Is Hostican Any Good?
Feb 12, 2008Is hostican any good? Any reviews? Is it true that sites hosted in hostican does not appear on google because they host adult sites?
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My Hostican.com Review: Why Hostican Is Really HostiCan't
Jan 29, 2008The short version: Stay Away!
The long version:
When I first got the idea to start a forum, I heard about hostican. I got up a shared hosting plan ("Tera-Host") and the forum went smoothly. But in mid-January, barely two months after signing up (and one month after my 30-day money back guarantee ended), they pulled a dirty trick that me, and more than twenty others, didn't see coming.
I started getting a message at random times when browsing my forum. It was a "You are using way way waaaay too many resources" message, and it blocked me from viewing my site. Odd, I thought, since there were only 5 people on my forum at the time, and I've frequently had as many as seventeen online at once. I took a screenshot, thinking it was just a temporary server issue.
I got the same message four more times that day. I called support. They told me to check my cpu-log folder for anything out of the ordinary. I found nothing. Phoned them again, asking why 5 people online at once could possibly blow out my resources. Their answer, and future answers, proved both unhelpful and uninformed. They couldn't tell me how I was supposed to monitor my cpu use, nor why this problem started happening all of a sudden.
Then I found hostican's support forum, and it turned out I wasn't the only one who was having problems. There were fifteen different threads of customers trying to understand what was going on. I started browsing them, and learned a great deal of many things hostican didn't seem to think it was necessary for me to know.
First was their explanation: They had recently started using software that could monitor resource use better. That way, more people on the shared servers were being caught for their "unfair memory-hogging."
They also said all the people who were having problems with this issue had been using too many resources from the very beginning (but were NEVER told). So the quality of service I got during those first 30 days was not the same as it is now.
I had no idea hostican's shared server could not handel my forum during the first 30 days. I had signed up for two years of shared hosting with hostican, only to find that my site was incapable of being on their shared server after the money-back guarantee was gone. They were telling people to optimize, upgrade to VPS, or get out. Is this a nasty trick or what?
I was told that vbulletin used a lot of resources, and they suggested I switch to phpbb. I did, losing a lot of posts in the process. But even with all those posts gone, the new forum barely had 100 posts before I saw that same error screen of death. It looked like they couldn't handle anything but plain HTML pages!
If that doesn't sound absurd enough, you'll love hearing about some of hostican's claims and trends on their forum during the next week. Here's a nice long list:
- Several customers found that the resources error would appear immediately after executing a query that took longer than a few seconds. This is despite hostican's policy that we canot exceed our share of resources for more than 60 seconds (not 1 second).
- They also found some queries took as long as 13 seconds, even on very simple pages that usually took a fraction of a second to load. It looked as though these long queries were the result of overloaded servers, and that hostican was not only punishing CPU hogs, but innocent people whose sites were slowing down due to those hogs.
- hostican never announced their stricter CPU limits until people began to complain. Not on their forum, site, email, or anywhere. It just blew up in everyone's faces. They've also conveniently not answered posts saying how they should have.
- hosticananswers.com/questions/101/Server+resource+limits
Their policy on resources limits say:
The customer must not: Use 25% or more of system resources for longer then 60 seconds.
However, it never says what exactly 25% is. 25% of what? Of whatever's convenient for the company to say it is at the time? Two different customers on the forums got two different answers from support. Again, uninformed and unhelpful.
- Unless you happen to visit your site while an error is occurring, then you'll never know about it. No email, nothing.
- Among the software people said the servers can no longer handle are: wordpres blogs, phpbb and vbulletin forums, Joomla, and the ability to backup the files on their site. Surely any decent hosting company would give their customers enough resources to do a backup without crashing their site?
-Want more proof that hostican has issues? They want their CUSTOMERS' help in developing CPU monitoring software (this thread might be deleted soon):
forum.hostican.com/5126-post21.html
- They've since merged all those CPU-error/frustration threads into one, and then deleted it. However, it's been saved to another location before it was deleted! If you want 380 posts of evidence, look no further:
gayteenforum.org/stuff/HostICan/
Here are some other blog pages their customers directed me to, both of which posted about this mess:
vhxn.com/hostican-really-really-sucks/
scriptygoddess.com/archives/2008/01/18/hostican-also-known-as-hostisuck-hosticant-and-a-pleothra-of-other-nicknames/
I certainly wasn't going to stay with them after this. Forget VPS. I've since gotten a new domain and hosting from a different host (Hostgator), and was able to copy my forum thanks to a backup I did before this mess started. Lost a lot of posts and money, yes, but the nightmare is over. If this message will help offset the cash those cheaters gained from me, then you'll make this message worth it, and you'll save yourself in the process.
I have no idea if this was an experimental money-making tactic by hostican gone horribly wrong, or how many people were affected. It's possible it's only a few dozen. I don't know. But if it happened to 20+ people, it can happen to you.
In summary, don't go with hostican, and do not sign up for 2 years of hosting unless you're confident in your host.
What About Hostican
Jan 6, 2009I want take vps from Hostican.com and I want know reviews.
View 5 Replies View RelatedHostican
Aug 4, 2008My year with Hostican was up last night at midnight. I had worked double shifts at the day job all weekend, and was waiting to back up my database and move the site to a new host when I got home from work Sunday night. Hostican sent me an invoice last week saying payment for another year was due on the 7th. I got home last night, read my email, and they had charged my credit card for $95 and change on Saturday, without my consent.
I sent them a rather pissed off, but not over the line, email telling them they needed to fix that immediately. They did, in fact I was surprised that in only 10 minutes the money was back on my card. However, they also took down my site and all my access to anything connected with the account. They failed to respond to repeated emails regarding this, despite the fact that they had been so quick to refund my money.
I am now on my new host, trying to get my site back together from a 3 month old backup. Thanks a lot Hostican, you can kiss my @$$.
To anyone considering Hostican:
1. It's impossible to speak to a human being there if you have a problem
2. Their network is frequently very slow
3. I have gotten excessive usage shutdowns on occasions when I had less than 25 people on the site at the time.
4. They will charge your credit card without your consent
5. Good luck getting anything off your site with them if you piss them off, because they will remove your access and ignore your emails
I hate these dirtbags, and I normally am pretty polite and level headed about things. I will be spending all day, a day I could have enjoyed playing with my three year old son who hasn't seen me since Thursday, getting my site back the way it should be. I shouldn't have had to go through this.
HostICan
Oct 8, 2007I've been doing major research in the past week (the quest to find the perfect host!), and while I have read positive & negative reviews of every host.. this one has jumped out at me.
They wouldn't be classified as budget, but I'm ok with that - I need potential growth, and have enough accounts to justify $45/mo for VPS. Having watched this Lunarpages issue grow, during a live chat, I asked for a sample of their error page. Received a link immediately. Professional looking page, even though it would be replaced
Edit: they also offer a "SwitchNow" feature
I wanted to open a thread to find out more info, any input welcome. Of all the companies reviewed, it stands out as professional, geared towards businesses (rather than budget/free hosts), and it's the last one on my short list!
Hostican Or Inmotion
Dec 10, 2008who is better for vps
hostican.com
or
inmotion.net(inmotionhosting.com)
Vps Plans Of Hostican.com
May 11, 2008Has anyone tested vps plans of hostican.com?
Any personal review or experience with them?
HostIcan Reviews
Jul 25, 2007Anyone have a review for Hostican's VPS'?
View 5 Replies View RelatedAny Experience With Hostican.com VPS
Jun 13, 2007Does anyone have any up-to-date experiences with Hostican? I feel that even though they're obviously overselling their bandwidth, their features and hardware specs for the VPS packages compensate for this.
I've read the forums, and it seems Gene Steinberg (who promotes Hostican frequently) has good ties with Hostican-- Not that there isn't anything wrong with that, but I prefer non-biased opinions.
Moving Away From HostICan Reseller To VPS
Aug 29, 2007since February (this year) I was a happy reseller user of HostICan. When I moved with them they transfered all my accounts and had no problems for the months I stayed with them.
But all has to come to an end ... and I moved from their reseller because they closed it.
But, what better place to move from HostICan reseller than HostICan VPS?
About a week ago we agreed to be transfered to one of their VPS. Painless, free, fast (half our for 40 cpanel accounts) and had no problems at all. I just waited a week to make sure nothing bad happens so I can tell you about this.
Anything else? No downtime that I know about, fast services and fast support. I didn't had more than 3 support tickets in all these months
I must say these guys really took care of me all these months, especially Denis Motova.
Not a bad review like you would of thought ...
Very satisfied with them... one of the best hosts I've been with.
HostICan Give Their Affiliate Partner A Wrong Report, Are They Cheaters
Mar 30, 2009I just want to complain about HostICan.
I am a affiliate partner of HostICan.
From Jan.2009, they give me the wrong report about the sales on my file, the sales and commissions were alway be zero.....
I am a web designer, so I am very sure that my clients they signed up to HostICan from my site.
When they signed up to HostICan, I was by their side.
But there was still no sales and commissions showing on my file.
I have sent the tickets to them 5 times from Feb.2009, but they didn't reply me any.
I ask them at the live chat, the person at live chat always told me that I have to create a ticket to their affiliate department.
HostICan....well...I think maybe he/she is cheater, or they have some problems with their financial affairs?
I live in Asia, I have no idea about this! I think I have nothing can do!
Or how should I do?
My english is not good enough, thanks for your attention.
If there are personnel of HostICan this forum,
List Of Good Hosters With Good TELEPHONE Tech Support
May 6, 2008I'd like to start an ongoing thread here listing the 'Good Hosters with Good TELEPHONE tech support'. In other words, out of the 1,000s of host companies, this may cut it down to less than a dozen.
( And for all you Hosters out there who really want your company to grow, and want to know how, - it's easy: just read here.)
Good telephone support is the #1 ultimate requirement, because:
-It's a lot faster and easier for both the user and the host company, because you can state and answer all questions and clarifications on the spot, you don't need to continually pass new emails with new questions and clarifications, back and forth for days on end, until the issue is solved. It saves tech time and user's time. And saves a lot of nerves.
- It's the best way to sort the good guys from the bad. A bad company isn't going to bother to answer the phone, - or will make you wait way too long, - because they are likely getting endless complaints. The good guys are always ready to answer the phones, with a friendly voice, - because they really WANT to please the customer.
- If a company can't be bothered to pick up the phone, we can't be bothered to even consider them. They're a joke, and so won't be listed here on this thread. (So, before adding or listing any Hosters here, please verfify that they do have Good, quick, friendly, telephone support,; ideally 24/7, but 9am to 10pm might be acceptable, if it was supplemented by some emergency contact.
AND:
- Hoster ALSO needs good EMAIL support (and preferably, Chat online, extended hour availability). (I spend a lot of time overseas). It sems all emails should get a non-automated response within about an hour, - and then support should jump on fixing any problem.
I only need support a few times a year. To answer some questions, or fix a problem, or do an install. That's lesss than 1 hour total, so any company paying maybe $18/hour tech support should be able to handle this. It IS reasonable to charge a custm for extended calls, beyond say, 90minutes a year, IF you don't count the 80%? Of times an issue is the Hoster;s fault of stmg gone wrong, and don't count the 'hold' times.
ALSO IMPORTANT:
- Uptime
- site Speeds
- Monthly plans, no contract (Only a dishonest host will try to force you into a contract, where they can then ignore you.)
- Reasonable price. (? Maybe $12 to $18/month for a basic business site. We don't need massive bandwitdths, - we all know that's an overselling scam, and can't ever be delivered.)
- a good upgrade plan of bigger options. Maybe even VPS.
- Dedicated IP, and availbility of SSL
-PHP 5, mysql, phpMyAdmin, etc
- cPanel ( Some Hosts are using problematic panels, like Hsphere, which are slow to load, slow in operation, require many more clicks, have too many options, spread apart on many separate pages. Time is money, and this really slows down the ability of a small business to manage his own site in effective time. For example, one WHT user wrote somewhere: "I don't feel that HSphere's interface is nice at all, although I have worked with cPanel and DA all my life... I just found it to include un-necessary features or split features up in to different hard to find pages, such as backups - mysql backups you had to find on a completely different page than file backups, and then there were options to have it in the home directory or server-end backup, in which then you had to wait a good 10 minutes before it was ready. cPanel, just hit backup and hit download and instantly it does everything you need...".
I have used several hosters. Currently on Aplus.net and Godad, which have phone support, and mediocre service.
My LIST So Far:
- Liquidweb: a very impressive company with good, 24 hour support. But to get dedicated IP, you need to go with their $25/month plan. Yikes!
- NewIdeaHosting.com. A very small company. My call was returned, and the owner chatted with me for an hour on the phone! Plans have small bandwidth, but promises No overselling, and personalized attention. Extra $5 for dedi IP. He specializes in Small business sites, and small eCommerce sites. He has only 250 accounts, on 3 servers. He rents servers from the Equinox data center of Chicago. Seems exceptionaly honest.
- MegaHosters. Excellent phone support and WHT reviews. But company was taken over by another company, and so may well go downhill in future. Another problem: uses Hsphere.
- Steadfast. Has a good rep on WHT, and seems impressive. Tech answered the phone immediately, but they say they prefer emails. Sales phone has limited hours. Good price on $20 SSL. But, uses Hshhere.
- JodoHost 24 hour phone. But, uses Hsphere. An Indian company with office in Florida, and good rep. I like the idea of outsourcing phone support, if it makes it more available and affordable. But, the accent on the phone was very hard for me to understand, so maybe this might not work.....
- Hostgator. Yes, it's a big overseller, but seems to get good reviews/results anyway, and good phone support.
- ? ThePrimeHost ?? Mostly good WHT reviews; some dissenters. Site says 24hour phone, but when I called on several nights, no one ever answered...
- Can anyone add to this list? Please list only hosts that meet the above minimum requirements of phone support, etc. Especially useful is hosters you've tried.
TO AVOID:
- Avoid Arvixe. I had a horrid experience with them, here: [WHT forum]:/showthread.php?p=5097822#post5097822
- Avoid WebHostingBuzz. This company never returned my phone msessage inquiries.
Good Avocado Really Good
Oct 20, 2008Any experience with Good Avocado and their reseller plan?
What about Thinkhost, good avocado is partnering with?
Wind and solar energy, it sounds all good, the reseller plan is awesome.
Any real life experience?
Good UK VPS
Dec 1, 2008I have dedicated servers - which are overkill as I only host 10 sites (small). I am now looking to move to a VPS solution and would like to know if anyone can recommend a good UK company (that offers true UK hosting) with good uptime and support?
Cpanel and Unix VPS, but may also require windows vps - so a company that offers both will be beneficial, but long term view to migrate over to Linux
The Ny Noc - Good Or Bad
Apr 14, 2008does anyone have any views of The NY Noc they could share with me, before I shift my site over there (and hope for the best) ?
I know they've been around a while, but I heard some bad stuff about their VPS servers,
I want to make sure I'm going for some good hosting..
How Good Is 128 MBs VPS
Jun 7, 2007my web site has about 4,000 pageviews and currently working fine on shared host. i plan to build a forum to support my products. i just want to know if the 128 MBs VPS is good plan for my web site?
View 14 Replies View RelatedWhat Is A 512 MB VPS Good For
Nov 28, 2007I am considering the following VPS:
40 GB Disk Space
Fairshare of a Dual Xeon/Opteron CPU
512 MB Dedicated RAM
2 GB Burstable RAM
750 GB Premium Transfer
Fully Managed
I have about 10 sites that run straight HTML and 5 WordPress low traffic sites (which obviously use a database). Will the server above support my needs adequately?
Cheap Vps Is Good?
Aug 22, 2008Is cheapvps a good provider for cheap vps'?
I searched and didn't find anything.
LunarPages VPS Good Or Bad?
Jun 1, 2007I need managed services since I don't know anything about server maintenance and I saw LunarHosts VPS (http://www.lunarpages.com/virtual-private-server/)
The deal sounds pretty good - 1000 GB Bandwidth, 20 GB Space, PHP, MySQL and managed services for $50 a month.
I wanted to know if anybody has tried them out? Are they good? Is their a better value anywhere else?
Is GoDaddy Any Good?
Sep 5, 2008is GoDaddy any good?
View 14 Replies View RelatedIs Bluehost Good?
Jun 6, 2009I heard many blogger appreiate this company, but I a little hestitate to use their service because I have to pay one-year fee once.
View 24 Replies View RelatedLooking To Buy Good Webhosting
Apr 6, 2009Can anyone let me know where to look?
View 14 Replies View RelatedFatcow Any Good?
Aug 24, 2009I was looking for a webhost with adwords credit, and cheap.
When I went to Bluehost and Hostgator, the more well-known sites they had $50 adwords credit each but couldn't get their price down to less than 58$ a year. With Fatcow seems to be $44 a year and also have $50 adwords credit.
Does somebody know their reliability? I was searching google and the host seems to be a new person in town and that might be a problem.
Preferably I was searching for $20 a year webplans but I can't seem to find one with adwords credit. I want to use the adwords to drive quick traffic to a new site. I am not sure should I go for the adwords credit+ hosting or hosting seperate + adwords seperate. The keywords I'm gonna use only have 1,000-10,000 max visitors a month. If the credit is only valid for a limited time than I'd maybe better off with a both seperate.
Softlayer Any Good?
Aug 14, 2008i want to know if softlayer will fit my needs?
1) i want to use svn
2) i will only host about 3 small-ish sites with images and maybe one cast-control.
has any used them and what is there up-time like.
Where To Get Good Shelves
May 11, 2009Anyone know where to get decently priced shelves for racks? looking to purchase 10-20 of them.
View 13 Replies View RelatedIs Litespeed For VPS Good
Jan 9, 2009i am interested to install Litespeed on my vps (with cpanel)
it is good?
Good Resources For EC2
Jun 25, 2009After speaking to a colleague about some major benefits of EC2 for on-demand hosting I've been very interested in learning more.
I've spent the past 2 evenings trolling through Amazon Doc's and blog posts and have a fair assessment about how things work but I'm at a stopping point.
There doesn't seem to be a dedicated EC2 area here on Sitepoint and the Amazon EC2 forums seem geared more towards 'advanced' users.
Are there any reliable communities that are more for the beginner?
I've got a LAMP webserver Instance running on EC2 but I'm very unclear about how to login and begin adding files and managing the data. I'm sure it's pretty simple but the documentation pretty much loses me when they start discussing Security Groups and public/private keys.
I'm not much of a server admin but have grown pretty comfortable on our FC4 dedicated boxes that we currently host on.
Good Vps For Australia
Dec 2, 2008I'm interested in getting a VPS (nothing too much - probably at least 5-10GB space / 30GB bandwidth) for a forum I run based in Australia. My budget is probably around $40/month. BTW I'm after managed.
My main issue is that I would like it to be a decent speed for Australia (specifically Melbourne). Where should a datacenter be located for Australia?
ComfyHost Good Or Not
May 3, 2008Well, ComfyHost.com have great offer, so I thinking about server at them.
But first I want to look what you think about ComfyHost?
Mediatemple Good
May 13, 2008Im currently at site5. Big mistake on my part!
I need to move to somewhere else, i really like mediatemple.net and was wondering if anyone had any feed back on there Dedicated Virtual??
Here is what i need 20GB of space
around 1TB of bandwidth
willing to spend $50 a month
My main reason for this is mainly for my own personal site. AZDirt.com. We host videos and pictures. We have about 500 avg unique hits.
Iweb. Good Or Bad
Jun 16, 2008i would like to sign up for shared hosting reseller account with iweb technology.
are there any of their current customers in the house?
could you give honest reviews about their service or recommend another host if you feel they aren't good enough?