Review from a 5-year customer

[Reldin]

This month marks the fifth year I have been with Dathorn. Unfortunately my bandwidth needs are nearly to the point of surpassing what Dathorn hosting can offer, so I am in the process of looking for a new host. With that said, I believe I owe a review of the service I have used for so many years before I move on.

I signed up here in June of 2003 after much checking around and reading reviews on the WHT forums. I had narrowed it down to a few choices, but ended up picking Dathorn due to not only positive reviews, but the evidence that this is a rather personal-run business. I like the thought of a real person with a name being tied to the service, rather than a huge company with constantly changing administration.

Reputation gives peace of mind when it comes to hosting, and AndrewT works hard to keep that reputation here a positive one. The rare times I've needed to submit a trouble ticket, I've always received a response within 15mins, often from Andrew himself. Any hosting changes or issues have always been brought to attention via timely forum updates, whether they visually effect the customers or not. I've never felt the quality of service has lessened. In 5 years, I can only remember a couple times I've actually seen any downtime on my website, which if I recall correctly was for server upgrades, and short-lived.

If there's anything I can call a negative experience, it was when my website was temporarily disabled due to an attempted hack on my forums. The attack compromised server security, forcing me to host my forums elsewhere. It was inconvenient for me, but I respect the reason it had to be done, and my website was quickly unsuspended after the issue was resolved. I know a lot of hosts would just ignore such an issue altogether, leaving the server open to attacks which could negatively impact all other accounts on it.

To summarize, the best kind of host to me is a transparent one. You should be able to run your website without worrying about it's hosting service, and Dathorn has given me that security. In having to look for a new host, I'm seeing how difficult it is to find the same level of service offered here. If I didn't need more bandwidth I'd stay here forever, and I'll definitely give Dathorn my recommendation, both now and after I move on.

Thank you Andrew!


(Edit: Forgot to mention, ignore my forum account join date. I originally signed up years ago but I guess my account was pruned out for inactivity, so I rejoined.)

[AndrewT]

Thank you very much for posting this. We greatly appreciate it.

As for your bandwidth concerns, you may first want to check that you've taken advantage of all of our bandwidth specials including the one that was just recently offered a couple of months ago.

Please also note that we do allow customers to combine multiple accounts if that is of any interest to you. For example, you can combine a Basic and a Corporate account. Several of our customers have been doing this for quite a while.

If you submit a ticket we can work with you on either of these.

[Reldin]

I've used both bandwidth specials offered during my stay, one in March of 2005 and the more recent one you mentioned from February of this year, which has left me with 270GB on a Corporate account.

However, I wasn't aware of the option to combine accounts. If I understand it correctly, then I could order an additional Basic account with the 50% more bandwidth special on it (I assume this is still available if it's on the front page), then combine it with my Corporate account (which already has the 50% more bandwidth special) to create a single account with 360GB for $54/month.

I'll definitely keep this in mind as I come closer to making a decision. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

[AndrewT]

However, I wasn't aware of the option to combine accounts. If I understand it correctly, then I could order an additional Basic account with the 50% more bandwidth special on it (I assume this is still available if it's on the front page), then combine it with my Corporate account (which already has the 50% more bandwidth special) to create a single account with 360GB for $54/month.

Absolutely correct. Since you already took advantage of the specials they automatically apply to any upgrades that you choose as well.

Edit: Just to be clear - to do this you would simply need to submit a ticket requesting it. You shouldn't order a new account via our website.

[Reldin]

That's awesome, looks like I'll be staying where home is.

I'll submit a ticket for this as soon as my needs require it.