Comments on: Review of Third Sphere Hosting: Learn from My Mistakes and Nightmare Experiences

By: Jay (Jason Van Orden)

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:53:55 +0000

Our current recommendation is http://www.GetOurHosting.com.

By: Zahzel

Zahzel — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 23:01:46 +0000

Love Bluehost. They always answer the phone, barely site on hold, they are always there day/night – even when you send them an email they write back very swiftly. They walk you thru how to do things. Or you can watch their videos. Wish I knew about them years ago.

By: Sterling (Jeremy Frandsen)

Sterling (Jeremy Frandsen) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 03:10:57 +0000

In what way do we need to update it? We still think you should stay away and that they are not profession… How is that different then what you are saying?

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 19:24:20 +0000

You need to update this review. Third Sphere recently sent an email stating that those with “shared hosting” have to move their site. Although not explained in their email, after contacting them 5 time with no reponse, I finally recieved an email back stating if I don’t have my own server I am considered shared hosting and I need to move my site immediately.
Not too professional.

By: WALTER B2B Email Lists

WALTER B2B Email Lists — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:52:19 +0000

Actually you can solve all our problems if you host yourself
with all the highspeed internet out there you can run your own server and still have plenty of speeed to do all the surfing you want at home. All you need ot do is get a static ip address. well you will need two or three, one for your server and one for your regular inenet usage. You can use C-panel or acheaper alternative Directadmin as a control panel, and host unlimited sites with unlimeted bandwidth

It really is simple once it is set up zero problems in five years and i push close to 20 gig of bandwidth per month

By: Peter Grandstaff

Peter Grandstaff — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:13:42 +0000

I only saw one mention of DreamHost here for hosting. IMHO they are in a league of their own. Phone support costs extra, but I’d rather only pay for it when I need it. Unlimited databases, domains, diskspace, bandwidth, etc. It’s employee owned, so even the support staff has a vested interest in creating satisfied customers.

They don’t have cPanel, but they have crafted their own interface over the years that I find even more intuitive than cPanel.

By: James King

James King — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:46:50 +0000

Hi Jay,

I used Globat as well, I was there for 9 months and the service was really bad. I was double charged on one account, luckily I could email the CEO to sort it out.

This service given me hell, it was so frustrating, but I’ve learnt from it and the knowledge so allowed me to do a podcast with it.

I am in the UK, for my blog I use Heart Internet and for podcasts I place these on a separate server on Bluehost.

I found with my blogs on Globat and even your site Jason podcastingunderground.com was very very slow. I am pleased we’ve all learnt from this.

One of the most valuable things I’ve learnt never go for very cheap.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 04 May 2009 07:30:54 +0000

Hi from Oz Guys,
Thanks for the great info. I am just starting out and I was about to subscribe to ThirdSphere, literally… I had my wallet out… I thought I had better check out some reviews and found your comments. Thanks, big time!
I will follow the advice here. It seems that Aweber and 1ShoppingCart are the go… I have registered my domain and booked hosting with HostGator and I guess I will try them out for the startup phase.
Would you please advise what I should use to build multi page sites. I cannot write code… at all…. and need a simple process. Is CoffeeCup worth a try? Any other recommendations?
Thank you for really valuable information.
Steve von Kohorn, Sydney Australia

By: Guest

Guest — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:15:23 +0000

ThirdSpeherHosting DOES indeed suck big time!

By: Sterling

Sterling — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 08:02:11 +0000

@John,

I have never heard of ixwebhosting. I use powweb and globat and have for some time now. They have worked out for me perfectly.

Sterling

By: John Leonard

John Leonard — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 07:46:50 +0000

Any thoughts on ixwebhosting? I’ve used them for awhile now for personal & high school sports websites – wondering how they might do at ecom.

Thanks,

John

By: Jay (Jason Van Orden)

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:20:23 +0000

@Val,

I’ve worked with Yahoo! Small Business before with a client and I didn’t like it. They were trying to make it so easy (not give you enough rope to hang you yourself with so to speak) that it wasn’t flexible enough for me. Every host has it’s features. I still tend to work with “bigger” hosting names. True they are not Yahoo!, but they still have proven track records.

By: Val Cesanelli

Val Cesanelli — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:02:12 +0000

Jay and Sterling,

I know that this might sound naive for all of you experts, but why don’t you guys use big vendors like yahoo small business…?

Thanks for the advice, by the way!. I have to send a quote for a prospect tomorrow and I want to send a site link to go with it…which I have never done before!…Any quick tips on how to do something on a transitory basis and then switch if necessary ?
Val.

By: Dornessa Harris

Dornessa Harris — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 02:13:36 +0000

I wish I would have read this blog before I joined Hostgater.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 06:14:03 +0000

Thank you for your review.

I have been with Third Sphere for almost two years and just about to drop ship. It’s amazing to me that a web hosting company that gives such a LOUSY support (90% of my emails are ignored or answered with the utmost unprofessional fashion) gets such good reviews on the web.

Third Sphere Hosting has an unacceptable downtime, bouncing emails, database problems and a very unfriendly ticket support.

I should have switched a hosting company years ago. Here’s a fair warning to all of you looking for a reliable host: Third Sphere Hosting is NOT the answer. Stay away and learn from my mistakes.

Mike.

By: Jay (Jason Van Orden)

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Tue, 29 May 2007 18:59:06 +0000

@Peter,

Feedblitz is very limited. All it does is send an email to the list when you post something new to a blog or podcast feed. You could also use something like Google Groups for free, but you get what you pay for.

With free services you don’t get a number of features like autoresponders, open-rate tracking or click-through stats. With Aweber I can also insert someone’s first name at the beginning of the email or in the subject line which increases response.

I pay for Aweber to get additional features such as that. It’s worth every penny.

By: Peter Beck

Peter Beck — Mon, 28 May 2007 22:46:33 +0000

Sterling and Jay –

Can you comment some on why you chose Aweber as opposed to another email list service, like FeedBlitz?

Peter Beck
http://www.PodcastingForMedicalProfessionals.com

By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:06:21 +0000

I almost went with BLUEHOST back in mid 2006. They gave me a warm-and-fuzzy feeling. However, true or not, I kept getting my confidence in BLUEHOST damaged when I came across posts talking about downtime and whether or not they had enough back-up generators in place, etc. I did like the fact they were based in UTAH, as opposed to disaster prone California. In the end, I left iPower/iPowerweb (note:StartLogic is iPower’s biggest reseller, I hear) and decided to go with INMOTION. I have no regrets, so far. (well, actually there was the one time a CS rep got snippy with me because previously I had found a loophole in their pricing and combined a now defunct 1/2-off coupon with a limited-time offer/hosting plan – apparently my account was ‘noted’ and the CS rep let it slip). Just be sure to dig hard for their somewhat ‘cloaked’ hosting deals on their website, as they are not front-and-center. Another thing to be aware of, these competitively-priced hosts with their larger and larger storage offerings are not really allocating that storage to you right away – you are entitled to it as you paid for it, but most websites barely use any storage and they know this. If you even came close to using the 60GB allowed (as an example) later on the host would be forced move your account over to another server entirely. Perhaps once establishing an new account with a webhost, one should just almost max-out their allowed storage immediately (so that its allocated right way) then perhaps reduce it in later months?

By: Devin

Devin — Thu, 10 May 2007 20:23:00 +0000

Can anyone comment on personal experiences they have had with Blue Host as a hosting company? This marketing blurb sounds pretty good.

“WordPress Auto-Install, 300 GB disk storage, FREE Domain Name, 2500 POP / WebMail addresses, 3000 GB/mo transfer, Host Unlimited Domains on 1 Account, 20 Subdomains, 50 mySQL databases, Free Control Panel, Free Fantastico, 24/7 Network Monitoring, 99% Uptime Guarantee, Mirrored Storage Backups, No hidden fees, Voted Best Support in 2004, 2005, and 2006!” –http://wordpress.org/hosting/

By: Darren

Darren — Wed, 09 May 2007 16:30:21 +0000

I have been a dedicated Hostgator guy as well as Aweber. I will say that I have gotten some bad results in just trying to get information on setting up an account over at kiosk.ws. I joined their mailing list and for the past 2 weeks been getting emails saying sorry we have to shut down for 20 minutes here, an hour there.

Not to mention, I have submitted 3 Pre-Sale requests to their “contact us” page and I have not heard back yet.

I called, spoke to Oliver, he could not answer any of my questions including the big one, ” How do I transfer 60 sites to you guys?”. His answer was, well I think we can do it for a fee. Not confidence builing for sure!

Its a shame too as I really wanted to give these guys a shot as hostgator gets a tad aggressive with shutting down internet marketers.

Guys, keep up the good work and I look forward to your next podcast!

By: Jay (Jason Van Orden)

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Wed, 09 May 2007 00:51:44 +0000

@Shelton,

You bring up a valid point. I haven’t had any major problems with Globat on that front. I am not claiming it is the absolute fastest either though. Buying a reseller program is a great way to go, too. I will probably be doing that for myself in the near future.

By: Shelton Johnson

Shelton Johnson — Tue, 08 May 2007 22:44:40 +0000

I don’t know about Globat. when a Hosting comapny has unbelievable plans like that .Most of the time they are overselling . My websites are too important to me to risk any downtime . I’ve been using site5.com’s Reseller plan to host 50+ sites for 2 years now .

Good luck . Great Show BTW

By: Jay (Jason Van Orden)

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Mon, 07 May 2007 05:58:23 +0000

@taural, The email sign up is not a WordPress plugin. That is a form that aweber generated for us.

By: taural

taural — Sun, 06 May 2007 15:25:16 +0000

Good tips! These are the kind of technical details that I, as a novice, really appreciate.

BTW I was curious about the WP plugins that you use for your websites (especially the “sign up” button)

thanks and looking forward to more form you guys!
taural

By: Sterling

Sterling — Wed, 02 May 2007 16:23:28 +0000

@Pat

Well, I used 1Shoppingcart for the autoresponders for a while, but then I had several problems with that part of the system. They seem to be upgrading the autoresponder system, but a mentor of mine told me that it would be worth using aweber as well. The mentor was making several million dollars a year, so I followed his advise. Just last week another mentor of mine said he had several problems with 1shoppingcarts autoresponders not going out in a timely manner or at all, so I’m still going to stick with aweber, as I have never had a problem of any sort with then in over 2 years of service. 1Shoppingcart is the LEADER in the other aspects of their service and most of the big boys use them.

By: Pat

Pat — Wed, 02 May 2007 13:13:29 +0000

Interesting post, and thank you for the recommendations. If you use 1ShoppingCart for autoresponder as well, then Aweber would not be necessary? 1ShoppingCart’s “Basic” and “Professional” levels list quite a bit of capability.

By: Sterling and Jay

Sterling and Jay — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 18:50:43 +0000

@Chris

I have only used Aweber, but I do know several people that dumped GetResponse for Aweber.

Sterling

By: Jay (Jason Van Orden)

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 16:45:14 +0000

Michael,

Thanks for dropping by. It’s interesting to note which companies are paying attention to what is being said and which are not. If I was Third Sphere I would want to know about this post (especially since thousands of people are going to hear about it on the next episode of the podcast as well).

I’m glad to see that 1ShoppingCart is paying attention.

By: Michael Valiant

Michael Valiant — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 16:34:03 +0000

Great article!

Thanks for the mention.

We’ve always believed that friendly and skilled phone support is essential to helping our merchants succeed. Everyone hopes that nothing will go wrong, but occasionally it does, and being able to pick up a phone and contact someone should be one of the most basic services any company (especially an online company) offers.

Michael Valiant
http://www.1ShoppingCart.com

By: Jay (Jason Van Orden)

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 02:01:59 +0000

Chris,

Thanks for those recommendations. I’ll be sure to check them out.

By: Chris O'Byrne

Chris O'Byrne — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 01:53:59 +0000

I started with Aweber, but switched to GetResponse because it was much easier to set up and use. I use DreamHost for hosting my sites (35 and counting!) and has been a dream to use. I plan to use either Webgistix or Acutrack for product fulfillment, I’m waiting for quotes before I decide. Another great combination is E-junkie and SwiftCD.

By: Jay (Jason Van Orden)

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 15:36:54 +0000

Michael,

That is the one weakness I have heard about Globat. If you really like CPanel, Globat might not be for you. But I’ve had no problems with their account admin.

By: Jay (Jason Van Orden)

Jay (Jason Van Orden) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 15:15:02 +0000

Excellent points Sterling. And I should point out that I have also been using Globat for the the last few years and have been happy with their service. Also Aweber is what we use for the Internet Business Mastery email list.

By: Michael Copeland

Michael Copeland — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 11:15:24 +0000

Jason,
I have to say I once had three accounts over at Globat and became a reseller. I had paid the annual charge for the three accounts. However, their back end control panel was not very good. After a few months, I switched and pulled the domain names to another server. I only used Globat for storage and let the accounts expire at the one year mark. I like cPanel as the backend control panel. My current server has Fantastico installed which automatically installs programs like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and a LOT more. However my host is basically for the storage and not the service. They do not have phone support, just email, and is more for the people who do not need support. The website host I use is http://houseofstorage.com and the one I have recommended to others is http://hostgator.com .
Both of these places use cPanel for their back end system which I have found to be the best and most robust for me.
You guys are awesome!
Thanks,
Michael S. Copeland

By: Sterling

Sterling — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 05:59:57 +0000

Agreed! I dumped Third Sphere about 2 weeks ago myself. Just so everyone knows, I have been using 1Shoppingcart and Aweber for about 2 years with no problems. I just wanted to say that so you don’t think the are NEW referrals for us. They are fantastic actually. I recently tried out Globat as well.

Sterling