A Review of Web Hosting Service by Easy CGI
Of all the companies, which provide Windows based hosting services, there is one name that stands apart. Easy CGI is the company, which specializes in Windows hosting services. The company also provides hosting services on numerous other platforms but its main focus is on Windows hosting. The company does need to make some improvements in the overall support for customers but its still gets the job done.
The company has really good hardware infrastructure. Most of the machines are based on Xeon processor, which runs at 2.8Ghz speed. Windows 200 is the primary server solution. Other solutions include Poweredge servers from Dell. The company has power backup to ensure maximum uptime. On the flip side, there is no e-commerce solution so the service is more geared towards hosting vanilla sites.
Similarly the basic plan from EasyCGI priced at $7.96 does not come with Javascript or Cold Fusion. They are available on either the Intermediate plans or the advanced plans.
Price Value:
It is usual in the market for Windows based hosting services to be more costly in comparison to Linux based hosting. The reason is that Windows is a commercial product. It requires the hosting company to purchase a license for usage. On the other hand, Linux and a number of other UNIX variants are free and open source software solution. Not only are they free of cost; they are free to modify and optimize as well.
The Windows hosting services are a must in case you want to go for features that are only limited to Windows platform on he server side. This includes Cold Fusion, ASP, Microsoft Access, Frontpage extensions, Microsoft SQL etc. While the e-commerce solution is missing, the company does offer SSL in basic and above plans. You can install any free shopping cart solution and get that functionality.
Reliability:
EasyCGI maintains a very good data center. The company has faced some downtime issues, which have marred its reputation to a certain degree. EasyCGI is working hard to get its reputation back though it is a slow and clunky process.
Control Panel:
This is another weak point of EasyCGI. The control panel solution provided by this company is grossly underpowered. It seems that Easy CGI made too many compromises to keep the control panel simple. They have ended up being over simplified and underpowered. Most of the obvious functionality is stripped away. All that you get is a mailbox, some billing functionality and minor editing features. All in all, this control panel is just not meant for power users.
Customer Support:
The company performs very well when it comes to customer support. We ran a survey and found that most of the clients of EasyCGI are pretty satisfied with the service they get. They are ready to recommend the service provided by easy CGI to new users as well. This is despite the fact that EasyCGI has no round the clock support. You get either telephonic support five days a week or email support, which is available from 9am to 11pm EST.
Hosting Plans
Windows 2000 Hosting Plan
Advanced: 350 GB disk space with 3500 GB bandwidth for $7.96/month.
Advanced X2: 500 GB disk space with 5000 GB bandwidth for $15.96/month.
Advanced X4: 750 GB disk space with 7500 GB bandwidth for $21.56/month.
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