The Planet Web Hosting Review

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Our Ratings Popularity 6 / 10 Cost 8 / 10 Features 10 / 10 Reliability 9 / 10 Performance 10 / 10 Customer Support 8 / 10 Overall 85% Explanation of our Rating Criteria.

Categories Web Host Belongs Too Dedicated Hosting

Bottom Line Specializes in Dedicated Hosting. Ideal for small and medium Businesses. Worldwide Client list!!!

The Planet specializes in dedicated web hosting server and IT infrastructure solutions, whether it is managed directly by you or them. This privately held company has more than 22,000 business customers all over the world. The Planet is truly a worldwide company as 40% of their customers are outside of North America. When compared against all dedicated server hosting companies (public and privately owned), Only IBM comes out on top with more clients. In total, The Planets customers trust them with hosting more than 3.1 million web sites.

Current Special Offer: Dedicated server web hosting solutions starting from $89 per month.

Hosting Plans & Features

There is more to The Planet than just a simple web hosting company. They offer 7 main options when you reserve one or more servers. Included below in the chart are a brief description of each option.

The Planet has a huge selection of servers to choose from with something available to fit any business needs. Take a look at the chart below to see what is offered and the cost.

When ordering a server you are given many options to choose from. Besides the options listed above, you get a choice of what software is installed, this includes multiple versions of operating systems like Red Hat, FreeBSD or different flavors of Windows Server. You also have the choice of number of IPs, database software, Control Panels, Web Analytics and Virtual Private Server Software if needed. Some options available from the hardware side is the choice of the Drive Controller, number and size of hard drives, and the amount of RAM.

Other Related Services Offered

The Planet is a accredited ICANN domain name registrar. They also offer SSL certificate administration solutions.

Cost & Value

By using The Planet as your dedicated server hosting provider it can save you in IT costs of up to 75 percent when compared to running your own servers. Plus, as your business and hosting needs grow it's easy to scale your requirements while not incurring typical costs such as upgrading equipment and hiring more staff. Almost the entire hosting package is configurable at anytime.

The Planets cost when compared to other hosting providers that offer a dedicated solution is about average. If another company is offering a similar hosting plan for a cheaper price look at the fine print, there usually is a reason. Maybe it is less bandwidth or the reliability might not be comparable. You also have to remember the amount of upgrade options you have available to you at anytime, especially if you are going to use multiple servers. With The Planet you are also not locked into any contracts so if needed, you can leave at anytime.

Reliability & Performance

Currently The Planet owns and manages six state of the art data centers. There are 2 in Houston and 4 in Dallas. These data centers house more than 48,000 servers. and have fully redundant network operations center capabilities in the two cities with full 24 hour monitoring. The Planets network are quite fast at 100 GB per second. Their service level agreement provides Tier 4 data center uptime, assuring you up to 100 percent uninterrupted network and power availability, and up to 100 percent uptime on redundant Internet connectivity. No other provider that I know of offers such an service agreement.

Customer Support

Technical expertise is available for all customers 24x7x365 with Microsoft, RedHat, Cisco and other industry certifications. There is also enhanced support to meet customers more advanced needs. Customer support is available in 3 ways, a web based ticket system, an online chat system and full phone support. Customer tools include The Planets message forums which enables you to reach out to other Planet customers or tech support and a open knowledge base with full access. From the users point of view, in most cases customer support offered is good but there have been some complaints found but, these seem to be few and far between.

As a customer of The Planet you will become familiar with their server management tool called Orbit. It simplifies account and server management and has over 60 features. From here you can monitor uptime and resources including applications and processes. Alerts can be set when you want to be notified when a certain point has been reached. You can also reboot your server, backup your system and manage your DNS. With Orbit, you basically get full control and full access to your server(s).

Conclusion

If you need dedicated hosting, The Planet is an excellent choice. This is especially true if your business requires multiple servers. The Planet is one of the few hosting providers who have the experience and knowledge when dealing with multiple complex IT infrastructures. If your site warrants a dedicated solution and you have some experience in hosting already The Planet would be a good match for your business needs.

Last Updated Saturday, January 23 2010 @ 03:40 PM Eastern Standard Time|2,125 Hits