Hosting recommendations - current state of affairs

5 views
Skip to first unread message

Ed

unread,
Nov 1, 2010, 12:44:53 PM11/1/10
to Joomla! User Group New England
Hi there,

Love the group - thanks to all who contribute. Wish I could do so
more but I'm still kind of a newbie.

So my thread topic is hosting recommendations based on the current
offerings.

I'm fed up with Bluehost and regular downtimes ... got me looking into
other hosts.

Hoping that people will respond with the recommendations for others to
see regarding :

1. shared hosting - eg. Rochen, HostGator, FatCow
2. VPS hosting - eg. HostGator, PhotoVPS, Rochen, Slicehost - (issue
of managed, semi-managed, and managed)
3. cloud (VPS) hosting - eg. Rackspace, Storm, Linode - (managed,
unmanaged)

Thanks again !

Ed

luciano991

unread,
Nov 1, 2010, 1:32:43 PM11/1/10
to Joomla! User Group New England
Hi Ed,

I have shared hosting with HostGator and I have found it to be a
pleasant experience so far. About a year into it. Tech support is
responsive. No major issues with downtime and Joomla! runs on it very
well. My clients are mostly average business folks with small to
medium websites.

Mark Madison

Barrie North

unread,
Nov 1, 2010, 1:38:24 PM11/1/10
to joom...@googlegroups.com
There is actually a 4th choice, Joomla in a SaaS scenario.

The most common issues I see are always ones like permissions, or the
blank screen that we discussed earlier today. Things that trip people
up and just are a black hole of time. Code updates and security are
two others.

I think Simplweb is the only fully managed SaaS for Joomla I know if,
think wordpress.com for Joomla. Fully managed, no CPanel, but a
limited universe of extensions (cos they all work 100% of the time and
play nice together :) ), and unlimited support and training.

I started Simplweb about 18 months ago as I was fed up at people
getting tripped up all the time trying to get their site off the
ground, and abandoning Joomla before they got the chance to see its
power and ease of use.

From your list, Rackspace is bulletproof, but expensive. I have
actually had a lot of luck with Bluehost.

Barrie North

~On Demand Joomla Hosting~
www.simplweb.com
~Joomla News and Tutorials~
www.compassdesigns.net
~The #1 Book on Joomla~
www.joomlabook.com

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Joomla! User Group New England" group.
> To post to this group, send email to joom...@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to joomlaug+u...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/joomlaug?hl=en.
>
>

Kevin Blocksom

unread,
Nov 1, 2010, 1:43:19 PM11/1/10
to joom...@googlegroups.com
I have been using HostGator for almost a year as well and I have found it to be a very pleasant experience as well. I often use their live chat for support and I have never had to wait more than a minute to get help. They seem to go the extra mile for their clients.

Thanks

Kevin

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Joomla! User Group New England" group.
To post to this group, send email to joom...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to joomlaug+u...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/joomlaug?hl=en.




--
Kevin Blocksom

Loida Thamm

unread,
Nov 1, 2010, 2:42:56 PM11/1/10
to joom...@googlegroups.com
Hi Ed,

I've been using Hostmonster for a few years now and absolutely love them! I've been with different host over the past 15+ years and HM still impresses me. 

They are joined/partnered with Bluehost so hopefully some of the experience you're going through are their growing pains. 

About six months ago they told me their facilities in Utah, for both Hostmonster and Bluehost, are expanding to include another 20,000+ square feet of servers. They're growing and putting in new top equipment.

All the best,

Lo

Ed Croteau

unread,
Nov 1, 2010, 5:10:30 PM11/1/10
to joom...@googlegroups.com
Lo, 
Do you use shared hosting or VPS with Hostmonster ?  Also, how did the 3dcart mods go ?  I ended up setting up a 3dcart myself.  Very little styling but we are getting more orders than with osCommerce for sure.  Great admin

Barrie,
I have your book BTW!  So, I've looked in your Simplweb before but I have been using Rockettheme templates and loading a number of 3rd party extensions for this and that.  It seems like (and understandably) that you guys are limiting those extensions to maintain a closed ("rock solid") system.  Is that a fixed thing or is there another way around it and still use Simplweb ?  What about 2.0  cloud, will that be more user extensible ?

Thanks,

Ed


 




------------------------------

Ed Croteau

JED Traders, Inc. / Jedzebel™ / ecogirl® / hat.a.girl®
703 Front St.
Santa Cruz, CA  95060  USA

TEL (888) 268-5326
FAX (888) 252-4605
International: 00-1-831-429-8000
International FAX : 00-1-801-894-6905
email : e...@jedzebel.com








Barrie North

unread,
Nov 1, 2010, 5:17:18 PM11/1/10
to joom...@googlegroups.com
Hi Ed,

I hope it was useful!

Simplweb is great for 70% of sites, but complex or highly customized
ones, it doesn't work so well for.

Our goal is to meet the needs of *most* sites in, as you say, a rock
solid fashion. The cloud version is the same way

http://support.simplweb.com/help/faqs/pre-sale-faq/what-extensions-are-installed-in-simplweb-sites

Barrie North

~On Demand Joomla Hosting~
www.simplweb.com
~Joomla News and Tutorials~
www.compassdesigns.net
~The #1 Book on Joomla~
www.joomlabook.com

Loida Thamm

unread,
Nov 1, 2010, 5:42:58 PM11/1/10
to joom...@googlegroups.com
Ed,

It depends on the client's needs; I have most on shared and a handful on dedicated IP. As for 3dcart - smooth as can be. They're almost done with their testing and hope to go live with it in a couple of weeks. I'll try to remember to post it here. Share your 3d link if you can.

Lo

Dr. Jeff Feinman

unread,
Nov 1, 2010, 6:04:51 PM11/1/10
to joom...@googlegroups.com
Nice to see you all. I'm new here and a Joomla newbie as well tho my
static site has been live since 3/96.

I was hosted by ValueWeb most of that time. Theyewere taken over by
HostWay and are now horrendous. I could not recommend them (tho they
have been gradually updating servers and improving their Bulgarian
tech support).

The Joomla version of my site is being hosted on a VPS by InMotion.
Super fast throughput and excellent live, email and chat support
(however I've only been with them since Spring).

I look forward to learning a lot from y'all.

Barrie, does SimpleWeb offer shared hosting, VPS or both?

Jeff

Ed Croteau

unread,
Nov 1, 2010, 6:12:32 PM11/1/10
to joom...@googlegroups.com
Thanks for the info everyone!

Lo, my 3dcart is at http://store.jedzebel.com Please forgive the lack of styling (don't have time right now, seasonal issues), all I did so far was create a masthead overlay. However, the functionality is top notch and my manager is thanking me for switching due to ease of use and ability to make changes to orders, see abandoned shopping carts, track user error messages, etc.

Ed

Barrie North

unread,
Nov 1, 2010, 8:17:37 PM11/1/10
to joom...@googlegroups.com
Hi Jeff,

Simplweb is neither really. Our platform is on a cloud environment,
the closest I can think of is Google sites, or wordpress.com. Create
an account, and then to make a site, you just fill out a form with the
site title and admin email and go.

We have a free trial, give it a go :)

Barrie North

~On Demand Joomla Hosting~
www.simplweb.com
~Joomla News and Tutorials~
www.compassdesigns.net
~The #1 Book on Joomla~
www.joomlabook.com

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages