OT: Should I be Looking for a New Web Host?

[Stephen]

OK, I develop my web sites on a Linux box....

But I am seeking thoughts from people who are likely on this list.

I have a number of low volume web sites, non-commercial. Reliability is 
not mission critical.

I had been with a US host for three years and had no known downtime. I 
switched last spring to a local company, and have had three significant 
periods of being down. Most recently noon yesterday and it continues as 
I write this 20 hours later.

There is no telephone support. I sent emergency emails and got responses 
saying "it should be fixed, try it"

When I pinged my domain, I received an error saying host could not be 
found. I figure the hosts DNS server  was the problem.But the support 
staff do not seem to have the skill set to resolve issues such as this.

They use packages like VHCS or cPanel and can only operate within their 
GUI's.

I am being switched to cPanel since it gets better support (and VHCS has 
poor support). These are from the hosting company. How to interpret is 
an open question.

I am pissed. I was trying to organize an event for Sunday, but the 
interruption in email seems to have torpedoed  that.

On the one hand I want to switch hosts, out of principle. On the other, 
I don't think that I will get any better service elsewhere unless I pay 
significantly more.

Wish I paid some attention to the web hosting thread.

All thoughts appreciated.

Stephen



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