Site5 Review

So I am not going to complain too much since I only paid $1 for this VPS due to the one month special of $1 for their VPS plan promo.

Coming from a host we had been with for a little while and wanting to try something new as Virtualization as well as more features and more specs, we were recommended Site5. Now to be fair there were some reviews I read about Site5 that were a bit mixed and/or critical but it seemed most of those were directed at their Shared/reseller accounts...We went VPS?

Pros

1. I like the fact that Site5 has an active live chat feature, even though 24/7 phone support would be great...I'll explain why the fact their live chat is actually better to me than their support tickets in the cons.

2. When you have a support ticket, it has the Support/Sales reps photo in it and I like it....It makes me feel more like I am talking to a person. Of course I know i am talking to a person but it makes the experience feel that much more personable than someone just throwing a name up there.

3. Support is nice and very personable.

Neutral:
1. Speeds----I was originally in their DC datacenter and the speeds were okay. There is nothing overly bad or overly good, Average speed. Nothing to complain about but nothing to praise. I'd rate the speeds a 7 out of 10.

However, it seems like switching to London DC, speeds are a bit slow for us in those regards. I am in America so i expected that but even a few of my London users on my site complained that it seemed slower...and they are located IN LONDON themselves.

Cons:

1. You don't get root access on a Managed Server but you do on an Unmanaged server...So if you wish to install some sort of software, Site5 has to do it for you or they may not support it period(i.e. Litespeed).

I get the point behind them taking care of things for their customers hence the lack of root but at the same time, I'd prefer to have a little more control over a VPS i would potentially pay $100 or more for(Site5 prices are quite premium) without needing to go to unmanaged and lose support help just to do it.

2. Site5 support takes care of most everything for you and they are great and they are lovely. Remember my Pro for number 1 and number 3?

Problem is....they are very slow. And these are for usually easy questions or tasks. This is how it usually works with Site5.

I open a ticket...I don't get a reply back from them(the first reply) for about 2-4 hours. I am sorry but that is not good enough for me when i have used hosts such as Knownhost, Wiredtree and others in the past and i usually get the first reply back within at least an hour.

And this is usually them just sort of following up and rehashing what i said in the ticket, then subsequent replies usually take about 2-4 hours.

Again these are for simple issues, nothing overly complex but I'd hate to see what would happen if I needed something major. Lord Jesus...

Just the other day, I wanted to move from their DC datacenter to their London datacenter. However, somehow i must have typed in an answer to a security question wrong and was unable to request the migration so i asked them to reset it.

It took nearly 20 hours for them to get back with me about resetting the security questions. I had to open a ticket to complain about this(and I have complained about the slow speed of support).

The response I got was...."We are not usually this busy this time of year but for some reason we're a lot more packed than usual"

Then perhaps it is time to start expanding the employment and getting more people because you have lovely and nice staff but it does seem obvious they are UNDERSTAFFED sometimes.

I even requested my ticket be sent to Management(I did specify i wanted to speak with Ben, i think his name is,) but i got some other guy and yet again sort of got a general excuse/response for that.

Overall:
Sigh. As i said I am not to upset because I only paid One DOllar...What i am sad and disappointed about is the fact that I wanted to like Site5. My site with them now is currently a test site now aka a mirror image of my own site.

My Co-Admin/Co-Founder and I wanted to give Site5 a chance because they seem to be good people and I absolutely love their site design and the client area. It's not just another typical client area you see for most host.

Our intent was to move to Site5 after the first month was up with our main site....and upgrade our plan to a higher package.

But even though there has been no downtime, the thought of paying $129 a month for a VPS with Site5 and dealing with the slow support responses when there are other hosts I've used in the past that were a bit cheaper(by $30-50) and just as recommended if not more, bothers me a bit.

The price does not bother me at all....I'll pay whatever is necessary for a good host. It's just that as nice as the support is, I can't justify the high prices that Site5 charges.

But the uptime is good though.

I don't recommend Site5 as a company for you if you are looking for full control over your VPS and what you can install on it and if you don't want to wait for a host to do it.

However, if you are someone who is a Newbie to VPS and you don't mind waiting 2-4 hours for each reply to your ticket, Site5 is a good host because while they are slow imo, they are also personable and sometimes being nice can make up for other faults/flaws.

Overall, 3 out of 5 stars.....I will be canceling my Services with them today likely.