Hosting problem

[workshop]

I have a shared hosting account with Hostgator. A company that you cannot avoid if you are trawling the net looking for a service provider. But my relationship with them has not been a happy one and it is getting to the stage where they are making it worth my while to move. I use email aliases to collect whatever mail I get from my workshop sites. I set up forwarders to direct mail from the Hostgator server to a centralised address I use to receive this mail.

But the mail from the Hostgator accounts is no longer being forwarded and my suspicion is that the server has been blacklisted and temporarily blocked. Fair enough. But what irritates me is the response I get from their Help Desk suggesting that I need to change what I am doing. They don't bother to explain what the problem is. They duck and dive and this is a problem you have when using these sort "everymans" don't expect too much from them hosting companies.

[Dave A]

Shared hosting on Hostgator is definitely budget hosting, and it comes with severe limitations that don't make the headline news. Offering huge disk space and unlimited bandwidth is all fine and well, but it's tricky to test those limits without hitting their email send rate and concurrent connections limits (among other things).

When you hit one of their limitations, don't expect them to change their mix to suit you - and to a large extent I don't blame them. Perhaps they hope to upsell folk who outgrow their shared hosting setup to their bigger hosting packages, but given the way those are priced... probably time to move on.

They are targetting a specific market. You've outgrown it. Time to change.
Normally at that point you should have a better budget to spend on hosting anyway.

[Mitos]

Yup, you're flagged as a potential spammer if you send out more than "X" amount of mails - "x" varies from ISP to ISP.
But, why go to the USA, for hosting, use a local SA hosting service provider.

[workshop]

Multiple domains, multiple email address, multiple databases. Local service providers still seem to think they are doing you a favour by allowing you access to these applications. Hostgator are fine for start ups and workshop sites. Their support is poor and there are better hosts to choose from. Some are even cheaper.

[Dave A]

But, why go to the USA, for hosting, use a local SA hosting service provider.

SA hosting has only got to be reasonably competitive against offshore hosting fairly recently.

Also, if your target market is offshore, that unavoidable 200ms+ lag on an SA-to-anywhere connection hurts your final page load speed.
And yes, it matters.

[nipole]

I am sorry to hear you have a bad experience with your hosting provider, but at all fairness you cant expect them to give you more support then there is already available in their FAQ. You mention you have a shared hosting account which means you choosed the cheap solution. You get what you pay for and I am sure you will be able to find a hosting provider that offers a better support for a little more RAN.

[workshop]

Sometimes cheaper is far, far better. It depends on what you are doing and why. This is a mistake so many people make. They assume the net is all about stuff that is beyond their ken. SA is light years behind countries like Thailand. Ask yourself why?

I have accounts with a wide range of service providers. The cheapest of the cheap. Leaders in their own right. Service providers like MJZ Hosting who became Hole in the Wall hosting. I also have accounts with the likes of Aussie Bob, a pedant, who believes support and service should cost. In between those two I make compromises to suit the application. And am very wary of those that talk the talk but who can seldom walk the walk.

What I am saying is that Hostgator are OK, that they are leaders in a niche market and that I believe they are slipping. Their servers are getting blacklisted for spam and instead of identifying the source of the problem and addressing it, they make excuses that don't wash.

[Dave A]

What I am saying is that Hostgator are OK, that they are leaders in a niche market and that I believe they are slipping. Their servers are getting blacklisted for spam and instead of identifying the source of the problem and addressing it, they make excuses that don't wash.

I felt the same way 6 years ago when I moved everything I had off them. Far from slipping, it sounds like they're actually being consistent

[workshop]

You are right. Spam controls are getting better and this makes their short comings more noticeable. Do you host local? Do you still use shared accounts?

[Dave A]

I have a local shared account with Elite Host.
I have an offshore VPS with Knownhost.
And a local dedi with Diamatrix.

[workshop]

Interesting. I assume Elite offer Add On domains as part of their personal package. Are you using the Business or Reseller options?

[Dave A]

Just the basic R35 a month deal.

I can't say we've hammered the account to find the limits, but we do make it work some and it seems to handle the load very well.
Certainly worth the money.

[OldGoat]

We use JCW Hosting to host all our websites (around 100 of them and climbing) and, although they are quite a small concern, they are awesome in "fixing" things for us when I break them
The only service provider we have used where the support line actually get answered within a few rings.

[Dave A]

Wow - 12 posts in a row on web hosting without somebody trying to drop a link!

[raffle]

Does a Sub Domain work the same way as an Add On Domain. I have never understood the difference besides the fact that an Add On domain can be found at http://addon.yourdomain.co.za and the Sub Domain http://www.yourdomain.co.za/subdomain

When do you use an Add On domain?
When do you use a Sub Domain?

I see JCW offer Unlimited Sub Domains but do not mention Add On's. Is it significant?