Questions about free hosting

[Link2999]

Couldn't find a better place to put this as there is no "Pre Signup Questions" forum under the Free Web Hosting category. I have a few questions, so I'll try to make them as to-the-point as possible.

I noticed that Gigalicous has only been up for a few months now. I've had issues with previous free hosts in the past where they said they would be up for the long-run (4+ years), only to have them shut down shortly after. Do you have an idea of how long Gigalicous may be around for? Or at least have an idea of a minimum?

In real scenarios, how is the uptime? Many, many hosting sites advertise 99.9% uptime, and this turns out to be the opposite. In actuality these sites get 70% uptime. Can I expect to be able to access my site at any given time?

What about service quality? Will my pages take 5-10 seconds to completely load or 30+ seconds? I know that the load time of pages have a lot of different variables that you need to account for, but I'm just talking about loading an average blog page, or for example, you can compare it to the load time you see on the Gigalicous forum's main page. I'm expecting it to be about 10-15% slower as the forum's page.

I own an Invision Power Board license, and can provide proof, if I do so can I host an IPB on Gigalicious? I may not want to host the forum right away, but I may want to do so in the future. - Speaking of which, how many MYSQL databases can I have? I'm asking because I will need 2, one for my blog, and one for the forum.

Edit: Forgot to ask, but I'd also like to know about support. If I open a ticket, will someone look at it in 24hrs, will I need to wait 3-5 days, a week, a month, or will it get tossed aside? This seems like a silly question with an obvious answer, but while hosting sites say they will look at my ticket and get back to me in 24-48hrs, sometimes I never get a response and while support may be good now, can I expect it to continue into the future? 2 years from now, will I be able to get the same level of support as I would today? Just some things to consider.

 

[un4saken]

I noticed that Gigalicous has only been up for a few months now. I've had issues with previous free hosts in the past where they said they would be up for the long-run (4+ years), only to have them shut down shortly after. Do you have an idea of how long Gigalicous may be around for? Or at least have an idea of a minimum?

We are not a new hosting provider. We've been around since 2005. We just changed our name.

In real scenarios, how is the uptime? Many, many hosting sites advertise 99.9% uptime, and this turns out to be the opposite. In actuality these sites get 70% uptime. Can I expect to be able to access my site at any given time?

You can check our uptime here: http://www.status.gi9.co/
Server is running for 125 days without downtime.

I own an Invision Power Board license, and can provide proof, if I do so can I host an IPB on Gigalicious? I may not want to host the forum right away, but I may want to do so in the future..

We will ask you for some proof about your license. Screenshots , emails etc. As long as you can provide these to us (admins) you are allowed to use it.

Speaking of which, how many MYSQL databases can I have? I'm asking because I will need 2, one for my blog, and one for the forum

You can have upto 10 mysql databases. If you earn some forum points, you will have a chance to double almost everything.

Forgot to ask, but I'd also like to know about support. If I open a ticket, will someone look at it in 24hrs, will I need to wait 3-5 days, a week, a month, or will it get tossed aside?

You'll get a response in minutes to hours.

 

[Link2999]

Sounds good! Thanks for the response
By the way, who were you before, just curious.

 

[Sander k]

Stonerocket.net

 

[Genesis]

@Link2999. Am curious. Which free hosts did you have problems with?

I doubt any Web host can make a "for life" guarantee. But at the same time don't think Web hosting could get any better than at Gigalicous for now. I say that mostly of the two lead individuals here, Chris (DJB) the owner, and Un4saken (Technical Admin), who have been doing free hosting together as a partnership for more than eight years. They're probably a Website hosting partnership made in heaven, as Chris who is a website creator, initiator, designer and developer by trade, and a specialist in SEO, usually goes for the best and newest in hardware and software technology. He is always willing to try out brand new technology, whereas un4saken instinctively detects how far the technology can be pushed or when to put the brakes on. You can't ask for someone more expert than Un4saken for safeguarding our websites. Mostly because he thinks out of the box sharp, and whereas other tech admin would still be trying to figure out what is happening when a server is under attack, he'd either have been one up on the attackers, or have grasped the situation in seconds being totally fearless to sort it out.

Suggest you check through our Hosting Support Sub-Forum, as that is probably a testimonial in its own right of how fast support requests are dealt with.

 

[Link2999]

@Link2999. Am curious. Which free hosts did you have problems with?

To name a few:

http://www.freebeehosting.com - Had an account over there for maybe a year or so before problems popped up. The servers just became so unreliable that I couldn't access my site 50% of the time or more. My support tickets weren't answered either. Eventually I couldn't access it at all. The site is down now, but I was left in the dark while the site was still up.

http://www.hourb.com - Similar with the above. I did befriend a mod over there who provided me with a free paid hosting account, but after a few months, the servers became increasingly unreliable to the point where I couldn't log into my cpanel. The mod there ended up leaving and my support tickets were then left unanswered. (They had a similar support forum to the one here, but they removed that and replaced it with a help portal - which has been down for at least a year now) They claim 99.9% uptime as shown here: http://binarycanary.com/en/website-performance-report.cfm?id=F46A4210F14B11984497D075B23CD875 but these checks don't mean anything as the sites are hosted on different servers.

http://www.freehostingnoads.net - This was my current. A few months ago I was left unable to access my site or the cpanel. I sent a general support request a few months ago that has never been answered.


There are a few more that I've tried as well, but nothing lasted.

 

[Sander k]

I am not hosted here, got my own servers, you can see me as an internet friend of the owner. I know DJB since januari 2008 and his services have been very reliable. If I didnt have my own 2 dedicated servers in Germany I would choose Gigalicous.

 

[Genesis]

Thanks for the info, never heard of those providers before. Sorry you had to go through successive bad experiences. When sites are on their way down in my experience, first there is a slow response and the odd announcement now and then from the owner/admin by way of an apology, and then as things get worse eventually no response at all. There may be the odd member of staff trying to field inquiries, but can't compensate for the root level access that is needed to fix and maintain things. When the interest is gone, that is probably the first sign to bale out. As sad as it may be. As quite often one bonds with the place and feels a certain loyalty hoping things will get better. They rarely do. When I check on a free hosting site, my first point of interest is the Forum and how active and current it is. Then scroll down to the Web hosting support section and check for server being down, and other complaints. One can pretty much figure out how healthy the service is by just doing that.