DON’T HOST or LEAVE 1&1 - many hosters are better
Topics discussed in this review :
- 1&1 domains sales (through SEDO)
- Quality and reliability of service,
- Real price vs. apparent price
- Deceitful practices
- 1&1 perceived business strategy
- Domains :
1&1 domain prices are no longer competitive. Example, pay $28.95 / year for a “.co” extension domain at 1&1 vs… $13 at GoDaddy. I believe this alone is a good enough reason not to buy a domains from 1&1. Note that “.co” domains could become even more demanded than “.com” in the next couple of years
The domains with “.com, .info, .net, .org” extensions are not so expensive, but they no longer are the cheapest on the Web for an equal level of service.
- Service:
1&1 service is degraded. They used to be very good. They no longer are. I have been with them since 2003, when they were a very small company in the USA. Their customer control panel amounted to no more than 5 options features. I though they were good though, and friendly and. They came out of the crowd with their customer service. It’s no longer the case, far from it. And, they randomly answer emails.
For businesses, 1&1 pretends to provide unlimited traffic and Web space. But it is not true. They actually cut off service when you get too many visitors. I am only talking about 1500 visitors per day, which a dedicated host does not justify.
Here is what they wrote to me:
“Recently we have noticed that your web site(s) is overloading the web server because it was using too many shared server resources (cpu/memory usage). We now request that you consider purchasing a Managed or other Dedicated Server in order to continue hosting with 1&1 Internet. The decision to lock your account was made by the system administrators"
So, unlimited is pretty much limited! And this is what they wrote to me after I complained about my websites being down:
"We can lock your site at any time if it creates a problem for other users in shared hosting. "
This is what they mean by unlimited traffic. Not only my traffic is rather low from a business perspective, but it has gone down 65% in the past year following the August 13, 2012 Google Panda update.
- Pricing :
- Domains are now expensive.
- Their Web builder service is outrageously expensive, and required for non technical people. Most hosters give this basic service free.
- Their SEO paid service is a scam. Month after month, 1&1 submits the websites again and again to the few same search engines, no directories, with absolutely no success. Plus, this service is very easy to order, but difficult to cancel (add 1 month fees or more to the cost).
…and so on.
- 1&1 sells deceit :
The statistics from the 1&1 control panel are inflated. The visits and visitors are multiplied by a factor of 7 to 12 times. Beginners will not figure this out easily. Easy to fool beginners is 1&1’s market of predilection.
- 1&1 Strategy:
I wou1d guess that 1&1 ambitions to become the #1 hoster in the world. Their strategy targets individuals with very little knowledge on hosting. They funnel new customers with some very apparently low prices and lots of publicity. But the real cost is way above what they display.
They have no interest in business hosting, it is not their current strategy. Proof of this in my email to them:
“I have been sending emails to your sales department for days to be able to upgrade to a virtual dedicated server. They have never answered.”
… And so on.
I have now contracted a shared server with another hoster (Hostgator). For what I have seen of them so far, their support team is competent. And they are less expensive than 1&1.