Absolute Hosting is an Absolute joy

[baymarketingco]

Why am I writing this?

Because one of the guys at Absolute Hosting asked me to.

Why? Because I offered to buy them a pack of beer for their fantastic service, but one of the Absolute blokes said they'd prefer a review on myBB.

But I'm writing this review in any case and still buying them a pack of beers tomorrow, which I'm having delivered to their office. I'm too far from them to stroll over with a cold one myself, else I'd have done it.

Everything else is great too, but to be honest, you can get good products from many providers. At this stage it's the superb service that sets Absolute apart.

 

[SYNERGY]

Sounds like a paid advert based purely on your forum nickname... baymarketingco

Nevertheless, looking for a fast host.
Will give them a try.

 

[Zurg]

So new account? First post and you write what looks like a scripted review for this company? Something isn't right.

 

[Bryn]

While that is a very unfortunate username, I can confirm that Absolute Hosting is excellent. Especially if you use DirectAdmin rather than cPanel.

 

[baymarketingco]

Not a scripted review. They are excellent. You don't have to believe me. By all means, don't if you don't want to.

Apologies if my username is causing some of the more sensitive internet users among us irritation. I did not mean to hurt your feelings.

 

[Jade @ Absolute Hosting]

Morning all,

I can assure you that the review was not scripted, lol, and the username is relative to his company which from what I know isn’t related to online marketing.

Thanks for the honest review OP and for your vote of confidence Bryn.

I concur that DirectAdmin hosting is faster than anything else that we offer.

 

[craigcul]

Hi I can definitely say that Absolute Hosting is a good hosting company I was with my my ISP for hosting but their hosting was an afterthought service. Where as Absolute Hosting that is their business and they are using DirectAdmin.

 

[baymarketingco]

I forgot to mention the DirectAdmin thingy, but as my original post says, for those who cared to read the whole thing, the technical side of things is not the main reason behind this endorsement.

Before I chose Absolute, I created a spreadsheet of ISPs with all of their technical abilities columned against each other.

Many of these okes offer the same thing. What you really need is an accessible provider.

I sincerely apologise if my post seems fake. I tried to make it as genuine as possible. I thought that would show that it's true.

I even said one of the blokes said they'd prefer a review here over beer. Why, I still can't fathom. And then it's Castle Lite, nogal. Might as well send them water.

 

[Went_For_Beer]

Im busy looking at Directadmin for hosting a few domains. Can anyone here tell me how easy is the new domain setup on their reseller package?

 

[Jade @ Absolute Hosting]

@Bryn or @baymarketingco

Standard setup is extremely easy and straight forward - migrations from cpanel add a little more prep and post work.

I’ll post some additional info within the next few minutes for you

 

[Went_For_Beer]

@Bryn or @baymarketingco

Standard setup is extremely easy and straight forward - migrations from cpanel add a little more prep and post work.

I’ll post some additional info within the next few minutes for you

thanx

yea i will be moving from cpanel

 

[walterl]

I've been a client of theirs since 2011 and also very satisfied with their service, and they are always quick and willing to assist if there are any issues.

 

[Jade @ Absolute Hosting]

Shot for the positive feedback @walterl

@Space_Kriek

Here is the guide that I was referring to

Complete Guide on how to setup DirectAdmin Reseller & configure WHMCS DirectAdmin Module - Absolute Hosting

This guide will walk you through the process of logging into your DirectAdmin Reseller Account, creating a hosting plan, and seting up your DirectAdmin...

client.absolutehosting.co.za

With regards to migration of cpanel to DirectAdmin specifically for Absolute Hosting :
Sign up for a reseller hosting package from our site - https://absolutehosting.co.za (Find a package that suits your disk space requirements)
Once ordered, pay for the services in order to get them activated.
Setup your reseller hosting as per the guide above
Check to see that you have access to change your clients dns records (after the migration)

Log a ticket with Absolute Hosting advising that this is a cPanel Migration and Provide Absolute Hosting cpanel / whm login credentials.
Provide a list of accounts that need to be migrated, and prioritize the list and preferably in batches of 5 accounts.
Schedule a time that suits your client, yourselves and our support to start the migration and resolve any issues after the migration.

Post migration, we'll confirm which accounts have been migrated and ask that you test that your websites and mails are all correctly migrated.

If happy, update name servers, or change records at current registrar.
If you arent transferring your domains or updating name servers at current registrar then its advisable to lower your TTL's ahead of the migration.

We handle the migrations on case by case basis and work with you to get the migration completed as seamlessly as possible.

Please dont sign up at 11PM on a Friday night and ask for this to be done by 1AM Saturday morning - we typically drink beer during this time (provided that @baymarketingco has had the beers delivered)

You're more than welcome to jump on to live chat and we can discuss / plan according to your requirements.

 

[Bryn]

Im busy looking at Directadmin for hosting a few domains. Can anyone here tell me how easy is the new domain setup on their reseller package?

The quick answer to anything related to DirectAdmin is that any cPanel function is easier to perform in it.

The gist of DirectAdmin is that it has two levels to it. There's a cPanel-like grid of icons in your reseller account, capable of managing reseller functions and domain functions for the reseller domain.

In the list of users, you can one-click into their respective DirectAdmin domain management and see the same interface that you have but with reseller functions missing. When you log out from those user accounts, you swing back seamlessly into the reseller DirectAdmin. I love not having that disjointed WHM/cPanel divide.

Scheduled backups, restoring backups, managing user packages, ESPECIALLY the file manager & its code editor, PHP settings etc are all much nicer and more reliable with DirectAdmin imo. But the main benefit for me has always been the far superior server response times.

 

[Murmaider]

So playing devil advocate here @Bryn

The gist of DirectAdmin is that it has two levels to it. There's a cPanel-like grid of icons in your reseller account, capable of managing reseller functions and domain functions for the reseller domain.

If you login to WHM as the reseller all the functions are in a searchable left menu list and all reseller functions can be carried out from here. This seems fairly consistent with the DA list options.

In the list of users, you can one-click into their respective DirectAdmin domain management and see the same interface that you have but with reseller functions missing. When you log out from those user accounts, you swing back seamlessly into the reseller DirectAdmin. I love not having that disjointed WHM/cPanel divide.

If you go to List Accounts when logged into WHM as the reseller, you can click on the cPanel icon where it lists all the accounts and it will take you into that customers account as the normal cPanel user. It does this in a new tab so you can work in both the WHM area and the customers cPanel at the same thing. In DirectAdmin you cannot work in the customer area and the admin area at the same time, this is rather frustrating because you have to keep changing back and forth the whole time. This is rather limiting in comparison.

]
Scheduled backups, restoring backups, managing user packages, ESPECIALLY the file manager & its code editor, PHP settings etc are all much nicer and more reliable with DirectAdmin imo. But the main benefit for me has always been the far superior server response times.

How are they more reliable with DirectAdmin than cPanel and how do they differ that much from cPanel?
All client actions in cPanel and DirectAdmin take about them same amount of clicks to achieve the same result.
Running DA on CloudLinux and cPanel on CloudLinux does not change the physical performance of the server. The cPanel interface might be slightly slower, but the physical performance of the server is identical.

So we have been playing with DirectAdmin extensively, it has some benefits like being able to use openlite speed as a web server.

However.... it also has a ton of bugs, we've already logged a good number of bug reports with them DA just in our testing. They are also far slower at coming out with fixes to bugs.

cPanel's support is outstanding and quick in comparison. We did some test tickets for urgency issues on the server like the webserver not starting due to a bad update forced by us. The quickest response we got from DA we 2h20min. An urgent issue with cPanel has them logging into your server within 5 minutes of you logging the ticket.

Compared to paper lanten in cPanel, the DirectAdmin interface just feels boring and functional, it's not in the least bit attractive and you tell it was designedby tech guys and programmers.

I don't doubt that DirectAdmin might shift a gear and try improve quicker now that cPanel increased their prices so they getting some attention. I still feel they have a long way to go.

Our experience with cPanel is that it just works, its very easy to maintain, 3rd party plugins just simply work with very little effort. Its extremely easy to integrate into cPanel and it just works.

There is a reason it's been the most widely used hosting control panel for years and if cPanel didn't do a price increase, people would still continue to choose cPanel over DA. DA feels 3rd best and this hasn't suddenly changed just because cpanel pushed their price up. It feels like it's the 3rd best option when using it.

We don't have to think about cPanel servers and requires far less maintenance than what we see with DirectAdmin. I feel there is a trade off in saving on cPanel licensing, but increasing staff maintenance costs and maintenance time.

 

[Bryn]

So just playing devil advocate here @Bryn

If you login to WHM as the reseller all the functions are in a searchable left menu list and all reseller functions can be carried out from here. This seems fairly consistent with the DA list options.

If you go to List Accounts when logged into WHM as the reseller, you can click on the cPanel icon where it lists all the accounts and it will take you into that customers account as the normal cPanel user. It does this in a new tab so you can work in both the WHM area and the customers cPanel at the same thing. In DirectAdmin you cannot work in the customer area and the admin area at the same time, this is rather frustrating because you have to keep changing back and forth the whole time. This is rather limiting in comparison.

How are they more reliable with DirectAdmin than cPanel and how do they differ that much from cPanel?
All client actions in cPanel and DirectAdmin take about them same amount of clicks to achieve the same result.
Running DA on CloudLinux and cPanel on CloudLinux gives identical serve response times. The cPanel interface might be slightly slower, but the physical performance of the server is identical.

So we have been playing with DirectAdmin extensively, it has some benefits like being able to use openlite speed as a web server.

However.... it also has a ton of bugs, we've already logged a good number of bug reports with them. They are also far slower at coming out with fixes to bugs. cPanel's support is outstanding and quick in comparison. We did some test tickets for urgency issues on the server like the webserver not starting due to a bad update. The quickest response we got from them we 2h20min. An urgent issue with cPanel has them logging into your server within 5 minutes of you logging the ticket.

Thanks for the detailed feedback. Always appreciated.

My personal preference is not to have to deal with separate WHM and cPanel systems. I do know that clicking the cPanel icon in the accounts list launches their respective cPanels, but I find the all-in-one DirectAdmin interface substantially more user-friendly and straightforward. And the vastly superior file manager and code editor in DA would be impossible to give up, now that I'm used to it.

My personal tests have only shown DirectAdmin-hosted websites to have acceptable server response (of budget locally-hosted sites). If I recall, you're from Domains.co.za. The TTFB of domains.co.za is 400-500ms. The same for exclusiveweb.co.za and absolutehosting.co.za. I know they are using cPanel on their personal websites and I assume you guys are too. I saw the same TTFB for all the cPanel sites I've hosted on all 3 web hosts. Then I changed to a DirectAdmin account on Absolute. Without any changes made to a few sites, suddenly they were achieving 150-200ms TTFB and PageSpeed Insights scores jumped up to 10 points. If DA makes no difference to server response, how is that possible?

It's a shame to learn about unresolved bugs and there being more bugs in general. I haven't experienced issues fortunately.

 

[aedro]

My experience with AbsoluteHosting especially dealing with Jade was a joy, no more however.

At our township school we needed some hosting space for our kids to access learning material, we applied via DBE to make this site data free, Mybroadband ran an article about this last year (2020). Jade gave us 10Gigs and later 20 GB space, with a 50% discount. Everything worked well until I enquired, and this went via Kyle for more space, as our teachers prior to the metric exam were loading lots of video clips, and our learners really appreciated accessing the resources via their cellphones for free. Kyle says no, can't give discounted price.

End of December 2020, sends through invoice, I informed AH that the school is closed and we will pay as soon as school reopens, with the delay of schools opening I told them it will be the 25 January 2025. AH says that's fine. Our school uses the domain also to access our free Microsoft 365 accounts and thus our email. Before the school started I realise our email was not working. Realising that it might be with AH, I logged into the account, only to find that AH terminated (prior to this the account was suspended for none payment) our account.

All our resources of the previous year was destroyed, we were using NextCloud. Contacted AH, said they were sorry, it was a mistake and would restore it. Once the site was restored, it was bare, AH if I had a database that I can restore, everything was gone.

When school restarted, bursar made a double payment of the outstanding hosting fees immediately. It showed we had a credit of R90, a few days later, we get another Invoice, R275 outstanding, I queried this via the ticket system, Kyle replies that that is correct we still owe them money.

Below our December 2020 invoice, and our January 2021.

Is AbsoluteHosting and ABSOLUTE JOY for our school, and unfortunately the answer is an emphatic no.

After scrutinising the account a realised that AH hosting increased our hosting fees by more than a 100% without informing us.




Lastly, if anyone can assist with setting up a NextCloud instance at a reasonable price, we need at least 50GB space for the hosting of files drop a PM will appreciate it, you'll be helping a very poor community that we serve.

 

[Jade @ Absolute Hosting]

My experience with AbsoluteHosting especially dealing with Jade was a joy, no more however.

At our township school we needed some hosting space for our kids to access learning material, we applied via DBE to make this site data free, Mybroadband ran an article about this last year (2020). Jade gave us 10Gigs and later 20 GB space, with a 50% discount. Everything worked well until I enquired, and this went via Kyle for more space, as our teachers prior to the metric exam were loading lots of video clips, and our learners really appreciated accessing the resources via their cellphones for free. Kyle says no, can't give discounted price.

End of December 2020, sends through invoice, I informed AH that the school is closed and we will pay as soon as school reopens, with the delay of schools opening I told them it will be the 25 January 2025. AH says that's fine. Our school uses the domain also to access our free Microsoft 365 accounts and thus our email. Before the school started I realise our email was not working. Realising that it might be with AH, I logged into the account, only to find that AH terminated (prior to this the account was suspended for none payment) our account.

All our resources of the previous year was destroyed, we were using NextCloud. Contacted AH, said they were sorry, it was a mistake and would restore it. Once the site was restored, it was bare, AH if I had a database that I can restore, everything was gone.

When school restarted, bursar made a double payment of the outstanding hosting fees immediately. It showed we had a credit of R90, a few days later, we get another Invoice, R275 outstanding, I queried this via the ticket system, Kyle replies that that is correct we still owe them money.

Below our December 2020 invoice, and our January 2021.

Is AbsoluteHosting and ABSOLUTE JOY for our school, and unfortunately the answer is an emphatic no.

After scrutinising the account a realised that AH hosting increased our hosting fees by more than a 100% without informing us.
View attachment 1009618

View attachment 1009620

Lastly, if anyone can assist with setting up a NextCloud instance at a reasonable price, we need at least 50GB space for the hosting of files drop a PM will appreciate it, you'll be helping a very poor community that we serve.

Please allow me some time to go through the tickets to see what’s going on and I’ll be in contact with you.

 

[Jade @ Absolute Hosting]

No joy ever with Kyle.

My experience with AbsoluteHosting especially dealing with Jade was a joy, no more however.

At our township school we needed some hosting space for our kids to access learning material, we applied via DBE to make this site data free, Mybroadband ran an article about this last year (2020). Jade gave us 10Gigs and later 20 GB space, with a 50% discount. Everything worked well until I enquired, and this went via Kyle for more space, as our teachers prior to the metric exam were loading lots of video clips, and our learners really appreciated accessing the resources via their cellphones for free. Kyle says no, can't give discounted price.

End of December 2020, sends through invoice, I informed AH that the school is closed and we will pay as soon as school reopens, with the delay of schools opening I told them it will be the 25 January 2025. AH says that's fine. Our school uses the domain also to access our free Microsoft 365 accounts and thus our email. Before the school started I realise our email was not working. Realising that it might be with AH, I logged into the account, only to find that AH terminated (prior to this the account was suspended for none payment) our account.

All our resources of the previous year was destroyed, we were using NextCloud. Contacted AH, said they were sorry, it was a mistake and would restore it. Once the site was restored, it was bare, AH if I had a database that I can restore, everything was gone.

When school restarted, bursar made a double payment of the outstanding hosting fees immediately. It showed we had a credit of R90, a few days later, we get another Invoice, R275 outstanding, I queried this via the ticket system, Kyle replies that that is correct we still owe them money.

Below our December 2020 invoice, and our January 2021.

Is AbsoluteHosting and ABSOLUTE JOY for our school, and unfortunately the answer is an emphatic no.

After scrutinising the account a realised that AH hosting increased our hosting fees by more than a 100% without informing us.

Lastly, if anyone can assist with setting up a NextCloud instance at a reasonable price, we need at least 50GB space for the hosting of files drop a PM will appreciate it, you'll be helping a very poor community that we serve.

Hi Ashraf,

Firstly let me start off by apologizing sincerely for what has happened. This is most certainly not the Absolute Hosting way and we have dropped the ball here. I hope that you will allow us to make right on this.


You most certainly did log a ticket notifying us of late payment and unfortunately this was not escalated to ensure that a do not suspend status was placed on the account.

As a result of this the services were terminated. Please advise if the restore has been completed as I see that the last response from Kyle where he requested confirmation that all is in order was never updated.

The lack of following process is being dealt with as to ensure that it never happens again - very sorry for this.

Regarding your hosting fees, we did notify all clients of the increases and this was sent to you on "27/11/2020 12:40 2021 Price Review"

The WordPress SSD Platinum that you are on is billed at R275 Per Month and not R400 per month as has been billed to your account. This is a billing error on our side and I have corrected this on your account and your latest invoice.

We've made a few mistakes with your account and I'd like to make amends if you will allow us to.
My proposal is to provide you with a years worth of hosting at no cost to you - to say that we're sorry and that we aim to make things right.

If you plan on staying with us (which I hope you do) then please update this thread and I'll arrange the above

Regards

Jade

 

[PsyWulf]

Hi Ashraf,

Firstly let me start off by apologizing sincerely for what has happened. This is most certainly not the Absolute Hosting way and we have dropped the ball here. I hope that you will allow us to make right on this.


You most certainly did log a ticket notifying us of late payment and unfortunately this was not escalated to ensure that a do not suspend status was placed on the account.

As a result of this the services were terminated. Please advise if the restore has been completed as I see that the last response from Kyle where he requested confirmation that all is in order was never updated.

The lack of following process is being dealt with as to ensure that it never happens again - very sorry for this.

Regarding your hosting fees, we did notify all clients of the increases and this was sent to you on "27/11/2020 12:40 2021 Price Review"

The WordPress SSD Platinum that you are on is billed at R275 Per Month and not R400 per month as has been billed to your account. This is a billing error on our side and I have corrected this on your account and your latest invoice.

We've made a few mistakes with your account and I'd like to make amends if you will allow us to.
My proposal is to provide you with a years worth of hosting at no cost to you - to say that we're sorry and that we aim to make things right.

If you plan on staying with us (which I hope you do) then please update this thread and I'll arrange the above

Regards

Jade

Can't beat that apology