My review and feedback on JustHost web hosting from a client perspective

When it comes to web hosting servers, here are the questions that always come to mind:
- Does this web hosting server have good support?
- How often is this web hosting server down?
- Is the server fast enough?

This review is based on my previous experience with Dot5Hosting, a low cost web hosting server like JustHost.

It’s not easy to find reviews and feedback on shared servers or dedicated hosting, so I wanted to share my experience with my shared server at justhost.com. I have been a customer of theirs for eight months now. Before JustHost, I used Dot5Hosting for four months.
The major problem with Dot5Hosting was the slow speed of my shared server. For example, I was running WordPress PHP script and it took between 10 and 15 seconds to load a page. This was awful even with cache plug-ins installed. The other problem was the support. I constantly explained to the support staff that the server was slow but they took no action. They told me that it was fine. Well, 10 to 15 seconds to load a page is NOT fine so I decided to move on.

Here are the criterias I was after:
- Reliable server: I can’t imagine my server being down too often;
- Fast server: as I said, 10 seconds to load a page is too much; and
- Fast support response: when you have an issue with your server, you don’t want the support to reply a day later.

I looked around and decided on JustHost web hosting.

Here are the details of my hosting contract:
* Unlimited GB’s of Space
* Unlimited GB’s of Transfer
* Unlimited Domain Hosting
* Unlimited E-Mail Accounts
* Unlimited MySQL Databases
* 1 to 3 Free Domains For Life

I did not try the “Free Domains For Life” but it looks quite interesting. For some of you who don’t already have an URL yet, you can simply register one domain with them!

Here are the details of my server
* MySql Version: 5.0.90-community
* Apache version: 2.2.11
* Php Version: 5.2.10
* Cpanel version 11.25.0-STABLE

First, let’s start with the good points:

- The support is very responsive. I usually contact them using the chat function, which is on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Let me tell you that this is AWESOME. It usually takes no more than five minutes to reach someone when the chat is busy. Otherwise, you can talk to someone within one or two minutes. I can say that 90% of the time, they have been able to fix the issue.
- In case they cannot fix the issue, you can email the support staff. They usually take no more than 15 minutes to fix the issue. This is the great point.
- My server is quite fast compared with my previous experience at Dot5Hosting. The pages load just fine and my WordPress blog is no longer so slow.
- You can manage lots of settings on your server with their Cpanel. I rarely need to request support to change the setup on my web shared server, I can usually do it on my own.

Now, what about the down sides?

- In my opinion, the server has been down a lot of the time. It was once down for more than two hours. Well, trust me, you don’t want your server to be down at all.
- A minor problem is their PHP version. They are using PHP 5.2.1. This is not bad at all but I need some of the functionality of PHP 5.3.0. The company staff told me they are not going to switch over to PHP 5.3.0 for a few months.

When shopping around for a low cost shared server, don’t expect to get all the services you request for the price. You won’t find the best web hosting, but you will find the web hosting that best suit you. My overall feeling is that JustHost is a pretty good Linux hosting company for the price you pay.

I’m currently looking for a Windows server for another project. I’m still going to keep my account at JustHost to host my current project. I might choose a VPS solution. I will let you know how it goes in another post.

If you guys have good feeback on windows vps server, let me know

You can get the details of their hosting plans here: http://www.justhost.com/