Hostrocket.com Web Host Review (shared hosting)

Our Web Hosting Provider for Over 5 Years

We chose to only review HostRocket.com, because we feel that we have had enough experience with them as customers to provide a thorough review of Host Rocket's shared web hosting service. Be aware that approximately 99% of all web host review websites are full of bogus reviews design to make large affiliate commissions on your clickthroughs.

What to Expect from HostRocket.com:

Quick Summary: Hostrocket is a very reliable web host with excellent customer support for the price. Their 2006 introduction of unmetered bandwidth frees customers from having to worry about exceeding any given monthly bandwidth allowance. Uptime is generally excellent despite the company taking our site offline once for a short period of testing (about 20 min.) without letting us know in advance.

3 Web Sites that are Hosted on Host Rocket Shared Servers:

When looking for a web hosting company I'm often curious to see other web sites that are hosted by the provider I'm considering. I like browsing such sites, because they let me check for server speed (although this can vary depending on page content, scripts, etc). I can also contact the web site administrator to ask them about their experience with the web hosting provider. Below are 3 web sites that host with the Hostrocket company.

ChasingtheFrog.com - Founded by Kevin Lang in 2001, ChasingtheFrog.com receives over 150,000 unique visitors each month. The site is currently hosted on a shared server at HostRocket.com. Visit the Site
GameDrift.com - Founded by its owner Stuart in 2004, GameDrift is dedicated to providing up to date information and news about anything gaming or technology. The site operates with a staff of eight contributors and runs on a shared server. Visit the Site
PoliticsIntheClassroom.com - Online since early 2005, this site puts politically biased professors on record. It runs on a hostrocket MySQL database, which it uses to store student comments. Visit the Site

Host Rocket Company Web Hosting Review:

Support:

Host Rocket is a reliable web host whose best feature is definitely their customer support. Not only does Host Rocket promise 24/7 customer support, they actually follow through with their claims. Support turn around times are usually under fifteen minutes, which is unheard of for a relatively inexpensive webhost. They also offer 24/7 toll-free phone support as well. It's not surprising that they can offer such dedicated support. The Host Rocket company has grown to be worth millions without being tied to venture capitalists expecting their dues. This allows Host Rocket to focus more on pleasing their customers than pinching their pennies.

Bandwidth:

One of the best changes in the past couple years was HostRocket.com's introduction of unmetered bandwidth (Rocket Freedom plan) in early 2006. This means that there is no regulated monthly limit on bandwidth. One of our other websites, ChasingtheFrog.com, used to occassionally exceed it's allotted monthly bandwidth limit on or around the final day of the month. For a small setup charge of $24.95, we enrolled the website into the Rocket Freedom bandwidth plan in the fall of 2006 and haven't had a problem since. Please be aware that Hostrocket's unlimited banwidth doesn't mean that you will never have to upgrade your plan. It just means that your web site won't be automatically shut down when you exceed a specific amount of allotted monthly bandwidth. Should your website traffic increase drastically, the Host Rocket company will contact you and suggest that you upgrade to a dedicated server, which they also offer. Referring to your bandwidth as unmetered basically means that your web site won't unexpectedly go offline should your web traffic increase significantly.

Uptime:

Like all other web hosts, the Host Rocket web hosting company claims 99.9% monthly uptime, allowing for that .1% of the time when a meteor may strike the building. In reality, most web hosts do not meet their target uptime. Hostrocket comes close, but we do have a minor complaint. A few months ago they took ChasingtheFrog.com down for a few minutes to test the amount of load that our site was putting on the shared server. They did so without telling us, thinking that we wouldn't notice. I called them and complained, telling them to let us know if and when our site may be offline. It was a little gamble on their part and we caught it, but we have since forgiven them.

Where is the Hostrocket Webhosting Company Located?

The Host Rocket website host company has been an online web hosting provider since 1999, and it is located in upstate New York (see left and Google map) in a region which has come to be known as New York's Tech Valley. The area is home to over 1,000 technology related companies. It is not prone to any unexpected natural disasters.

Physical Address of the Hostrocket Company (also where its servers are located):
21 Corporate Drive, Clifton Park, NY

Who is the founder of the Host Rocket Web Hosting Company?

Brendan Brader (pictured right) is the CEO and Co-Founder of Hostrocket.com. About the company Brednen has said the following, "HostRocket was created with the purpose of always taking it further—whether it’s support, availability, technology or value, we work to be the best, and stay the best! I am very proud of our highly professional team, top-of-the-line network and superior equipment, and I invite you to find out for yourself what keeps HostRocket at the very top." Brendan Brader has also launched ViaTalk LLC as a sister company to Hostrocket. ViaTalk provides VoIP (Voice Over IP) telephone service. The service allows customers to use standard telephones with their broadband Internet connection to make and receive telephone calls. This company also operates from the Clifton Park, New York location.

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