Over at Rogue Ameoba’s blog, they’re talking about their decision process for selecting their current web hosts. While I don’t run a software company, I was happy to see that they also use Pair.com. I’ve been with Pair since around 1999, all because I saw one of their engineers on several of the mailing lists I was on. I figured anyone that employed someone smart and reasonable (a rare combination in online mailing lists) had to be a good company.
Of course, they’re right. Pair does charge a bit of a premium, but their stuff is almost always up. We’ve had a few blips here at FatMixx recently, but they’ve all been short and the after hours support has been quick and responsive. I have some exposure to keeping a big datacenter up and running and it’s not easy. Pair does a good job.
Unfortunately, Pair also doesn’t quite do what I need for some of my upcoming projects. Their specialty is managed hosting where the user doesn’t have root or admin access. It’s not ideal for folks writing Java code or custom daemons. It pains me to look for another host because if Pair offered VPS hosting, I’d be right there.
February 27th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Josh and I are also with Pair, on your recommendation, and I agree on all counts: it rocks and we pay a premium.
February 27th, 2007 at 9:45 am
yeah, I’ve decided they’re (pair) not the company for me if/when I decide to launch a web startup… the dedicated prices are too expensive. Though, the last time I called Rackspace up to see how much a managed dedicated server would cost, I think it was something like $495 a month.
The good companies definitely charge for what they give you.
February 27th, 2007 at 9:49 am
PS. I’m not sure if I should find it disturbing or funny that the ads on this page are for nannies (au pairs?) and for a new pair of glasses…