will i ever find an exceptional hosting company?

[haganxy]

i have been in this industry for 8 1/2 years. over the years, i have dealt with numerous hosting companies. some were horrible, some were ok, and some were good.

unfortunately, i have never found an exceptional hosting company. one that really makes me go "wow". i have to admit that OC3Networks had the "wow" factor when we first started hosting with them. however, some of their key tech people left and the service went down the drain. still, they were the closest to "exceptional" that i have ever experienced.

i think part of the problem is that i'm a tech nerd, so i demand more out of a hosting company than your average customer. i am tired of submitting numerous support tickets, talking to call centers in india, and getting tech people on the phone who have no idea what they are talking about. i want to call at 3am on Christmas Eve, and have the phone picked up on the 2nd ring with a human who speaks fluent American English and has a reasonable amount of technical knowledge. i am also tired of companies that tell me "we don't do colo", or "we don't do virtual", or whatever.

can anyone find me a hosting company that they consider "exceptional"?

[gaybucks_chip]

You want NatNet.

Everybody told me, for years, that NatNet was simply incredible and that nothing else compares. I never believed them. We tried them and we honestly could not be happier, and now I'm one of the choir singing their praises.

I have actually called at 3am on a holiday and gotten a knowledgeable person, based in the US, who was ready to solve my problem.

A month ago, we had a screwy problem with NATS that the NATS tech insisted wasn't their problem. I got NatNet on the line with the NATS tech on a 3 way call, and the NatNet tech stayed on the phone for more than 30 minutes helping the NATS tech troubleshoot the problem until it was resolved.

On more than one occasion, we've had a really obscure and non-critical technical issue that I was working on at 2 or 3am (Natnet local time) and the tech was not familiar with the issue. Before I could say anything, they had called at the home of the guy who knew how to fix the problem, awakened him, and gotten my problem fixed, even though it was non-urgent.

I am pretty sure they offer colo, though I don't know if you can get the exceptional quality of support they offer on a colo box... I had to give up root access on the boxes we have, and I was VERY leery of doing that, but honestly, it has been an absolute delight, and I have never had to wait more than 10 or 15 minutes to get anything done, and if I need it quicker, I just call in and they do it.

I have worked with at least 12 different hosting ISPs since 1998, ranging from gigantic to tiny. None have come remotely close to the quality, consistency, and reliability of National Net. I get nothing for recommending them, but honestly, I just like to see fantastic companies continue to be fantastic, so I encourage people to give them a try whenever I can.

[DEVELISH]

NationalNet!

[Bec]

Have to join the party -- www.nationalnet.com :high:

[TKnDE]

NatNet rules - I love the techie Guys there! They are pleasant and quick to help with any issue!

[WebStud]

Perhaps NationalNet's shared hosting is good - and I suspect it might be.

However, for a dedicated server, they're the worst I've ever had. Lost all emails for a week; email volume severely restricted because it goes through a central mail server; mail server is slow responding; failed to set up DNS for 3 sites, and a lot more.

When I attempted to discuss the problems with a senior manager, his attitude indifferent and pending problems have not been fully resolved.

NationalNet SUCKS!

[MMemmer]

Hello Haganxy,

IMHO Caro.Net can deliver a great service to you out of the gates and from there we can develop a relationship between our Staff and the direct contacts that we can set up for you internally so that we can tailor a relationship that over time should be exceptional for you.

We can certainly start out providing you with a great network as the cornerstone of your online presence, we use only Dell server grade equipment, and choosing managed support will put you in direct contact with our excellent support staff. Finally and I know some people may laugh but you would have me as your account manager and direct point of contact and I work hard for my clients.

So hit me up directly and lets chat about getting you started with us.

Thanks in advance,

[gaybucks_chip]

Perhaps NationalNet's shared hosting is good - and I suspect it might be.

However, for a dedicated server, they're the worst I've ever had. Lost all emails for a week; email volume severely restricted because it goes through a central mail server; mail server is slow responding; failed to set up DNS for 3 sites, and a lot more.

When I attempted to discuss the problems with a senior manager, his attitude indifferent and pending problems have not been fully resolved.

NationalNet SUCKS!

We have our own mail server with NatNet. Took a little cajoling to get it, but they did it for us and things have been flawless. We mail a customer newsletter and get great deliverability and no problems with speed. Though honestly I've never heard anyone else complain about their mail cluster.

I think everybody that does a lot of requests with any provider will occasionally have a couple of them slip through the cracks, and that's happened with NatNet, but when it does, I put in a ticket and it's resolved within 5 minutes.

What you're describing is so far out of character that I find it difficult to believe you're talking about the same company. I have communicated with just about every tech employee they have at one time or another and none have been any less than exemplary, so I have to wonder if the problem isn't on your end.

I get nothing for recommending NatNet other than the satisfaction of knowing that by referring new customers to them, they will continue to maintain a solid and stable financial base and be able to continue to serve customers with the quality and superb service they have always provided to us.

[raymor]

A host that someone else absolutely loves may be one you hate, because you
have different priorities. Some people want a web host who will hold their hand
and show them how to use FTP. Other people who have more technical knowledge
want a host who can set up their fiber channel SAN. To find the host who is right
for you, please prioritize the following, marking them 1-8.

__ base price
__ fast friendly service
__ expertise
__ performance (fast servers, network)
__ security
__ shared or smaller accounts
__ dedicated or larger accounts
__ high volume bandwidth price

[RobertChandler]

I'm a newbie and Mojohost has been a huge help to me. They're very patient!