Hosting company SUSPENDED my account with all domains on... [Help me choose the next step]

31 replies
I just got the most terrible email any internet marketer can get -

"Your hosting account has been suspended for excessive usage"

So much for unlimited bandwith, unlimited everything. haha. Best thing is that I don't generate a lot of traffic currently. Must be my few wordpress niche websites.

Anyway, not one of my websites work currently and I need to get them online as soon as possible and I turn to you all to help me choose the next step.

While my hosting (Just Host) is telling me to install a "Super Cache" plug-in for all my wordpress blogs, I am having troubles with this as I can't access my admin areas. (duh)

I am thinking about changing hosting to Hostgator anyway, so I guess this is the right time to do it. Would I be able to transfer all my domains and websites in one shot if I do this?

I am thinking about changing from shared hosting to one of the following:
1 - Resellers account (would this be enough?)
2 - VPS (What speed, bandwith, storage would be enough?)
3 - Dedicated server (not in my budget at the moment)

I have about 24 domains that I need hosted. Mainly minisites for my products and about 10 wordpress niche blogs.

Any advice, help would be much appreciated.

This is my worst nightmare came true.

Bertus
#account #choose #company #domains #hosting #step #suspended
  • Profile picture of the author Scott Ames
    It happens. Happened to me a few times. Usually on shared hosting if you have a script that uses a lot of resources they will either disable the script or kill your whole account without warning.

    For this reason I prefer Virtual Servers or Dedicated Servers. It depends on your price point. The very best is a dedicated server but they can be pricey. The nice thing about fast dedicated servers is that your websites respond very quickly when someone visits them and can actually help you in search engine rankings. That's one of the small factors that Google looks at (web site response time) when ranking.
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    • Profile picture of the author RayWhittaker
      I had exactly the same problem with the same hosting company. I got the distinct impression it was a ploy by Just Host to get people to buy their dedicated hosting.

      Firstly, you can get into the billing and support area on Just Host. Log in their and raise a support ticket asking them to re-instate your account so that you can take corrective action (i.e. install the plugin that they suggest).

      When you've installed the plugin though, there is no guarantee that it won't happen again. They suspended my account three times in all, even though I'd installed the plug in on all of my sites.

      I was fortunate enough to have another hosting package with 'My Express Site'. It came with a mentorship subscriptions site I am a member of. You can buy hosting from My Express Site directly though. I moved all of my sites to them.

      My Express Site is more expensive than the cheap hosts but I think it's well worth the money. Especially since I found the other cheap hosts all have the same clause in their T&C.

      Anyway, I'm not here to promote MES. The point is you might want to find a better hosting company and move your sites there. It might cost more but It'll save you a lot of headaches.
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      • Profile picture of the author oxenfoord
        I had a very successful relationship with "My Express Site" for nigh on two years. Suddenly, in late December 2011, they notified me that I would have to move my blog as they were ceasing the service they had been providing. There was no explanation given. They mentioned that they had sent a number of such warnings already, but I checked my email thoroughly, including spam and there were not earlier emails indicating this news.

        When I asked if they had "bitten the dust" and how their help desk continued when their company's services did not, I received a very antagonistic response and they refused to continue the help with relocating my blog. As a consequence, my blog is still homeless and I may have lost the data, especially my two years' worth of blog entries. I do not know if they still exists as their website does not seem to be operating. Be aware that their helpfulness is not very extensive. They would rather withdraw their services than answer a simple question!
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  • Profile picture of the author Mo Goulet
    LiquidWeb's virtual private severs with cloud hosting are a reasonable alternative to dedicated servers if budget is a problem.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael D Forbes
    Scott is right, on shared hosting the culprit is often a script or cron jobs that run constantly. Unlimited anything on shared hosting really doesn't exist, and I'm baffled as to why they can advertise as such.

    Moving to Hostgator while likely only move your problem. You need to work with your host to find out specifically what their issue is with your account and either eliminate it, or step up to a more robust solution.

    Bandwidth? Host big files on S3 maybe.
    Too many nodes? Find a way to reduce the number.
    Out of control Cron Jobs? Quit auto-blogging...

    These are just a few of the reasons to get that nasty notice. But you can solve any of the problems if they will be nice enough to tell you what the problem is. (insist that they do).

    I'm not 100% sure, but I would think that for the kind of sites you are talking about you could pretty easily spread things out on separate accounts using a re-seller account. That will make things a whole lot easier if you ever decide to sell any of the domains also, you can simply transfer ownership of that account.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Ray has the right start. Contact the tech support people, do what they suggest, and get back online asap. Once accomplished, you have time to consider your options on your schedule.

      As for how hosts can offer 'unlimited everything', the answer is simple. They aren't. You lease a piece of a server. On that piece, you can load as many sites as will fit. You can load as many scripts as will fit. They don't limit bandwidth, per se.

      What they do limit, and what you never see in a feature list, is the share of server resources you use. Use more than what the host considers 'your share' of server resources, and they shut you down.

      Wordpress can be a resource hog. That's why they recommend the cache plugin. With that, the server stores complete copies of the most requested pages, eliminating multiple server calls for every page request.

      Some plugins make the situation much worse. I had one plugin (which is no longer supported, so I won't name it) that made server calls every few seconds.

      Before you jump hosts, put the cache plugin online and see if it makes the problem go away.
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  • Profile picture of the author bertuseng
    Would me moving all my websites to resellers account elliminate this problem? What about a VPS?
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    • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
      I had a reseller account with Hostgator and had the same problem several times with some of my Wordpress blogs I installed W3 Supercache but the problem remained. I then got a VPS account last November and everything has been fine since - I was ready for the upgrade anyway.

      As others have said you need to communicate with support and do as they ask. I'm sure that they will let you into your admin to install the plugin and get you online again once you have. I found the Hostgator support really helpful as I'm sure your host will be if you communicate.
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  • Profile picture of the author bertuseng
    Just got my websites online again. Now to find a better solution than free hosting.

    Still don't know if I should go for VPS or not. Seems that having a resellers account won't matter much in terms of this happening again.

    Thanks for all the advice, and please feel free to add to it to help those of us with similar problems.
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  • Profile picture of the author NerdGary
    This is NOT uncommon.. and IS NOT an indication of a bad hosting company...

    You HAVE TOO MANY PLUGINS on your wordpress installation.

    I know this because it happened to me..

    One of my blogs had over 20 plugins installed.. and it was just killing the resources on the hosting shared server.. they had to block it... I was mad at first, but then dealt with it.

    Install w3-total-cache and REMOVE some of those plugins.

    I would say leave about 5-10 nothing more.
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    • Profile picture of the author RayWhittaker
      Originally Posted by NerdGary View Post

      This is NOT uncommon.. and IS NOT an indication of a bad hosting company...

      You HAVE TOO MANY PLUGINS on your wordpress installation.

      I know this because it happened to me..

      One of my blogs had over 20 plugins installed.. and it was just killing the resources on the hosting shared server.. they had to block it... I was mad at first, but then dealt with it.

      Install w3-total-cache and REMOVE some of those plugins.

      I would say leave about 5-10 nothing more.
      I don't think it's always a matter of too many plugins, although that is one cause of such problems.

      I can understand a host cutting off a site that is drawing too much resources on a shared server. It could start affecting other clients on the same server. But Just Host didn't choose to shut down the offending site, they suspended the whole account.

      Having ALL of your sites cut off at the knees without warning or explanation (at least in my case) is more than just a little annoying!
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by RayWhittaker View Post

        I don't think it's always a matter of too many plugins, although that is one cause of such problems.

        I can understand a host cutting off a site that is drawing too much resources on a shared server. It could start affecting other clients on the same server. But Just Host didn't choose to shut down the offending site, they suspended the whole account.

        Having ALL of your sites cut off at the knees without warning or explanation (at least in my case) is more than just a little annoying!
        Been there, done that. Only in my case, it was a spam attack. My email was being hit with ~125,000 emails per day. The host did the one-click solution and suspended the whole account.

        To make it worse, they just happened to pick a time when I was moving and was relying on the wifi at the public library to try to manage email.

        I think because a server imbalance can affect so many accounts on that server, and because most of the web host dashboards I've seen make suspension a one-click process, many techs just use the easiest and fastest solution.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brian Alaway
    A Hostgator reseller account is nothing more than a shared hosting account with even more restrictions than their basic shared hosting.
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  • Profile picture of the author onegoodman
    Okay, guys this sound scary.

    I have all my website hosted with the same company.

    Currently I am having one of my websites growing like fire. Should I move it ? I do get some hard time as the server goes down sometimes (I guess heavy load).

    I used to be on the regular plan then I moved to their speed server ? Should I start moving to VPS ?
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    • Profile picture of the author londoncoffee
      I am considering Hostgator. What visitor numbers per day or monthly are we talking about before Hostgator closes you down? And why don't they send an email first or push you onto a higher spec plan?
      Anyone have any ideas how Baby plan and VPS 1 - 5 compare with regards to visitor . resource numbers.
      Cheers
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      • Profile picture of the author Tony Marriott
        Originally Posted by bertuseng View Post

        Would me moving all my websites to resellers account elliminate this problem? What about a VPS?

        In short NO.

        You need to be clear on what the problem was
        with 20 or 30 static sites/blogs (assuming not autoblogs)
        you shouldn't be running out of space or bandwidth.

        I'm sure if one or two sites were whoppers and drawing hoards of traffic you would have mentioned it.

        It is more likely to be processor resources. This can be quickly consumed by bad/faulty scripts. Those scripts might be in a plugin like a web scrapper or auto poster.

        Although a caching program would traditionally help with bandwidth it would unlikely help with a faulty script.

        Simply moving to new hosting , even a VPS, may not fix the problem if it more than just a lot of traffic.

        If the only issue is too much traffic then smile and pay the extra needed for a VPS. Too much traffic is dream for most marketers.

        I'm not familiar with your host supplier but you said free hosting.

        Always a danger no matter how good they are. Being free also allows them to not worry too much when things like this happen. If they lose you as a customer it's not a great loss to them directly.

        Another poster mentioned they had loads of sites on on hosting..
        My advice at least get another hosting and split your sites across them. That way a total failure may not be a total disaster.

        Keep non-live copies of the opposing servers sites on each server so you can simply change DNS and be up and running in 24 hours in a disaster.
        $8 a month for hostgator is cheap to keep you safe.
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  • Profile picture of the author jgant
    I had he same problem and switched to HostGator VPS level 4. It's much more per month, but I've had no problems. I use WordPress and many plugins plus 100s of images on my sites.

    Start with level 3 to 5 and see how much you're using. adjust as necessary.

    However, see if after a cache plugin you still need to make the switch. VPS is expensive.
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  • Profile picture of the author ArwenTaylor
    I had VPS hosting for a few years and loved it because it is the same as having a dedicated server without the expense. It was with Servint. They are pretty reasonable and you get a big chunk of space for what you pay every month.

    Unlimited hosting is a myth and the only reason web hosts can offer that is because most of the accounts on any one server only use 1% of the space and bandwidth available to them. This allows the web hosting company to pack as many accounts on one server. Once you start making trouble by using more than your 1% share, that's when they get testy.

    I've used Hostgator before and suspect that you will simply run into the same situation. If you are getting so much traffic that your web host is shutting you down, then I would just upgrade to a VPS.
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  • Profile picture of the author sloanjim
    Did they warn you first?

    I lost a five year old mega site about 8 years ago.....they simply deleted everything. Bandwith..they said. Only on the Net.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris-
    Just to add a brief comment on another unadvertised limit, BlueHost now only offers their auto-backup if you have less than 50,000 files (and under 30Gb). Sounds like a lot of files, but I've only got about 20 blogs and a static site, and I was over the limit. So far I was able to delete a whole bunch of old stuff and get under the limit, but this is yet another limit to their advertised "unlimited" service, which they get around by saying that their auto-backup is "complimentary".

    Chris
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    • Profile picture of the author azmanar
      Hi Bertus,

      Been there. So, go for VPS.

      Let me suggest 10 immediate steps:
      1. Back-up all your WP-content Files to your desk-top
      2. Back-up all your DBs to your desk-top
      3. Back-up all your Cron-scripts to your desk-top
      4. Back-up all your Multimedia Files such as Videos and Sounds to Amazon S3

      5. Get a VPS server provided by a Warrior -> - Host The Name

      6. Set-up your servers and emails in the VPS
      7. Upload and set-up all your files, DBs and crons in the VPS
      8. Relink all your multimedia from Amazon S3
      9. Point your domains to the new servers one-by-one
      10. Monitor the domain propagation for the next 72 hours.

      NOTE 1: It is good to monitor bandwidth usage as well as referral traffic.
      NOTE 2: Register domain names at domain registrars only. But don't buy their hosting services.
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  • Profile picture of the author IBank
    Also don't forget to set up caching this time.
    High server load for wp blogs is caused by all the database queries/activity.
    By using caching you will avoid this...
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  • Profile picture of the author GeorgR.
    VPS or hybrid server.

    (Hybrid is more or less between a VPS and dedicated). I am with simplexwebs.com and i also was with solarvps.com...the hybrid costs me $80/month (its amazing)... otherwise also good experience with solarvps and their managed VPS.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aussie_Al
    Once it again it shows that as an Internet marketer - you must never forget rule #1

    Never have all your eggs in one basket!!

    You need to split blogs into at least 2 different hosting accounts - if one goes down you may experience a temporary loss of earnings but not lose everything.
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  • Profile picture of the author mickyboy73
    I HAD an account with Just Host and have moved everything away from them as they sent me an email saying my invoice was due and if I didn't pay it on time I would lose my domain.

    What really annoyed me is that they made it sound as if I would lose my domain if I failed to pay my hosting account with them (which is not the case as the domain is registered somewhere else).

    The email they sent me just seemed quite strong and I felt as though they wanted me to think I'd lose my domain if I didn't pay my hosting bill. So, being the person that I am I moved everything back away from them to prove a point.

    I use a VPS and run a lot of sites on it. You can still have issues on a VPS if you have too many resource intensive plugins running. It depends on how resource intensive it is, how often it runs and how many instances you have of that plugin running on your other sites that are also hosting on the same account.

    Many times it comes down to CPU usage BUT, by using a VPS, the hosting company are usually very much more forgiving.
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    I can't think of anything funny to say.....

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  • Profile picture of the author JeanneLynn
    I'm currently shopping for a hosting company. These kind of threads really get me nervous. Why would a hosting company terminate an account for excessive usage? Isn't that what you have a website for? So you can obtain tons of traffic? It just doesn't make any sense to me.

    Not related to internet marketing, but sort of the same thing: I switched to Vonage a while back. They advertise unlimited talk, but if you read around the internet and their TOS, it appears that they will cut you off or charge more if you talk over 3000 minutes a month. That's about 100 minutes a day. I find this to be horrible. If something is unlimited, it should be unlimited. I don't talk over 100 minutes a day, but I switched back to my regular landline anyway. I just didn't want to deal with a company who said one thing but did another.
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  • Profile picture of the author GeorgR.
    Why would a hosting company terminate an account for excessive usage?
    Because those hosters are "shared", means if you use up resources someone else is running a slow site because of you. Wordpress and plugins can use a LOT of resources.
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  • Profile picture of the author murtuza
    It happened to me and I got one of my autoresponder scripts with 6000 leads banned.

    I would advise you to use VPS hosting of hostgator as it is not shared you will not have much problems. Also regarding the speed, bandwidth and storage and regarding the transfer of your site it would be best to have a chat session with hostgator, tell them exactly how many sites you have what you are doing, etc and then they will advise you to go with the appropriate bandwidth based on your needs...
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  • Profile picture of the author kea55
    wow that is pretty scary. It does mean one thing though, you are doing some work!
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary Ning Lo
    Happened to me once..

    Unlimited is such a joke -.-

    Cheers,

    ~Gary
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  • Profile picture of the author txconx
    I just dumped a hosting account for the same reason. The account was limited to hosting 25 domain names. I had a multisite installation with 20 domain names, not even my highest-traffic ones. A cache plugin was installed. I have the very same setup installed on two other hosting accounts with Hostgator, with more domain names in the WP/MS and busier sites, and haven't had any problems. I got told I couldn't use certain plugins. I deactivated and uninstalled those plugins. Then they couldn't figure out exactly what was causing the problem and every time, my account was suspended within minutes of my making whatever changes support had requested. It finally boiled down to them wanting me to deactivate and uninstall nearly every plugin and I'm sorry - that's just not feasible.

    This was a hosting company that advertised itself as catering to Wordpress users.

    I moved the multisite to my Hostgator account and asked for a refund of the remainder of my prepaid hosting fees.

    I've had no problems whatsoever with Hostgator, although I am looking at another hosting company. I don't recommend keeping all your eggs in one basket. I currently have 2 Hostgator accounts; I'm looking at a VPS account with another hosting company and then eliminating one of the Hostgator accounts.
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