, uploading files are a nice rate and haven't experienced any downtime with them since starting in December 2010.
Overall - 9/10 - Another great UK Hosting provider who I am beginning to also recommend to users after EU shared/reseller. Very happy to have acquired a nice discount from Dan and to be using them. Intend to continue using them (paid annually - so no real choice).
--
That's about it for my 2010 providers. To also add, I did use some other providers however had affiliations with them at the time so it would be unfair and viewed biased if I were to review them.
--
Also want to give a hats off to Alpine. I started using Alpine Linux for the first time in mid-Dec 2010 on production systems and it's looking like a really great development - http://www.alpinelinux.org/ - looking forward to continuing to use Alpine in development over the typical CentOS I would normally use.
--
If FWS mods want verification for all these - head me up and I'll report the lot ^^.
Thanks for reading!
If the WHT mods want to split this thread up in to Dedicated + VPS + Shared/Reseller to their appropriate sections, fair enough, but I wanted to compile it all together
I thought I'd used more providers than I actually did, when I think about it, I didn't use all that many.
So here goes:
Dedicated Servers
ServerBoost - I am really fond of ServerBoost and Jelle is a great person to deal with and in 2010, I decided to go with them and still am today. To me, they are one of those EU providers which aren't too big, but aren't too small and always deliver an awesome service.
Delivery Time - I ordered the first server on a late Friday afternoon (EU time) and I got it about 3 hrs later. Was receiving deployment update e-mails from Jelle throughout the delivery. I always believe communication is key and this was a whole new level.
Support - I haven't really had a need to use the support, I submitted some rDNS entries and they were added (with ticket response) in <30 mins. Have nothing to complain about, can't review Support too much having not used it, but I have no suspicion to question it either.
Network + Uptime - Not had a single network fault since I started using ServerBoost and uptime has been 100% since on my first box since I got it.
Overall: 9/10 - I believe no provider is truly perfect and there will ALWAYS be room for improvement. A definite fair rating of ServerBoost and I look forward to doing business with Jelle for time to come.
DediShack - Similar to the way I view ServerBoost, I love the attention to detail over at DediShack. It's definitely a smaller company, but Rohan & co are always delivering for me. I love using the smaller guys sometimes, they are often more flexible and much more personal, no reason for complaint
I started out with a few units in co-location with DediShack (which I still hold with them) and went on to order a Dual-Quad deal they listed here on WHT.
Delivery Time - Normal for any company in the industry IMO, ordered on a Sunday (late morning) and received the server Monday afternoon.
Support - I've had a real demand for their support, moreso on the co-location boxes. Whether it be OS reloads, hardware failing or general reboots - I've found DediShack to be really responsive to all of my requests and they too are also really good with communication and keeping you updated, I love it.
Network + Uptime - No downtime since I started with them, always a plus, isn't it heh? And I quite like the network, nothing crappy and I'm able to pick up some great global pings to it.
Overall - 9/10 - DediShack have really looked after me and always delivered when I've needed it from them. I definitely have no room for complaint and I also intend to continue doing biz with them through 2011 and beyond.
Hivelocity - I owe a thanks to Hivelocity - they are currently providing a server for a website I run after a a string of network attacks against the site (DoS) - decided to move the site elsewhere and work on a tactic to avoid these attacks.
Delivery Time - Very prompt, I wasn't after magic and they were. Ordered the server just before the sales office closed and the welcome e-mail was in my Inbox when I woke up the next day. Delivered as ordered, no issues.
Support - Haven't really used Hivelocity support. I submitted a reboot request via a ticket and it was handled in <1 hour and that's the only time I've opened a ticket to them. The guys over there are really nice and friendly, no reason to complain what so ever from me.
Network + Uptime - Not much to talk about here, the speeds are great. There was an issue in December when they had a small network issue (which was reported here on WHT) which caused some slow-downs but other than that, it's been great.
Overall - 8/10 - would have been happy to give a solid 9/10 (will never give a provider 10/10) but the network slow-downs make me think it's worth an honest 8/10. I look forward to working with Hivelocity through 2011.
TailorMadeServers - Missed TMS from the original post. Jose is a great guy and I had an awesome experience there.
Deployment Times - Nice time, ordered before 5PM, got it setup same night. All as ordered with the additional IP's, was great.
Support - Opened a few tickets, had the system die once or twice and needed reboots - all sorted promptly. Had a billing issue - card was charged after me transferring the account over and I e-mailed Jose (I was away at the time) and he got it all taken care of without issue.
Network + Uptime - Pretty sexy network going on there in Colo4 with TMS, no downtime issues, was an absolute treat.
Overall - 9/10 - A great provider, will always consider using TMS in the future. Love their automation for cPanel licensing and so on. Great provider, really are.
VPS Providers
I used a handful of VPS providers also in 2010 - I think all of which were great, but each deserved their own merits.
ServerComplete - I really like Daniel and ServerComplete and have used them several times now. I had a VPS with them early in 2010 which was on their Dallas network and unfortunately fell victim to a string of DDoS attacks so I decided to drop the VPS and look at other options.
Delivery Time - I think they were doing manual setups then, was perfectly good setup time. Was about ~1 hr after ordering when the details arrived and that's that
Support - Found the support there to be great, I'm a stickler for forgetting to use a helpdesk and instead hitting Daniel up on MSN (sorry Dan!) - but he was great and whenever I went through the helpdesk, had no room for complaint. Quick responses, knowledgeable people = win.
Network + Uptime - Uptime was fine apart from when there was DDoS attacks against my VPS in particular and the network was fine - nothing to complain about!
Overall - 9/10 - Nothing to complain about, some great people, awesome to deal with. I did cancel the VPS in 2010 and I'm not sure if I'll use them in 2011 - but I have nothing negative to say against ServerComplete.
GigeVPS - I didn't buy from GigeVPS when Jacob owned it, I picked up a UK VPS when Thrust/iomart bought it. I know a lot of people around here rant about Thrust - but I don't know where it's coming from, I don't concur with it.
Delivery Time - Perfectly fine, not sure if it was automated, most likely was. About ~20 mins after order, received my details. Job done.
Support - Granted, I didn't use support AT ALL whilst I was there. But I don't see any room for complaint on the service itself.
Network + Uptime - I had no downtime, I was only there for a month granted because it was a dev box, the network was fine for me and my use (only I was accessing it).
Overall - 8/10 - I didn't really get to fully test all aspects of GigeVPS / ThrustVPS - so I'll stick at an 8/10 based on what I did experience.
Ubiquity Servers - I love Ubiquity, Mike in Sales is a great guy and I enjoyed my VPS with them. I had a dedicated server with them in early 09 and in 08 and went on to get a VPS with them in 2010.
Delivery Time - Received the VPS in a few hours, wasn't too fussed about a prompt delivery, even a few hours is great. Delivered as-ordered, was missing an extra IP I requested but a quick ticket got it sorted promptly.
Support - Had several run-ins with Ubiquity support - the VPS was Fully Managed and sure, I used and abused that fact
They did some neat security on the VPS for me, I was using it for a free hosting project I was working on at the time and needed them. They were always prompt, on the ball and friendly to deal with.Network + Uptime - I got the VPS in New York because I was in the UK. Connection was great, users all over the world were happy using the service without complaint. Uptime was 100% during my period there.
Overall - 9/10 - Great provider, always happy recommending Ubiquity for VPS. I trust them wholeheartedly.
HostV - In November I picked up a VPS from HostV, they were good overall, but I do have some gripe. I canceled the VPS after the first month because it just wasn't enough and I moved my site over to a Cloud platform (and now it's on a server at Hivelocity), yet I still received many many "Invoice Overdue" e-mails and "Service Suspension" e-mails and so on, despite submitting cancellation and receiving a confirmation of it.
Delivery Time - Seemed like it could have been manual setup, took a few hours, no biggy. Ordered late at night my time, was with me when I woke up. All fine there. cPanel wasn't licensed (but was paid for) - had to open a ticket to request that. Fantastico wasn't licensed, having tried to install it, had to open another ticket for that.
Support - This was fine, the tickets seemed a bit slow in the uptake but when they got on them, they were perfectly fine and knowledgeable.
Network + Uptime - This was fine, I found the network to be a little slow on the running at times but there were no major issues and no experience of downtime.
Overall - 7/10 - They were fine as a VPS provider, but the small things really did add up at the end of the day and I feel that a 7/10 is what HostV truly deserve based on my experience with them.
Reseller Hosting
Being a Brit, I have also had UK Resellers from two providers through 2010.
JSHosts - John at JSHosts is a really great guy and I loved being with them. I've always worked with local clients and getting them to signup to use JSHosts, they're great.
Delivery Time - Perfectly quick, automatic I figured through their WHMCS, no issue.
Support - Great, John handles things himself and I got some really prompt responses to a ticket I opened Xmas day 2009 with them, absolutely perfect for me.
Network + Uptime - They were (not sure if still are?) in RapidSwitch and were affected by some of the RS outages over the last year or two, which wasn't the best, but it wasn't their fault at the end of the day.
Overall - 9/10 - what I call an awesome host, I have loved using them. I canceled my active service with them June 2010 and would always consider using them in the future. Continue to refer UK users to them.
EZPZHosting - I signed up with EZPZ for a UK reseller (in RackSRV) having secured an awesome deal from Dan (ask him for deals - he gives them!!).
Delivery Time - I know Dan was deploying a new node in the evening (I ordered early afternoon) so I had to wait a short time for them to get it up and deploy my account on it - no issue, wasn't in a rush.
Support - Feels personal but remaining professional, haven't really used it apart from a DNS query ticket. Great response time to that one ticket, however.
Network + Uptime - Getting some neat speeds, uploading files are a nice rate and haven't experienced any downtime with them since starting in December 2010.
Overall - 9/10 - Another great UK Hosting provider who I am beginning to also recommend to users after EU shared/reseller. Very happy to have acquired a nice discount from Dan and to be using them. Intend to continue using them (paid annually - so no real choice
).--
That's about it for my 2010 providers. To also add, I did use some other providers however had affiliations with them at the time so it would be unfair and viewed biased if I were to review them.
--
Also want to give a hats off to Alpine. I started using Alpine Linux for the first time in mid-Dec 2010 on production systems and it's looking like a really great development - http://www.alpinelinux.org/ - looking forward to continuing to use Alpine in development over the typical CentOS I would normally use.
--
If FWS mods want verification for all these - head me up and I'll report the lot ^^.
Thanks for reading!
![[JSH]John](/forums/data/avatars/m/16825/16825422.jpg?1593857300){kind=avatar}
