Dzones...

Never use Dzones as a host. even though they do support PHP and run on a UNIX system, their support SUCKS!.

Skeasor

I have used them for several months and now our entire radio group is moving there. This is the best host I've used and their control panel rocks! I get a lot of good software for less than ten bucks and never had a problem with them. I was searching for a link to the support page on google and found this disappointing message. You must be a competitor or something. I was recommended by a friend who is also a programmer and have been quite pleased with dzones service. Dang, where else can you actually see the servers live on a web cam? They are not using a basement for their hosting!

Peace.

Leo
(proudly hosted by digital zones)

DZones support is horrible. My websites went twice in three weeks for over 24 hours each time. The support rarely responded to email requests for a status and made me feel like I was carazy and asking a lot in wanting my sites back up and an ETA on when it might happen.

Jackson,

Sorry to hear about these problems with Dzones. How long have you been with them?

I guess I have had them for about a year now.

It's just bizarre to me that a downed server in such a big company can take over 36 hours to get up again. A backup server could have been in the wings to slap in there for emergencies.

Just as a FYI for people thinking of DZones for hosting:
-- Their secure 6 server had a hard disk crash in early December 2003, the server was down/unavailable for about 18 hours. They claimed this was because of a Tomcat error.
-- Then on Dec 7, they claim to have had a cisco router crash that took down all their servers for about 38 hours.
-- On Dec 21st Secure 6 went down again, according to alertra it was for 38 hours and 42 minutes. Dzones support claimed it was another hard disk crash.

-- They had other smaller (10-20 minutes here or there) downtime windows and its resulted in a 62% uptime for the month of Dec 2003 to date.

I requested credit for my hosting charges and they have yet to reply to my orginal request from Dec 9th. 8 emails to billing @ dzones and not a single solitary reply.

I have hosted with them for nearly 2 years, even weathered the 2 week up/down/up/down/mostly down time back in March 2003 where they lost everyones site and didn't have a backup, but no more. If they have downtime the least they can do is answer emails, and then the next least is to credit their accounts.

It should also be mentioned that on many other review sites people have pointed out that there is an individual named Andrew that posts great reviews and it turns out he IS their billing depatment. Any company who has to have their own employees post favorable reviews, is a company everyone should avoid.

roadchild has summed up my experience as well. My sites are on Secure6 and once again, they are down...

Have you looked into another hosting service or received any recommendations?

I wonder who might be better but have most of the same features. Most of my clients use NeoMail and I would like to be able to migrate their email to reliable, different host who uses NeoMail and other features.

The only thing I can add to dZones credit is that in June when AOL blocked email from dzones servers for over a week, they credited me one month of hosting. I have not requested credit yet for this month's downtime.

Hi Jackson,

We have moved, and with very little difficulty I might add, had we known that it would be as easy as it was we might not have waited.
We helped one of our clients go on to their own hosting account with lunar pages and they seem very happy, they left after the first Decemver outage so they've been with lunar pages nearly a month without any downtime at all.
Our reseller account is now with Idologic and we are THRILLED!! Jeff and Damiaan even with the holidays were helping us get the sites up and running. Of course there were some issues like with any move (we've now done 4 moves in 3 years) but this was the easiest of all. Their file structure is the same as dzones so the backups can be restored via the cpanel and the sites are moved that easily. The only potential issues you could have are the mailing lists, thats it! AMAZING!!!
We did tell our clients we were moving just so they would know that the downtime was being dealt with, but we're sure they wouldn't have even noticed it. SMOOOOOTHH!!
Since our move alertra has noted just 6 minutes down on the server we're hosted on, and that downtime was due to something we sort of caused. :|
The support and assistance we've received from the Idologic staff is nothing short of amazing and we're VERY happy to have found them!

So happily and without any reservations at all if you need a reseller account, IDOLOGIC!!

Good luck and get your backups off dzones ASAP!!!
roadchild

You've got to watch out for those unbelieveable deals as well when choosing a host.

Especially during the summer and winter breaks, new companies jump up within days to make a few extra dollars.

I don't think I said we got a deal, the lunar pages hosting is about even with what our client was getting before, and as for Idologic, we're getting less space and bandwidth for the same price, no deal, just great service and support. We checked both out and they are rated very highly and reviewed well too.
If you think staying with a non-responsive host thats had serious amounts of downtime for less money is a good idea I got to wonder about ya.

So in short, the only reason our new hosts are a good deal is because they are responsive and the servers are up!

Ah sorry, I think you misunderstood me. I was just saying to be careful when selecting your new host, especially around this time. If you've found a great host then by all means stick with them

Most sites that "lists" of the "best" webhosts seem to be driven by who pays for advertising. I haven't gotten much of a feel for how hosts really rate and perform.

I'm talking about sites called names like, www.100besthosts.com and the like.

I have found one that seems pretty impartial and fair, with tons of user ratings and reviews.
http://www.findmyhosting.com/

They even rate companies with a site called "Hosting Assured Company" where the hosts operate under a list of commitments to customers.

http://www.hostingassured.findmyhosting.com/

I have found several good looking prospects for replacing dzones and plan to do so.

FYI, I received a random email from an unhappy dzones customer who somehow must have gotten a list of dzone domains and sent mass email. They are requesting that other customers submit complaints to the Better Business Bureau of Florida. I only wish I had found these postings earlier...