Hostek is my forth host out of 7 of webhostingstuff.com September 2010 list. My first impression is that they are not as old as they claim, just another aged domain. But the further I investigate my initial impression is not justified. That does not mean that just because they have been around since the late 90’s that they are a valid webhost, for that matter some hosts that have been around along time do not adapt. Its pretty visible when they have not adapted, for one their design is a big give away. The site looks pretty up-to-date. Its the unlimited space that made me suspect they were working off a aged domain. In this case its a host that could not adapt what they were doing before so they went for what I call a last ditched effort to keep clients and go the unlimited space route.
The one thing I find missing is the terms of service.
Where is Hostek’s terms of service?
Below at the bottom of any page where you would expect to find links to about, contact and most importantly the terms of service (tos) I find:
Specializing in ColdFusion web hosting. This includes ColdFusion 9 hosting, ColdFusion 8 hosting, ColdFusion reseller hosting. Additionally we offer ColdFusion dedicated hosting and ColdFusion dedicated server hosting. We also offer ColdFusion PHP hosting. We currently do not offer ColdFusion linux hosting. As you will see from any ColdFusion hosting reviews, we are a leader in ColdFusion hosting.
But when I search for “ColdFusion hosting reviews”, Hostek is not on the first page of results.
I have to wonder why boast about something that you can not prove, granted its a boast thats really small and tucked away at the bottom of the screen. But my problem is that there is no clear link to the terms of the service on the home pages and most of the pages that you might go to, to try and find out more about this host. I have no idea what merchant provider allows this. I can only speculate that they either remove it after they are screened or they are with a merchant provider that charges so much they really could care less if a site is in order or not. Frankly I would love to know who has what merchant it would defiantly aid in determining the quality of a host. Either way they have earned my distrust by not having an up front terms of service.
I found the hostek terms of service while going through their order process
Its been my experience when there is not a direct link on every page of webhosting site that I could find it by going through the order form. My assumption was correct.
Its the Service level agreement (referred to as the sla) that I find interesting.
http://hostek.com/docs/hostek-SLA.pdf
The terms of serivce have me leery of the company esspecially when you look at what it takes to get credit for a down time. The way its worded pretty much nothing is their fault, and almost any down time falls under not their responsibility.
Who is Advanced Online Solutions (AOS) and how are they related to Hostek?
They are mentioned at the very top of the terms of service.
THIS AGREEMENT is made and entered between ADVANCED ONLINE SOLUTIONS, INC., 1648 Taylor Road #355, Port Orange, Florida 32128-6753, hereinafter referred to as “the Company” (“the Company” also includes any and all domain names owned by “the Company”) and the Customer, who wishes to use the services of the Company in accordance with this Terms of Service Agreement.
Which seems to me they found a template of a terms of service and were too lazy to use search and replace to put the name of their company in their. Well thats my opinion, even though I have been told its pretty standard. But I thought this was Hostek and not “the Company” i.e. AOS, i.e. Adanced Online Solutions, its almost like another version Endurance International Group.
Considering Hostek is webhostingstuff and not direct with there terms of service they are another company I recommend avoiding.
