DreamHost

Discussion in 'Site & Server Administration' started by VincentChow, Oct 16, 2006.

  1. #1
    Hello guys,

    I was finding a host which are reliable, cheap, and have good features lately. Upon my finding, I found that DreamHost is quite good.
    May I know if any of you used DreamHost before, and give some comments on them? Thanks.

    Edit - I signed up using credit card, and now they are asking me to send a comfirmation using fax. The problem is, I can't reach the fax number they have provided. Anyone know how to make a "+" symbol on the fax so that it can reach international numbers?
     
    VincentChow, Oct 16, 2006 IP
    SpringHeeledJoe likes this.
  2. MrRadic

    MrRadic Active Member

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    #2
    You don't use the + sign, the + just means it's an international call. If you do need good and affordable hosting, and dreamhost doesn't work out then let me know!
     
    MrRadic, Oct 16, 2006 IP
  3. VincentChow

    VincentChow Peon

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    #3
    I'm sure now that my fax machine won't work now in any way.
    I have scanned the form using my scanner and sent it as an attachment in my email.
    Hope they will accept that, or I will have no more idea.
     
    VincentChow, Oct 17, 2006 IP
  4. jessica12

    jessica12 Peon

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    #4
    vincent, I don't think they'll accept the scanned one. I read somewhere couple days ago (do not remember where, sorry :(). They will ask you to fax the form.

    How do you call to outside your country? Usually 00 + "dest country code (US: 1)" + "area code" + "ph number"
    (ignore the '+')
     
    jessica12, Oct 17, 2006 IP
  5. fisher42uk

    fisher42uk Peon

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    #5
    I'm having a few issues with them and there whole fax confirmation thing just now. They will only accept either a fax or sending it through the mail. I have asked if they will accept my payment by paypal but because i used a promo code they wont. The only fax machine i have access to is at work and we're not able to send international faxes :mad:

    Wayne
     
    fisher42uk, Oct 17, 2006 IP
  6. pulsa

    pulsa Peon

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    #6
    DH's fax number is 17149902600 ('1' for US).
     
    pulsa, Oct 17, 2006 IP
  7. MrRadic

    MrRadic Active Member

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    #7
    Hmm, thats a real bother, but completely understandable considering how many fraud orders they get per day!
     
    MrRadic, Oct 17, 2006 IP
  8. VincentChow

    VincentChow Peon

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    #8
    I have tried dialing 0017149902600 using my handphone, and it works.
    But when I try it using fax, it doesn't work. Sigh.
     
    VincentChow, Oct 17, 2006 IP
  9. MrPoloShirt

    MrPoloShirt Peon

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    #9
    Dreamhost has had a lot of problems with reliability. They are certainly not very reliable and their hosting packages are quite misleading.

    Here is a site you might want to read before goign to Dreamhost: http://www.dreamhost-sucks.com/

    But they are cheap.
     
    MrPoloShirt, Oct 17, 2006 IP
  10. jessica12

    jessica12 Peon

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    #10
    Yep.. heard many bad reviews about them as well, however almost all of hosting company have had bad reviews. It's hard to satisfy each and every customer :rolleyes:


    You might want to call them again and ask about the problem you've had?
     
    jessica12, Oct 18, 2006 IP
  11. VincentChow

    VincentChow Peon

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    #11
    It's actually my homeline provider's problem.
    They don't activate International Call service on your line until you register for it for free.
    Quite weird, why do they do that since it's free?
    Well, I have register for it now, and it will be activated by a week.

    Sigh, have to wait again.
    Anymore reviews about DreamHost please?
     
    VincentChow, Oct 19, 2006 IP
  12. ravianz

    ravianz Notable Member

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    #12
    but whats the reson behind asking to fax the form??? i have heard of such thing for the first time!
     
    ravianz, Oct 19, 2006 IP
  13. mariush

    mariush Peon

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    #13
    Maybe it's because of the high fraud risk for his country. Unfortunately, it happens.

    Anyways, I have decided that it simply is not worth it to invest in a cheap hosting service that offers a lot of features, huge bandwith and lots of good things because 90% of the time, they will not be able to offer you what they say. Or, the speed and reliability are horrible.

    I purchased using a promo code an account at Netfirms, they offer 20 GB space, 750 GB bandwith, and up to 25 domains and 100 databases, 2 domains for free.

    I can honestly say that the only good things about Netfirms are :

    * you get two domains for free
    * you get a 25$ Google coupon
    * you get domain privacy for free
    * you get SSH access to the server (very limited though)

    Otherwise..

    You get the possibility of uploading your files to the server using a FTP that has on average ~ 220 users connected, at least once every three times I connect to the FTP server i get disconnected as soon as my FTP client tries to get the directory listing. About once every 5 attempts the FTP server gives me an error message saying that it has not enough memory to create the directory listing.

    You can create subdomains but they are enabled sometimes after 24-36 hours. Sites are stored in an unusual way in your account, like subdirectories, some proxy sites can not handle that correctly and show a Netfirms error page. This happens to lots of hosting companies that offer a lot for cheap prices.

    The MySQL cluster is abused by people that have bought cheap accounts at this company to store imageshack.us like sites or youtube clones or arcade sites. About once every two weeks tables get damaged and their support is horrible.

    First time I got this problems I have sent a help request and, the next day, I was told in an email to go in phpMyAdmin, select another table, click on Run SQL command and type REPAIR table; or whatever that command is (I mean, come on, couldn't they this themselves, and what good would do this to someone if their site is down for a whole day ? )

    The MySQL cluster can not handle large requests, you can see this by clicking on the letters on this page : http://www.definethis.org/ . The MySQL server crashes often there.

    Tech support is horrible, takes over 1 day for replies.

    So, in conclusion, cheap hosting accounts that offer a lot are not recommended.

    I've personally bought hosting accounts at http://www.icdsoft.com .

    I pay 5$ a month for each of the two sites I have at them, both sites are on different servers, different IPs and the servers have only about 1-300 other sites hosted, sites that are not CPU intensive because all the heavy sites that require lots of bandwith are stored on hosting companies that offer lots of bandwith.

    For a site, if you use gzip compression when serving pages, and if you don't host movies or music on your site, the bandwith they offer should be enough. When you exceed the bandwith they offer, (I at least) would be able to rent a dedicated server from the advertising money those sites earn me.
     
    mariush, Oct 19, 2006 IP
  14. eXe

    eXe Notable Member

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    #14
    Zero twice :p
     
    eXe, Oct 19, 2006 IP
  15. VincentChow

    VincentChow Peon

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    #15
    I heard of many bad reviews about DreamHost - but yet I still wanna try it myself.
    I'm sure there are bad reviews on any host, so you won't know until you try it.
    Furthermore, they do offer 97 days money back guarantee.
    If I'm not happy, I can simple find another host.
     
    VincentChow, Oct 20, 2006 IP
  16. MrPoloShirt

    MrPoloShirt Peon

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    #16
    If you would read the link I provided above, you'll notice that many of the bad reviews are about them not giving the refunds they promised.

    Dreamhost is where you go if you need large amounts of cheap, but unreliable hosting. Like if you were to host something unimportant, but needed a massive amount of power.

    Their bandwidth promises are also misleading. They gauge and limit your "CPU usage," which always reaches limit before the bandwidth reaches limit. Another kicker is that they don't tell you how much CPU usage time you've used and will often email you out of nowhere telling you you've reached your limit and then shut you down for the month.

    There is no such thing as a free lunch.

    You get what you pay for.
     
    MrPoloShirt, Oct 20, 2006 IP
  17. VincentChow

    VincentChow Peon

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    #17
    I emailed them regarding to the CPU usage, and they said that it has been taken down.
    Well, just sent in the form and waiting for approval now.
    I plan to host my 2 of my blog, one of my forum and 1 blog for my sister.
    Should I host my blog at the root directory, then create subdirectory for other websites?
    Or should I place everything in their subdirectory so the root directory will be clean?

    Also, is it possible to create subdomain on addon domain?
    Let's say I create a new directory, /blog, then I use domain.com as addon domain on /blog
    Can I create subdomain on domain.com?
     
    VincentChow, Oct 23, 2006 IP
  18. trichnosis

    trichnosis Prominent Member

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    #18
    i'm using dreamhost for all sites in my sig. and i'm happy with dreamhost:) cheap and good
     
    trichnosis, Oct 25, 2006 IP
  19. MrPoloShirt

    MrPoloShirt Peon

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    #19
    Now very fast however, your site took about 5 seconds to respond.
     
    MrPoloShirt, Oct 25, 2006 IP
  20. agnivo007

    agnivo007 Peon

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    #20
    Avoid DH...
     
    agnivo007, Oct 25, 2006 IP