Are you happy with BlueHost?

[frodojrr]

I am inches away from opening an account with BlueHost. Would just like some feedback from current clients. My current host is a disaster.

But I hear wonderful things about BlueHost. While I'm not expecting the Promised Land of web hosts, I need a company that is reliable and trustworthy.

Why are people happy with BlueHost?

Gary Kopycinski
Editor & Publisher
eNews Park Forest
http://www.enewspf.com

[Falcon4]

Reliable, yup.

Fast, yup.

Limitless, well... not quite. They don't lie about their limitations (**** near infinite storage and bandwidth). But they do limit one precious commodity: CPU time. So you can't run ****ed-up or crappy-coded scripts on Bluehost. I run a hosting site (hostfile.org) from my plain Bluehost account. I wrote it all from scratch though and I almost NEVER get the infamous "CPU exceeded" error, unless my site is being hammered, in which case I just kill the file at .htaccess level and my site rolls on happily.

There are a lot of n00bs on these forums complaining about various limitations or problems, or policies... like torrenting illegal software then complaining about getting caught... or running a totally screwed-up MySQL database and complaining about CPU errors. Or complaining that Bluehost doesn't hold their hand every step of the way. They won't. But at the same time, Bluehost's tech support isn't outsourced to Incomprehensia (err, India) either. You can talk to a real person with your problems. But be warned, these people have dealt with morons day-in and day-out so it's always fun to tell them "hey, I'm not a newb, I need this fixed".

I have to say, overall, I'm quite happy with Bluehost. Once you see the hardware their servers run (see Hostfile:AboutServer), you'll agree... it's a hell of a deal.

Oh, and if you don't yet have a referral link to give someone credit for the signup... I would love you forever because I really really really need the money!

[charlesgan]

my blog hosted here is "so far so good"
this May 2007, noticed slow loading of website on 27/may (holiday)...
no other issue noticed. and the website is just OK. happy and sleep well at night.

other than that, can say the features offered by bluehost is the best in market. Company by live chat, and a friendly forum here

[redsox9]

I've been very happy in the two-plus years that I've run my site through BlueHost. It's not perfect but, for $7/month, you can't beat what you get (space, features, tools, etc.). I came here on a recommendation from a friend and I happily recommend it to anyone I know that's looking to change hosts.

[ctrlpgup]

We have been extremely happy with Blue Host (member since 2005), especially since thier server upgrades earlier this year. The only adjustment I would like to see is more tiered service where someone could pay a higher price and get more hand holding support and higher limits. I for one would be willing to pay the extra cost, especially since they are so cost effective/feature rich to begin with.

[jah]

There are a lot of n00bs on these forums complaining about various limitations or problems, or policies... like torrenting illegal software then complaining about getting caught... or running a totally screwed-up MySQL database and complaining about CPU errors. Or complaining that Bluehost doesn't hold their hand every step of the way. They won't. But at the same time, Bluehost's tech support isn't outsourced to Incomprehensia (err, India) either. You can talk to a real person with your problems. But be warned, these people have dealt with morons day-in and day-out so it's always fun to tell them "hey, I'm not a newb, I need this fixed".

What you're saying is it's not easy just to use BH for hosting.

Most people who use shared hosting are what you'd call "n00bs." Most of us can't code. We know basic stuff and should be able to get by with fantastico install scripts.

You're saying the problem is with me when I get CPU error pages because I'm a "n00b" for not knowing how to code my own page.

frodojrr - I find that most people on BH get their site suspended an average of once a week (for me it was more like 5 times a day, but that's a long story) for so-called cpu use problems (on basic WordPress installs). And when people have problems like this, they're almost invariably treated rudely and told to deal with it (**** n00bs don't know what they're doing).

If you have no problem with that, go for it. BH is cheap, and lots of people use it. Just remember, you get what you pay for.

[hofmax]

I haven't had a CPU problem once since I signed up 2 years ago. I can recommend bluehost and do so on my review site.

[areidmtm]

Most of the time, CPU issues is with the users code. They install these pre-written "catch-all" types of code, which isn't necessarily indented for a shared hosting environment. You can however use these scripts, but you need to know what you're doing first. If you optimize your mysql queries and index your tables, you'll be fine. If you are unwilling to put in the work to make your site work like it's supposed to or are unwilling to play nicely in a shared environment, then you're better off going somewhere else or getting a dedicated server (Bluehost does not offer).

A lot of people will say that it's bluehost fault with CPU issues, but you have to realize that this is just a handful of people out of 285,000 customers that run insufficient code and then come here to complain about it, less than 1%.

But don't take our word for it. Bluehost has a 30 day full money back guarantee. If you decided that bluehost isn't going to work for you, then you can get your money back (less $10 for the domain, but you own the domain and can take it with you). After the 30 days you can at anytime get a pro-rated refund.

Also, please remember all that is said here is from other users of bluehost. This is a user to user forum and we're all normal users. Tech support or the admins do not come here.

[jah]

I second that about the 30 day guarantee. BH is cheap and has a ton of features. If you find it works for you then that's all that matters.

I just recommend that you keep your domain names separate from hosting and not buy domain names through your host (whatever host it might be).

Getting back to frodojrr, what makes your current host a disaster?

[borderline]

I just recommend that you keep your domain names separate from hosting and not buy domain names through your host (whatever host it might be).

why are you recommending separating domains from hosting?
I had my domain at yahoo and brought it here when I bought my hosting plan I hope I didn't make a mistake