Comments on: Hostmonster Sucks?

By: Sun

Sun — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:22:46 +0000

Pro Package (<$20/mo) is the way to go with this unique situation.
CAD files are extremely large, and if you will be saving them on the hosted server, for anytime, anywhere access by your clients, you're not going to want to have a Shared service anyways.. the bandwidth and server load alone would slow down any/all websites on the server.
Pro alleviates this by putting you on a Dedicated structure w/ a dedicated IP (no IP bouncing on a shared server)

By: Sun

Sun — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:18:16 +0000

You need to Call HM. Unfortunately, the Live Chat service is through a secondary vendor, they do have full accessibility and modification rights, but, they are not as concerned about YOUR uptime and experience as the reps on the phone (which are, by the way, Hostmonster/BlueHost reps).. they do have a means to transfer you to another server, it just takes patience and politeness and they will definitely go the extra mile (<< Good Luck!

By: Sun

Sun — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:15:22 +0000

You’re afforded the change, at the time of sign up, as well as any time there after, to read the TOS.. HM keeps strict rules about Backups and type of media/files allowed.. You were given the chance.. by having the TOS available to you Before, During and After you signed up.
Signing up means you agree to the TOS. Means you agree to have your account shut down if you are found in violation. That’s your notice.
Pretty standard if you ask me (and if you look at just about any other hosting service)
Kudos HM

By: Sun

Sun — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:11:42 +0000

I agree with Tom wholeheartedly.
In the TOS (which I read, because I wanted to see if I could to a PC backup [Drive failing]) it states that Unlimited Storage does not constitute a Backup service. Unlimited Storage is “Unlimited” so long as all the files on the server are –for use within a hosted website/domain– now, unless you are packaging backup files from your PC for distro /sale to your visitors (you know..”used within your site!”), there is no reason you should try and take advantage of a Shared Service.
Allowing clients to use their servers for Backup would get them sued by every Online Backup service out there. They charge $8-20+/mo for online backups, while HM charges $6!? The massive rush of ppl running to take advantage of that would 1) crash HMs hosting and server farms.. there’s just no way to keep up with that large an influx, that quickly (not in any financially reasonable fashion, anyhow) and 2) could place them under federal charges for not only trying (whether intentionally or unintentionally) to Monopolize the online backup market and trying to undercut Fair Pricing laws.
Kudos to HM. It’s not just about profit, it’s about sustainability.
“Shared” hosting is just that “Shared”. Doesn’t mean Joe Blow can run around taking advantage of the service… screw everyone else.
If that’s what you want to do, you’re right, HM’s not the hosting option for you.. Build your own server, host your own DNS, get your own Dedicated Trunk and flood your hardware and network with crap unrelated to websites. Guaranteed, the cost of Online Backup services won’t look so bad after all. Not the “limitations” you are so adamant about, will even look so bad.

By: Sun

Sun — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:58:25 +0000

I’ve been with HM for several years and have nothing but good things to say about them.
I stay fully active with several domains, including an Internet Radio service, a web-design site and tester site, including a full PHP site.. all without a single hiccup.
When first starting out, I biffed the entire tree structure, rendering my domains and pages useless (including DBs).. rookie errors to say the least. Customer Support had me back up and running within an hour, all the while talking me through each step they were taking (free training?! how can you beat that?!)
A recommendation I have, purchase the pro package. It does cost quite a bit more, but if you in to serious design/server load/hits/multiple active domains/etc, its the way to go.. and still a steal at under $20/mo, considering the support and features.
One thing I wish they would bring back (as of Mid 2011) were some of the promotion their Affiliates carried (free templates/code/media sets/etc).. they’ve all switched to discounts (w/ the economy, I really cant blame them) and promo sign ups.
Use their customer service phone number or submit a ticket when you have problems, and for G*d’s sake, read the TOS and Support forums before you gripe.
There are a few things you can do, on the shared hosting, (PC backups, over 80k files, unreasonable bandwidth, pirating or storing/sharing pirated material, etc) that will cancel your service, no notice, no questions asked.. etc. It’s all in the TOS. For $6/mo (on shared), you really can’t blame them.
I will remain a loyal HM customer. As long as you fly right and not do anything illegal or overzealous, HM is definitely (at least in my book) the best out there.

By: dave

dave — Fri, 13 May 2011 22:23:10 +0000

it is important to read the terms of service agreement before signing up with Hostmonster. They also have a FAQ that hits upon several of the key issues.

As you mentioned, they do not try to sell their basic web hosting packages to large sites. Hostmonster / Bluehost has only ONE package.. the ENTIRE service is designed for small sites. Once you pass that criteria, they will ask you to leave. If this happens to you, demand a refund and then comply with their request.

THE most important thing.. can’t stress this enough. INODE LIMITS!

Every big host has them so WATCH OUT. Hostmonster / Bluehost is notoriously low with a soft inode limit of only 50k! This means that beyond 50,000 files, you are no long included in weekly backups.

After 100k they suspend your account.

DO NOT assume that this is difficult to approach. Installing Mediawiki and Roundcube will bring you to around 10-15k files, instantly. For this reason, the current inode limitations of typical big hosts are sadly scam-grade. It is not unlimited if it’s limited, yknow? I hope this shady marketing trend ends soon and we can actually have good hosting packages for a good price.

For $100 a year you should be able to do more than run a couple of wikis.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 01:20:53 +0000

I have a account at “ipower web” for about ten years, that started at 500mb of space ten years ago, mean while there getting new customers and offering unlimited space, so i complained that it was absurd that im only allowed 500mb and then they fixed it for me.
point being they were taking me for my money untill i saw what was going on, and later they threatened to shut me down for using to much space.
So now im at HM with about 10gigs of video files so far and after reading this im freaking out, and forget dedicated servers that will run 2, 3 hundred dollars per month, that might be worth it to youtube but not me.
I did ask them before i signed up if they allowed flv files and if they had a problem of using 7gigs of space, and they told me as long as its for your website content it was ok so im probly pressing my luck to add more videos to my site at Host Monster.

By: marck_don

marck_don — Thu, 06 May 2010 09:42:54 +0000

I suppose it depends entirely on your site(s), are they dynamic (PHP/MySQL) or static (HTML)? There is surely a limit because of resource usage, there’s probably some fineprint in the TOS?

By: hill

hill — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:56:24 +0000

I have an account at HM ,HM very reliable before February 26, 2010,but when they take my site to new hardware,my site often down with unkown reason,hope HM become to normal as before.

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:15:53 +0000

I think that there may be some confusion between hits, visits and visitors above. 60,000 ‘hits’ is not a lot. Yesterday my low-traffic site had 83 visits who viewed 477 pages which resulted in 4314 hits.

When people speak of 60,000 ‘hit’s above are they getting confused with visits?