Netfirms - on the plus side: 1) huge amounts of storage and bandwidth, even on basic packages 2) a LOT of features: great control panel, one-click installations, good help documentation, support for all the major server-side applications (though not DNN, grrr...) But I am very concerned, after just a month or so, about: 1) the lack of proper .htaccess support, i.e. mod_rewrite is NOT fully featured, and you cannot (it seems) get proper permalinks working, at least not with Wordpress (gonna try with Joomla.) 2) applications cannot connect to mail server?! Meaning blog-by-mail in Wordpress does not work! 3) recent periods of frequent downtime (put down to DOS attacks by Netfirms) 4) Very slow MYSQL access, it seems to me... Very slow server response. I thought Netfirms were great to begin with, but these things really are cause for concern, and for me to seriously think of moving. Anyone got any experience? markowe
If the server is down frequently, the mail server is not configured properly, MySQL is slow and .htaccess not implemented, what does all the storage and bandwidth are good for??????
For oversellers to make a profit they have to cut back on other key features in order to offer such high bandwidth and space for such a low price. You have to think about the costs of running a server and whether it's economically possible to offer large amounts of space and bandwidth without cramming large amounts of customers on a server, while also keeping server stability and reliability. The answer is no, it's not economically possible. This is why time and time again people move away from the oversellers to find a stable host at a reasonable price!
I've had NetFirms for the past few months, and have recieved some good service, but the downsides overpower the good stuff. I noticed that the servers are pretty slow, and it takes a second or two to load simple HTML pages on a DSL connection. Other than that, I have experienced two FTP downtimes so far, where I could not connect for a few hours. All I know is that once my year is over, (I got it at a great price, so I am staying for a while. ) I am switching to a new host.
A question I am now asking myself. Thanks for the comments. I was not previously aware of this issue of overselling, though I know it's done in lots of industries. This is a few warning bells too many about Netfirms... I will stick with them for the rest of the year now, not worth moving, unless I get really stressed, but I will not be hosting my company site with them as planned, just my hobby stuff. By the way, I need a recommendation for a good host (noted the ones above) that supports dotnetnuke (Netfirms doesn't). Any suggestions?
Hmm, .NET hosts are generally more expensive and harder to find. I'll do a bit of research into some good .NET hosting companies for you
Sure... But as I understand it, DotNetNuke requires additional server-side stuff, ASP.NET is not enough? Would be appreciated, anyway.
Know of anywhere that has a list of requirements for DotNetNuke? I can't seem to find it on their site.
No, I can't find it either! There seems to be no plain, simple explanation anywhere. I have posted a question at http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=230934 so someone can explain in layman's terms hopefully. But as far as I can understand, DNN is just an open source cms and does not need anything server-side except asp.net...
P.S. OK, I got an answer from a friend - DNN does not need anything additional per se, serverside, but it does need certain settings to make it work properly, which not every hosting company provides.
Im with netfirms enterprise hosting. About $50/month. They sucks. Yes, stay away from netfirms. They cliam to have a "Cluster Technology" but its actually clutter technology. Mysql cant connect, files load slow, server respond in the seconds. Bad experience and advice not to host with netfirms.
No .htaccess makes them useless. I signed up for there max account, $10 for the year about nine months ago. I still have not hosted one single website on it, cannot seem to get one script to work properly on there server. Don't waste your time, registering .ca's is alright threw them you just cannot register in bulk. One by one is a pain in the axx if you like to pick up 20-30 at a time. lol
Fully agreed.. I was using netfirms for past three weeks and had a terrible experience. The server went down several times without any prior notice.
My site is on Netfirms and uses Mysql... And it’s really, really slow. Where could I find a RELIABLE list of web hosting providers, accompanied with RELIABLE information about the speed of their servers?
It's a big NAY for me. Their server is frequently down, no 24/7 support. I even decided NOT to renew my account with them
This is an OOOOLD thread! The epilogue, around a month after the original post, was that I got OUT of Netfirms - cutting my losses, as there was no pro rata refund - and went with Bluehost. Let me put it plainly - if you are planning to do ANYTHING except put up a basic HTML site, DO NOT use Netfirms! They are... hmmm... rubbish!! Bluehost are a good choice for anyone beginning in webmastering, I have no real complaints, especially for under $10 a month, and I am running around 10 (relatively low-traffic) sites on there no problems.