Uptime & Reliability

Great uptime statistics

Domain & Webspace takes another unusual step in guaranteeing their reliability—their informational page shows that their servers have had an uptime of about 99.9% since hosting started in 2010.  While many companies make strong statements about uptime and availability, Domain & Webspace is the first I’ve seen that lists their historical statistics.  With 99.9% leaving about 80 hours of downtime per year, it is indeed odd that you don’t see historical claims more often. UPS protection with diesel backup generators is featured, but unlike larger concerns, no fuel capacity or projected run-time is listed; for the target audience of small business and personal use this should not be a concern. A “high-availability” internet connection is advertised, but no list of vendors or the number of physical lines supplying Domain & Webspace is available on the site. Again, this is something that likely only a larger enterprise would be concerned with.

Features

Fairly typical hosting features

One feature listed is that since the business is in Germany, content is protected by “strict privacy regulations”.  While I’m not sure what makes Germany different from other countries, more privacy sounds like a great way to do business! There are a variety of low-cost hosting packages available, consisting of both shared and managed approaches.  One feature that I found interesting was the traffic allowance was listed as “unlimited”, but had a disclaimer that reads “fair use”.  This is probably listed to prevent Domain & Webspace customers from becoming re-sellers in their own right; ideally this arrangement would prevent any one customer from monopolizing bandwidth and offer equal access to everyone.  For the prices listed, this proviso seems to be fair. A very attractive statement is made on the informational page: that by automating as many processes as possible, Domain & Webspace is able to offer programming and development assistance, especially to new site owners.  I found this to be a welcoming note and is certainly a feature that could entice potential newcomers to sign with the company. Domain registration is also a key part of Domain & Webspace’s product line, with competitive prices offered. The ability to transfer domains without charge at point of purchase is listed, as is a “domain-robot” for customers with a large number of domains that need to be transferred.  Customers are encouraged to contact support with specific questions.

Support

Some limitations on their support options

While appearing sincere in expressing their desire to help customers, Domain & Webspace does not offer phone support, a FAQ page or online ticketing.  Email is offered as a support mechanisms, as is Skype (chat only) and Facebook’s private messaging.  Once you get in touch with them, however, they do seem to be able to solve most issues fairly quickly and easily.

Pricing

Low cost hosting

Prices range from €3.96 to €114.96 ( $4.29-$124.52USD) per year with monthly payments offered.  In fact, the two lower end packages offer a month-long trial for only .01€!  Many individuals will likely find this to be attractive, as it allows them to sample the host’s performance without any real monetary risk. The most basic plan included 2 GB of disk space, with 100 GB offered on the top-priced packages.  POP3/IMAP mailboxes and email addresses are unlimited in all packages as is the “fair use unlimited traffic”. PHP5 and MySQL databases are likewise included with allowances growing with the price of the package. Unlike many other nations with Value-Added Tax (VAT) Domain & Webspace states that the 19% German VAT is included in all listed prices. That in itself is a significant savings; something that many companies and users will undoubtedly find attractive.

Summary

Nice option for smaller sites

Domain & Webspace appears to be a small hosting company working in the capacity of a re-seller and what seems to be a sincere commitment to helping customers not only onboard, but to develop their web presence and grow their sites. For the blogger or hobbyist, Domain & Webspace looks like they’re worth a try. Pros:

• Customer focused
• Reasonable prices
• development assistance available

Cons:

• Larger sites might have trouble