It’s funny, the last time I was looking to switch my host I was given the URL to GoDaddy.com several times — “because they’re the cheapest around!” Well, you certainly get what you bloody pay for, and I’m glad I went for the tiny-bit-more-expensive site5. Why? GoDaddy sucks.
I’ve been helping a friend get her site back online and I’ve had nothing but problems. First, they stuck her on the wrong OS (Windows with ASP instead of Linux with PHP). Once switched, the PHP files obviously started working but as they don’t use localhost for MySQL there was nothing but connection errors and I had to find the host value, update all of the files used for connecting to the database and then re-upload them.
The control panel is completely non-standard and has several ‘basic’ things — that I would consider essential to an efficient hosting package — missing. Like easy directory-protection for starters. This wouldn’t be a problem, as I could sort it out manually.. but they don’t allow access to directories above public_html! Argh.
I’ve been searching Google to find solutions to my problems only to discover that this is actually quite common. I have found complaint on top of complaint about how poor the customer service is and how they refuse to provide any assistance with the most basic of questions. SEO problems due to incorrect redirects, people being kicked off the service because of false accusations of spam, bribing their customers, etc.. etc.
Hmph. And to think I was worried about forking out that extra dollar or so a month last year.
Edit (12:20pm): Arial! Because I’m bored of Tahoma.. and some more smilies. Small ones, for those who don’t like ’em big.
19 Apr at 6:48 pm
:S Who the hell doesn’t use localhost?! I mean, I know it’s possible, but I’ve never actually come across it :P Really weird extra note, but the first thing I noticed about your entry was — . I must remember it. ——— Such a cool little character!
19 Apr at 6:49 pm
…oh look, and it doesn’t even work in the comments. *sits in the corner*
19 Apr at 6:55 pm
It works if you copy and paste it, like so: — — — — :D
19 Apr at 7:12 pm
Grumble… I pay quite a bit for my hosting, because it’s Windows, and it still doesn’t have a lot of the features I want. The space trebled (for some reason) this year, but the stats package is near-useless, there’s virus protection on one email box only, and the ‘custom error page’ can’t be used because it applies an identical page to 404 and 500 errors (how counter-productive is that?). I debated changing again but I didn’t get organised in time before it was due for renewal.
19 Apr at 7:47 pm
Yeah, I’m still in love with Site5. I have my name registered through GoDaddy, but didn’t bother getting hosting from them. Site5 just seemed better. :D
19 Apr at 7:53 pm
Hmmph, that’s weird. I bought my domain from them though (hosting from Surpass) and I haven’t had much trouble. The only thing is that the domain didn’t renew immediately, but other than that, no problems. At least I didn’t get the hosting there… So you found a site you like? Good for you. But I’m sorry about the GD problems. :(
19 Apr at 8:02 pm
Can’t agree more! My latest client wanted a design and WP install, and I thought it would be a doddle. How wrong was I? I also had to get her to switch servers to run WP. It was a fucking nightmare from start to end. Whilst I have np whatsoever with their domain registration, I wouldn’t be hosted with them if they were fucking free – and THAT’S saying something!! V xx
19 Apr at 8:28 pm
My friend TJ is offering hosting…we do our hosting through him. He’s charging us somewhere like $45 a year. http://www.tj.preachersweb.org (He has nothing on his site about it; just email him and tell him Anne (pianogal86) sent you (so that way he knows where you heard it from; I don’t get any commission for referrals).
19 Apr at 8:29 pm
I don’t need hosting, Anne.. :P
19 Apr at 9:48 pm
THANK YOU JEM! You may have just saved me from a terrible nightmare… As I’m soon buying a 2nd domain and different hosting. As I’ve been happy with the domain service, I figured I’d maybe try the hosting… I’m thinking that won’t be happening!
19 Apr at 11:08 pm
I feel sort of dumb. I never knew godaddy even offered hosting. I just thought they were a registration site!
19 Apr at 11:55 pm
Their registering service is subpar as well. Namecheap all the way! (I say this after being a longtime customer of GoDaddy until roughly two years ago.)
19 Apr at 11:57 pm
“:S Who the hell doesn’t use localhost?! I mean, I know it’s possible, but I’ve never actually come across it :P Really weird extra note, but the first thing I noticed about your entry was — . I must remember it. ——— Such a cool little character!” Am I missing something?
20 Apr at 12:13 am
For some reason, my Dad doesn’t trust foreign currencies. He thinks that things priced in other currencies, especially the US dollar, always work out to be a hundred times more expensive than they look when converted to the AU dollar. Ergo he will only allow me to register with an Australian hosting/domain provider, but that’s all right. I’m quite satisfied with WebCity. Sorry to hear about the GD yuckiness.
20 Apr at 12:59 am
Arial is cooler.
20 Apr at 1:12 am
Arial’s pretty gool. I like both Arial and Tahoma, but yes… Tahoma /can/ get quite annoying. I’d never register (hosting) with GoDaddy. I’ve heard that their domain service is really reliable, but never really heard anything about their hosting. I’ve been trying to get my parents to let me buy hosting from Site5 for so long… Site5 just seems so… cool! And cheap. And from what I heard, it’s reliable. Unfortunately, by the time I ever get (paid) hosting, Site5’s special hosting offers will be over.
20 Apr at 3:09 am
I’ve never been with GoDaddy, but my host (BlueHost) isn’t much better. They have terrible support and are one of those companies that will registar your “free” domain in their name. It sucks having a bad host, all it does is cause headaches. I love your small smiles! I’m thinking about adding them to my blog to add some more colour there.
20 Apr at 6:53 am
I’ve always hated GoDaddy, they are a just a big company that uses their marketing to sucker people in. And they can’t even make good ads, at that. I also don’t like my current host, Dreamhost… more like NightmareHost… but I think they are better than GoDaddy.
20 Apr at 12:12 pm
my biggest problem is that I won’t go with some little “company”. That is why I used godaddy (domain only) in the first place. Question for Jem: How can I reset my Name/Email/URL fields? (from what is saved here). I’m t hinking I have to delete some cookies or something..
20 Apr at 12:28 pm
Mariah: yes, just delete the cookie stored for this site :)
20 Apr at 2:44 pm
“Who the hell doesn’t use localhost?! I mean, I know it’s possible, but I’ve never actually come across it :P” My old host (DataPacket) had MySQL and MSSQL on their own dedicated servers… It got really confusing, and it ran a lot slower than a localhost one would’ve (although their service sucked period, I ended up leaving them because of how slow their servers started running… I need to find a new host too, FuitaDNet sucks ass too, and their servers seem to be getting slower and they just upped prices too… too bad all the local hosting companies charge an arm and a leg ($18/month for less space and bandwidth than I get right now for $6.95?) for the most basic stuff, so it looks like I’m stuck with FDnet for now…
20 Apr at 7:07 pm
I only use GoDaddy to purchased domain names…I never once thought about using them for hosting…thank goodness! I hope you are feeling better, Jem, you sounded downright miserable in your last post :(
21 Apr at 6:37 am
Goddady is only good for buying domain names. Other than that it’s bad news. Although I’m sure about a million people have mentioned that already. I’m just hoping that when I read through the comments I’ll still end up being the first one to say this.
21 Apr at 11:11 am
Obviously site5 is better than GoDaddy… but seriously, some of the problems you mentioned are pretty standard… I know most of the problems were probably not your fault… since you probably didn’t code the site. “Once switched, the PHP files obviously started working but as they don’t use localhost for MySQL” The MySQL connection details and mysql_connect, select_db’s would’ve been better in an include. A lot of hosts have MySQL on a remote server because not *everyone* uses it… it’s a good way to save diskspace down and free resources up… making an assumption (I know, assumptions are bad), that say, only 70% of the people on a server will be using MySQL, they can share a MySQL server between 3 webservers. Keeps it cheap. “The control panel is completely non-standard” Nothing to do with GoDaddy is standard, granted… even the domain name panel sucks. “but they don’t allow access to directories above public_html!” Is that for php includes, or for viewing any pages? A lot of hosts set a limit on the amount of sub-directories you can include from. If it is so… it’s very annoying… i’ll grant you that. Anyway, hope you don’t mind me plugging a host… StaticHost.co.uk – has been going a couple of years, i’ve been speaking to the owner since he started. I host some of my sites with him… and in my experience, it has treated me as well as my mediatemple hosting last year. It’s very cheap (1gb space, 50gb b/w for £6/m)… and support is good.
22 Apr at 5:10 pm
they only thing I bought off of Godaddy are domain names no hosting for me there. Glad I decided not to buy hosting there after reading this :)
24 Apr at 2:54 am
Gah. A site I was supposed to do was on GoDaddy and they were on Windows, too. Since they signed up for their domain themselves and all that jazz, I didn’t think there was any way to get the hosting changed. But it doesn’t matter anyway because they apparently had free hosting and the ads are completely hideous. Rather than fuss with it I just added them as an addon to one of my domains. What do they care, I handle everything anyway. lol
30 Apr at 5:43 pm
Who the hell doesn’t use localhost?! I mean, I know it’s possible, but I’ve never actually come across it :P Dreamhost doesn’t. It gives me nightmares because it makes everything complicated, even the direct paths! (and if you want to change hosts, you have to change everyting to public_html again).