Sep 22 2008
Blogger Shooting Blanks At The Best Host
I just had a quick search today about "Top Hosting Center" (known as THC) on Google to know the latest buzzes about the web host I am with. I’m currently using their Speedy hosting plan and so far I got excellent performance to this blog perhaps of the enhanced SEO effect of the dedicated IP address that it came free with. The results on Google search towards THC are mostly positive, except one thing — there was an emphasizing post written by Aahz, a current customer of Top Hosting Center, with his blog website Philaahzophy.com that was stumbled purposively on StumbleUpon.com. I am not sure if he meant to write it to tell the truth, or he could have written it just for traffic’s sake. I’m a happy THC customer, and based on my hosting experience, I could say this blogger is shooting blanks to the best web hosting company I could ever find nowadays — and guess what — I’m not alone!
As far as I can remember, Philaahzophy.com is not new to me. I think I’ve seen and mentioned this site on this blog way before when I had a grand review about THC’s lifetime Rudolf hosting plan last February (which is now unavailable — unfortunately). He was still positive to THC that time — far different from his views now.
On Philaahzophy’s latest post as I checked it entitled "Top Hosting Center Can’t Keep Own Website Online!," I believe Aahz missed to read something from his H-Sphere control panel. I am not sure if he is on Rudolf hosting plan or Speedy (I didn’t have interest to research) but I know he is one of THC’s customers and claimed that he used to be a "big fan" of the web host. His post was a bomb to THC and considering that THC announced the event prior to their downtime, this blogger once again shooted blanks.
While it is true that the official homepage of Top Hosting Center was down as of this writing, I wasn’t surprised. I’ve read yesterday from the company’s H-Sphere control panel news section that they are going to change their IP address as they’ve always done in the past months (this is something Aahz missed to read). I’m not sure how many hours had it been in downtime status but I have asked some friends abroad and they told me that they can fully access the website (which makes me believe that DNS information propagation is complete on some places). I don’t know if other THC users noticed the advisory but for sure it is conspicuous enough to get noticed. Since I’m in the Philippines and THC servers are in North America, I guess I will have to wait for the site to go up. It is a good thing that this blog or any customer sites (and hosting functionality) was not affected by their downtime otherwise it would be real shitty. 
As far as I know based on my working Cisco networking knowledge, changing an IP address does not take effect immediately and unfortunately domains undergoing IP changes will experience downtime. Changes that undergoes downtime include IP updates, IP transition from shared to dedicated IPs and vice versa, and name server changes.
To THC: Aahz May Be Right, But Not Completely Right
I do not say that Aahz is completely wrong. He was just shooting blanks on some ways; he may be right, but well, not completely right on his claims since I highly believe he missed the advisory. Plus, he could be on a shared hosting — and you can’t expect a dedicated server quality on a shared hosting plan!
Now this is for you THC: like what he said on his first post, I agree that there have been quite a few times that THC had problems with their hosting services. Although they are fast in responding to support and delivering solutions to problems, complaints like from Aahz’s is a sign that THC needs to be consistent and make their impatient customers feel what a good host is. It doesn’t feel good to defend something that doesn’t deserve to be defended. Fortunately, THC isn’t as worse as Aahz described it based on my experience. He was a bit too extreme. Perhaps he needs to get a dedicated server. Believe me, you will never find a host that doesn’t experience downtimes especially on shared hosting.
Bottomline
If Top Hosting Center wasn’t good enough, as it never became a perfect web host, I would have flown to other web hosting companies. I’ve got lots of sponsorship offers for this blog from other web hosts yet I’ve denied them all because I like the way THC handles its hosting services. Plus, I don’t need to worry about a thing because they have backups accessible. An anonymous hacker tried to devastate this blog earlier this month and THC was very, very quick to restore my database. I’m sure other customers can have similar experience as THC’s support is just a matter of clicks away. In my case, I write to them via email but I can also use their live chat for basic issues and trouble ticket on my H-Sphere control panel as well.
You really think I would make up a post about a mere 100 simultaneous users bringing my server to its knees? What, exactly would be the point of that?
Yes, I’m on shared hosting. On the Rudolph plan that you raved about in February (and I raved about in November when I signed up for it). But there’s still a 99.9% uptime guarantee that they are no longer coming close to achieving.
As for the current situation with THC’s main site being down, it still is, more than 12 hours later. It’s a relatively simple matter to keep the web files up on both the new IP address and the old IP address at the same time. That way as the DNS propagates you don’t have problems like this. Yet, somehow THC can’t manage it.
Yes, I missed the control panel message (assuming it was actually posted when you and Eric claim it was), but why am I expected to check my control panel on a daily basis? They should have sent out an email as they did this morning, more than 12 hours after the event began.
Their service used to be excellent. But these days they refuse to acknowledge the problems they’re having, much less fix them. When all of their databases were unavailable through MyPHPAdmin a couple of days back no message was sent out and my support ticket went unanswered. And that wasn’t just me. I have friends who use THC as well (based on my prior recommendation).
I’m glad you’re getting your money’s worth from them, but I no longer am. It’s a shame, really as I was really pulling for them to be successful. But I don’t see how you can recommend a web host that has their main page go down for this long a period. And that there’s no denying.
The icon actually blinks red when there is new, unread news item being posted. And yes, THC site is still down and I got an email from THC today about the downtime. I think they are having problems (I bet it is highly connected with the IP change since like what I’ve mentioned in post, IP change will cause a lot of downtime). I chatted with a representative via live chat support through their blog, and they guaranteed me that their site wasn’t hacked or attacked or something. They confirmed that DNS propagation is still going on and THC site was transferred to a new server.
I guess we’ll just hope that it would be restored soon. It’s not nice for sure, but they’re in that situation and they reached us with information. Thanks for your comment, Aahz, hope they fix their site soon.
I finally figured out why you’re so upset with me, John! Because you WORK for THC! I shoulda known…
[...] let’s take a look at the attack itself. From his blog post Blogger Shooting Blanks At The Best Host- The results on Google search towards THC are mostly positive, except one thing — there was an [...]
I second ALL Aahz wrote John.
All this time I keep it all by myself.
I thought it was me and only me that feel THC’s customer service has gone deaf.
Now after seeing Aahz post, I know that I’m not alone.
If THC doesn’t want to lose their raving fans, they should fix it as soon as possible.
And, is that true? You work for THC?
Regards
Hendra
Yes, I used to work for them freelance as web developer but I have a new employer since July and I don’t post them all in my blog because they came with contracts like any company does with their employees. It’s good that you figured it out. However, that’s no use as I’ve already drifted away from THC long ago and happy working with other people in North America.
You might want to update your online resume then, John.
Oh, wait I see you already did. Good thing I grabbed a screenshot before posting this message-
It may say “July” now, but a few hours ago it still said “Present”. And “Business Partner” sounds much more like “part-owner” then it does “freelance”. Not to mention that neither CSR or TSR are typical acronyms for “web designer”.
It didn’t take much “figuring” John. You attacked my character without provocation. Clearly there was some hidden motive. One simple Google search presented the answer.
Well, it seems I can’t post an image here. Just click on my name on THIS comment and you’ll be taken to the screenshot of the resume earlier today.
I actually got the e-mail letting me know of the host site being down, like all their scheduled downtime maintenance on different parts of the servers.
I remember I had some really slow service, but with the right questions and support I was able to have it fixed and I’m still happy with their service.
Instead of complaining to the wrong people that can’t do anything for you, why don’t you all actually submit your issues and site problems to the people that can fix it.
How can somebody fix something if they’re not aware of it being broken?
I’m still happy with my Rudolph plan. Even with my high traffic.
Best $98 I’ve spent on hosting EVER.
It appears you’re addressing your comments to me, MacBros, so I’ll reply to them. If I’m mistaken, feel free to disregard….
If you actually READ my post called “Top Hosting Center Can’t Keep Own Website Online!,” which John linked to above, you’ll see that I DID bring my issues to THC’s attention. I hadn’t posted on this blog for at least six months (if ever) when I suddenly got a pingback from this post which flat out attacked me.
That’s what brought the conversation to this blog. If you think the discussion belongs elsewhere then you’ve got a bone to pick with John Raul, not with me. I was merely responding to his accusations.
[...] read more | digg story [...]
actually last 7 days THC is facing so many issues!
A 5 days MySql issue and my (win) websites down.
Now there’s a “new” email issue. Cant use email at all.
They apparently “work on it”..
No updates about..
That is not nice really…