Hi all,
I've been doing a lot of reading on web hosts - our organization has been with MediaTemple for almost two years, which have been an unmitigated disaster for us. Their customer service and technical support are horrific (taking days, if not weeks, to get back to us), the migration to the "Grid Server" has managed to bring down our site and services at least once a month, and frankly, the feature set for site management is so-so - they actually cut services that our users need, such as the ability to self-manage out of office messages (this is now done through the main site manager only - meaning, by yours truly). The most frequent response we get from MT tech support has been, "sorry, we're working on it."
Other companies that have come to the top in what I've found so far include HostGator, ASO (A Small Orange), and Site 5. I'd include DreamHost in this list, but it seems to have also garnered a lot of mixed reviews.
Our needs are many, but include:
* Multiple-domain hosting (4 domains)
* Large capacity for email storage for a highly mobile staff (including robust "on the road" email management via Web interface for users).
* Reasonably large storage capacity
* Extensive Unix tool support for integrating with an online advocacy tool and offline databases
* Online store and certificate support
* Some streaming server support for Flash and Quicktime
* Support for Joomla CMS
What I also personally want is reliable uptime and responsive technical support.
Any thoughts? I'd also appreciate if you have suggestions on who would be good people to talk to about this, or anyone who has experience in the field of supporting enterprise-level Web sites.
Thanks!