I had to move to another web host, again. Transferring from one web host to another is a very tedious task. You have to make sure that you have working and up-to-date backups, notify your readers that you’re leaving your current host — so when they get the “Cannot connect to the server” error they won’t think that your site is completely and permanently gone, and in the end, you have to setup everything back into order. It’s time-consuming and messy1.

Since I started blogging circa 2003, I’ve already tried numerous blogging platforms — Xanga, Blogspot, self-hosted WordPress and WordPress.com. I’ve also tried blogging manually, everything was in pure HTML. I’ve also had to move from one web host to another multiple times. It’s like I’m an NPA in the internet. And only God knows how much time I’ve spent backing up and restoring my site, and how much data I’ve lost in the process. Okay, enough of that because this blog entry is not about my blogging history. :lol!:

But I was actually excited to make the great leap from my old web host, Tracspace to Namecheap. Last year, I signed up for a hosting plan on iRock Web Hosting (it was either later acquired by Tracspace or changed its name). I bought a hosting plan from iRock because it was only for $13.00, and the features that came with it were more than what is enough for a personal blog. I was satisfied with their services, but only until the dying days of 2010. iRock has already disappeared and Tracspace took over my account.

Backbone #2

I had my first problem with Tracspace on the third week of December. Their server was down for at least three days already, but I haven’t received any email from them. I should have been informed about the situation, right? I don’t like talking to customer service representatives, so as much as possible I avoid them. But in this case, I really had to contact them. And thus started my agonizing journey to their customer service. I informed Tracspace about it, and they moved my account to their other working server but decided not to tell me (or forgot to tell me) that they wouldn’t be able to move my data. Just how stupid is that? But I’m really glad that they were able to salvage my data, although I had to manually retrieve them and transfer them to their other server.

And then came the smallest problem I ever had with them… the server’s time. It wasn’t set correctly, it was two hours late. Sorry for them, I’m really particular with time. I don’t want to see my posts with the wrong publishing time. Changing WordPress’s timezone setting to artificially show the right publishing time of my posts is just a Band-Aid solution and I don’t like it. I wanted a permanent solution for it. I submitted a ticket regarding it on December 20, 2010. I waited for days for them to fix it but I was only told that they were still investigating it. Fast forward to January 07, 2011, the technical service representative that I was talking to said the following:

I apologize for waiting quite long but we forgot to update this ticket and the issue has already been resolved since December 25, 2010.

However, I checked the server’s time after Christmas, and it was still two hours late! And clearly, their customer service is uh, a little bit incompetent. How dare you forget my ticket? I let it pass because I didn’t want to make a big issue out of it. I was happy that it was finally resolved. But a few days later, the server where my account was located went down, and when it was up two days later, the server’s time was wrongly set again. I immediately notified them about it, but until now, I haven’t heard back from them. On the other hand, I don’t care anymore, since my account with them has already expired (I think). However, until now, I’m still wondering if changing the server’s time could really take days to fix. I’m not a Linux guy or an owner of a server, but surely, that would only take a few clicks, yes? I could change my laptop’s time in less than a minute, so I don’t see any problem why setting the server’s time correctly could be a headache.

Because of this bad experience, I decided that it was time to move. I wanted mma more reliable host with a competent customer, but that is equal to higher price. So I was reluctant in getting a new host for my site. Good thing I found out that MM and Pam were also looking for a web host too. We bought a hosting plan, and divided the price between the three of us. So it’s almost like hitting two pigs with one bird. It really looks like Namecheap has a very reliable web hosting solution and a great customer service, so I’m hoping this will be the end of my web host hopping. It’s tiring, you should try it! LOL. Just kidding!

PS: Sorry for using the word “but” or any words or phrases related to it numerous times.

  1. I had more than 10 tabs opened when I put this blog back up and running. [↩]