1&1?

[moonshield]

1&1 looks like they have some good deals... $60 for a dedicated server... why would I not go with 1&1? Has anyone else tried them?

[Mike]

I've not tried them, but I've heard that their support isn't that good. That was about a year ago though, they may have changed now.

[Emancipator]

1&1 is horrible. I dropped a bunch of customers hosting with them because of the aggravation.

[Cutter]

They are running monsterous 16 page ads in PC Magazine... I guess thats what happens when money that should be spent on support goes toward marketing.

[jonnyhilfiger]

Horses for courses I guess. Have been with 1&1 for several years (in the UK) found support to be very good, normally replied within 2 days with the answer (only used it twice).

Only slight whinge is when they do software upgrades to the server (I've got a managed server) and don't tell you, only to find out when a php function stops working and code has to be re-written. Could get round this by having their root servers though.

They have a good control panel now but don't expect lots of bells and whistles (like fantasico) is just a straight forward package, probably about 15mins downtime in 3 years.

Cheers, John

[Emancipator]

yeah i should say that my beef with 1&1 is the features were so limited. The control panel I hated, and you just could not do much with it. For a basic hosting plan it was excellent but if you want to get really hardcore, i suggest staying away from 1&1 but thats just me. There are so many better hosts around.

[Mike]

They are running monsterous 16 page ads in PC Magazine... I guess thats what happens when money that should be spent on support goes toward marketing.

In every computer magazine I read I seem to see a huge advertisement for them as well.

[moonshield]

allright, so what is a better host that is around the same price?

[s2kinteg916]

servermatrix...

[Emancipator]

i almost went with servermatrix, but i wanted paypal payment since I get my ad money in PAYPAL. Ive only heard good things about servermatrix.

[moonshield]

Plesk control panel? Does anyone use that? How is it?

[Mike]

I used to, I didn't find it that bad but I know some people who just can't stand it.

[moonshield]

yeah, i ran the demo on their site and I like it. I Don't see anything wrong with it.

[moonshield]

I have been using 1&1 for about 2 months now and their support has been great. I have had no problem with them, and they have had no problem with my stupid problems. Plesk is a good control panel, I do not really need anything more. I tried to run the server without it and i did successfully for awhile then decided it was not worth it. Waiting times on hold were only about 3 min and they did what I requested and answered all the questions I had.

Note: my experiance may be differernt because I am using an unmanagaed server.

I don't know how the support could be better, or that I would need anymore, but I think it is money well spent and domains are cheap too. Now to make a little profit :)