Please I need recommendations. I need a good hosting company, preferably foreign. Been using mcreal.net for 5 years, but dey have started acting up and going the way of all naija companies. Thanks

remoranger: Please I need recommendations. I need a good hosting company, preferably foreign. Been using mcreal.net for 5 years, but dey have started acting up and going the way of all naija companies. Thanks

can you describe some of the issues?

Let us know some of the problems you are facing.Perhaps,we may offer to help.

Well. Its the usual, but what makes me wanna drop them is their attitude to solving the problems.

1. Website goes down. The client doesn't care if its not from your end and they rain down fire and brimstone on your head. So you contact the host. You are requested to send mail to their support team. Nothing is done until you have to call personally. When it comes back up, the website database has been rolled back to a month ago and you have lost files and database entries including articles. Your call the host back. the host gives your crappy excuses instead that the hosting plan you paid for is too cheap (10k per year) that's why its your website is acting up and I did not pay for data recovery so my files are gone. A good thing I trained the resident webmaster to backup.

Instead of solving the problem they send you a long mail marketing their basic plan of 30k and all will be well. Well, the client is one of those rare clients that pay well for web services so I cough up the dough and pay the 30k per year requested. The same problem happens, only this time its while you are presenting the website features to your clients business partners. Hoping you could strike gold with them. Imagine the embarrassment in-front of a projector and 30 people.

You call the host back and they say send a mail. Apparently I am angry and in the mail I said and I quote "I wonder what creative excuses you are going to come up with this time considering I have paid you the extra money for the basic plan u requested(30k)" I get a mail back from Mcreal.net telling me to learn to be courteous in my correspondence and not use condescending and snide remarks which is a gross violation of their policy"

Imagine the total crap...for my own money again?

So I have decided to stop doing business with them and walk!. To be terribly inefficient is one thing to reprimand me when i complain of unsatisfactory service is another.

PS: To be fair, they have been good and professional since 2007 when I started business with them, but been having several issues since last year and this is the last straw. Probably the owner has become a millionaire and doesn't give a crap about the business. Its the Nigerian way, you start a business humbly, the customers come and you end up thinking you are a god.

In a shared hosting environment, the more the users (domains) on a server the greater the chances of something going utterly wrong somewhere if not monitored. If you were having good service from them before now its possible they have started overselling or have run out of staff to handle support nicely.

I have had a family member's account transfered from them after years of relationship. Similar story, Jude screwed up years of good relationship stating policies.

I like to deal with tech support people who behave like the humans that they are, not like stereotypes and robots who don't take a crap in the toilet.

remoranger: Please I need recommendations. I need a good hosting company, preferably foreign. Been using mcreal.net for 5 years, but dey have started acting up and going the way of all naija companies. Thanks

having read your last response, i guess you are right to leave them. Things will only most likely get worse.

Although i believe there are still top notch hosting companies in Nigeria and even on this board, i wont dissuade you if you insist on going west.

Its tough recommending a foreign host. Too many of them.

List 3 and ask us to rank them for you.

remoranger: Well. Its the usual, but what makes me wanna drop them is their attitude to solving the problems.

1. Website goes down. The client doesn't care if its not from your end and they rain down fire and brimstone on your head. So you contact the host. You are requested to send mail to their support team. Nothing is done until you have to call personally. When it comes back up, the website database has been rolled back to a month ago and you have lost files and database entries including articles. Your call the host back. the host gives your crappy excuses instead that the hosting plan you paid for is too cheap (10k per year) that's why its your website is acting up and I did not pay for data recovery so my files are gone. A good thing I trained the resident webmaster to backup.

Instead of solving the problem they send you a long mail marketing their basic plan of 30k and all will be well. Well, the client is one of those rare clients that pay well for web services so I cough up the dough and pay the 30k per year requested. The same problem happens, only this time its while you are presenting the website features to your clients business partners. Hoping you could strike gold with them. Imagine the embarrassment in-front of a projector and 30 people.

You call the host back and they say send a mail. Apparently I am angry and in the mail I said and I quote "I wonder what creative excuses you are going to come up with this time considering I have paid you the extra money for the basic plan u requested(30k)" I get a mail back from Mcreal.net telling me to learn to be courteous in my correspondence and not use condescending and snide remarks which is a gross violation of their policy"

Imagine the total crap...for my own money again?

So I have decided to stop doing business with them and walk!. To be terribly inefficient is one thing to reprimand me when i complain of unsatisfactory service is another.

PS: To be fair, they have been good and professional since 2007 when I started business with them, but been having several issues since last year and this is the last straw. Probably the owner has become a millionaire and doesn't give a crap about the business. Its the Nigerian way, you start a business humbly, the customers come and you end up thinking you are a god.

nhmmm, I would be angry too if I were you. I think from the way Dual Core explains stuff here, he probably knows what he is doing in his hosting business so if you are willing to give another Naija company a try..(Havent used him though so am not recommending from experience but from words from others here).

If you are looking for quick and easy foreign hosts, I recommend HOSTGATOR(From experience).

But another thing is that you havent explained what kind of site it is that was affected. Is it a news publishing site or a forum? How busy is the site? Because, its more than just upgrading from a 10k package to a 30k package. If the 30k package is still not good enough to handle your data and resource usage, it still wont work.

people should avoid syskay cos I wasted money on the domain and hosting I bought from them.

No support since the second day I bought the hosting.

@soloqy. The site is not busy. Its a normal business site www.hpgafrica.com low traffic at the moment except when we are running an advert campaign. Would look into the hostgator recommended. All these naija businesses are very good at the beginning when dey are hungry but fall short later. I want continuity I don't like jumping from pillar to post. Thanks

@Dual Core..pls what hosting company did you migrate to and how is their service like? Thanks. May also need assistance with domain migration.

@remoranger, it is sad to hear that you are having problem with your current Web Host. This is the worst scenario for those who care about their online reputation and presence.

As a web Host admin, I guess I should be able to give you some useful advise which can be useful for your current web Host and future web host in case you finally move.

Apart from the support problem, the hosting problem can be experienced some where else even if you move but you can tackle it with the following advice.

Firstly, Web hosting companies usually have several web Hosting servers and your website is hosted on just one of them. From your complain i can diagnose that one of mcreal's server that is hosting your website is definitely having serial problem either from overloads, ISP network fluctuation or others. The fact that they could fix this problem when it arose but it keeps repeating itself is a good evidence that the server is experiencing the problem stated above.

Once you are a victim of the above problem, you can request your webhost to move you to another server of their's. Only web Hosting companies that owns their servers and also have multiple servers can do this for you, you also need to be humble in your request, if your location is not far from their location, it is preferable that you visit them to make this request.

They can claim that they have moved you while they only optimized the server, but what you need is to move, so how do you know that you have been moved? log in to your current cpanel, from the left side navigation you will see your server name so this name must change if they have truly moved you.

Since you also testified that MCreal has been good, maybe before you finalize your move you can make this server transfer request.

I will advice you to move only if they cannot move you to a new server or similar problem arises in the new server.

in case you have decided to move finally, I will also advice you to seek for a reliable Nigerian webhost rather than seeking outside because there are some extent in which your website will grow and you will need supports above chatting and emails, you can easily reach nigerian web host via calls or visitation. If you have renewal problem due to payment methods Nigerian web Host can easily understand and give you extensive grace.

Let me burst your head, do you know that at least hundreds of clients also move away from these reputable foreign web host to one another because of dissatisfaction ?

Understanding your Hosting problem matters and tackling it with equivalent solution is the best and not just a random solution.

@poster above? humble in my request? wonders shall never end. When I have paid? What is this country turning to. You need to see the arrogant mails they sent to me. I have kept stock off them. Not interested in posting screenshots at the moment because I am not out on a vendetta, not yet anyway, or i would not have mentioned their past good behavior. If I pay for a service I am damn well gonna get it and demand it.

I am not arrogant to my clients I am not gonna accept arrogance from my service provider. SMH at the naija mentality. At least oyinbo wont have the gall to be arrogant in their response if dey mess up and i wont mind paying double for that.

@remoranger, I feel your pain, check out these websites justhost.com and bluehost.com. Those are my only recommendations for now outside Nigeria.

remoranger: @Dual Core..pls what hosting company did you migrate to and how is their service like? Thanks. May also need assistance with domain migration.

I started TruDigits in my basement in 2007, went public in 2008, incorporated in 2010 and still going strong with a small dedicated crew.

We have had our own share of downtimes (on some servers), about 3 downtimes in the last 4 years with a total outage of about 18 hours. These downtimes were experienced on the shared hosting plans (the reason for my first comment). Those on the VPS plans have had no issues. I am not really a fan of the 100% uptime lies. Webservers crash every hour around the world. What makes a webhost strong is the ability to contain and control damage, keeping those affected fully aware of the situation at any point.

TruDigits.com


If you want a recommendation outside NIgeria, I will recommend WebhostingBuzz.com. They are very good and I built my business model based on theirs and its worked so well and my clients are happy

@dual core thanks for your recommendations.

@mr perfect. You on point. I just checked out hostgator and I now know I have been paying through my nose for epileptic services. Also reviewing the nigerian hosting companies recommended. Would defo do some accounts with any reasonable host.

Unlike my deal with mcreal where I have never been to their office or dont even know the face of this jude guy, I will have to visit their offices just to be sure.

I just learnt hostgator has just been hacked! I hope you know what you are going into. Hosgator in addittion has many downtimes you will be frustrated. I advise you to pick a dependable host from http://bestwebhostingoffers..com The owner I guess only features the best host you can get.

I'll recommend Trudigits . .

Been using them for close to 2years now and I still haven't experienced any downtime. .I'm currently hosting 3 of my sites with them and so far, they've been pretty impressive. .

Mr. Globe:
I just learnt hostgator has just been hacked! I hope you know what you are going into. Hosgator in addittion has many downtimes you will be frustrated. I advise you to pick a dependable host from http://bestwebhostingoffers..com The owner I guess only features the best host you can get.

I use Hostgator for some sites. I dont know the many downtimes you are talking about

^
you dont know what you are talking about. The hostgator I know and used servers go down often. My new web hosts are a million years ahead of gator in uptimes and features. If its good for you then continue

Mr. Globe:
^
you dont know what you are talking about. The hostgator I know and used servers go down often. My new web hosts are a million years ahead of gator in uptimes and features. If its good for you then continue

Its you who dont know what you are talking about. I also use hostgator and maintain that I dont see the frequent downtimes you are talking about.

Downtimes could mean anything to a client: from a full server crash to a firewall IP block on a user's IP as a result of some security breach or rule trigger.

soloqy:

I use Hostgator for some sites. I dont know the many downtimes you are talking about

soloqy:

Its you who dont know what you are talking about. I also use hostgator and maintain that I dont see the frequent downtimes you are talking about.

Based on reviews, hostgator is one of the best. but I don't like the way they treat people from naija. i know they might have been duped before, but the level of scrutiny they make on us makes it seem as though they don't even wish to do business with us. i purchase a reseller account froom them some years ago, which they later retrieved and refunded my cash, asking my for my ID, which i scanned and sent to them. then they said I must scan and send a copy of my GTB Visa Card statement of acccount with the Visa card number written on it, which the Bank frowns at,saying that it often leads to fraud. why should one display his card number---a personal detail.

Since other options they gave were very expensive, I couldn't continue with them, though I seem to love their service.

So, my questions are;
1. Which other foreign web Hosting Service Coys can serve as good or even better alternative to hostgator?

2. How can I get to buy the service from Hostgator easily?

3. Which Nigerian coy offers a reliable service; has hope for continuity, even in the absence of the owner; and is not a one-man affair?

will you compare hostgator to bluehost or hostmonster. You guys are def missing

Mr. Globe:
will you compare hostgator to bluehost or hostmonster. You guys are def missing

I also have a site on bluehost and they are not better than hostgator.

soloqy:

I also have a site on bluehost and they are not better than hostgator.

I disagree with you. I dumped hostgator. I know many people who did, besides, google is your friend but anyway its objective so whatever soothes you

Mr. Globe:

I disagree with you. I dumped hostgator. I know many people who did, besides, google is your friend but anyway its objective so whatever soothes you

Exactly! Its your prerogative who you prefer. I say I prefer Hostgator from experience. I use Hostgator and I use Bluehost. Just as people are *dumping* hostgator, is the same way some are *dumping* bluehost. Like I said, I use bluehosts as well and they are not better than Hostgator...

remoranger: Please I need recommendations. I need a good hosting company, preferably foreign. Been using mcreal.net for 5 years, but dey have started acting up and going the way of all naija companies. Thanks

Hi,
I would recommend http://www.tucktail.com/, i host my website with them. They are fast, secure, cost effective and provides 24/7 Email, Phone & Web Support!! Also,they provide multiple hosting plans!!! I've been with them for a few years now, and they are really good and trustworthy!!!

Switch to GigaLayer for quality and reliable service. Free site transfer service to move your website from mcreal to your new GigaLayer.

Checkout... http://gigalayer.com