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Date Submitted :
September 10th, 2009
Length of time hosted by this company :
6 - 12 months
Overall Rating :
5 out of 5
Reliability :
5 out of 5
Support :
5 out of 5
Pricing :
5 out of 5
Verdict :
great hosting. excellent one-on-one service. top company to deal with. highly recommended.
-eric of wild dog studios
webmaster for Carl who is owner of Sawyer House of Yakima.com
Excellent and timely tech support, very affordable. Have to rely on their tech support to set up certain settings, but they are very willing to do so, and they do it promptly upon request.
I have been hosting all my website with U2-Web for over two years now with great satisfaction. Excellent service, even on issues not directly related to hosting.
We used to have a different host, and had a lot of problems with down time, especially email. It was killing us and so I researched hosts based on uptime and price, looking for a new home. I chose U2 about 2 years ago and they have been all that I could hope for, with absolutely no problems since we moved to their hosting service. When I need support, it is quick and takes care of the issue with no attitude. I am not an IT guy so this is important to me.
From my experience with them, I can honestly and easily recommend them as the host for your web site and email service.
Regards,
Ernest
I do not know how those guys keep the prices so low for the level of support they provide. In the past week (I only had service with U2-web for 1 week) I spent at least 5 hours chatting with them trying to configure the website the way i want it. Every conversation was pleasant and helpful. Every question resolved to my satisfaction. No complains about stupidity of the questions or late time (few conversations went past midnight).
I do not have enough data about reliability and uptime, but the customer service is the BEST.
Back in March '07 I posted saying I looked forward to more years with U2 and 2 years later I am still just as pleased with the service they offer.
Support is fast, efficient, friendly and understandable even for technical twits like I am! Not once have I felt talked down to because I asked a daft question and I have asked some daft ones for sure.
Pricing is still great
Reliability is 100% I honestly cannot remember the last downtime our site has had that wasnt because of something I did.
Fantastic hosts with great people.
More years of reliable hosting to come from U2 I am sure.
Highly recommend.
Had some domains at 1&1 which I hadn't moved out of laziness. However, they made me mad for the final time and I'll be bringing the rest of my domains over now.
Service is prompt and excellent. It's not 24-hour support -- seems like one of two people generally respond to my inquiries, but they are very good and fast when they are available with their live chat.
Highly recommended -- even with the price. It's so worth the extra $5/month compared to some cheap host you are looking at elsewhere.
Note: I don't use their mail services. I use Mailtrust for that.
I am brand new to u2-web and planned on waiting to give a review, but I feel that some recent reviews here are unfair so I'd like to chime in.
I am in the process of migrating a current site (asp.net) to drupal (php). I've been extremely happy with my current host, so my research into new hosting companies was intensive. In addition to my research through sites like this and others, I sent preliminary emails to 7 different hosting companies.
By far and away the most complete, thorough, and personalized response to my questions came from u2-web. In fact, after answering every single question I had one by one, they ended an email as follows:
"seriously it can be a harrowing time to move ones site and business across, your saving grace is that you may choose u2-web, we can hold your hand all the way through this process."
We all know that the "unlimited bandwidth" offered by other hosts isn't true. I went with u2-web because 1) they backed up their service reputation with the responses to my preliminary emails and 2) they let you know exactly what you're getting with the plan you choose.
Since I've signed up, every single question I have had has been answered immediately and intelligently. I've noticed no downtime and my site loads faster than ever.
A little over a year ago I was looking for a host to set up some sites. The choices are daunting, to say the least. After reading countless reviews of many of the top rated hosts, u2-web was among the top candidates. I think the deciding factor, after price, features and reputation, was that they are UK based (though their datacenter in in the US). I have an affinity for the UK, and listen to the BBC all the time.
I don't think I have ever had to call customer support. Most everything I wanted to do just worked, and any problems I had were quickly solved by their self-support.
Very happy with u2-web, and would not hesitate to recommend them.
The site is a complete waste of time their support is nothing like what they say ring for 20 mins and get no answer, Yes their online support is always online but they never answer, Try and move a domain from one server to another and they dont even understand how to set the ISP tags so that you are able to transfer. This is something that every hosting service should know i would never recommend this service EVER.
Three years ago? They were a great host. Fast customer service, great price, and rarely any downtime.
In general, they're WERE great.
But then!
Their prices raised just enough where I decided it might be a good time to find somewhere cheaper. I saw a ton of awesome reviews on PolurNET, so after much pondering, I decided to go for it. I wanted to transfer my name, and in order to do that, I needed to change the name servers that my domain pointed to.
This is apparently quite an issue with U2 Web, and they wanted me to pay for another month of service in order for me to change the name servers. I think this is ridiculous. I paid for that domain, so shouldn't I own it? When I first signed up with U2 Web, they used my info as the registrar. I checked again this year (3 years later) and somewhere along the way, they changed the registrar's info to their own.
So my domain is held hostage by U2 Web.
PolurNET doesn't do this (they register the domain name with your info so that you officially own it). Don't fall victim to this kind of blackmail! Avoid U2 Web like the plague if you're looking for honest customer service. Your money is their prey.
We both know that what you have posted is not accurate. I\'ll go point by point to show this.
Price: You were on a legacy plan and that plan hasn\'t changed price in at least a year. With that said, you must be okay with paying that amount as the new host you\'re using charges the same amount, for less disk space, bandwidth, and other items.
Domain issues: We gave you all information required to transfer your domain, however, your new host didn\'t seem to explain how to do that in their systems and so you were unfortunately confused on what to do. As for paying for another month of service, I believe that was a mis-communication on both sides. Apparently, however, we aren\'t holding your domain hostage as it is no longer registered with us. We never hold a domain or customer hostage.
Whois issue: As explain to you in the ticket, before you posted this, that was caused by an old system that hasn\'t been used in a couple years. That system registered domains using our info and customers were advised to change it after registration. That is one reason we aren\'t using that system anymore. This point is the ONLY point in your post that is accurate.
I am sorry that you feel the need to post false info just to \"get back at us\" for new host\'s lack of support on the domain transfer.
First, I'll say that these folks were supportive and nice, and half of what I'm about to say is more related to my frustration trying to transfer my site to U2 Web.
I got EPP keys from my current web host, but twice they did not work to successfully transfer to U2 Web. Even though I had no service or website being hosted at U2 Web since the transfer was not successful, I was being billed monthly. I would have rather had them tell me, when the transfer didn't go through, say, we can suspend your account and not bill you until this works out. Or tell me that I would be credited for what I paid. But it was pretty rigid customer service, stating that once you sign up, even if your site isn't successfully transferred, you will get billed.
Again, a lot of the blame goes to my existing company, for which I may have to hire a lawyer to get my site released from their paws. But still I guess I hold companies to the standard of customer service I provide to my customers, and U2 Web did not meet that standard. I have left them - and about $40 of my money with no services to show for it - and am looking for a new host.
I agree with you that 99.9% of these issues were caused by your current host and registrar, but I fail to see why you would bring in u2-web to that argument. Your account was setup as you requested pending a domain name transfer to u2-web services as a registrar, on more than one occasion you failed to complete this correctly, each time support staff had to advise you how to enter a EPP code.
You were not billed $40 for your account, you was billed $9.99 and stayed with us for a month.
Im sorry you have to possibly look in to a laywer to get your site released but that is not what this review site is about, please post your current complaint for your host and registrar in thier review section not ours.
I have being using U2-Web for at least 5 years. When ever there have been problems, they have done there best to resolve them. I am a very happy customer.
Having found this hosting company through webhostingjury.com, and opting for it because of great number of very positive reviews, I think it would be fair to add my opinion which is nothing but positive as well.
U2-Web is the best hosting company I've ever had business with. I've changed about 7 providers in last few years and they all had various problems from lousy support, feature dropouts, downtimes and one of them virtually disappearing overnight.
My review is based on their shared Linux hosting plans.
SUPPORT. This company has great, timely support. They will go as far as to recommend other companies and solutions, if what you require is not within their domain of service. They offer support through online chat module and via support tickets / email.
PRICING. U2-Web is one of the rare companies that are not overselling their resources. Many companies will offer incredible amounts of bandwidth and space (often much more than what even dedicated server can offer, let alone a shared account!), creating an illusion that they are extremely cheap, per megabyte. In reality, though, shared hosting can only offer so much, and U2-Web offers exactly what is in the realm of possibilities of a shared host and their price is adequate.
RELIABILITY. I have never noticed any downtimes even if there were any. The servers are fast and responsive. It is worth mentioning that unlike some shared hosts, U2-Web maintains a shared cluster, meaning they use separate servers for separate services: web, database, email, control panel, which is excellent.
CONTROL PANEL. They use H-Sphere. This was my first encounter with H-Sphere, having used only cPanel in the past. The interface is clean, concise and configuring your site(s) is straightforward. There is even a good number of third party web applications (forums, CMS), all popular applications like phpBB, Wordpress, ... I never needed those so I cannot review the installation procedures. However, it is not lacking in software.
OVERALL. Excellent, quality hosting with quality support. Recommended!
I am changing all 5 of my personal web sites as well as my other clients websites to U2-Web. I have been with Valuweb, who have recently been bought out by HostWay, for over the last 8 years. I am a very loyal person.(To a Point) Hostway/Valueweb happen to be one of the oldest and largest web hosting companies around.(They are owned by Infinity Broadcasting). Until recently I have been to busy to research today's market place and really look into what some of the newer hosting companies had to offer.(Needless to say, I found out I have been paying out the Ass for 8 years). Over the last year my sites have been going down and their email services have been on the blink. I decided to take the time and do some research. This website(webhosting jury.com )became a good informational outlet. I was able to read reviews about a large majority of hosting sites that are available in todays marketplace. After doing a lot of research and actually calling a lot of hosting companies, as well as talking to their sales people,tech support(if I could get past all of the recordings and get some one to answer the phone) I have discoverd this. Just because you are huge and have been around a long time, (Like my old hosting company) doesn't mean you are good, it just means your old and need to loose some weight. U2-web has already provided me with exceptional custom pricing. Unlike like my previous cookie cutter company.I even gave Valueweb the oppurtunity to keep me as a client. They said they can't offer a custom plan, and I have to pick from one of their 3 cookie cutter plans, take it or leave it, I left. U2-web is not only saving me a ton of money, but have already shown me exceptional customer support. As you know the biggest pain in changing Hosting companies is transferring all of your site files,domains,ect. All I can say is at this point,they are making this extremely easy. Steven and Niguel have been awesome. I am really looking forward to getting everything switched over to U2. This way I can focus on running my business and making money. Their is nothing worse than wondering why your sites aren't making any sales only to find they are off line, AGAIN!!
There is always potential for overload issues with shared hosting but after endless problems of slow loading with one host and problems of the host simply failing to keep on top of abuse from other users with a second host, I searched for a better host.
I spent weeks reading the claims and the I settled on U2-Web as a 'possible' and I telephoned their sales department (yes, they have telephone access) and I told them my concerns and about the experiences I had had, and I listened carefully to the way the guy handled my questions, and something about the way he did that made me think it was worth the risk.
Their control panel is c-panel in everything but name; database set-up is pretty straightforward, ftp is no problem and the site has performed flawlessly since I set it up.
I have not been a customer for long, so things could go wrong, but I am guessing that things will continue to be good. I think U2-Web could be the one. I think it is.
Hi David, thank you for your review after being a customer of ours for a short time, as you get to know our cluster and account portal, you will soon see the major differences clustered hosting and Hsphere have, and will agree it is totally different from cpanel.
With U2-Web for 2 years. Their support is excellent, quick and helpfull. Never had a problem with the service with one exception:
Always found the site slow in the Control Panel & site management. Often had to re-login up to 4 times during site management operations. It could be a bit frustrating. However I would still reccomend U2 web overall to new users.
Thank you for your review Jaye, ISP routes to hosts can sometimes take the long route to anywebsite as 'tracert' often shows. All you can do is keep on at your ISP.
I stumbled upon U2-Web a couple of years ago while seeking a lower cost host for a new "Just for Fun" personal site . . . And found one of the BEST hosting companies on the web! I highly recommend U2-Web to anyone looking for outstanding, friendly, and reliable web hosting services (the low cost hosting fees are just a BIG bonus!) Several friends have moved their business sites to U2-Web and I plan to move my primary corporate web site to U2-Web soon as well. Thanks for the great service U2-Web!
I love U2-WEB. They rescued me from Infinology. I have never EVER had a problem with editing my pages and/or users getting to my web site. I love this host.
this is my second 5-star post. now that i've been this company for three months and have 4 different sites hosted by them, i just wanted to let everyone know what i think of U2-web now:
FANTASTIC!
they're truly amazing. there has never been a problem they couldn't help me with. and so you know, every problem to date has been mine. there has never been a problem at their end. flawless operation.
and they offer help FAST. and always politely.
so here's a personal note to steven and nigel of U2-web: thank you guys. you're great!
to anyone looking for a new host - i highly recommend these guys.
I needed an inexpensive, yet reliable host for a php/mysql based forum. U2-Web has met my needs perfectly and exceeded my expectations the couple times I needed support. I would (and do) recommend them to anyone who needs a great host for sites large or small.
Once again Steven has saved me from myself - U2 allows you access to many settings on the server and I messed up my DNS name server - didn't realize it and had email problems, he diagnosed the problem and fixed it within minutes. I host a couple of sites with them and another site with another BIG provider, it is so much easier to deal with the sites on U2 and their response time, on line reliability and pricing has been excellent. Only thing I wish... video streaming capability. Maybe that's in the works, I haven't asked so I can't blame them for not having it.
Hello Richard, thanks for your feedback, it is appreciated. Video streaming, such as YouTube, is a item we are looking in to. There are many ways to accomplish this and so we can't support all of them without loading up the server, which may cause problems as well as hardware upgrade complexities.
At the end of the day though, we would rather have stable and good preforming servers, rather then offering everything under the sun and causing resources on the server to be overused and then having to force people off.
I don't have much experience with other web hosting services, so it's hard to compare, but so far I've been impressed that my support tickets get answered quickly by people who seem to be technically savvy.
Some of the instructions for configuring things assume you are using their DNS servers to host your domain's DNS records. When I ran into problems using third-party DNS hosting, they were able to help me diagnose the problem, but it still would have been nice if the instructions were clearer (i.e. where I needed to point MX and CNAME records to get their webmail access to work).
The one downside I see to u2 is that they don't allow ssh access, so you're stuck with the crappy control panel / file manager interface. If you don't care about unix shell access, this won't be an issue. There's nothing I wanted to do that I haven't been able to do with the file manager, but almost everything would be easier with real shell access.
About the DNS issue you mention, 95% -- if not more -- of customers of any host will use that host's nameservers. So, it's a safe assumption and when it's realized that isn't the case, then we give details on what to use at the other DNS server.
As for SSH, it's in the pipeline. Currently the shell offered through the control panel is not secure (not chrooted and jailed) enough for our tastes and we'd rather not offer it, instead of risk the security of the server.
Prior to hosting with U2-Web, I had only been hosted by one other company in 5 years of operation. My former company set the bar pretty high and I was leary about moving my site to another host, in fear of losing what I had in uptime, service, support, speed.
I contacted U2-web via telephone after reading their reviews here on webhostingjury. I waited approximately 30 seconds before being connected to a sales agent. (Steven).
Little did steven know that I had a list of questions as long as my arm waiting for him. But as fast as I read them off, he asnwered them completely and without hesitation.
It was after our conversation that my fears had subsided and I decided to make the move. Within 1.5 hours of purchasing hosting with them, my site was up and ready to go!
U2-web made the move not only fast, but made it almost effortless on my part. Since that day, my site has only been down once, NOT because of their service, but because of my own mistake. I might add, they fixed it within 20 minutes of me emailing support!
If you are thinking about getting a host for your website, or moving your site to U2-web, take my word for it, these guys ROCK.
Hello Dave, thanks for the review. I'm glad that the move worked out good for you and that we could meet the high benchmark that you had received with your previous host.
i have to tell you all that the people at u2-web are absolutely incredible!!!!
i am a newbie at web design, just getting my feet wet. oh, i've put together a few single-page template sites that came with free hosting, but this was my first try at an honest-to-goodness Real World HTML site hosted at a real hosting company.
after reading and listening to hundreds of suggestions on-line about who is the best host, i discovered this Jury site. the fact that we're dealing with actual user reviews makes all the difference.
i was looking for the highest-rated company with the largest number of positive reviews. my first pick was u2-web. i read though the user reviews and they seem to say that one of the best things about u2-web was how great the support was. i knew i'd need that so i gave them a try.
YES! the support is truly amazing!
first thing i tried even before signing up was to call their support line and see how long it was before i got a human who could answer my questions. time? 10 seconds! i got Steven who is in management and really knows his stuff. once i explained what i needed he suggested an even cheaper solution than i had come up with (imagine: they actually suggested something to a potential client that wouldn't make them additional income. when was the last time you heard of that?)
so i signed up.
i then went about building a site i could publish. being a beginner i ran into lots of problems. i must have written u2-web a dozen emails with some very confusing questions yet every single one was answered within an hour, most within minutes. they (steven and nigel) offered suggestions, made changes for me at their end, told me how to do things step-by-step. never once did they get frustrated or blow me off. they were very very patience with me. they never once suggested it was my fault (which of course it was) nor it being a software problem nor anything else. they just tried and tried to help me.
it took me days at the computer to figure out what i was doing wrong but at last i now have a fully functional site up and running.
i have nothing negative to say about u2-web.
i can tell you that getting into this business in general is hard for any newbie. if you're not a techie and all you need is a simple website, i think ANY firm like this is probably too hard to handle it requires a lot of knowledge about HTML, FTPs, tags, paths, shells and tons of other things that mean nothing to a beginner. this is not an easy task for a first-timer.
but if you do your homework and desire a real host for your site, there's probably no place better to be than with these folks.
oh sure, you might find someplace a little bit cheaper, but remember:
you usually get what you pay for.
Hello Eric, thanks for your feedback. Just like starting anything new, it is a challenge at first, but like the old adage says, practice makes perfect. We try to help with that challenge as much as possible, though we can't do everything for a customer at times, we can give them pointers and such.
Just setup hosting with U2-Web and am in the process of getting my new site up and running. With any new setup you always run into issues getting used to the hosts control panel, getting your applications set up, getting things working, etc. and sure enough, I did. But am very happy to say that when I needed their help, they were there. ANY ticket I submitted had a response in less than 10 minutes and the staff at U2 were always willing to help work through an issue. Even though the issues turned out to be some issues on my end, they stuck with me, and helped with a solution. EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE! Glad I decided to host with U2-Web!
U2-web was recommended to us by someone who had researched reviews of many hosting companies before choosing U2-web to host his sites. U2-web has provided excellent and very prompt service and troubleshooting transferring our blog to their hosting. Our previous host wanted to charge me $75 an hour to upgrade the blog program he had set us up with. U2 web upgraded the program for free.
Maria
Hello Maria, thanks for the feedback. I'm glad one of our staff could help with that script upgrade, which isn't an officially offered service and was probably done during off peak hours/off shift for that staff. When we can help with such items, we try to.
The technical guys are very helpful, profesional and courteous. The problem that I find is - that as a UK customer, there is obviously a big time difference between our countries. Frequently when I ask for help there is no response for a long time.
U2-Web has been a great host!!! Haven't noticed any downtime. They are very quick to respond to help desk tickets!! I had a problem after updating a script on the site and they were able to restore the site from a backup very quickly!!! EXCELLENT SERVICE!! I recommend U2-Web to all my clients!!
After a 3+ year run with Apollo Hosting that went from average to nightmarish, culminating with one straight week of downtime and the tech support team unresponsive or casting the blame at us, I vowed to better research our next hosting choice. I looked over the sea of potential hosting companies, many that placed at the top 99% on customer satisfaction reviews, only to find that many of these companies high %'s were based on only a few reviews. I began to sort through the litany and stumbled on U2-Web. This company stood out beyond the rest, not just in their strong ratings but in that they appeared to have personally responded to every reviewer no matter what the tenor of the review. The fact that this company cared enough to follow up even with the customer that may have had an issue, told me that they TRULY cared about ALL there customers. I called U2-Web's toll free line and almost immediately got a live person. I spoke with Steven and told him that I needed to get my site and mail up ASAP given the down time caused by my previous hosting company. Contrary to the 24 - 72 hr. expectancy, Steven had our site up in 3 hours! This included the web migration and some copy tweaks that they were able to make for me. I have been with U2-Web going on 5 months now. Reliability has been 100%. The personal care from Steven and the gang is second-to-none. Yes, I have finally found my hosting home and they offer technical excellence, AND first rate supportÖ with a heart!
Like many have pointed out, U2-Web has provided excellent and reliable service. Customer support has been extremely fast and helpful. Highly recommended.
I wanted to move several sites I managed for professional fiction writers from free hosters with banner ads to a hoster without ads. My criteria was simple:
1) All the sites under one account
2) Manage the sites *easily* through an online builder
3) Have a different look-and-feel for each site
4) Reasonably-responding customer support
5) Move an additional $7-8/mo site under that account, too
6) Stay within the $7-8/mo I was paying for #4
I found all of that and more with U2-Web! After several days of analysis, I narrowed it down to HostGator and U2-Web and signed up for both of them for 30 days for trial. In the end, U2-Web hit all 6 points with their Ares plan, so I chose them. Since then, it's been 4 months without a single glitch.
Initially, I was apprehensive because they don't own their own data center, and the one they use is in the UK (I live in the US), but their customer service was absolutely first-rate, and I decided that those issues weren't that important to me, ultimately.
So long as the UK data center reselling isn't an issue, U2-Web will treat you right for only $7.99/mo.
Hello Dan, thanks for your review, it is appreciated. I would like to clear up a statement you made.
Our datacenter is not located in the UK, but rather in Dallas, TX USA -- as our site states. Also, we aren't a reseller. Do we operate/own our datacenter? Nope, just like hundreds, even thousands of other hosts that are very good at hosting -- just like us. Do we resell datacenter services? Nope as they don't do hosting, but just servers. This industry is very specialized where companies do datacenters, some do hosting, some do just the net connections -- sure some do all two or all of those. We do the hosting and let the datacenter worry about the network, the infrastructure, etc. Why should we do a datacenter when we can use the best datacenter out there? It doesn't make business sense. It makes business sense to focus on what we do best, hosting. A lot of hosts do it this way, and some are a lot bigger then us.
We were with Startlogic for our first few years and the service was awful. We joined u2-Web in December 2006 and it has been excellent. Reliable service, good value and most importantly excellent customer and technical support.
U2-Web's servers are reliable. Another plus is the variety and depth of Easy Apps applications that they have. There are downsides with using this host, however. E.g.
1)I was charged additional database administrator (DBA) costs for having an extra DBA for a database...I only knew this when I complained about being charged...there was no mention of this additional pricing on their website.
2)They don't willing maintain your Fantastico scripts by having a maintenance button which facilitates easy update of same. (Persons hosting sites with them, prior to their (U2-Web's) migration to Hsphere and hence Easy Apps scripts, only had Fantastico scripts to choose from.)
You have to dig into the manuals of your scripts to know how to do these updates, as this web host will not maintain same, without charging a fee.
3) Hosting websites with this host is not for newbie web masters or web masters without extensive PHP experience,or these guys will charge you to perform every maintenance detail.
I only recommend them due to the positives mentioned above.
Gillian, we have discussed these items with you directly as well as in previous reviews. This review is basically a duplicate review from your May 11, 2007.
I will not discuss this publicly as I believe it will put a bad light on you and am not prepared to do so to a customer.
However, I will contact you directly to discuss this review with you.
Very responsive to all of my questions even before I signed up. Sign up and transfer was very smooth, and my email has never been better. I'm only a month or so in, but so far so good.
You know, I posted before back in May, 2006, and I'm going to post again. Because I love these guys.
I admit that I cannot approach U2-Web as an Internet neophyte - I am an Internet professional with over 12 years of experience. But for those with experience and are looking for a reliable shared host with stellar customer service, these guys more than get the job done. I have had a lot of experience with bad hosts over the years, but U2-Web is not one of them. These guys kick butt.
Have a question at 12:30 am? Shoot off an e-mail and you'll have a response by 12:45 am. Problem with their servers or a change in their service? They do send out timely e-mail to let you know.
With the exception of the Denial of Service attack last year, reliability just hasn't been a problem. And while I think the customer support did suffer a bit during the transfer to the new servers (I did get one or two curt answers related to my site and other client sites at the time, sorry U2-Web, but it's true), since the rollover they've been back to their incredibly helpful selves.
(But as someone who used to work in a big Internet service development/provider company, I can understand why customer service may have been a little less than perfect during the transfer - it's stressful, sleep-depriving stuff. Keeping everyone up and running and maintaining two separate systems during a migration - it's not easy.)
Their prices have gone up a bit in the past year, but honestly, you get what you pay for. If cost is your primary issue, then these guys may not be for you, since they are more expensive than places like PolurNET or LunarPages. But they are a definitive ROI, never fear, and they aren't THAT much more expensive. Not choosing them because of price is being penny-wise and pound-foolish.
My only real issue with U2-Web these days is that they don't offer unlimited e-mail. Personally, I'm fine with it - if you're a company that actually needs more than 60 e-mail accounts, you should probably be looking at different hosting. But some of the small businesses I work with don't want to host with you because you don't offer unlimited e-mail, where most other hosts do (hence the 4 out of 5 for pricing).
We pride ourselves on our impeccable support and reply times to all our support media thank you for acknowledging that also in your points.
The DOS attack is something all hosts get at one point or another in their business life, we at u2-web were not going to suffer another one and decided to pick up our servers and march straight in to the H-Sphere clustered services, our clients, staff and uptime have never looked back. I do remember the frustration of the move to this day, as well as moving we had to keep clients informed of each individual case history via our forums and some still phoned and asked the same question we had already posted for them on the forum.
The prices do not reflect our hosting, we should be charging a lot more in the scheme of things with a proven independently monitored cluster uptime of 99.969% (at time of reply) for over a year -- few hosts can boast that and very few webmasters enjoy the uptime we give them. I know a few hosts that charge twice, three times for that kind of uptime. Yes, most hosts say they provide 99.9% uptime, but they do not always make that mark -- if ever.
Your point on number of emails is understood and actually we are currently revamping our plans. With that said, don't worry we aren't going the way of oversold hosts.
I have been with U2 for just over 2 months and in that time have had a couple of problems which were quickly resolved. As far as I'm concerned, the technical support and live chat have been excellent.
The main point here is that if you do need help, it's there for you.
Keep it up!!
The most impressive aspect of U2-web is the reaction time for technical queries. I've had a few, since I'm a total beginner at this, and we are in a time zone at least 8 hours different from U2-web. But the answers were there quick as lightning, every time.
So far so good. It has only been a little over a month and well, everything has been fantastic. Using their reseller service and coming from v-deck and cpanel usage, there was a short learning curve, but U2-web has great online tutorials and I have spoken with tech support and used their online chat (at questionable hours of the morning), and they have always responded and I really have tried to find a fault or two but as of yet - just hasnt happened! So I would have to recommend them, highly, based on my experience thus far. Reasonable price, reliable service and good tech support - its a trifecta!
We have not been able to finish our webpage as this computer is a Mac and not compatible with programs to build webpage. Our disappointment is in the way our computer has handled this, not you. You are doing a great job!
I've been with U-Web for over two months now and I've not had one problem with them. Anytime I needed a question answered they provided quick and knowledgeable answer and help. I've even moved one of my customers to U2-Web and the transition went very smoothly with their help. I recommend this company.
I am a new customer with this hosting company and I have to say I have been impressed! My old hosting company (Ipowerweb.com) was useless. Most of the times when I had to contact support, they would tell me everything was okay on their side and end the support session.
I had a recent support call with U2-Web and the tech spend 45 minutes with me on-line trying to fix my problem. Once that didn't work, he said to give him a few hours at it and they ended up solving my problem!
My website response times have never been faster and support level is above and beyond. If you are thinking about switching, this is the company to go with.
After moving from several hosts over the years, I was looking for a company that 'does what it says on the tin' - affordable webhosting. And found it through u2-web.
What I was very very pleasantly suprised with however is that the company take customers very seriously and through a few niggles I had (on my own part) transferring my domains from a certain 9Webhosting (think roman numerals) the u2-web crew couldn't do enough for me to help.
They responded to my queries in double quick time with help I could use and easily understand. I feel safe and secure with this host and would heartily recommend them, u2-web is not just any port in the storm ridden world of bad hosts, its the best you can find. You'll be glad you signed up with them.
Been with this web host for only about almost 2 months and have been really great. I've had no problems with their server or anything. Their customer service is great as well. I just recently had my main domain hacked into and everything deleted but within a couple hours they helped get everything back online for me smoothly and pretty quickly. My last web-host would sometimes take days to respond to your help ticket.
Support seems most important to me, as I find that most hosts I have worked with provide good uptime.
I've used many hosts, and find U2 far above the others. Support questions are answered very quickly and accurately. Unlike some support, U2's support is not only knowledgeable of their servers, but they know how to communicate that information to me.
I'm in the process of moving all the sites I run to U-2, and recommending it to all my clients.
This is probably a good host for people experienced in setting up complicated things, but not good for someone just getting started setting up their own website. At first, customer service was very helpful, but suddenly they started telling me, "Figure it out yourself." It wasn't like I was asking stupid questions, either. I was asking them to help me with services they USED to provide, like updating MYSQRL or whatever programs, but which they stopped doing. If I had the time to figure everything out, like why they are still charging me for an extra database, I would. But I don't, so I'm canceling my service this month.
Hello Laura, thanks for your feedback though negative as it is. As others will see from other reviews, your experience is quite strange as I don't think we've ever told any of our customers to "figure it out for themselves". If you don't understand something we've said, ask! We spend a lot of time writing up instructions for unique things or something that is not documented in our knowledgebase. Not a lot of hosts would spend that much time, especially ones in our cost bracket. Maybe it's just the support person you dealt with or what not and I wish I knew tickets or chats you had with them. In any case, I wish you luck and will await your cancel request.
As for figuring out the extra database, all you have to do is ask. That is what we are here for. We can't read minds, though I do wish we could as that would help in a lot of cases.
The Service has been great, not one hiccup, I would recommend this host to anyone. I haven't used support as of yet for my hosting, only time I used support was when I was purchasing a plan, was some problem with fraud protection but went to live chat, and it was solved, professionally and quick.
extremely fast response time to issues as well as problem resolution. Very impressed about the indepth of knowledge of the support team as well as website uptimes!
Overall, U2-Web is a great host that I would recommend. My site is always up and running. When I update my site, changes are immediately noticeable. The Control Panel, being well-organized and user-friendly, is easy to navigate; same goes for the File Manager and other sections of the CP. Diskspace and Bandwidth are good. The tools provided are great, but for the prices they charge more could be offered. Hassle-free most of the time, occasional snafu can spring up. Asked for assistance once, but the answer given read like it was automated, giving no solution to a problem I later solved on my own. The pros largely outweigh the cons, and I'm happy to have my site hosted by them.
U2-Web's platform is reliable and their customer service used to be ok. However their migration to H-sphere was a disaster for me.
The scripts that I had selected for installation, prior to their H-sphere migration, were just right for me. However, after the migration, some of these scripts, like Moodle, were not present on the new H-sphere platform.
U2-Web was willing to update these scripts as a part of their Byzas hosting package, freely, up until about 2 months after the H-sphere migration. After that, they kept complaining that I was asking them to maintain these scripts (which were now, not a part of H-sphere) and so wanted to charge me for updating same.
I felt robbed, cheated...and I now had to be reading up on database administration to escape these new charges...time that I could have spent developing my website.
My rating reflects the grief they have now given me, due to their inability and unwillingness to make an update screen available for scripts that were on the previous platform, before H-sphere.
- An update screen that would have enabled me to easily update these scripts, in a few clicks, as I used to be able to do.
Hello Gillian, thanks for your feedback, if a little negative and skewed. Yes, we no longer offer Fantastico as it is not available with hsphere. EasyApps is the auto-installer. Even with fantastico, we did not support scripts. We don't support scripts at this time. Does that stop us from helping customers when we can? No. Not a lot of hosts would even touch a script no matter what for the price we charge -- especially for the old plan you are currently on.
We have always worked with you and I'm sorry you think we have tried to rob you for a service that we never offered -- upgrading or maintaining of scripts. Offering such a service is always on the table and may do so in the future for some scripts. Several hosts do this type of service and charge quite a bit more then we would.
Not as cheap as it was when I first signed on, but a quality service nonetheless. Their control panel makes it easy to do pretty much everything I've wanted, and I've had no problems with uptime for the most part. Before they switched from cPanel to h-sphere, there was a DOS attack that took down all the hosted sites for a while but nothing like that has happened since. The live chat help system has always been very helpful. U2-Web is a solid hosting provider whose entry-level services can scale according to your needs.
I've only had a wonderful experience with this company. U2 is always available for my questions and they are quick to respond. This in itself is remarkable. On top of this, they go out of their way to help in anything - one of their staff even incorporated my blog design for me into my site! They are a lovely bunch of people, quick to serve and extremely helpful, i recommend them in a heart beat! You won't go wrong with them.
From all the web hosts I've used in the past, for both personal and professional purposes, I've never been happier than with U2-Web. They are highly reliable, professional and, as other reviewers have already pointed out, they provide excellent and fast support. I highly recommend their services without any doubt.
The support with this company is second to none. I cannot fault it at all. There's always someone ready and waiting to help with any problems. I have not been with the company long, but I am extremely impressed so far. Keep up the good work!
Great service, fast response time to inquiries for assistance. Always very willing and able to help regardless of the circumstance! I have limited ability to manage the website. These guys are very willing to help install any applets and assist with migrations. Up time seems to be 99.999%. I don't remember and lengthy downtime as I've experienced with other horrific hosts.
I move from a windows host to U2-WEB on linux and have found the service to be the most reliable, I have also found the control pannel very easy to use making the first setup and config there after quick. Anyone needing a reliable linux host should check them out.
I am really happy to have found this great hosting service.After you sign up with them, they contact you during the first week just to know if you are happy and have no technie troubles.
I have not really had to use the customer service, because everything was fine with them ( no downtime and no problems).
It's a company that I will recommend without a doubt.
Always responded to my questions quickly. This host seems to be geared towards the professional web designer, but they were still friendly and helpful to a novice such as myself. No hidden fees or surprises, very reliable service. Highly recommend
Plain http hosting is ok, but the only secure access for uploads is through a web based application. I cannot recommend u2-web to friends or family since I *do not* want them uploading without SFTP/SSH support. I've had to clean off too many zombie PCs already, and don't want to do it with web hosts too.
Also, because of a "limitation of the billing system", the the 12.5% "promotions can only be applied to new accounts" even though it says on the front page "offer is valid for new and existing customers alike!"
Double talk like this makes me wary of what other "limitations" may pop up in the future...
Hello, thanks for your feedback. However, I would like to clarify a couple points you've made.
Firstly, SFTP/SSH is not available due to security concerns with the shell, as we've stated before. To offer it would do just what you don't want, insecurity. SFTP is only available with SSH and so can't offer either. I do understand your concerns, however, our servers are secure and there is very little chance someone would be in a position to sniff your password.
As we state on our promo information, the offer is for orders which existing customers can use if they want to order a new account. I have added emphasis to the promo text to try and avoid future confusion on this.
I have received an extremely competative hosting plan from U2 Web. The exceptional support that I have received has helped me learn an immense amount about web design and hosting. In essence I really have received a fantastic service and would recommend them to everyone
U2-Web has been an excellent web-hosting choice for me. Their customer service is outstanding. My page was attacked by script kiddies on several occasions and U2-Web responded quickly and effectively, helping to harden my site against further attacks.
Pricing and reliability are also superb. I couldn't be happier.
Just a bit rocky when I first signed on but has improved greatly since. The 4 out of five for support is simply because there is no phone support and is not a reflection of a particular incident.
Services provided are above normal, including software provided, and personal customer support. Often a question via email takes a few minutes to be answered. My last provided took days or weeks or never. Although not one of the best providers for cost per megabyte provided, the reliability and services makes it a good value. It will be interesting to see if the services remain acceptable as the provider grows with it's success.
As a first time creator of a website, my priority in finding a web host was decent customer support. U2-web have been excellent - replying to my message within a few minutes and helping me get up and running within a couple of hours. For a newbie I can't recommend them more highly.
There was some difficulties with site reliability due to viruses affecting the host almost a year ago, which disrupted the service. Howeverm the online chat facility has been very good from a customer service point of view, and they are very helpful when it comes to getting your own website up and running.
In partnership with a good friend in Boston MA, we have started an online community for College Rugby in the USA.
The thing that I have been most impressed with during my time with U2-Web is their Customer support. Thier friendly and timely manner aside, this is even more impressive when I have built and administer this site from New Zealand.
Despite a time diff of 13 hours, every support ticket I have opened with U2 has been completed within around 2 hours. (I think the max was 4 hours but none of my requests have been urgent).
The price is outstanding for the features provided, but in a time when hosting is very competetive, it's the Customer Services that makes the difference for me (and should for anyone). After developing sites for 7 years, U2-Web win my gold medal (7 hosts used in US, UK, NZ and Aus)
We'll be with U2 for a long time to come I think. And would reccommend anyone to give them a try.
The service is excellent. I am particularly impressed with the support services who answered me within a few minuites and did everything possible to help me.
Everything about U2 is just perfect for me basically I can operate my websites and domain names just as I want, with support if I need it.
I cannot praise U2 too highly because I cannott see how they could improve their service and that is a very unique accomplishment.
I have recommended U2 to all my friends and colleagues. Once you experience the quality and professionalism of U2 you would not go anywhere else for your webhosting
I was having serious trouble with Yahoo! Domains, and Yahoo! made the process of leaving unbelievably difficult--a real nightmare. u2-web was extremely helpful during the transition. I don't really know how their pricing compares with other providers (which is why I gave them a 4 out 5 in that category), but I haven't had any major problems, and every minor problem (which weren't problems with the system, just my ignorance of how to use the system) have always been taken care of promptly thanks to u2-web's unbelievably quick response time. I don't think I've ever had to wait more than 24 hours for a response, even on weekends. When I was looking for a new provider after becoming fed up with Yahoo!, I researched sites like this one, and in the end decided to take a chance on u2-web. I've only been with them for a little more than 5 months, but so far I have never regretted my choice.
Everytime I have had a question or needed support I have received an answer to my emails in less than one hour. They are always helpful and friendly no matter how simple or complex my questions are. I used to have a website with Yahoo but then quit after I started with this company. They are so much cheaper and quicker to respond.
I was recommended to try U2-Web as a host that offered excellent value, and most imortantly for me, as a complete novice, excellent support. I have not been disappointed. Site uploaded and mail lists set up without a hitch - and any technical query dealt with immediately. Highly recommended
No customer support, sent multiple tickets, website never transferred. Absolutely horrid! Went back to Homestead, very good service, even though you pay more.
Hello Chris, I would like to clarify your statements. We most definitely have support. The many reviews here prove this point. We have multiple channels of support: Tickets/email, forums, live chat, and last but not least phone support.
I was able to track your account from your IP listed here.
You submitted three tickets, (BRS-17650-252, DTY-49287-827 and BRS-17650-252) about your domain's registration transfer. As you know, the domain was locked at the time we tried to transferred it. We replied to all three stating this and the first ticket regarding this was even created by us. A minute after you sent a request for cancellation and money back, you put your last ticket in about the same issue, at which we requested confirmation that you were receiving our replies and never got a reply and as you canceled we never went further than that.
As we have 4 channels of contact, 3 major ones, I find it strange you didn't contact us by the other methods.
I hope that Homestead treats you good in any case.
I've used u2-web for a little over a year. I'm in the process of launching an e-commerce application. These guys are tops in their support. You don't have to look any further. I frequently ask questions of their support staff on all different topics and they are always patient and helpful. I mostly use live chat to ask questions and either Steven or Nigel are almost always available. I've never worked with a hosting company that had nearly immediate support as the norm. Hope this helps with your decision.
My english are not that good for writing a proper review. All I can say is that these guys are GREAT! Any problem you have, any question from the most stupid thing to the most complicated they are there ready to help. Even if you are new in the webhosting game u2 will help you get started. The first time i registered with u2 it was for a single site of a local newspaper in my country. I started with the lowest plan they had now i have the higher and i will totaly move to their semi-dedicated services as soon as I reach 100 customers.
If you are looking for reliable, fast and secure services the solution is u2-web.
Seriously..is like they motivate you to grow your bussiness. And everything works!
as time goes by i am even more pleased with the decision we took to switch to U2.
The hosting solutions provided are excellent. Great value for money and the support when you need it is readily available in a friendly, patient manner (which is great for non techies like me).
Customer service is top notch! When through the "chat option" on the u2 web page and a customer service rep responded within the minute. He walked me through and helped me sold my problem very quickly. Very nice and professional. I've only used their services for a day or two but their service looks promising. Would definitely recommend to others
These guys are great, the service is fast and always very helpful. The best part is my site is faster than it has ever been! I was with Godaddy, and I wold not recommend them to my worst enemy. U2 gets both thumbs high up so far for everything I have had experience with... Keep up the good work guys!
These guys are great. I came to them after trying another company where the service was just horrible. This is my first website, so you can imagine I knew nothing about the technical part of building and uploading and ftp and webmail. In short, I'm a complete idiot when it comes to this stuff. In all my customer support, I delt with a guy named Steven. He was great. He explained everything and helped me with the Ftp problem that the other hosting company gave up on. He guided me through another series of issues as well. I highly recommend this company and Steven :-) Thank you very much. It is so rare that you get good customer service nowadays. To me that's the most important thing. What good is a hosting compay that doesn't help you through the process of setting up. I don't care how user friendly the interface is, if there is no adequate live help. Thanks again.
HI,
So far I've found your service to be excellent. I am happy with the customer service and am also happy with the control pannel. There are a few suggestions I would like to make, but i guess i will do that a little later when i have the time to talk to someone from customer service... (am sorry i'm a little busy right now)
Hello Phil, thanks for your feedback. Please do let us know any suggestions that you may have that will improve your experience with us. (Please send all suggestions directly to us instead of via here though as we may not see them .)
U2-web is outstanding. This is my 2nd web hosting service and I was a bit apprehensive at first, but u2 set my anxiety at ease with excellent customer service. My previous webhosting service didnt even come close! I am a bit of a novice when it comes to web design and I was afraid of asking the "stupid" questions. Once I spoke with Nigel he never once made me feel incompetent. These guys really care about what their customers think!
Absolutely fantastic. Super-reliable, highly communicative re: any changes, and above all superb customer support. They do not farm out telephone support overseas, you can get a knowledgeable rep on the line for real-time chat or very responsive email support. And greeat prices too. Highly recommended.
Extremely Helpful and very knowledgeable on what they're doing. They're really helpfull and they value their customer...Thanks for all the help Steven and Nigel.
Don't know anything about the reliability as I have only just set up my site. However, I would like to say that U2-WEB do offer a very good price and on the half dozen or so times that I have needed to speak to them, including in the middle of the night, there has always been a technically competent support person available immediately.
Good support information including knowledgebase and regularly updated system status.
Got SSL certificate and IP address from them at minimal cost.
Hello Chris, thanks for the feedback! The server status pages, at this time, is taken live from our monitoring systems. I hope your SSL is running fine and if not, please let us know. .
My first experience with u2-web was with my previous metal band InSilence. The singer from the band found them and we went with them as all the prices were fairly similar with the competition. Since then I have designed a fair few websites and have always gone with u2-web for the hosting: to this date, and I'm sure for many more years, the service has been fantastic!!! Up-to-date php configuraation, regularly updated MySQL version, and best of all, superb customer service on msn and skype. Straight to the point, sorting problems in less than a minute!!!
I really like this host until their reliabilty started tanking (maybe that's why they changed servers or whatever it is they said they were doing on the backend.
What was even worse was when my home page was hijacked or perhaps they "accidentally" overwrote it in the migration (although they deny it or won't look into it). Instead of having a presentable website for my customers, they were presented with a canned welcome message. Very embarassing.
Customer service didn't even apologize or try to keep me as a customer when I threatened to change hosting companies (very thinly veiled sarcastic attempt if you want to count that).
Hello Paul, thank you for the feedback. I would like to note, however, that
any reliability issues you've had have been specific to your account. We've
had great reliability since moving servers with months of 100%
uptime (some hosts might go one month of 100% uptime and then have
99.8% or less the rest.)
Also, the "welcome page" you mention is a default file in the index.html
and during the migration was deleted as we tested the sites. (If possible as
some scripts wouldn't work until DNS was changed.) You could have deleted this
file without issue or contacted us about it and we would have done so or advised
on what to do.
We did this routine for hundreds of sites. Unfortunately I do not know your
specific case as I do not know who you exactly are, but I doubt we just didn't
look in to it for a good reason. If you wish to stay with us, I'll be glad to
look in to your issues further. If so, please contact us. And lastly, we don't
take hostages of our customers.
Our policy is if you want to leave, you're free to at anytime. We don't pressure
you to stay. We know a lot of companies are abused by "threats" of
leaving just to receive freebies from that company. We feel, if you really wanted
to leave, you wouldn't want concessions to stay.
I switched to u2-web after a bad experience with another host. Judging from the responses here, u2-web sounded great. So far, I've had nothing but regrets and am actively seeking a new service. Although the price is excellent for what it offers, I have had nothing but problems with my site. Customer service is pretty responsive, but for months now, nothing but reliability problems. Considering that I'm trying to run a business, this is a serious problem. My customers report broken links, missing text and images, server errors and shopping cart problems very often. Can't get into my email although I never changed my passwords--I haven't had access for about a month now. I can't afford to lose more time with this company.
Hello J, we appreciate feedback, good or bad. However, I would like to reply to your complaints. I'll start at the worst and work my way back. As you seem to have had an issue for a month with your email, I honestly do not think that you have contacted our support team to resolve this issue as it doesn't take a month or even a day to resolve such an issue.
As for your missing text, images, and broken links, that is honestly out of our hands as sites and their designs are not our responsibility nor are broken scripts. We try to help in such areas as much as possible and of course fix any server error that is brought to our attention. That is the key to any service industry, however, we do not know a customer is having problems unless they contact us by one of the many methods we have open.
I've been using u2-web for over six months now. I've tried even one of the other hosts who was ranked #1 for some time: They are already very good but have yet to beat u2-web in terms of support and service. u2-web got into problems during this past summer when they came under DDoS attack, which forced them to move their servers. That was the time when I got frustrated and was thinking of quitting, but they have emerged from this experience with flying colors since. And their support has never been better, and their server never more stable and reliable. If you still have doubts, I encourage to try a few of those hosts who are currently ranked higher. But I am sure you'll come back to u2-web after some shopping around.
Hello KC, thanks for your review, it is very appreciated. As we've mentioned in previous reviews, we did have issues in summer of 2006, but we resolved it in the best possible ways, even at a financial cost to us, because service and support is key to this industry. Also, we didn't hide those issues and never will! I know a lot of hosts who would and a company has to be brave not to hide your problems from potential customers.
I would like to sincerely thank the guys from U2-Web for the excellent service they provide.
More than two weeks ago, I accidentally deleted my wordpress folder. I was shocked to see my 4-year worth of blog entries deleted!
I asked in the support ticket if there's any way they keep backups of our sites. Steve quickly responded and within an hour, I got my deleted files back - and my website running again.
Now that's what you call EXCELLENT customer service - I would highly recommend U2-Web!
I have been using u2web's cheapest plan Ares for more than 1 year. What I want to recommend tou others is, their customer service. Everytime I got some questions, I ask them online, no waiting times, there is always some one waiting there online to help us, it's just amazing. Thank them alot. Keep the good work!
Listen guys I don't know about reliability because I just signed up but let me share my experience with the signup process.
First, the U2 web site is top notch. I submitted all of my information and then received an email that I would hear from a tech shortly to "activate" my account.
Well I'm moving from infinology.net and am sick and tired of their hosting site server being down, so time was of the essence here.
I "chatted" with a U2 tech person named Steven. Man that guy was top notch. He activated my account with zero problems and I was ready to go. He even offered to transfer my data from the infinology server to the U2 server (good luck with that!)....
(Steven....as for FTP at infinology.net.......I forgot to tell you that I did have to FTP stuff down from win9 like 5 times before they all would make it down successfully. Timeout issues or something......I hope you get this before you spend another 7 hours trying to get stuff off their server..........)
Great customer service prior to buy service, Great service in "novice questions", VERY patient, I feel important here!
The excellent customer service and technical skills are the best advertisment of this people!
Also, always chat online service available. THAT IS GREAT ALSO!
I host a couple of sites with U2-Web, and their support has been terrific. Just today I messed up and deleted a database, and then discovered my backup was messed up. I was looking at a long day reconstructing the database from an old backup, but quite chat with on-line support got them on the job and within two hours the database was restored and the site back up. They have been just as responsive on previous occasions when issues came up transferring domain names or reconfiguring software. I am just experienced enough to cause real damage, and they have been patient and helpful at all times - can't reccomend them highly enough!
My main feeling concerning this host is a sense of relief. I have been with u2-web for just over a month, and (so far) I have been positively surprised. I was with ASmallOrange, PolurNet and a few other hosts before, now I am glad I have moved up a level. This is most evident in relation to server reliability and customer support (helpful people!), but u2-web's choice of hsphere (superior) over cpanel (standard) puts the icing on the cake. The only negative thing I can report at this point is that u2-web disables email auto-responders due to spam/security concerns. There are work-arounds, of course...
Overall, highly recommended. Let's all hope they keep it up...
I am very pleased with this host. They have been totally cooperative and helpful and have put up with my huge learning curve! This is my very first experience in ecommerce and I used webjury to guide me to U2. They have helped me tremendously with my first website, and I'm loading my products now.
I highly recommend them. They're easy to reach, always write back, and the chat method is good too!
This hosting is great -- they have several affordable packages and have generally been very good to me.
I'd particularly like to note their customer support which is extraordinary -- I've had problems responded to and fixed within one or two ours around 3am. In addition to tickets which are handled quickly there's also "Live Chat" which I've found convinient...
Particularly impressed with the live chat customer service support - extremely helpful. This persuaded me to go with U2web rather than another service provider.
I've just started in e-commerce and I chose this host because of the good reviews I read. I agree! I asked them loads of questions before I bought my package, and they answered them all to my satisfaction. I'm a beginner and needed things explained to me in more detail and it was not a problem for them at all, so I felt confident to go ahead. Now I'm in the process of building my sites and have asked a few support questions already and have been very pleased with the fast help I received. I was also impressed that they advised the lowest cost package to me first, not the highest cost. Most companies will try to go high end right away. I can highly recommend U2-Web.
I, as I'm sure many others, became aware of U2 Web through WebHostJury.
For the most part, the service has been great. We did have (as most on U2 did) some severe downtime during a DDoS attack where is was constantly up and down for (if memory serves) a solid week plus. I must admit, the guys over at U2, especially Steven, seemed to do everything in their power that they could to get the situation resolved. From what I can tell, the issue wasn't with them, but rather their reseller that couldn't fix the problem.
Since then they've switched to a new reseller and everything has been smooth sailing. 95% of the time that I need to get a hold of someone on support, they're there and available on live chat with usually no wait at all. Only once or twice have I had to wait and only once or twice was no one available, so I had to open a support ticket. I should note that I've had to have support due to my own lack of skills when it comes to code for a redirect or how do I do this to make this happen, etc. Only during the major downtime issues that I spoke of above did I have to contact them on "their screwup" if you will.
Do be advised, they don't have a telephone support line. Personally, I don't really care as their online chat support has been terrific. I prefer it over phone in fact. It's clear and concise and the chat log can be emailed to you so that you have a record of it should you need to go back to reference something. Additionally, with the online chat, I'm not tied to a phone cord. And to date, I've never had an issue that they couldn't resolve.
Their plans are quite cheap when you figure what you're getting for them. Even their cheap (as of writing) $7.99\month plan lets you host 4 individual domains! That's awesome! I'm currently on the Dorus plan, mainly because I need the bandwidth usage. 70GB of transfer and 10gigs of disk for $22.99\month, again great price.
Their servers are fast. I can consistantly pull 500KB\sec over my connection. I'm rather certain that I'm limited more by my DSL speed than their end. The pages load fast, day or night. They have a well balanced system over there.
For personal webpages, look no further. Have a small business and want to gain a web presense? Look no further.
I gave them a 5\5 on everything except reliability. Yes they did everything they could to solve the problem during the DDoS, but the fact is it still happened and they need to be held accountable for it.
Hello Brandon, thank you for your honest feedback, it is appreciated. I wanted to comment on a couple things that you mentioned. The DDoS that you and others have mentioned here happened in late June 2006. Our server provider did not have any protection against such attacks and it was such an attack that server side filtering wouldn't help. This affected our main customer server unfortunately. At which time we decided to evaluate other options, which we always do anyhow. We decided that our platform needed changes as our demands on the cpanel platform were not fulfilled in many ways as one server for all services is just bad news. Hence the migration issues that were also reported here. The migrations did take longer then we thought it would as near the half way point we decided to take it slow, configure scripts for customers and make it as smooth a operation as possible instead of a mad dash out -- though it wasn't as bad as that might sound
I would like to mention that we do not use reseller services for servers. We lease our servers from one of the best providers out there. We lease the server as it's cost effective and a lot of top notch hosts use leased servers instead of colo.
We have publicly admitted to the DDoS issue and when issues come up we resolve them as soon as possible. I know quite a few hosts that don't even do that much. I hope that moving platforms to improve service quality for all customers proves this fact. (Once again, I apoligze for WHJ not displaying this reply properly with line breaks.)
I'm pretty new to making websites and U2-Web has guided me through a lot of confusion and problems. Other thing that is amazing about U2-Web support is the instant chat function. Since I'm new to making websites and using a hosting server I'm not sure which service out there is considered "good" but U2-Web is doing an awesome job.
They keep changing or moving their server which is really annoying.
One time, they would not believe that my website was down. They kept saying it's up and running.
Hello John, when you say we keep changing or moving our servers you make the impression that we have changed our servers dozens or hundreds of times which is completely false. We have changed from one hosting platform to another and servers ONCE -- no other server transfers have been done. Some clients may have been migrated more then once to other servers to provide them with the service they wanted and deserve. The change of hosting platform and server was needed in order to provide customers with the best service possible. The change was done at OUR cost and existing customer's rates were not increased when the level of service was. I am sorry you are upset about changing servers, however, it was for the best for you as a customer and us as a business.
Too bad that 5 is the max. I can give them, but they get a 5 out of 5 for service/helpdesk, without a doubt. No matter what time of the day (and night): almost always there's the "We're online - chat with us now" button. And their response is quick and always helping, even at 2am in the morning. I really wonder if they ever sleep.
They are always willing to take that extra step. I really recommend this company. I am planning to use their reseller package for a long long time. Keep on the good (excellent) work!
Hello Marcel, thank you for the feedback -- it is very appreciated. When and where we can do extra work we try to do. We personally been with hosts that give the support of "sink or swim". Though we can't always help, we'll at least give you a life jacket.
I have been with U2-web for just over a year now with a reseller account and I have been very impressed with the stability and ease of use of the whole system. I'm not completely techy though I can knock up a basic website (and set up a user account etc), and I have found it extremely easy to use.
I must admit my heart sank when it was announced that they were moving to a new hosting system. Several of my sites had been set up using fantastico, and I was very concerned that I wouldn't be able to move them myself and get all the mysql ends tied up correctly, so much so that I even considered trying to find another host with the old style panel that I had become used too.
However, in discussion with U2-web - who actually answer your emails in minutes with a proper response (unlike other cheap hosts I have used who have had the most desperately bad or more usually, non-existent customer service) - they offered to move my sites for me rather than lose me as a customer. Given the above, and my previous excellent experience with them, I thought I would give this a go.
Within a few days, all my sites have been moved and are working properly. I must admit, I am still trying to get to grips with the new system and that will take a while, but I am working on that.
The support and assistance from U2-web has been simply outstanding. No grumbles at my lack of techical expertise, just fast effective assistance virtually around the clock.
The prices have gone up for the reseller accounts, but I think there is a point where you have to accept that to a large extent, you get what you pay for. It is still very reasonable in my opinion, the stability is excellent, and the support is priceless. I would very highly recommend them to anyone, whether hosting a small site, or running a reseller account.
I don't have much to say about U2-web. I tried using their system but shortly after signing up, we were informed of the system being moved to H-Sphere.
The only issues I have are:
- The move was a little problematic (The initial registration to H-Sphere did not work)
- H-Sphere did not allow us to have ssh access.
- Since I really wanted to use cPanel I switch to another host that I've been using personally for two years (which out of respect I won't mention here).
- Now, I've been trying to cancel our account through the support ticket for the last 4 days. It doesn't look like it's going through.
To conclude: This is not a bad recommendation, I really never used the system. I just don't like H-Sphere, I have been using cPanel forever, I really want cPanel & SSH access, specially because moving accounts between host is really easy. Also, I'm a little frustrated by not being able to close this account so far, specially because nowhere on the site I could find an email address to contact these folks directly, I only had the non-functional support tickets to work with, I just hope I will be noticed here....
Hello JG, I am sorry that you decided to cancel and wish you luck with your hosting. Though I will not put down CPanel or hosts that use it, I think the security and performance of h-sphere outweighs easy transferring of sites via SSH. Furthermore, you can do transfers such as wget to transfer a tar using the webshell application or using a simple php script to do the SSH commands. If for some reason either could not work, you could have requested us to do it. In other words, there is always a way around not having SSH. As for not being able to use the ticket system, it works fine as several customers have used it in the last few days, so unfortunately I am not sure what issues you are having with it. Furthermore, we have tried to work this out with you via your forum post, http://u2-web.com/forum/index.php?topic=355.0, which I believe is you as it is the same type of issue there. Furthermore, we have live chat support, which you could have used, but did not elect to use -- under your own omission. We do not have email addresses on the site for two reasons, 1) Spammers will then spam us which hinders our ability to do quick replies to customers as we have to go through spam also. 2) We have three ways of contact: tickets, live chat, and forums. WHJ is a great site, but it is NOT one of our support channels. Please note that you posted this review a day before posting or requesting support via our forum. (NOTE: I once again apologize for WHJ's lack of line breaks from our replies.)
I initially chose U-2 for the price and features. The price and features remain solid. However, I am sticking with them and will unless they get rid of me ;) because of the level of service.
I am the type of user who knows just enough to screw things up. They have always politely and quickly (less than 1 hour usually) resolved my problems (that is, fixed my mistakes). They are very keen on maintaing their level of service, security, and professionalism. Like I said, I like them.
Are you kidding... There is not a better place to go.. The people on the site are so helpful.. I don't even care the price is rock bottom.. Ok - A little.. But still their help is even worth more! Thanks Guys!
I posted a very high rating review right after I joined with them and now I want to ammend it. I am overall still pleased with the value of the service and the customer service but have been tremendously disappointed with the reliability and the accessibility of the server and my site as a whole. They have moved my site three seperate times for one reason or another and each time I had to spend hours getting my SQL databases working again. At times they are very helpful and will often do most of the work for you, but other times they fail to really rise to the occassion and fix it. My site has been inaccessible by some people and my e-mails have been filtered from their destination because of the way their host network was performing, we'll see how things go moving to the HSphere, so far I;m not impressed, I now I have to get familiar with yet another new control pannel for managing my site and when they did the move over they put in a backup from 5 months ago, rather than a current one. I really want to remain with them because when things are moving smoothly on their end, they are a real pleassure to work with, but lately with all the server trouble they've had due to some attacks, I'm not sure how well it will be.
Hello Travis, thank you for your feedback. I would like to note that reliability is key for us and hence our move to a clustered system were one service can not take down all services as it can with many hosts using CPanel and Plesk. As for moving your accounts, our record only show one move other then the move to the cluster. This first move was done on your request, not ours, because you had issues with your uploader script contacting the developer's license server. Also, I see a note about email issues, but I do not recall what they were. Since we care that our customers are happy, we moved your account to another server as the developer's server was blocking the first server for some reason. The move to the new server should not have caused any issues with databases as it was from one system of the same to another. I have not personally verified your claims of using a 5 month old backup, but if this was done it was done in error as was explained. We are humans, humans make mistakes. You'll have to look else where if you want robots. :) However, from time of notification that this had happened until we resolved it for you was around an hour. This time included transferring all current files from the old server to the new, and transferring all databases from the old to the new. I bring this up as you make it a point in your feedback, but do not note that we resolved this in a timely manner. As for the new control panel, yes, unfortunately that is something that you'll have to get used to, however, as you've made the key point reliability, this system will provide that. True, only time will tell, however, since the cluster has been active (about 1 and half months now), we've had 100% total uptime. (These stats will be available soon as we find a good uptime stats provider that has public records.) (NOTE: Please excuse the long paragraph as WHJ strips out returns. Also, I was involved in this case and so remember the name and the issue and that is how I know the details.
