1&1 Hosting Review
1&1 is one of the largest internet companies in the world as they service over 13 million customers globally. However, an internet company has many different services and not just web hosting. Can they be trusted to deliver a high quality service? Well, with such a large company like that: mostly yes. Large companies like 1&1 who offer extremely affordable pricing generally rely on volume in order to sustain their business. Since they are so large, they need to employ thousands of people to make sure the operation runs quietly. 1&1 does a good job in regard to that. However, customer support may be sacrificed a bit due to this. The great thing though about 1&1 is that because they are so large, any type of webmaster can sign up with them. Looking for a shared hosting plan? They have it. VPS or dedicated? Absolutely. The amount of features offered are below average but they are incredibly easy to use which we will explain later on. Additionally, they are one of a limited number of web hosting providers that supports both Windows and Linux based sites.
Features
When we initially arrived at the 1&1 website, we were pretty encouraged. Such large companies tend to have a list of plans with accompanying features. This is exactly what 1&1 offers. They have a plan for as low as $0.99 per month. However, the only listed feature is 10GB of disk space. 1&1 claims this service is good for sites with static HTML pages. However, if you would like the advanced package, 1&1 has a plan for that as well, although they do not offer as many features as a service such as iPage. Even on their most upgraded plan, there basic features only include:
- Unlimited disk space
- Unlimited websites
- 1 free domain
- 1&1 SSL certificate and dedicated IP
- 50 FTP accounts
- 25 MySQL databases
- 500+ e-mail accounts
- 1&1 ‘Sitelock Basic’ security suite
- NetObjects Fusion (for website building)
- Website analytics
One thing we would like to note are their e-commerce features. One word sums it up well: fantastic. If you are building an e-commerce site, look no further. 1&1 is your next provider. Nevertheless and on a whole, while you can build almost all websites with 1&1, they do need some improvement in regard to their feature list. After all, such a big company should already offer this.
Customer Support
1&1’s large status means it has a corporate culture. This essentially regulates it to standard 9-5 office hours for the billing department. However, sales and support are available 24/7 via both e-mail and phone. Response times were actually a lot better than we expected. The original thought process was: how can such a large company handle that many support inquiries? With over 13 million customers, you would need tens of thousands of support reps all across the globe. Though the exact number of service representatives is unclear, it turns our 1&1 handles the inquiries efficiently. You can expect an email response within several hours at most. The average phone wait that we experienced was roughly 15 minutes. Moreover, 1&1 has by far the most useful help center out of any web hosting service. There you can find thousands of pages of content on any type of technical question. They also have a large video tutorial section. Overall, 1&1’s support was a nice surprise.
Ease of Use
1&1 is able to get away with many things mainly because they are so big. Like GoDaddy, 1&1 has their own proprietary control panel called Webspace Explorer. As expected, it is a bit of a learning process but once you conquer that, we promise it is one of the most usable control panel’s we have come across. If you are a beginner, do not let this intimidate you. It is remarkably easy to navigate. Not only is it straightforward, but the layout has many graphics involved. Think of a book with many pictures instead of a lot of text. For most people, this can be much easier to understand. The same applies here to 1&1’s control panel. Performing basic tasks like managing your domains or e-mails is a walk in the park.
1&1 Webspace Explorer Control Panel
Website Building
1&1’s website building is their prime sales pitch. They realize it may be tough to compete in regard to how many features they can offer so they went after webmasters who consistently look to build websites. 1&1 uses an exclusive website builder that is simply outstanding. They also use a website building software called NetObjects Fusion which is the newest version of the HTML editor. This allows for simple creation of a website that will make your mobile surfing of you website a wonderful experience. You can download the software within the 1&1 control panel. Additionally, 1&1 provides a mobile website builder. Customize the colors, images and text; you can have a mobile site up within minutes. We would also like to note that both NetObjects Fusion and the mobile site builder require zero previous technical background.
Reliability
1&1 takes their reliability and security seriously. For starters, they guarantee 99.9% uptime. They also employ the use of a content delivery network which is a network of servers across the globe. 1&1 automatically stores the data in the data center closest to your location. The content delivery network is powered by something called CloudFlare which protects against spam and nasty malware. Furthermore, 1&1 uses both Mirage and Railgun that maximize your website’s load time by up to 700%. So how do you set it up? Thankfully, the team at 1&1 have made the content delivery network set up a one click process.
Summary
Even though some features are missing and the service is a bit expensive comparatively speaking, there is a reason why over 13 million people use the 1&1 service. Trust plays a crucial role and 1&1 delivers on that aspect. In addition to that, 1&1 uses some pretty unique technologies. Once you get the feel for it, you will likely enjoy the functionality. More importantly, you will be hard pressed to find a better website building experience and superior reliability. If these two aspects are important to you, then 1&1 is a rock-solid choice.
