DotServant In 2018: How Would DotServant Clients Review Them?

Dotservant.com Introduction

Founded in 2000, Dotservant.com has been offering sharing hosting plans for business and individuals alike for over 15 years. They offer shared hosting that scales across plans, so you can grow your site as you grow your company. 

A LAMP host, Dotservant.com has a persistent history of open source support, and today offers all of the most common software like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Mambo, and osCommerce. They have a high level of control and specialization, making them an excellent hosting company for developers who want a flexibility over features.

Services & Specializations

Dotservant.com has multiple shared hosting plans in a tiered structure. All of their shared hosting plans include the basics like:

• FrontPage extensions
• Email
• Shared SSL
• cPanel control
• Custom error pages
• FTP accounts
• Preinstalled scripts including Formmail, Guestbook, and phpBB Forum
• Free setup

All of their servers are run on Linux CentOS or Red Hat open source software using php, MySQL and Apache. Their higher tier plans also include unlimited POP3 email accounts. While they don’t offer unlimited bandwidth or storage, in their FAQ they explain (rightfully so) that ‘unlimited’ is a misnomer, and restrictions are laid out in the service level agreements of their competitors. 

Dotservant.com’s plans are easy to understand and work entirely on a what you see if what you get basis. Moreover, they offer add-ons like additional bandwidth, disk space, and MySQL databases for a small charge on a monthly basis should you find yourself exceeding your usage.

To further cater to developers, Dotservant.com’s hosting includes the Ruby on Rails framework, Perl, CGI, SSH, and .htaccess, multiple OC3 and OC12 connections (for faster speeds), and the ability to run custom cron jobs. 

Plus, they have knowledgebase support for all your major open source software, so whether you’re starting a store, a business website, or a blog, there are resources for you to consult. Of particular mention is that they offer continued support for over 100 free WordPress themes, even if the original designers no longer do.

Datacenters

Dotservant.com hosts all of their clients out of a Peak 10 datacenter in Jacksonville, Florida. Peak 10 is a datacenter company who owns and operates datacenters all over the US. Their Jacksonville location has been in service since 2000, and continues to provide excellent security, speed, and redundancy for their (and Dotservant.com’s) customers. 

They’re a certified level 1 provider whose security includes biometric hand scanners, card/PIN access, and video surveillance. They’re staffed 24/7/365 by technicians should their servers require any attention. In addition, the Jacksonville datacenter has a number of disaster and emergency provisions in place as well as redundant power, network, and internet, not to mention redundant HVAC systems, to maintain the optimal server environment.

Support and Customer Service

Dotservant.com has several ways to reach their support staff, but unfortunately no live support. They do have a FAQ and knowledgebase on their website, and multiple tutorials and guides. While this information is accessible and well categorized, it’s not searchable in any way, heavily reducing its functionality. 

Dotservant.com also provides a HelpDesk support ticketing system and multiple email communication options for support, billing, abuse, cancelation, and emergencies. There is also a physical address and phone number you can contact located in Malaysia. Their lack of live support or searchable knowledgebase puts them seriously behind a lot of their competition, narrowing their audience to talented developers looking for a flexible hosting service.

Backups and monitoring

Dotservant.com offers a daily downloadable incremental backup for all of their clients, ensuring that you can mitigate data loss should something happen. That daily backup is stored on disks by Dotservant.com in addition to being available for download to a local machine. 

They also offer monthly full backups that are stored on tapes. The daily backups are kept until the next monthly full backup, and the full backups are kept for one month. All of their servers are also subject to continuous server monitoring.

Billing & Payment Policies

DotServant.com offers a minimum month to month billing, with discounts for longer term contracts. The discounts get larger as the contract term increases from monthly to quarterly, half-yearly, and yearly. 

They accept payment via American Express, MasterCard, and Visa only, and process their payments through a third party (WorldPay). 

Their cancelation policy is simple – you can cancel anytime, and there’s no cancelation fee, but there’s no refund for any services you’ve already paid for. The exception is their 30 day money back guarantee, where if you cancel within the first 30 days you get all your money back.

Summary

Dotservant.com has a standard middle of the road offering. There’s nothing particularly fancy about their hosting, and they lack a lot of the support features that come with competitors. However, for developers looking for budget hosting and want a high level of freedom, flexibility, and transparency, then Dotservant.com would make an excellent choice.