Have been having a lot of problems with iPowerWeb.com since they completed a server migration last weekend. Part of the move was changing PHP to run as a CGI script, and turning on an outbound firewall limiting outbound connections. This is important if you have a database located elsewhere, or if you want to do off-site backups. Dealing with their tech support has been difficult because shared hosting calls are directed to a non-technical call center in the Philippines, and they are not responding to trouble tickets. Moral of the story: shared hosting is not worth the hassle.

I woke up today to complaints that one of my websites was down. It was hosted at Host Gator, who’s motto is “we eat up the competition”. When I called them, they said that my entire account had been deleted off of their web and DNS servers without explanation. Perhaps their motto could be “we eat up users’ accounts”? They refunded me three months automatically, so I must give them some credit for being proactive. However, the fact that they don’t back up anything on their servers is where my greatest concern lies.
Bad Webhosting

Not a week goes by without another two hour outage at DreamHost. Again they are dealing with network issues, but they are getting better about the proactive communication with customers. Chatter on the status messageboard is reminding some shocked new customers about the 97 day money-back-guarantee.
DreamHost Outage

More router IOS problems at DreamHost. The question that needs to be answered is why a single problem with their network equipment can take down their entire network infrastructure? I think they are a great group of people, but as a customer the ongoing network problems and lack of phone support are hard to stomach.
Network Problems – router issues persist

DreamHost is down again. But this time, they’ve turned off customer comments on the DreamHostStatus webspage because they realized that their customers were taking out all their frustration on the appropriate party.
“DreamHost is experiencing a return of network problems”

A lot of angry DreamHost customers arguing on the DreamHostStatus.com forums. Looks like DreamHost network was down for about 3.5 hours, starting around 11:15 AM PT. No word yet from DH on the cause.
DreamHost reports “Network Slowness”

How do webhosting companies without telephone support stay in business? The two worst offenders areDreamHost and OnSmart. The strange thing is that OnSmart is a million times better than DreamHost because they have a chat window on their homepage that is staffed 24×7, while most server outages at DreamHost take 30 – 90 minutes to resolve.
DreamHost

Did you ever wonder why some hosting companies are cheaper than others? One of the cheaper solutions out there is Server Beach with dedicated servers starting at $79/month. What do you get for that money? Well, today working DNS server would not be part of the bargain. Their ironically named “GeoDNS” DNS service has fallen victim to a single hardware failure “in (their) San Antonio datacenter“, according to VP Robert Miggens.
San Antonio NameServer switch down

From an outage e-mail “…the generator became unstable due to the encountered temperatures and began to lose power. We decided – in the best interest – to perform an emergency shutdown of the entire Data Center power grid and to resolve all power related problems.”
IX Web Hosting

DreamHost has a blog. Probably not news to most of you. Their Anatomy of a(n ongoing) Disaster.. entry is particularly insightful.