Search Engine Optimization & Web Hosting Solution

2 months ago, we signed for iPower’s web hosting plan. We wanted to see if iPower truly offers an unlimited number of subdomains under their new control panel vDeck 3. We had prior knowledge that another web hosting in Phoenix (AZ) run by the same parent company isn’t/wasn’t truthful about the number of subdomains they offer. This web hosting company is StartLogic, which also uses vDeck. Subsequently, we found out that iPower does let its hosting clients create an unlimited number of subdomains. Furthermore, we acknowledge that vDeck 3 is quite competitive with another popular web server control panel cPanel. In fact, we really like vDeck 3, which appears to have several features that we cPanel doesn’t support.

iPower offers

with Pro Plan. (See Screenshot 01.) And how much do they charge for it? They started a spring campaign for this hosting plan around last May to our knowledge. And they still charge only US$4.95 per month or US$59.40 per year or just for the first year. Is it really that cheap? Aren’t there hidden costs? It is. US$59.40 is what we paid. For the same coverage of features, I can tell you that you would pay twice more at other web hosting companies.

Screenshot 01 - Source: iPower

Screenshot 02 - Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 03 - Source: iPower

Well, this article is not about praising great features that iPower offers with its Pro Plan. You can find plenty of websites praising iPower by comparing numbers. Even idiots can do it with no knowledge about web hosting. This article is rather about a file transfer speed mystery surrounding iPower’s Pro Plan. About 29 hours ago, we attempted to upload 3 files to a web server hosted by iPower. They are all large (148.89 MB, 267.69 MB and 266.01 MB). The file upload transfer speeds that we saw were 20 to 25 KB/s. When we tested a few hours ago, it was lower than 20 KB/s. (See Screenshot 02.) Terribly slow, right? (more…)

When we had our first host ever with StartLogic several years ago, the control panel was vDeck 2.0. It was not a bad control panel. We just didn’t like the fact that we had to contact StartLogic each time we wanted to create a subdomain. And once it was created, the name could not be changed. The worst part of StartLogic is or was its fraudulent scheme in making it look like one could get an unlimited number of subdomains with no extra charge. Is it actually 5? No. One could virtually use only 3 subdomains with no extra charge. Each subdomain must be manually pointed to a folder. And StartLogic concealed the fact that they allowed their hosting customers to use only 3 folder-pointings.

We left StartLogic after one year. And we then went to HostMonster where they supported XP Evolution 10.8.1 at the time. It was a totally different experience. You don’t have to ask HostMonster to create a subdomain. You can delete it if you don’t need an existing subdomain. Lunarpages also supports cPanel. And you can create any number of subdomains.

How about IPOWER? We knew they supported vDeck 2.0 before. That’s was not a good sign for us. By the way, StartLogic and IPOWER are owned by the same parent company. It’s no offense to IPOWER, but does IPOWER also adopt the same fraudulent folder-pointing scheme?

We asked IPOWER a long time ago, and they said they gave out an unlimited number of folder-pointings with no extra charge. Wait, do you have to contact IPOWER each time you need a subdomain?

There are a few questions for which we wanted answers badly. So we signed up with IPOWER several days ago to seek the answers for ourselves. We wanted to know

1. if we have to contact IPOWER each time we need a subdomain. Or does their control panel let us create one at any time?
2. how many subdomains IPOWER lets us create with no extra charge. 3, 5 or more?
3. how good vDeck 3.0 is in general. Does it come with an automatic script installation function like Fantastico?

I can tell you that we are actually amazed with vDeck 3.0. I would say vDeck 3.0 is as good as cPanel 11.18.6 and even better in some aspects. If you don’t like vDeck, that’s probably because of the way individual hosting companies like StartLogic handle it. It’s a fine control panel. We certainly see nothing wrong with it. (more…)

When they shop for a new home for their website, one of webmaster’s concerns is control panel. But hosting companies usually show you only screenshots, which don’t quite answer shopper’s questions. Some hosting companies have a demo version of control panel, which isn’t very helpful, either.

This video gives you a quick tour over StartLogic’s control panel, vDeck 2.0. MacHouse offers this free video so that you can make a better decision as to whether this hosting company is for you before you sign up and pay nearly a hundred dollars. Please note that this is not a video tutorial and then that there is no audio/text commentary. (more…)