I’ve been using Site5 as my web host for several years now, both personally and professionally, and have had nothing but great experiences. The support team even helped me with my mysql errors despite it being a script issue (before I moved back to WordPress), and the affiliate payout system is financing my hosting 2008-09, as well as hosting for the q*bee and several geek t-shirts. Up until a few months ago the uptime statistic for my server was some 300+ days.
However, I’ve just looked at their homepage, only to see that they’re now advertising “unlimited” plans to celebrate July 4th. You know what? I think they sold out. They’ve sold out to hype and to marketing bullshit. All because of the word “unlimited”.
Site5 are advertising “unlimited” space, “unlimited” bandwidth, “unlimited” websites. There is no such thing as unlimited. It’s a term I feel most strongly about, and think it’s bloody ludicrous that a company as well known as Site5 are pulling this trick. Servers — hard disk drives — are limited in the capacity they provide. You can stick a few terabytes in a server but it is still limited because there’s no such thing as an “unlimited” disk drive.
Overselling a few GB is one thing, but advertising unlimited and then cramming people onto already packed servers for the sake of raking in a bit of extra dosh is only going to cause problems in the long run. When the servers are going down because the load is stupidly high — which, for some servers, it already is1 — they’ll only have themselves to blame.
23 Jun at 5:05 pm
I tend to think sometimes people put “unlimited” because it’s more interesting than “100000000000000000000”, you know? And then other times, I think they shouldn’t offer things they can’t deliver. I take “unlimited” to mean “hopefully more than you’ll use”.
23 Jun at 5:31 pm
I learned too late that “unlimited” was complete and total bullcrap. I went with Dreamhost first, and their psuedo-“unlimited” plans was absolute crap.
More site owners need to read about overselling. But, you’ll probably always get chumps that will just think “bigger is better”. *sigh*
At least Site5 provides a server status page though. Dreamhost didn’t. They had a blog up for a “figure it out yourself – even for standard maintenance” type of thing.
23 Jun at 5:44 pm
Yeah, I’m worried about the future of my website since Dreamhost oversells. I’m scared to transfer, though, since altogether, domains + subdomains, I have 30 sites.
True, good webhosts are hard to find. I’ve been searching for a host to switch to for months (besides Holdfire) and I haven’t found any package that fits my budget AND doesn’t oversell.
23 Jun at 6:06 pm
Bluehost did the same thing, and I now have 300 gigs of storage space and 3,000 gigs of transfer. WHO needs that much space?! I’ve experienced an assload more downtime and other server hiccups since then. When my domain with them finally does expire, I’ll probably switch to Holdfire.
23 Jun at 6:30 pm
That’s just way too much. Like Mari, I too, learned too late that “unlimited” anything was too shitty to be hosted on. (I had unlimited bandwidth and some other stuff, I can’t remember)
So what are you going to do? If they have all these promotions, would you be affected by it too?
@Brent
Holdfire is good! :) I really like the service.
23 Jun at 6:38 pm
No. I’m on an old server that new accounts are no longer added to, so unless an existing user suddenly goes wild it’s not likely that I’ll suffer load issues. However, I have work accounts on newer servers which I’ll need to keep an eye on. The Q*Bee has had some downtime this month which may or may not be related.
23 Jun at 6:48 pm
They (Site5) say that they have a smaller number of accounts per server than anyone else and that they like it that way because it keeps YOU happy.
Maybe Rachael is right, Unlimited sounds better than “100000000000000000000”!
Thanks for the link to the article on server load, as I run a server, but am learning, it was a great help!
23 Jun at 6:54 pm
Indeed, but realistically they can’t provide that kind of space or bandwidth either. I’m not saying put a ban on overselling – I think all hosting companies do it these days – but to what degree is that acceptable?
I don’t have the answer to that question, of course :P
23 Jun at 8:25 pm
My God. Some of those load rates are ridiculous. I hope none of your projects get affected by that… but then again, I know you probably have everything like triple backed up, haha.
23 Jun at 9:06 pm
Hmmm…sounds like they are doing the same exact thing that Dreamhost has been doing all along. To me, it isn’t really surprising. Site 5 has to keep up with their competitors.
23 Jun at 9:19 pm
It’s Dreamhostitis and it’s CATCHING! Ahhhhhhhhh!
Seriously, I’m trying to find a new host for August, and it’s getting harder. Because this whole time people have been saying “Site5! Site5!” and now, they’re getting closer to the crap I already deal with. Pooey poo heads. I’m afraid I won’t find a better host in time, and end up caving and shelling out more money for Dreamhost (the problem being that I used an amazing promo code for my current year: My entire hosting plan cost less than 10$. :P Which will make it super hard to shell out 100$ for the service I received for 10. :( )
23 Jun at 9:50 pm
If it helps.. I’m not having any problems with Site5, I just don’t approve of their marketing tactics.
23 Jun at 11:07 pm
At the end of the day they are a business.
Unlimited everything eh?
You may not approve of the marketing tactic but thats the best way to explain what they are generally selling (27653870000GB lol) I know I’m probably stating the obivous but hey thats all I all can do :P
And even though it’s a tiny bit wrong of them to do that atleast people will be able to benefit from their great service I hear from you and their ‘unlimited’ diskspace.
23 Jun at 11:27 pm
Buuu! And I just signed up today ’cause of your word. :p
Well my card was rejected but I was literally about to go and borrow my mum’s CC…
You think I should go with Site5 or not?
24 Jun at 12:23 am
That sucks, I hope your site doesn’t go down though.
24 Jun at 1:20 am
It’s true– there’s no such thing, really, as unlimited. But, if you read closely, you might find a catch somewhere, such as, does it say when the “unlimited amount” lasts until? Conditions? Catches, etc. And I totally agree with you. cramming new people into crowded servers is not a good thing!
24 Jun at 1:30 am
wow. i hope you’re site doesn’t suffer because of they’re stupidity.
24 Jun at 4:01 am
They’ll flag you for using up to many resource, and will either suspend your account or tell you to get a dedicated server before they let you run wild with bandwidth and/or space.
24 Jun at 5:16 am
I wonder if there is fine print defining “unlimited”, because it usually is closer to “more than enough”.
24 Jun at 8:16 am
I remember back in the day when Unlimited was all I wanted to get, only to realize that I’ve never even managed to fill up to 1gb of web space, even to this date!! So now I look for small-medium plans good for my needs. Even though I know space/bandwidth must be limited, I want the rest unlimited. I want to know I can have as many email addy, subdomain addy, ftp accounts, or mysql dbs as I want :3
24 Jun at 10:41 am
I noticed that plan when I was browsing their site out of curiosity. I thought it was dodgy too.
Oh by the way Jem, you’re featured on We Love WordPress. ;)
24 Jun at 11:45 am
So that’s the reason why a lot are complaining about them nowadays and why Jordan is gaining for clients in Holdfire?
24 Jun at 12:01 pm
Somewhat unrelated: isn’t Site5 an England-based company? Why are they celebrating July 4th? :S
24 Jun at 12:17 pm
No…
24 Jun at 7:48 pm
My server still experiences hiccups every so often but I remain fiercely loyal. I really hope they don’t start to go all “DreamHost” on us. :P
25 Jun at 12:45 am
I know what you mean about advertising as unlimited when that isn’t actually possible. Rachael makes a good point in saying that term now often means “hopefully more than you’ll use” which is sad.
I never really thought about how something like that could affect the other users that are already hosting with that web provider, but you’re right, now other people could suffer because they are trying to provide “Unlimited” everything.
25 Jun at 3:59 pm
At Enzo: Is it a bad thing that Jordan is getting more customers? I have used Holdfire for about one month plus now and I think they’re great. =D
I noticed the Site5 unlimited plan and I was kinda skeptical. It’s sad that they are using this gimmick. =(
25 Jun at 8:07 pm
I signed up with Site5 awhile back also cause of your recommendation from here. =) I’ve liked their service so far… way better than my previous hosts.
Hmm.. but maybe that’s why my site’s been going down now and then!
26 Jun at 11:36 am
Site5 have always oversold to the extreme anyway, going from 7TB >> unlimited really is no change. The hosting industry revolves around resource usage (cpu, ram) rather than disk and bandwidth these days. The whole unlimited thing is ridiculous. However, lots of hosts do have more realistic, non-oversold plans too :)
26 Jun at 11:45 am
Heh, their plans weren’t always that large :)
05 Jul at 8:55 pm
Their support has really fallen off recently – to the point of being awful. Their claim to offer 7 x 24 support is just a bad joke. problems go on for days and days, and except for the automated response, it can take a day to here back on an issue.
Site5 is hitting the wall and the customers like me are going to need to find an alternative.
13 Jul at 12:44 pm
So… Should i?
– Stay with DreamHost
– Move to Site5 reseller
– Move to Surpass Hosting reseller?
Any clues?
04 Mar at 9:29 am
Hello,
for a year i have my websites in site5.com but now i want to move to web hosting provider in uk. Do you suggest any good company in uk?
In site5.com i worked with cpanel and the price war affordable for me I am looking for something similar.
Thank you!