Ends: 'Soon' - Fasthosts free reseller hosting offer

TheChillPill

Not quite sure whether this should be here or on the freebie board, it's technically free but more of a trial I guess.

(EDIT: Ok, I guess I was wrong on both accounts!)

Anyway, came across this offer this morning - FreeHosts are offering 3 months reseller hosting for free. £50 a month thereafter, BUT you can cancel if you want without any penalty.

It seems pretty good if you have a few websites, or want to reseller webspace - gives you 3 months to make sure you're not going to lose any cash (or make enough from reselling it!).

Bit of blurb about it here which according to that indicates you're not signing your life away or anything!

I posted on the Tech board yesterday about looking for a Cobalt RAQ dedicated server, but this one might just be worth a try instead.

Anyone got one of these accounts already and have any opinions on them?

Direct link to FastHosts here

WSO

I used to use Fasthosts a long time ago but left after they had 2 RAID failures in the space of 3 months (think that was at the start of 2001). I was on a shared server and they were unable to recover the data properly (can't remember if they had a backup or not). To be fair, they kept me up to date with what was happening - but when it happened a second time I found it very hard to understand why they hadn't learnt their lesson.

Perhaps I was just unlucky - but I wasn't the only one unhappy with the service back then, some small hosting company's started out because they were unhappy with the service they got from Fasthosts, I ended up hosting with one of them for a year after I left.

Do Fasthosts still do several glossy double page promos in various internet magazines? I get the impression they spend way too much on advertising and not enough on the infrastructure... but that may just be me!

Needless to say I've struck them out of any future dealings with Fasthosts even if the prices are good.

Having said that it was a long time ago (over 4 years now) and things might have changed... I'm not signing up with them to find out though as I'm quite happy hosting where I am.

TheChillPill

Yup, I recall they had a horrendous reputation going back 4/5 years ago, but I can't recall hearing many negative things about them more recently - a few positives though.

I see the odd advert in magazines for them, though I don't buy anywhere near as many as I used to, so perhaps they still do advertise heavily.

I've signed up with them on the trial anyway - decided to use a 'dormant' domain I bought a while ago to see what the service is like. If it seems ok after 2 months, I might move across my others - in which case I'll be saving some cash each month.

Nothing to lose anyway!