Future Quest

I find comparatively few mentions of Future Quest here and so I thought I will add one more.

My site was hosted on Future Quest for close to two months. Thus what I am saying here is based on the experience of someone who has about 3 months experience as I had spent one month researching into web hosts before taking the plunge.

Future Quest has:

(1) extremely fast response time in terms of tickets. When you submit a ticket, you can expect to get a reply within a very short time. When I first got my account, the replies came almost instantaneously as they try very hard to get me over the learning curve.

That is not a small matter as I started off staring at the screen and not daring to key in a single word just in case the server explode.

(2) the control panel is sufficient to do the routine work like creating databases, email accounts, file management, etc. Coupled with SSH and FTP, the control panel became quite flexible. The response time is quite fast as I believe there are few overheads in using the panel. The control panel, ssh and ftp are sufficient to run a website.

It was only later when i tried using cpanel and directadmin that I am able to make a comparison. For more advanced jobs like site redirection and crontab, these are better.

But these are one-time jobs and do not justify continuous higher RAM overheads. On the other hand, FQ may like to consider a more complete tutorial with troubleshooting tips.

In which case their site owners will get the best of both worlds.

(3) the forums are quite friendly and the people helpful. The various site owners give useful and pertinent comments.

(4) perhaps the most important point is the integrity of the organization. When I signed up, i was told that i can use their services for 60 days and if i close my account during that time, i am entitled to a full refund.

Well, i used up to close to 60 days (short by a few days). When I closed my account with them, I instructed them to deducted off two months, the agreement notwithstanding.

But what they did is to honour their agreement.

Which makes me respect them deeply.

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The reason i decided to move are two: I need more domains using mysql tables and a faster response time. After experimenting with another vendor, i realized that i can only get very fast response time if i moved to a host that is close to my city. But that will mean that my target audience will be affected. Thus a compromise is neccessary. I also find I had taken for granted the level of support from Future Quest.

.....

In conclusion, I came to view these factors as crucial in selecting a web host:

(1) supportive staff who are cognizant of a newbie's fear of doing the wrong thing and willingness to help the newbie through, especially during the initial period

(2) technically sound and viable infrastructure. They claimed 100% uptime and during my time there, I found nothing to refute this claim. At one stage, I was glued to the site almost 18 hours a day for 3 weeks.

(3) no overpromising to get sales. After the sales, keeping to the promises made. A matter of integrity.

I find Future Quest perform very admirably in these respects.

It will be ideal if Future Quest open a branch in the East to serve the Asia-Pacific region. It is either that or I migrate to the States. Come to think of it, that is not a bad idea.