Hosts that Use Exposed Reviews!!!

    Netmar, Is Netmar.com ready to take care of your future hosting needs?

    Netmar, number 24 of 25 for Webhostingstuff.com’s  May 2010 list.  As of today they are now number 9.  So they are paying more for a better position in the Webhostingstuff listings.  Their design seems dated,  no telling when the last time the site had a face lift.  According to them they have been in business as of 1994, and the domain creation date backs them up on this.  But their about page makes me suspect that have not been in the webhosting as lon.

    http://www.netmar.com/aboutus.html

    “Netmar is wholly owned and operated by the Akinli family of Durham, NC. Established in 1994 as the company behind the Tarheel Mall, we quickly discovered that the online mall concept was not going to be around for long, and abandoned it in favor of straight website hosting”

    This is another company that I have to wonder when exactly they got into the webhosting business.  Like the last host I reviewed there is not alot of information on this host.  For that matter alot of hosts that do reviews have no reviews from this self proclaimed oldest host.

    http://www.web-hosting-top.com/web-hosting/web-hosting-top.netmar.com-reviews

    The oddest thing I found while looking for information on them:

    http://www.netmar.com/~maat/archive/oct3/taylor.htm

    Webhostingstuff’s information on Netmar

    This time I started looking over the info on webhostingstuff in regards to Netmar.   While I am sure they erase the info that does not work in their favor they are sloppy in how they do it.   There is a lot of incriminating information that is often left behind.

    One Netmar review sticks out

    Looking at the reviews I can tell you they should not have a 5 star rating.

    Some how with 6 reviews one “poor” review can not keep this host from being listed as anything less then 5 stars.  I also find it hard for this review to have 3 stars on tech support considering that is what this complaint is about.

    Netmar uptime records with webhostingstuff.

    Curiosly Netmar’s first review was August 15, 2006.  However their uptime records only go to Febuary 2010 of this year.

    I suppose you might thing that webhostingstuff only keeps track of this much information on all hosts, but clearly not the case if you look at HostGator’s uptime.

    http://www.webhostingstuff.com/uptime/HostGator.html

    Hostgator’s uptime history goes all the way back to September 2005.  I would expect that webhostingstuff would have tracked the uptime no later then Augusts 2006.

    My Finale thoughts on Netmar

    They have moved from the 24th to 9th position, but they appear to be behind the times.  It does not appear that they offer a ticket system.  When I first started it soon became apparent that support by email was not going to be effective.  We went to  a ticket system with in the first 3 months of operation.   This is a company that has no visible ticket system:

    http://www.netmar.com/supmenu.html

    “At Netmar, we’ve put together a huge repository of online help, but of course, we’re still available to answer your phone calls and emails.”

    A support ticket system allows for quality assurance.  For someone like me it allowed for efficient random checks on tickets to ensure that staff are doing their job or that customers are not abusing the system.

    I don’t think based on the design of the site that the Netmar is capable of offering a serious hosting solution.

    LFC Hosting, is lfchosting.com and outdated host?

    LFC Hosting is number 23 of 25 for Webhostingstuff.com’s  May 2010 list.   As of today, their site is no longer on the top 25 list.   The domain was created in May 31, 1998.  I have to wonder if the design is the original that it had started with.  As much as it may seem pointless to bring up the design, I feel that the design is a sign of how much a company progresses.   I know not every host has their own design team, my own sites went through at least three changes a year.  Not to mention there were changes according to sales events, seasons, and holidays.  We were probable a little too excessive in our changes.  But things like Front Page extensions disappeared from offerings at least 5 years ago.  Things such as WordPress were taking center stage as their popularity advanced.  Clearly LFC Hosting site  is not up-to-date, and you have to wonder are the staff ready for todays hosting needs?     LFC Hosting seems stuck in the past, and I am willing to bet that this site design is at best 7 years old.

    So what makes me think LFC Hosting site design has not updated since 2003?

    From LFC Hosting main page I click on “Products and Services”, then click on “Hosting” It brings me to this long unnecessary sales spill about their use of Window 2003.  Here is the part that stuck out to me:

    Although we run Windows 2003 in the foreground, over half of our networkis actually Linux. Windows 2003/IIS 6.0 servers are employed in theforeground to ensure optimal performance and stability of Windows capabilities (which typically only work well under Windows), as well as anincreased level of security over a single platform. Then, “redirectors”, router “port forwarding” and proprietary LFC technology “forward” all requests for Linux-specific technologies (ex: MySQL 5 databases) to the appropriate Linux server clusters in the background!

    I have no idea what any of that means, perhaps because I am not a server tech (I started this business as a webdesigner so I am more of a graphics person). This pretty much looks like jibberish, and I would never have allowed a page like this to preceded access to the order form. I am also no expert on Windows hosting.  Most of my operations involved cPanel, Plesk, and bare bones Linux.  My preference is Plesk, while not user friendly it is far more stable then cPanel.  So I had to ask a friend that deals with Windows, and he tells me that 2003 is outdated and not supported by Microsoft, 2008 is the current version.  Which I had a feeling 2003 was outdated  as 7 years seems along time for software to last unless its with my parents or a video game.

    Is LFC Hosting a stagnant host?

    I think the answer to that is yes, while I am not sure how reliable Web-hosting-top.com is, but comparing Hostgator to LFC Hosting I see a huge difference between them.   Host Gator shows no lose in sites but rather gains, where as as LFC Hosting shows points where it was bleeding out sites.  It appears they have no more then 7000 domains.  Which tells me they have don’t have many customers.

    http://www.web-hosting-top.com/web-hosting/web-hosting-top.lfchosting.com-reviews

    compare to:

    http://www.web-hosting-top.com/web-hosting/web-hosting-top.hostgator.com-reviews

    A attempted chat with LFC Hosting

    Unfortunately as you can see no luck, instead I got the following:

    No one was available when I tried to chat

    Finale thoughts on LFC Hosting

    The thought that goes through my head every time I form a business is that most die off before they reach their 5th year. LFC Hosting appears to be a site that has done just that, but only just barely.  It clings to life, even though it refuses to adapt to the market.   I have to wonder how long a host such as this can keep on going, and I will definatly have my eye on it.  Hopefully this post can encourage them to do something.   LFC Hosting should have used the money they used to get in Webhostingstuff”s top 25 for a new design.

    Steadfast Networks, will steadfast.net be a stable solution?

    Steadfast Networks, number 22 of 25 for Webhostingstuff.com’s  May 2010 list.   I can’t say I like the design for this site as I am not sure it fits on the standard monitor.   When it comes to designing websites, I have always operated under the assumption that you want a site to fit left to right on the smallest common monitor.  I can’t minimize the browser on this site without parts of the right side of the site disappearing.

    Is there dirt on Steadfast Networks?

    There is not alot of dirt, for that matter I can not find much out about NoZone, Inc, let alone Steadfast Networks.  The review sites are out there.  But some have no reviews while others only have a few.

    How old is Steadfast Networks?

    By there own ommision:

    Steadfast Networks is a fully owned subsidiary of NoZone, Inc., which was founded in August of 1998 by Karl Zimmerman and incorporated in the state of Wisconsin on October 18, 2000.

    http://www.webhostingstuff.com/company/SteadfastNetworks.html

    Regardless of when NoZone, Inc was founded. When was steadfast.net created?

    Domain Whois record

    Queried whois.internic.net with “dom steadfast.net”…

       Domain Name: STEADFAST.NET
   Registrar: ENOM, INC.
   Whois Server: whois.enom.com
   Referral URL: http://www.enom.com
   Name Server: NS10.STEADFAST.NET
   Name Server: NS11.STEADFAST.NET
   Name Server: NS12.STEADFAST.NET
   Name Server: NS13.STEADFAST.NET
   Name Server: NS14.STEADFAST.NET
   Status: clientTransferProhibited
   Updated Date: 08-jul-2010
   Creation Date: 04-jun-2006
   Expiration Date: 04-jun-2018

    Webhostingstuff.com info:

    Site Established: 4 Jun 2006 (4 years and 79 days ago)
    Traffic Popularity: #103 of 10,289 companies

    Is Steadfast Networks a green host?

    Same old, same old.  There is nothing unique about their being green.  Its just more greenwashing.    They recycle “paper and cans”, they reuse parts.  But what about when the machines are no longer useful: We either find additional uses for them internally, strip them to re-use the parts individually, or donate them to charitable use. If you are aware of any charitable causes looking to take older computer hardware please contact us, as we’re always looking for more partners. They buy their carbon offsets from carbonfund.org.

    Hostingsthatsuck says Steadfast Networks does not suck

    It should be no surprise that Hostingsthatsucks (whom rarely profiles a host that sucks), thinks  that Steadfast.net does not suck.  Every site that I have reviewed on their listings have affiliate links, so its really not in their interests to look for dirt.  They claim to have only found three actually complaints about Steadfast Networks

    Finale thoughts on Steadfast Networks

    Frankly there is not enough info out there for Steadfast Networks.  In comparison with other companies that have been open for 2 – 4 years there are not a lot of relevant search engine results.

    Indichost – Will Indichosts.net be an awarding hosting solution for you?

    At number 20 out of 25 from Webhostingstuff’s May 2010 list we come to Indichosts.

    Starting at $1 a month you can get hosting from Indichosts,  order now

    This graphic on their main page  is the first thing that sticks out to me when I visit their site.   I clicked on it because I wanted to see how many years it took to get $1 a month.  The problem is the order now button takes you to a plan thats closer to $10 a month under a three year term.   There is no option to pick another plan.  You have to click on the tabs below the penguin to find a plan thats  “at $1 a month” .

    Where the heck is Indichosts terms of service?

    One of the things I have done with almost every host is read the terms of service.  You simply can not find it from the main page.  I tend to wonder if their credit card processor bothered to look at the site.  Because every merchant I have gone through looks for that.  Its never been my experience that PayPal looks, you think they would in order to add that sense of being a more authentic website your doing business with.     In order to find the terms of service, you have to go through the order form and at the point you enter your credit card you get do you agree with the terms of service check.

    http://www.indichosts.net/about-us/terms.htm

    I am not sure who looks under the about page to find terms of service.   But obscure terms of service and not so clear order now to get hosting at $1 a month is not the most interesting thing about this site.

    Indichosts Testimonials, Feedback, and “awards”

    http://www.indichosts.net/about-us/testimonials.htm

    On this page I find no feed back, for that matter I find nothing but praise.   I imagine any negative feed back is deleted as opposed to a page that would lead people to believe there is nothing wrong with this host.   There are people that are complaining about this company.

    Indichosts Webhost Directory award

    Indichosts does not actually have an award with Webhostdir.com.  Granted some day I want to see what it takes to get an award with this company.  Though Webhostdir, does not allow for negative feed back that I can see.  Webhostdir.com is defiantly on my back burner for a later date.

    Indichosts websitegrader.com award

    Would it surprise you to know I too have an award with Websitegrader.com?

    My Website grade is:
    The Website Grade for hosting-reviews-exposed.com!

    I don’t think Indichosts is using the actual code like I have done.   Right now they actually have a 97 instead of a 96.   But here is the thing about Web Site Grader, it has nothing to do with how good sites service is.  Unlike fake review sites websitegrader.com is a site that tells you how you are doing in regards to search engine ranking.  They get their money by telling you how to do better.   I actually plugged a few of my own sites in and I have found several sites that need improvement.  I may very well try websitegrader out later

    http://websitegrader.com/

    Finale Thoughts on Indichosts

    There is alot of faking going on with Indichosts.   For one they claim to be around for 7 years.  But the whois information says that the domain indichosts.net was created back in 2005:

    Domain Whois record

    Queried whois.internic.net with “dom indichosts.net”…

       Domain Name: INDICHOSTS.NET
   Registrar: DIRECTI INTERNET SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD. D/B/A PUBLICDOMAINREGISTRY.COM
   Whois Server: whois.PublicDomainRegistry.com
   Referral URL: http://www.PublicDomainRegistry.com
   Updated Date: 24-mar-2010
   Creation Date: 27-feb-2005
   Expiration Date: 27-feb-2013

    On top of that they are using webhostingstuff.com, but for some reason Indichosts does not bother to use the award they paid for amongst the award they did not win and the award that anyone can get.   Hosting with Indichosts would be a gamble in my opinion.

    iWeb Technologies Inc – If you host with iWeb.com will your email get through?

    number 19 for May 2010 webhostingstuff is iWeb Technologies Inc.  Despite the massive amount of complaints I can find in regards to iWeb Technologies Inc they have moved from 19 to 15.  The first thing that comes to mind is iPad, iPod, and iMac.  But this site has nothing to do with with Apple.

    Webhostingstuff.com’s ratings for iWeb Technologies

    Despite averaging all 9 reviews I get the following rating from webhostingstuff.com:

    Uptime and Reliability 4.22 out of 5
    Technical Support 2.44 out of 5
    Customer Service 2.56 out of 5

    For some reason a 3 out of 5 star rating is enough to move from the 19th to 15th position.

    How old is iWeb Technologies Inc?

    This graphic sticks out:

    Here is what iWeb Technologies Inc / iweb.com’s domain whois tells me:

       Updated Date: 23-oct-2009
   Creation Date: 29-mar-1999
   Expiration Date: 29-mar-2019

    The creation date does not match the “since” year

    iWeb Technologies Inc Awards

    iWeb Technologies is another company that has an awards page with the review.  Like some of the hosts I have reviewed there is not link to the companies where they got the awards.

    http://iweb.com/about-us/hosting-reviews/

    iWeb Technologies Inc, ca.tophost.com award

    So far the only thing I can find on ca.tophost.com that leads to an award is something about 8th place

    http://www.tophosts.com/articles/008599.html

    iWeb.com’s Web Hosting Magazine award

    A pharagraph does not really sum up why they deserve an award in 2005

    http://www.webhostmagazine.com/ec/award.asp?id=271&pPage=&pMnth=&pYear=

    iWeb.com’s Webhosting Directories award

    In a previous post I had explained that webhostdir.com had given an a review with out This review site never explains why someone gets an award.  For that matter I don’t see feed back from the people whose opinion matters, the customers.

    http://ca.webhostdir.com/search/profile.aspx?spid=5187

    My finale thoughts on iWeb Technologies Inc

    When I do search for iWeb, I see a a lot of complaints.  But some of those complaints seem to be written by the same person.  Perhaps there are a lot of people with bad grammar / bad typing.  But one of the biggest complaints I see are in regards to spam, phishing, and spyware.  One example is:

    http://msmvps.com/blogs/spywaresucks/archive/2008/10/10/1650407.aspx

    At this time they have a 2 complaints with Spamhaus, the place they mention having an award with:

    Found 2 SBL listings for IPs under the responsibility of iweb.com

    SBL94865

    70.38.38.114/32 iweb.com

    13-Aug-2010 13:33 GMT
    Snowshoe Spam Hosting (smtpd.brwmkt.com)
    SBL94864

    70.38.50.176/29 iweb.com

    13-Aug-2010 13:25 GMT
    Suspected Snowshoe Spam Range (EWMKT)

    Chances are if you host with iWeb Technologies Inc, your email probable will not reach other networks.

    Cloud.bg – is Cloud bg an International host of mystery?

    8 more hosts to go with my May 2010 webhostingstuff list, which brings me to Cloud bg.  Cloud bg is a bit of an oddity out of all the webhostingstuff.com sites.  I say that because unlike the other 17 hosting companies, this company does not list the U.S. dollar (well it has a limited list).  The only site close to them is Ioxhost.uk.co, but they are an English company.  However unlike Cloud bg,  Ioxhost.uk.com has a web site for for the U.S.  I tend to think that Canada gets over looked in this market after all while they may be an English country, their currency does not have the same value as  the U.S. Dollar or the U.K. Pound.  Clearly their link with webhostinstuff.com was meant to target an English audiance as their link is http://www.cloud.bg/en/ .  When you go directly to http://www.cloud.bg, it  takes you to site in Bulgarian.  You have to click on the British Flag in order to get the site translated for you in English.

    How long has Cloud bg been around?

    Its a bit unclear, and frankly I don’t know how bg domains are handled.    After all you don’t see an approval date on. dot com’s.

    Webhostingstuff.com has no idea how long Cloud bg has been around either:

    Site Established: Unknown
    Traffic Popularity: #909 of 10,291 companies

    Despite dropping from 18 to 20, they have a traffic popularity of 909.

    WHOIS
    DOMAIN NAME: cloud.bg

    requested on: 13/04/2009
    processed from: 13/04/2009
    activated on: 21/04/2009
    expires at: 13/04/2011
    domain status: Registered, conditional contract

    If I am reading this correctly it appears the domain was created on April 21, 2010.    Not exactly a veteran company. This post might shed more light as to how long they have been around:

    http://www.cloud.bg/en/blog/cloudbg-launched-with-cpanel-11-25-0

    Cloud bg’s reviews on Webhostingstuff

    What I find unique about Cloud Bg’s two reviews is the dates.

    Cloud.Bg is the best solution! (Excellent)
    – by Yulian (every.bg) on 19 May 2010

    Cloud.bg – the best web hosting provider (Excellent)
    – by Miroslav (mvvitanov.com) on 18 May 2010

    What are the chances of only having two reviews just a day apart?

    Does Cloud bg host every.bg?

    No, despite having issues of trying to look at the who is info for this domain  I am able to look at the network info and I get the following:

    netname:        SUPERHOSTINGBG
descr:          SuperHosting.BG Ltd
    I can't confirm that they were ever with them, of if they recently changed their dns.
    SUPERHOSTINGBG

    I wonder what the chances are of one review coming in one day after another.

    Does Cloud bg host mvvitanov.com?

    Yes, Cloud bg does host mvvitanov.com.  However the domain was registered this year.

    Queried whois.internic.net with “dom mvvitanov.com”…

       Domain Name: MVVITANOV.COM
   Registrar: REALTIME REGISTER BV
   Whois Server: whois.yoursrs.com
   Referral URL: http://www.realtimeregister.com
   Name Server: NS1.CLOUD.BG
   Name Server: NS2.CLOUD.BG
   Status: clientTransferProhibited
   Updated Date: 12-mar-2010
   Creation Date: 12-mar-2010
   Expiration Date: 12-mar-2011

    Cloud bg’s up time for July 2010

    There are two things I gather from this.  Its possible that Cloud bg has only been active as of February of this year, or they were not added to webhostingstuff.com until they started bidding for positioning in the top 25 spot.    That and perhaps every.bg is no longer hosting with Cloud bg because of this large amount of down time in May (26 hours)  and July (121 hours or 5 days of down time).    But last I checked every.bg is a single page website with what appears to be a under construction page / place holder (sorry I can not read Bulgarian).    The only post I can find in relation to any down time is:

    http://www.cloud.bg/en/blog/cloudbg-has-received-our-first-dos-attack-today

    From the sound of it, you would think they were down only three hours.

    With in this post I find a link to the announcements, and I find three posts in July in regards to downtime.

    http://www.cloud.bg/whmcs/announcements.php?id=5

    http://www.cloud.bg/whmcs/announcements.php?id=6

    http://www.cloud.bg/whmcs/announcements.php?id=7

    But nothing in these announcements explains away the 7,249 minutes of downtime for July 2010 that webhostingstuff.com lists.  There is nothing at least in English that explains away what happen in May.

    The Cloud bg affiliate program

    When I look at their twitter and Facebook feeds:

    http://twitter.com/CloudBg

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/CloudBg/192614121885

    I get the impression that they are paying out $152.50 per sale.

    But you have to read in full http://www.cloud.bg/en/blog/cloud-affiliate-program-now-you-earn-more, to realize that its not every sale, and this depends on if the person actually signs up for the year.  I have no problem with them going from 18% to 20% on affiliate commissions.   But the tweet and Facebook update give an impression of fees of the other companies on the top 25 of webhostingstuff.com.

    Finale thoughts on Cloud bg

    Reading through their website I can tell that English is not their first language.  I know I am not one to talk as I don’t exactly go through my blog with a fine tooth comb, often I find myself coming in to correct what I put up.  But I am not trying to sell a service.  I have never been the person to put up sales material online.    There are a lot of details that bother me about Cloud bg, granted not as much as some of the others.

    GreenGeeks Not for Geeks? Is it a iPage clone or just another host that sucks?

    Number 17 of May 2010, GreenGeeks another greenwashed company.   When I loaded this site the first thing I thought was that this company looked like another company I reviewed.

    Side by side this company looks a lot like iPage.   But from there I have a trouble finding any other similarities.  They are owned by different entires on separate parts of the country.  They are not even on the same network.   Asides for the same chat program I am not sure if there is much else that would connect them.   But I think there may be a connection, more then just a shared theme.

    But the real problem is this is a greenwashed company, not a green host.   Their big claim to being green is that they buy energy credits, but so does British Petroleum.   At this point its hard to imagine BP having any positive environmental impact.   There is not a lot of detail given by companies that offer green credits for sale.

    Greengeeks have alot of links that are in reference to being a green host.

    The first link is

    http://www.greengeeks.com/going-green/new-earth-day.php

    Here you find a link to this company,

    www.co2NeutralWebSite.com

    I am not sure if I am correct in my assumption but it looks like you pay them per every page view you get or you are paying for traffic that you get from their site.  That or you can buy traffic from them.   But its unclear how this offsets carbon.  Not to mention this site seems to have mostly .dk / Denmark domains, which may have to do with them being from Denmark.  Not that I have a problem with doing business with a foreign company, but I like to know details.   For an organization that does so much, there are so few webpages with data on how they do it.  Not everyone sees the green movement as a way of life, some see it as something to capitalize on.   There also those that see that they don’t have to be green to capitalize off of the green sector.  Those are companies that are called greenwashed.  Its not clear as to what Greengeeks gets from this company other then a fancy banner, and perhaps greengeeks gets traffic.

    On the same page I find their reseller program GreenResellerWebHosting.com, where you can sell unlimited reseller accounts.   I have a hard time believing that unlimited hosting can be associated with quality hosting, let alone a company claiming to be a  green host.  Green and efficient are two words that come to mind when being eco-friendly  Effiecent technology is not cheap in the beginning, and for that matter technology thats not part of the main trend is not cheap.  The cheaper the hosting cost, the more customers the company needs to pile in to make a profit.

    http://www.greengeeks.com/why-us/wu-green.php

    They have made the claim : “It is important that this industry becomes green and GreenGeeks is the world’s most eco-friendly web hosting company”  Other then a lot of pages telling people what to do and how they can be green.  There is nothing to show exactly how green they are,  the biggest thing that is missing are the numbers.   Numbers like the amount of electrify that they use per year.  Details are also missing like what company is receiving money to run wind generators.   I am looking at actual hosting companies that have their own data centers at buildings built from the ground up to be green.  Which include solar power straight to the source.  Not buying offsets.   They can be claim to leaning towards green when they talk about rigorous recycling of paper, but nothing in regards to equipment.  But clearly they a recycle text from their web pages.

    The finale link I am going to review is http://www.greengeeks.com/going-green/epa-partner.php

    From here I find a link to the EPA.

    http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/partners/partners/greengeeksllc.htm

    I decided to contact the EPA, because I wanted to know if you really had to provide any proof in order to be a member.

    __________________________________________________

    Email Exchange with the EPA

    From: Benjamin
    To: Matt Clouse/DC/USEPA/US@EPA, Blaine Collison/DC/USEPA/US@EPA,Allison Dennis/DC/USEPA/US@EPA
    Date: 08/03/2010 05:18 PM
    Subject: In regards to green power partnership

    Hello Matt, Blaine, or Allison,

    I was wonder what documentation I would have to provide to be part of the green power partnership.

    Thank you for your assistance.

    Benjamin
    To: Benjamin
    From: Collison.Blaine@epamail.epa.gov
    Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2010 17:21:10 -0400
    Subject: Re: In regards to green power partnership

    Benjamin,

    Thanks for your inquiry. The information requirements are included in

    the Partnership Agreement here:

    http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/documents/gpp_partnership_agreement.pdf

    The program is designed to cover only commercial & institutional sector purchases. We’re not able to recognize residential partners at this time.

    I hope this is helpful. Please let me know if you have additional questions.

    Blaine

    From: Benjamin
    To: Blaine Collison/DC/USEPA/US@EPA
    Date: 08/03/2010 06:35 PM
    Subject: RE: In regards to green power patnership

    Hello Blaine,

    I am not seeing what the EPA requires an organization to submit as valid proof of participation. From what I see you merely take the word of the submitter as opposed to any documentation. Is this the case, or do you require copies of receipts and other valid documentation?

    Regards,

    Benjamin

    Subject: RE: In regards to green power partnership
    To: Benjamin
    From: Collison.Blaine@epamail.epa.gov
    Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2010 19:10:30 -0400

    Ah. Right you are, Benjamin. We don’t require that partners submit proof of purchase. We do, however, check our lists partners with the listed providers once or twice/year: This is what we think we have, could you, the providers, please confirm our understanding of your clients’ numbers?

    Hope that helps.

    Blaine

    RE: In regards to green power partnership‏
    8/03/10
    From: Benjamin
    To: collison.blaine@epamail.epa.gov

    Hello Blaine,

    I am actually contacting you for research in regards to green credits. So far I am not finding any information from the companies that provide credits and those using the credits. One of the companies that I am looking at is listed in your Green Power Partnership. But the only numbers that are given is 300%. There is no number telling me what their on the grid power consumption is. Or what companies the credit seller is getting the wind credit from.

    I find it rather disturbing that the credit sellers, the companies that buy the credits, and the EPA are not disclosing numbers, facts. documentation and reasoning that a company is using renewable energy.

    Benjamin

    __________________________________________________

    I never got a response back to my email from the EPA.  But it clear you do not have to give them valid proof to be in their green power partnership.  Without numbers and other data they can not prove that they are a green host.  Other then a lot of pages GreenGeeks has no relevant proof they are green,

    2gbHosting Review: Is 2gbHosting a good host?

    Number 16 on May 2010 webhostingstuff.com top 25 websites. This is going to be a rather short post. The reason being they have a 7 day guarantee. If a host offers anything less then 30 days they are not a serious webhost and must be avoided at all costs. There are a lot of other problems with this company such as language problems, support issues, and down time  which can be easily found if you use a search engine. But there is not much reason to explore that in detail since the biggest alarm bell is there 7 day guarantee that they seem to think is a good thing.

    7 Days money back guarantee

    We offer no question 7 days money back guarantee with following terms

    1. Money Back available for all shared and reseller hosting accounts.
    2. We do not offer money back on domain registration, SSL certificate and on Dedicated & VPS server payments.
    3. Money back is not possible if requested after 7 days of purchase.
    4. Money back process takes 24 hrs to 72 hrs max that means if you are asking for a money back on 7th day of purchase date, you will get it before 10th day of purchase date.

    Then there is their uptime guarantee that offers 99.98 uptime. I would love to show my wonderful chat in regards to what is they offer in regards to compensation, which is defiantly not money. After asking 6 times and being told to read the terms of service that do not say what you get the chat session abruptly ended. The chat operators first language was defiantly not English, nor was the person I spoke with on the phone. As the person on the phone was not direct in what compensation a customer would get for more then .02 downtime. Which equated to more time on your account.

    I would avoid this company like the plague. The biggest red flag is that this company has a 7 day guarantee. If their uptime was as great as the phone operator indicated they could easily do a 30 – 60 day guarantee.

    Site5.com Sucks & Problems with Site 5 Hosting?

    Number 15 of May 2010 for webhostingstuff.com. The first thing that strikes me is this little link you click on in order to get more info about (How?):

    http://www.site5.com/hosting/web/

    Throughout the web hosting industry, one of the biggest catch phrases and movements is the shift towards Unlimited web hosting. Some of our shared web hosting plans allow unlimited disk space and bandwidth.

    As the shared hosting industry has progressed, it has become apparent that disk space and bandwidth are not true indicators of how well a website can survive on shared hosting. Instead, the real indicators are server memory and processor usage!

    It is important to remember that “unlimited” does not always indicate “oversold”, so do not let anyone tell you otherwise! We monitor our servers constantly to ensure optimal operating performance.

    I am going to tell you otherwise because they are flat out lying or stupid. Granted on all but the unlimited company I owned, I never oversold. But customers who bought a reseller account were allowed to. One such customer had 83 domains. Between the 83 domains he had given a total of 23 gigs, though he was only using 2 gigs. He was on a plan with 5 gigs. But once the total space used hits 5 gigs and beyond he is going to have a problem. Normally most of my customers monitored for this, but the few that didn’t were always the first to complain about their sites not working all caused by running out of space.

    In order for this not to be overselling the space provided must not exceed the space available. Unlimited meaning infinite it would still be overselling if they have every hard drive on the planet available. Overselling is done under the assumption that a customer will not use all of the resources listed. Just like a all you can eat buffet, they are assuming that your not going to eat them out of house and home. Where interestingly enough they don’t out and out say “we don’t oversell”. Though they are right unlimited is a catch phrase. But they do state “We monitor our servers constantly to ensure optimal operating performance.” some how this makes it not overselling. At least hostgator.com (Who is on the same network as site5 – Theplant.com) is willing to be honest:

    http://blog.hostgator.com/2008/10/20/all-you-can-eat-hosting/

    We change an unlimited plan to say “unlimited” and bam — sales increase 30%, if not more. Many people will argue that “overselling” is evil and that it’s the cause of poor hosting service. This is not the case when it’s managed correctly and the proper staffing is in place. When a hosting company hops on the overselling bandwagon, their sales usually increase exponentially. Since very few companies actually have the capacity to handle a major surge in growth, their quality of service is almost guaranteed to deteriorate.

    While hostgator is willing to admit to overselling, they are also doing the whole monitoring to ensure there is not a problem. Which boils down to eliminating those that are not profitable. Before signing up with their company I would take some serious time and review:

    http://www.site5.com/legal/resource-usage/

    Asides for the weird take on overselling, they have ratings at a company called ratepoint.com, the strange thing when you go to the homepage for ratepoint.com you can’t search for sites or companies. There is not a listing of any company using them. This seems to be a direct company you mention on your own site, and not one that you would search for approvals.

    http://www.ratepoint.com/pricing.html

    I am not sure why an email list plays into review site. But clearly this is not an independent review company. Though clearly their terms of service makes it clear they do not endorse their customers.

    6.2         In no event shall any reference to any third party or third party product or service (including ratings thereof) be construed as an approval or endorsement by RatePoint of that third party or of any product or service provided by a third party. Likewise, a link to any non-RatePoint website does not imply that we endorse or accept any responsibility for the content or use of such website.

    My question is does this company allow you to delete feed back, or for that matter approve or decline reviews before they are even online.  I know there is a lot of complaints about this company, and this site shows a larger ratio of positive reviews then negative in comparison to other sites.  I tried calling ratepoint and the first thing I get is someone that works at a call center for them and other companies. Apparently I need to call 8 – 5, Monday through Friday. But chances are I will still get one of these call center operators. When I called I had selected the sales dept, but before I could ask any questions I got asked my name and phone number. I stop the call operator after she asked me the phone number, as I thought it was strange a sales associate would ask me questions before I could ask my own. It looks like I will email them to find my answers. So I may have a later post about them.

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