Name and URL of hosting company: Hampshire Hosting (http://www.hhost.ca/)

Hosted URL(s): www.905host.net (main account) www.merlinean.com (busiest site on the account)

Description of service(s) used: Custom Reseller Acct. (but I am NOT a reseller)

How long have you been using the service(s): 5 months (March 2006)

Detailed review: I had a few difficulties moving all my sites over (14 at the time ... I believe) and the Support was "right there" for me every step of the way. The Support has been EXCELLENT. The Uptime has been EXCELLENT. My experience with them thus far has been nothing short of EXCELLENT. Any time I have contacted Support with one of my characteristic "stupid questions" ... they have always given me a prompt response and have been patient & considerate ... even going so far as trying to convince me my "stupid question" was not stupid. They have been a fantastic company with exceptional people staffing it. So far, I would have to say, in the 9 years I have had my websites ... Hampshire Hosting is the absolute best web host I have had the pleasure of dealing with.

Pros: See "Detailed Review".

Cons: I have not experienced any "Cons" with them, to date. I cannot think of anything negative to say.

Would you recommend this company to your best friend? Yes .... & I have been recommending them to everyone I have met needing a web space.

Peter, thank you for a well structured review.
As you probably know, the owner or Hampshire Hosting is also an advisor here at HostingDiscussion.com. I guess it verifies that our team of advisors is truly strong and experienced.

Having such excellent recommendation coming from someone with 9 years of web site management experience means something!

Best,

Thank you Artashes for your kind words (tried to find an embarrassed smilie ... but couldn't. On well )

I guess I should also have mentioned ... the link to Hampshire Hosting is ...

http://www.hampshirehosting.ca/

Not sure WHERE I came up with the http://www.hhost.ca/ I put in the original post. It works ... just don't know where I got it from Brain fart I guess

Peter

Great review, Peter.

But frankly, it doesn't surprise me. Michael is a very disciplined and no-nonsense individual, so it makes sense that he applies that discipline to all his ventures.

Continued success with HampshireHosting!

Vito

I'm very glad to see a review of Michael's service. As Vito said, the review's nature wasn't a big surprise, but nice to see it nonetheless.

Thank You Peter for your kind words.
Let me qualify this by saying though that although Peter presents himself as a demanding customer he has had very few support tickets and his questions are anything but "stupid questions".
The only stupid question is the question not asked.

And I thank you for your kind words

Hello, everyone! I, of course, am (and let's face it, probably will always be) a "noob". Since Peter apparently doesn't ask stupid questions, I guess I'll be the one to do so. By way of brief background, I'm looking for a good, reliable, web host (who isn't?), my needs are fairly "typical" in terms of traffic, disk space, I suppose what will make me make a decision is: will there be a human being on the other end who can help me when I get "stuck", not so much uploading my new site to the server (tho that, too), but for instance, trying to integrate different scripts into my site... I recognize this is probably not w/n the scope of a web host's responsibilities (tho I'm sure some would argue it is), but let's be real: I'm undoubtedly going to need some sort of assistance (the kind that would wear a Saint's patience thin...)

Sooo - here's the stupid question: since hampshirehosting is apparently in Canada, will the geographical distance (I'm in NE of US) have a negative impact on tech support, and if not, please tell me why. As much of a newbie as I am, I have spent hours (seems like decades) reading thru posts on this forum, that forum, checking out this or that web host, read positive reviews, read negative reviews - you know the drill.

So, what I would LOVE to know, is, in all honesty, which host(s) do actually offer S-U-P-P-O-R-T (à la Aretha), in the form of humans who can be called on the phone, ideally anytime, who listen, and who trouble shoot to solution..

Yeah, I know, I believe in Santa Claus, right - but homor me, puhlease...

And thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to answer my question re: support (which, IMHO, should have nothing to do w/disk space & bandwidth requirements).

Merci = Grazie = Danke = Thank you!

Dan - Is that you, from WHReviews.com? If so, first, let me THANK YOU for the incredible amount of information on your site - I've read its contents through and through, and in fact have used your recommendations to make projections of my own space/traffic requirements, to research web hosts, etc. - in fact, that is where I discovered the existence of this very forum! Phenomenal starting point for newbies.

Second, could you please advise if there are any updates you have recently made to your list of "honest hosts"? I couldn't find a date on your site, tho I do consult it with some regularity. Third, and I'm sure this isn't the place to post this comment/query, but on a different web host forum referenced on your site, I read that HostGator was hacked via c-panel, recently. I know your site is hosted by that provider - can you shed any light on the veracity of that story (or is such a discussion taboo in a forum such as this, in which case please pardon my faux pas and strike that last question).

Thanks, again, for all the time you spent creating that treasure trove of info on your site.

All the best,
S2S

Hello S2S,

Thank you for the nice words. I'm glad my site was of some use to you.

Due to events in my offline life (me getting married), the list of hosts has been needing an update for quite a bit of time. Hosts havent been added for a while now, just a couple were removed, for various reasons.

cPanel indeed had a vulnerability and Hostgator as a very fast emerging cPanel host was for some reason the preferred target, and HG's servers (customers websites) were used to distribute viruses. It is no secret that this happened. There are threads in a couple of forums about it, including Hostgator's:
http://forums.hostgator.com/showthread.php?t=10939
http://forums.hostgator.com/showthread.php?t=10928

Personally, I think Hostgator's efforts were remarkable, and it was good to see they have some really talented people in their team. It's really sad to see a good provider suffering though.

If there was one positive thing in this whole story, it was seeing various providers working together for a common goal. It's not often that you get to see the hosting providers so united.

The end result though is probably that Hostgator's and even more so cPanel's reputation have got a stain that will take a while to vanish.

As someone on a forum said, everybody who was involved in this is ultimately a victim (companies, customers, website visitors who had their computers infected). The real guilty party thought are the attackers, and I really hope HG will be able to identify and prosecute them.

I like people with a sense of humor.
Let me tackle this one un-officially. I think that the location doesn't matter when it comes to tech support. Experience and skill does, though.
I am not sure whether Michael of Hampshire Hosting does the tech support himself. If he does, then you don't have much to worry about - he will speak your language. Even if he has staff people helping, I would think that most will know how to explain things to clients. The majority of people are not tech savvy, and companies know this.

Best,

Hi S2S ....

The thread got a wee bit off topic there hehehee But I am pretty sure no one minds.

To try to answer your questions from a customers point of view ... and my own point of view specifically ....

I think you have to decide if you want to use a BIG name host, or a small guy (in comparison). I, myself, prefer dealing with a smaller company where I know the people by their first names ... and where they know me by mine (instead of knowing me only as account number so & so).

True the BIG name host usually has 24/7 support ... but the smaller companies (like Hampshire) ... no matter what day or time of day I contact them I know they will get back to me as soon as they can. Most times its within an hour if they need more info ... or sometimes its a bit longer but the email I get then is usually telling the problem has been fixed or its a problem I have to fix & they are giving me detailed instructions on how to do it. Most times if I fire off a trouble ticket or email on a weekend ... with a smaller company I do not necessarily expect a response until Monday. Just because we all have to have "time off" and a smaller company doesn't have the same numbers of staff to constantly man the Support Desk. Mind you ... I have had experiences with the BIG companies where I have been totally ignored for days upon days ... sometimes even weeks. I have never been "lost in a crack" with the smaller companies.

And I also like that ... if something does screw up with a server ... the BIG companies (in my experience) tend to give you some song & dance that never really gives you an answer or reason for what happened, but undoubtedly will always blame it on someone else (It's not OUR fault). A smaller company I find tends to tell you exactly what went wrong & if its something they did that caused it they will own up to it. I like honestly.

Basically ... what company you choose to go with will depend entirely on your preferences. With either a BIG company or a smaller one ... they each have pluses and minuses. But for myself personally ... the smaller company is the one I will choose first every time.

As mentioned ... I have never had a disappointment with Hampshire Hosting. But, with them being a smaller company, I do not have unreal expectations of them or rather the idea of 24/7 support.

My contact with them is via email or Support Ticket ... and they answer both just as fast as they can I feel. Most times, I get a response and/or solution far sooner than I expect. But ... I don't demand it of them. Now if I fired off an email/ticket on Friday night about a non-urgent problem & hadn't received a response/solution by close of business on Monday ... then I might get a little antsy. But that has never happened.

I am disabled with a few things affecting my "brain power" ... so email & support tickets are my preferred way to communicate with them ... or with anyone actually. Talking on the phone is becoming less & less of an option for me. So ... haven't even investigated IF phoning them is even an option in URGENT circumstances. Michael will have to respond to that part I guess ...

Gad ... I am just blathering away here today

In a nutshell ... there are pros & cons to using either a BIG web host or a smaller company. Only you can decide which company will best suit your needs ... without expecting more from them than they can each offer.

JMHO
Peter