I think bad experiences with Web hosting services are all too common. I feel obligated to warn others about 2 companies I have had the misfortune of dealing with in the past month, and tell you about some good experiences as well.
Watch out for A+Net. They are a popular one, but I have tried them and their support is lousy. They have decent enough features (although I've since found out there are much better deals out there), but if you need help using them forget it. I have inside information that they're really struggling to keep up with the huge number of cancellations.
Another one that is even worse is CI Hosting. Their people are not only not helpful, but downright condescending and vindictive. If they don't like your responses to trouble tickets they will lock you out of the system. The customer is definitely second-class with them.
One thing to watch out for: Both companies, along with many others, offer reselling plans so you might not know that you are getting them when you are. Be sure and ask your web host if they are a reseller, and if so, for whom. They may be really good to work with, but if the company that provides the support is rotten, there is little a reseller can do.
Now for the good part. I have switched to Apollo Hosting (www.apollohosting.com) and they are wonderful. Not the fastest connect and load times, but their top-notch support more than makes up for it. Hopefully they can work on connect times, etc.
While I'm at it, I have also found a really good ISP for ISDN dialup -- Electranet USA (www.electranetusa.com). Great people to work with! Very helpful. Check them out!
Good luck finding a good host - there aren't many good ones out there.

Thanks for posting that info.
Ive never heard of A+Net, but Im very familiar with CI hosting.
I think most people are aware of CI but occasionally there are a few people you see that are NOT aware of their bad reputation. It leaves much to be desired, for sure.
I will have to disagree with you slightly on your statement about not many good hosts around!
It is companies like youve mentioned that really put a bad branding on the hosting industry as a whole.
Believe me though there are still good hosting companies around! It makes it somewhat harder on the good hosts that are out there today.Ive sure noticed a change in the host shoppers. They are becoming a little more net savvy and they are finally willing to do a little research! UNfortunately this tends to happen once they've been "burnt"

CI Host is infamous.

I have to agree with Martie on that one. There are a lot of hard working, professional hosting companies out there. Unfortunatly there is a percantage of 'cowboys' which is sadly getting bigger. Of course there is also a few very large hosts that feel themselves to be 'above the law' regarding the simple facts of life that make or break many smaller hosts. Simply, without good customer support, you won't survive. I guess once you have the exposure they do, they can lose plenty, as there's always someone new walking though the door

Greg Moore

I agree that there are many bad hosts out there. This is the point, don't get tied up in a long contract. I look at hosting being like a restaurant, if you don't like the food or service, never eat there again because there are plenty of other places out there.

Likewise, with hosting, you can ditch the bad service and spread a few bad words about them (look at the press CI Hosting is getting!) and look for another, eventually you will find one.

I suppose it keeps the advertising/web hosting directories /"find a new host" market busy but if hosts actually did improve their service, there would be less of this but then again, pigs may fly.

Well, I guess you're all right. I based my judgement on 2 out of 3 bad - no, really bad. Those two bad ones made me so mad that I wanted to tell the whole world about it. Thanks for the forum. I hope it will do some good.

Eric,

That's what forums are for. To give a wealth of opinion about your experience. As a host we already know about CIHost, in fact most hosts do - we all get refugees from them at one time or another. The only problem is, as a host, we don't need to go looking for hosting so don't fall into CIHost's web If you have a bad experience with hosting you should let other people know about it. The wider a general opinion is, the more knowledge people have to make a more informed decision...

Greg Moore

Moderator's Comments - This is boarderline advertising. Be careful.


I like seeing this thread because it makes me feel good about the reason I opened my hosting company. I am not making a plug, but it was the same types of bad experiences that made me take my own money, build my own facility and start a hosting company. It has been well received and would welcome anyone to visit and hopefully get my forums rocking like this one. I also have a mailing list for web design and technology discussions that is on the home page. Come visit and remember there are alot of hosting companies that work hard night and day to make the customers happy.

Thanks for your time,
Robert Filipovich, President
ATSWebNet
http://www.atswebnet.com



[Edited by Jaiem on 04-06-2001 at 08:08 AM]

Is CI host the same with Ci web? http://www.ciwebhosting.com

[Edited by Tony on 04-09-2001 at 05:07 PM]

I don't know. If your web host instructs you to point your domain name to ns1.propagation.net and ns2.propagation.net then that would make it CI Host, I believe. I can't find a CI Web on the net. What's their web address? If you can tell me what it is I can take a look and tell you if it's CI Host.

Registrant:
Central Internet (CIWEB-DOM)
241-75-3-7-505 Fukaya-cho Totsuka-ku
YOKOHAMA, KANAGAWA 245
JP

Domain Name: CIWEB.COM

Administrative Contact, Billing Contact:
Segawa, Toshimi (TS726) segawa@S-DIRECT.COM
Central Internet
241-75-3-7-505 Fukaya-cho Totsuka-ku
YOKOHAMA
kanagawa
245
JP
81-45-853-0975
Technical Contact:
Umeda, Hiroshi (HU8) HIRO@I-LEAVE.COM
INTERLEAVE AMERICA Inc
300 East Pike St. SUITE 2001
Seattle, WA 98122
206-363-7434

Record last updated on 11-Jan-2001.
Record expires on 21-Oct-2000.
Record created on 20-Oct-1995.
Database last updated on 9-Apr-2001 03:07:00 EDT.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS.S-DIRECT.COM 210.175.16.3
DNS1.ODN.NE.JP 143.90.130.100



Registrant:
C I Host (CIHOST-DOM)
1851 Central Drive #110
Bedford, TX 76021
US

Domain Name: CIHOST.COM

Administrative Contact:
Administrator (AD2759-ORG) admin@CIHOST.COM
C I Host
1851 Central Drive Suite 110
Bedford, TX 76021
US
888-868-9931
Fax- 888-242-7554
Technical Contact:
Network Operations Center (NO324-ORG) NETWORKSOLUTIONS@CIHOST.COM
C I Host
1851 Central Drive Suite 110
Bedford, TX 76021
US
888-868-9931
Fax- - - 888-242-7554
Billing Contact:
Billing Services (BS466-ORG) billing@CIHOST.COM
C I Host
1851 Central Drive Suite 110
Bedford, TX 76021
US
888-868-9931
Fax- 888-242-7554

Record last updated on 08-Mar-2001.
Record expires on 27-Apr-2010.
Record created on 26-Apr-1997.
Database last updated on 9-Apr-2001 03:07:00 EDT.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS.CIHOST.COM 216.221.162.81
NS2.CIHOST.COM 216.221.162.111
NS3.PROPAGATION.NET 63.249.128.204

A VERY long way of saying no. I don't believe they are related.

Greg Moore