A small problem with Hostgator

by summerm

Posted: 14 years ago 13 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

If you have an unexpected spike in traffic that takes you beyond your resource limit (they do have a limit, even for "UNLIMITED" resources promised for the shared accounts-- why do hosts usually lie about that? how can they get away with such lies)-- your account will be suspended within 90 seconds of the crime for 25% over or something like that. If only they had an option for an automatic upgrade instead! How silly to punish unexpected success.

Now the resource limits are pretty generous, depending on your point of view, so for most cases I'm guessing it shouldn't matter at all. Has anyone ever approached their plan's limits/ gone over their limits?

#hostgator #problem #small

Leslie B 14 years ago

I have a reseller account and never had it happen. What I did have happen was one of the accounts that I created was too big for the package I put it under. i got mails that notified me of that so I created a package that was bigger and upgraded.

Didn't you get mails from hostgator telling you you were close to your limit? If you have I would have contacted them and asked them what to do in case I reached my limit.

Leslie
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sbucciarel Banned 14 years ago

I had a chron job that was using too much resources and then kindly contacted me about it and informed me that it had to go. I deleted the chron job ... no problems.
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- Jeff Henshaw 14 years ago
  
  Most reputable hosts will have the courtesy to contact you before applying any sanctions. Having said that. A lot can depend both on the staff, who are 'on duty' when the problem arises and the training that they have received.
  
  It's just like life itself and social interaction. Some people are reasonable and everyone gets on reasonably well, others have an attitude (for whatever reason) and there lies the problem. If you have seemed to breach the Terms of Service of your host and have the misfortune to contact someone on the support team who has just found out that their partner has been unfaithful and is having an affair (a hypothetical but not unreal example) then you just might have some problems!
  
  I have only had trouble in my life with two hosts, one problem was easily resolved, the other took time but made me lose confidence in the host, so I transferred my sites and stopped using their services. The main reason for the latter action was that the host placed a message "this site has violated our terms of service" on one of my domains. This damaged my reputation and made me feel like a criminal. A very stupid and juvenile action IMHO.
  
  Just my thoughts,
  Jeff.
  
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  1 reply
  
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  Kay King 14 years ago
  
  Why would you mention Hostgator in your subject line - when HG does not offer "unlimited" space? Are you talking about one domain or a reseller account where YOU are responsible for setting a site's bandwidth?
  
  HG offers unlimited domains hosted in reseller packages - but the space is clearly stated for the account. I had a small problem with HG last night and support solved it in about 20 minutes.
  
  A quick call is enough to upgrade your HG account to the next higher one.
  
  kay
  
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  Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
  
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  summerm 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Kay King
  
  Why would you mention Hostgator in your subject line - when HG does not offer "unlimited" space?
  
  Yes they do? For shared plans.
  
  It's on their front page and here: Web Hosting - Shared cPanel Web Hosting
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  summerm 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by summerm
  
  It's on their front page and here: Web Hosting - Shared cPanel Web Hosting
  
  And please, before anyone starts pulling out the "AFFILIATE!!" accusations and torches-- kindly examine the link and notice there is nothing affiliate in there
  
  Thanks
  
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Underground SEO 14 years ago

I've never had any problems regarding this... Yet
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Olliep Banned 14 years ago

[DELETED]

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- summerm 14 years ago
  
  Thanks Ollie, but I need a host with an option to upgrade to VPN if the shared hosting just isn't cutting it. My understanding is that Bluehost just has one type of account. I believe they handle a traffic spike by simply limiting your resources and throttling.
  
  Originally Posted by Olliep
  
  Hostgator takes to long to address the problem. Too me, the best hosting to use is Bluehost. They don't wait and they fix the problem you're having right away!
  
  Thanks
  
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- workhomefuture 14 years ago
  
  I have a reseller account and have never come accross the problem with Hostgator. I have customers that are running videos and all sorts on some of the sites and no problems to date - fingers crossed!
  
  As a matter of interest I have always had a great service from Hostgator customer services and on the rare occassion I have had to use technical support they have been very good and quick too.
  
  Thanks
  
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summerm 14 years ago

Thakns for the feedback everyone! I'm not on hostgator; I've just been interrogating their customer service in order to find out information before making my decision to host with them.

I didn't know they send you an alert as you approach your limit. That's useful. So you can ask for an upgrade if necessary.

My understanding is that upgrades, though, can take 24 hours-- so that's no help for a quick traffic spike, since it's not enough time to handle your ongoing spike.
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Alexander CPA 14 years ago

Surely if your EXPECTING a spike in traffic, you'd upgrade to either a VPS or a dedicated server to host your webiste? If you want a proper answer, contact hostgator, I'm sure they'll tell you and they'll probably try and push a vps/dedicated server towards you, if you chat up the sales rep, I'm sure they'll give you some sort of discount coupon for your upgrade.
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mojojuju

14 years ago

Originally Posted by summerm

What resource limits are you talking about?

Hostgator advertises unlimited bandwidth and space, but keep in mind that they don't offer unlimited CPU usage. Could it be that your traffic spike is causing your site to exceed a CPU usage limit?

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Kay King

14 years ago

Yes they do? For shared plans.

That must be recent as I've not seen it before. Personally, I'd never buy a play that claimed "unlimited" because it's not possible not to have some limits to hosting. Wonder if HG did that to compete with others claiming to offer "unlimited".

I use HG reseller plans where I can control the space and bandwidth by site on multiple sites...and I know exactly what my limits are.

kay

Looking at the terms, they seem to add some exceptions that might account for it.

User may not:
a) Use 25% or more of system resources for longer then 90 seconds. There are numerous activities that could cause such problems; these include: CGI scripts, FTP, PHP, HTTP, etc.
b) Run stand-alone, unattended server-side processes at any point in time on the server. This includes any and all daemons, such as IRCD.
c) Run any type of web spider or indexer (including Google Cash / AdSpy) on shared servers.
d) Run any software that interfaces with an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) network.
e) Run any bit torrent application, tracker, or client. You may link to legal torrents off-site, but may not host or store them on our shared servers.
f) Participate in any file-sharing/peer-to-peer activities
g) Run any gaming servers such as counter-strike, half-life, battlefield1942, etc
h) Run cron entries with intervals of less than 15 minutes.
i) When using PHP include functions for including a local file, include the local file rather than the URL. Instead of include("http://yourdomain.com/include.php") use include("include.php")

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