….I’m going to have to blame it on Dreamhost. My last post was mainly complaining about Dreamhost. Ironically, this website (EliteEternity) is hosted on Dreamhost itself and when I submitted my last post, Dreamhost stalled so bad that I almost thought my precious words would be lost into cyberspace forever! 10 minutes later (exaggeration) it kicked back into gear and my post was submitted successfully. In all seriousness though, if you need a good web host, go with SimpleHelix. They will save you time and brain tumors.
Another Reason Why Dreamhost Sucks And SimpleHelix Rocks!
As I stated in my last post, I signed up for the PPC-Coach in hopes of drastically improving my PPC Marketing skills. Sidenote: It’s 50 bucks a month, but it’s already worth it and I’m only on my third day of the subscription. Sidenote#2: You can cancel at any time during your membership. That’s a question I had before signing up. Anywho, PPC-Coach has several cool software tools that you download and use for your first lesson. I downloaded these tools and was attempting to install them on one of my many dreamhost servers and lo and behold – I was getting tons of errors. I had had problems with Dreamhost before (speed/error issues) so I had a pretty good idea that the errors I was getting were Dreamhost related. Big surprise.
So I contacted Dreamhost customer support via email and they had a timely response (as usual. props to them) but they said the the error was a problem with the third-party software’s problem. Of course it was! Who wants to take blame, right?
Last night I realized that I have quite a bit of hosting space over at SimpleHelix that I’m paying for, but not using. I figured I would purchase a new website on their site (only $7.95) or something and use try to install the PPC-Coach software there. I purchased the domain last night and got everything set up today. Needless to say, the errors simply didn’t exist when I installed the PPC-Coach tools on my SimpleHelix server. Although the SimpleHelix admin interface leaves much to be desired when copmared to Dreamhost’s, I must give props to SimpleHelix for having solid hosting and super-quick email/phone support (both free). You can sign up for SimpleHelix here.
What problems have you had with Dreamhost? Do you agree with me when I say that Dreamhost sucks? I’ve been with them for quite a while (a couple of years), so my opionon isn’t just based on one bad experience.
It’s Official – Dreamhost Sucks
So does Logitech’s MX Revolution Laser Mouse, but we’ll get to that in a later post. I have a total of 32 domains hosted with dreamhost, and I woke up this morning (okay, this afternoon) and every single one of them was down. What’s more? I went to dreamhost.com to see what was up, perhaps put in a support ticket, and lo and behold: Dreamhost.com was down too! Blow me away!
My satisfaction has been slowly declining with dreamhost. Just about all of my domains are slow (including this one most of the time) and I’m starting to wish I would have started out with a different company. Now I’m sort of stuck as I don’t want to take the time (or money) to transfer all the domains to a different registrar. My advice, do some research before you go with any hosting company. SimpleHelix is a very good option, a bit more expensive, but they’re quick. Or, if you decide to go with dreamhost even after my bad experience, at least sign up with my affiliate link and get me some cash. 
I love Dreamhost Customer Support. So Funny, Yet Helpful.
So I contacted Dreamhost’s support and as usual, they came back with a timely and very helpful response. They have a reputation of good humor (at least in my book they do) and this response was worth mentioning.
Here’s an excerpt from the email I sent them. I was trying to migrate a wordpress database just FYI.
“I also edited the wordpress wp-config file to how it should be, just so
you know. Help would be greatly appreciated.”
Dreamhost’s Response:
“Good Job!”
I didn’t say this to get a pat on the back, although a good pat on the back never hurts.
Dreamhost is a good host if you’re not hosting Magento.
The Bad About Simple Helix Web Hosting. Simple Helix VS Dreamhost
Put your boxing gloves on. This isn’t going to be pretty.
When I say this isn’t going to be pretty, I’m merely referring to the crappy user control panel of Simple Helix VS the excellent Dreamhost control Panel. In this post I’ll detail some of the problems I’ve faced with SimpleHelix as well as the good I’ve encountered. There is more good, than bad.
The only two problems that I’ve really had with Simple Helix Web Hosting thus far:
- The Price
- The User Interface
The Price:
I guess you can’t expect “cheap” when you’re paying for the No.1 Rated Fastest PHP 5 Web Hosting in the USA. Their claim, not mine. But it is fast. About a bagillion times faster than Dreamhost, especially when hosting the new and beautiful E-Commerce Solution – Magento. I’m currently paying about $250.00 annually for their hosting services. The plan I’m on – The Standard Plan – Allows 10 domains. The domains cost $7.95 each annually, but that’s cheaper than Dreamhost’s $9.95 annual fee.
The User Interface:
Booooo! No, not the “I just scared the hell out of you” kind of boo. The kind of boo that you hear at a stadium of pissed off Utah Jazz Fans after they just lost the Super Bowl….err, I mean the National Championship (can you tell I don’t get out much?). Joking aside, SimpleHelix’s user interface leaves much to be desired.
I can deal with the home page:
But to be honest. I’m having a REALLY hard time getting over the Client Panel (control panel):
You probably don’t think it’s really a big deal, just looking at the images. So to help my case.
I’ve created a short video to vent my frustrations: (click in the box to play)
Did ya catch it? That scroll downwards? That’s my complaint. Is it honestly necessary to have that big blue bar above the client control panel in every single window? Come on Simple Helix! I don’t want to scroll down any time I want to do anything in my control panel.
Now in contrast, check out the nice, all-in-one Dreamhost interface: (Click in the box to play)
There is an obvious difference.
Can I get a witness?
