Top Hosting Center

Let me start by saying that this is not a paid post or paid review. This post is based on appreciation for the help Top Hosting Center has given me. I only recommend companies, services or features that I use myself and/or feel will be of benefit to you the reader.

While this blog is relatively new, I have other blogs in the stable, one of which is very successful in its niche; so much so that it has been killing the VPS it is hosted on.

I started this other blog, back in 2006 on a normal shared hosting plan, with the usual features of large storage, large traffic and guaranteed uptime. All worked well until it began to get too much traffic. Without warning, the site was taken offline by the host and I was unable to even access it by FTP to get my files off.

After much discussion, about how, when I hadn’t come anywhere near my guaranteed service levels the site had been taken offline, I was informed about my site using too many resources on the shared server and how this had been killing other sites. I was given reasons for why this could be, none of which actually appeared logical to me, but I followed along with it. I was told the only solution was to upgrade to a VPS and everything would be alright.

After still being denied access to my cpanel, I eventually negotiated access so that I could remove the offending file, that was causing the problem, as they saw it. I removed one MP3 file, and cleaned up as much other things as I could and all worked well for a while without having to upgrade to a VPS.

They Had Me Over A Barrel

Not long after this though, the site was taken down again, for the same reason and this time they would not put it back up without upgrading to a VPS. With no access to my site to even transfer it to a different host, I was left with three alternatives, fight it, walk away, or upgrade.

As walking away was not an option and fighting it would have been a waste of time; I had already tried this and having the site down for a few days kills it big time, I chose to upgrade to the VPS. I was guaranteed that this would solve all the problems and that they would never occur again. What a load of crap.

The site kept growing and soon the guaranteed never fail VPS, started falling over. the next solution was to upgrade to the highest VPS. I refused, as the reasons being given for the VPS problems were not totally honest. The problem I identified was a DNS issue. This was denied, but it later turned out to be correct and blamed was put on a junior admin. Anyway, before this error was identified, I was placed on the highest level VPS as a ‘trial’ to solve the problem. Now, as the problem was with a mis-configuration, this upgrade had no effect until the actual fault was rectified.

When the actual problem was rectified though, the site remained on the highest level VPS. It has remained this way since, with only minor issues until recently. As before, the site has continued to grow and once again, started killing the VPS. This time the problem is due to the site’s popularity. Obviously, this has a very negative effect on the site, with it going down anything up to 40 times per day. Checking the logs, in some time periods, it was failing every 7-9 minutes.

Not good at all. This time the only solution was to go to a dedicated server, which the host was pushing for very strongly. The problem with this, was, that with this host, the entry level dedicated server costs $200 per month. Now, based on my past experience, with this particular host, I was not felling particularly enthusiastic about shelling over more money to them. Enter Eric, the CEO of Top Hosting Center.

I spoke with some other people about my problem and was advised to talk with Eric. I knew that some other large sites has recently switched to Top Hosting Center, which made me think it must be pretty good. I took their advice and contacted Eric. Let me say, from the outset, Eric and Top Hosting Center have been great. I explained my situation and Eric was only too happy to help.

Top Hosting Center acted very quickly and handled everything for me, setting up a new dedicated server and migrating all of my sites from the existing VPS.

Read The Fine Print

During the migration, some things that I was not aware of with the previous host came to light. I had assumed and was lead to believe that the VPS was on a 100Mbps connection. It was, kind of. While it was on a 100Mbps connection, it was actually 100Mbps burstable. In reality, it was only operating on a 10Mbps connection speed. Here I was trying to figure out why the site was always so slow on the VPS. At Top Hosting Center, this is a full 100Mbps, so the site is much faster.

A Blogger’s Friend

Another great thing about Top Hosting Center is that they are friendly to bloggers. Rather then trying to constrain your requirements, they actively promote the blogger. Top Hosting Center was a sponsor for SOBCon07 and are a sponsor again for SOBCon08, so you can see they are serious about bloggers and blogging as a business.

THC Hosting Plans

Whether you are looking to start a blog, or transfer to a host that understands your needs, Top Hosting Center has some of the best, if not the best hosting plans available. Their features are too numerous to mention, so just go here and compare for yourself.

Excellent Support

Great hosting deals are ok, but without good support, things can quickly turn sour. The support staff at Top Hosting Center are a great bunch, queries are answered promptly, with none of the waiting normally associated with hosting support. The staff seem to know their stuff and go out of their way to assist and make the experience a good one.

Dedicated Hosting

If you are at the stage where you are looking to upgrade to a VPS or dedicated server, then you wont find better deals then at Top Hosting Center’s dedicated hosting plans. If you are thinking about upgrading to a VPS, you will probably be better served going straight to a dedicated server, as this will help you avoid many of the problems that I have suffered.

So thanks to Eric and the crew at Top Hosting Center, my sites are online and doing what they are meant to do, allowing me to concentrate on blogging, without having to worry about whether the site is going to fall over.

Nurdz Deal For You - 15% Off

I was speaking with Eric again today and asked him if there was any way he could help Nurdz readers and give them an even better deal then they would normally receive. Eric, being the good guy that he is, came to the party again and created a special discount just for all the aspiring Nurdz. To take advantage of this great discount, all you have to do is click here and sign up for a hosting package, then enter StarHostMe in the relevant box and you get a massive 15% off the already cheap prices. This special discount is only available to Nurdz readers who click here, so if you are serous about getting the best hosting deal you can, go and grab it now.