BEST WEB HOSTS (2009)

BlueHost

Features:

Bluehost offers decent features, including cPanel and Fantastico. We had a good experience while using it, considering cPanel was fairly fast and Fantastico could effortlessly install Wordpress etc. They also provide unlimited diskspace, and unlimited bandwidth with each plan they offer, along with unlimited addon domains, sub domains and parked domains, which acts as a plus point over many other hosts. They also provide 100 databases each for MySQL and Postgre, 1000 FTP accounts and 2500 email accounts, which is in most cases much more than adequate. We were surprised to notice the fact that BlueHost did not offer unlimited ftp/email accounts as well, which would have acted as an advantage from a practical point of view.

Also, lately BlueHost has also been providing

• Free Domain Name

• Site Promotion Package

• Free eCommerce/Cart

• Free Blog, Forum, Board

• Top Notch 24/7 Support

• $25 Free Yahoo Credits

• $50 Free Google Credits

Although, with terms and conditions implicated.

They also had a nice website builder as an add on which is pretty good for any novice with a lack of sufficient coding skills.

Plans and Pricing

It was rather difficult to find their detailed pricing list, so we had to ask for it from the Support Staff. Upon inquiring about their latest pricing details, this is what we were provided:

Best Value: 36 Month Account $6.95 a month

* 1 FREE Domain Registration good for the life of your hosting package.
* No set up fees [$30 Savings]
* Less than $0.23 (23 cents) a day!
* $250.20 Total due at sign-up; [36 month account x $6.95 mo.]

24 Month Account $7.95 a month

* 1 FREE Domain Registration good for the life of your hosting package.
* No set up fees [$30 Savings]
* Less than $0.27 (27 cents) a day!
* $190.80 Total due at sign-up; [24 month account x $7.95 mo.]

12 Month Account: $8.95 a month

* 1 FREE Domain Registration good for the life of your hosting package.
* No set up fee [$30 Savings]
* Less than $0.30 (30 cents) a day!
* $107.40 Total due at sign-up; [12 month account x $8.95 mo.]

6 Month Account: $99.70

* $9.95 A Month
* [+] $30 One Time Set Up Fee
* [+] $10 Annual Domain Registration Fee
* $99.70 Total due at sign-up [6 mo. x $9.95 mo.($59.70) + $30 Setup + $10 Registration]

3 Month Account: $69.85

* $9.95 A Month
* [+] $30 One Time Set Up Fee
* [+] $10 Annual Domain Registration Fee
* $69.85 Total due at sign-up [3 mo. x $9.95 mo.($29.85) + $30 Setup + $10 Registration]

Optional Features After Sign Up

* Additional Domain Names = $10.00 each year
* Dedicated IP = $30.00 each year [$2.50 mo.]
* SSL Certificates = $45.00 each year
* Expired Account Reactivations = $30.00
* Postini Mail Filtering = $1.00/mo per e-mail address [prorated]

(Note: 3 and 6 month plans are not offered with the free Domain or setup)

Their prices seem extremely good as compared to the prices that are offered by other web hosts. But it comes with a string attached; you must pay upfront for at least 3 months. BlueHost accepts all major Credit Cards (visa, masterCard, americanexpress, discover), paypal, checks (U.S. Only) and money orders, so paying them should not be a trouble at all.

Customer Service

Bluehost until a few years back, had a very reputed Customer Service, but since 2007 or so it has seen a downfall. Many customers have come up with their questions being unanswered, not being notified about updates taking place and various other serious/non-serious things. Although as you might have already read, BlueHost does claim having a Top Notch Customer Service, yet due to the troubles that people have come up with, it acts as one of their weak points.

[excerpt]
Upon asking BlueHost about the complaints that users have had with their customer support, this was the reply we had:

chenderson [12:42:28 PM]: We are rated very high on customer service… We have been a a front runner in the hosting industry for over 10 years. We have set the industry standard for customer support and reliability. We offer 24/7 support via phones, live chat. or e-mail. Our support staff is well trained and very knowledgeable. The best thing is they are all in the US. They are also employed directly by us we do not contract out to call centers. When you call in you are speaking directly with a member of our highly trained staff. We are always upgrading our hosting package features. We started out offering 5gb of storage and we are now offering unlimited storage and file transfer. We own and operate our own data center. We are not a reseller like many of our competitors. We build all of our servers in house using only top quality parts. We have a staff of admins that monitor the servers 24/7 even on holidays. Our pricing for what we offer is the lowest in the industry.

This showed us that BlueHost has sound understanding of their products and services they proffer. Read further to find out whether they live up to their claims or not!

Overall

Features: 3.5/5
Plans and Pricing: 5/5
Customer Service: 2.5/5
Overall Score: 2.75/5. [Decent]

Having an overall look, Bluehost offers decent features at exceptional prices, but has a below-average customer care service and comes with a few awkward terms and conditions.