I recently had to switch hosting providers and, after researching what was available on the Linux-based front, went with Hostwinds1. I purchased their entry-level virtual private server (2GB of RAM, 50GB SSD storage, 1 IP address) because my needs are relatively minor (half a dozen WordPress blogs, only three of which are at all active).
I did run into some problems getting things set up, which really annoyed me at the time. Part of that was frustration over their front-line tech support staff seemingly being unable to understand some pretty basic questions. Admittedly I was contacting them in the middle of the night between Friday evening and Saturday morning their time when few people are at their best. I was also really annoyed when a second or third level tech support person updated me on what they’d been doing to try and fix a problem by emailing me, in clear text, the contents of a file containing a default password I frequently use when setting things up.
But I’m glad to say those experiences were, far and away, aberrations from what has otherwise been a great and satisfying experience. I now have all my blogs migrated, my firewall tightened up, secure RDP access established and pre-shared-key-based SSH/SFTP connections configured. And I really, really enjoy the responsiveness I get by virtue of running on a VPS rather than in a shared hosting environment.
I was also impressed by Hostwinds management’s response to my complaints about tech support. Unlike other sites I’ve dealt with they took the time to read what I wrote, review it internally, and use it as a training opportunity for their staff. I even got a nice email apologizing for what I experienced from the general manager. We’d all like providers who never make mistakes or cause problems…but that’s impossible, and I’ll take one who does a good job and makes the effort to get better continually any day of the week.
I strongly recommend you consider Hostwinds. I’m glad I went with them.
They earned excellent reviews from PC Magazine. ↩