GigeNet has been serving their customers since 1997, and grown to be one of the most respected hosting providers for higher end sites. They don’t offer VPS or shared hosting services, but they have a wide range of different dedicated servers to choose from, and many cloud hosting packages too.
Even their cloud services, however, are on the higher end side, starting at about $25 per month. This is somewhat odd since many companies with this business model offer at least one entry level cloud service to try to bring in the lower end customers. Of course, this isn’t necessary a bad thing, as it allows them to focus all their resources on the larger scale sties, which need the extra attention.
Uptime & Reliability
Excellent reliability with 100% SLAs
This company clearly knows that uptime is a key factor for all their customers. They offer a full 100% uptime agreement in their SLA, and if the sites go down you will get a credit on your bill. The SLA is somewhat complex, but the bottom line is you just have to submit a ticket to have the credits applied.
Fortunately, you won’t likely experience any significant downtime because of the fact that they use only high end hardware and their data centers are all equipped with many levels of redundancy. They even have Juiper routers (which are very stable) that provide the connection to the internet itself.
Features
Everything you need is avaialble
This company offers a wide range of features so they can meet the needs of all their high end customers. This starts with an excellent selection of dedicated and cloud servers, which come with all types of different hardware specs available. Since you will have full root access to your servers, you can choose which OS you want, and install any type of scripts or other items that you need. This is great for those companies that know what they are doing and want the added options to be able to make the exact site they want.
They have two data centers, both in the US, and both of which are built with redundancy and stability in mind. They have multiple connections out to the internet, using a variety of well known telephone companies so that even if one is experiencing issues, they can fail over to the others.
Support
Great support for any type of technical problems
The technical support provided by this company is really second to none. In most cases, they will identify problems through their proactive software and hardware monitoring, so you won’t even know there is an issue. When you do need to contact them, they have a nice ticketing system as well as 24/7 phone support.
It is important to note that most customers will go with an unmanaged option, so they don’t have free technical support for issues that are outside the scope of their responsibility (configuration issues, ect).
Pricing
Expensive hosting but you get what you pay for
If you go with this company for your hosting you will be paying top dollar for the services. That being said, you will also get exactly what you pay for. This hosting provider is dedicated to their higher end customers and those who really value top support and uptime, so it is not a surprise that they charge more than the competition.
Summary
Top of the line high end hosting
When you look at all the different information about this company it is clear that they are one of the best options for those who need high end hosting. It is equally clear that they are not an option for those who just need entry level or even mid-level services. They have found their niche, and those who are in it should look closely at them when evaluating their needs for web hosting services.
Pros:
- Focused on high end solutions
- Many great dedicated and cloud servers available
- Well established company
- Very reliable services
Cons:
- No options for entry level customers
- High prices