APlus Hosting
Review
Aplus
Hosting is an extremely well established web
hosting company. Set up in 1992 they now operate as
hosts for half a million domains from over 200,000
webmasters.
They also have 4,000
dedicated server customers and have designed 3,000
websites in the past three years. As far as established
web hosting and design companies go, you would be hard
pressed to find one that has been around longer than
Aplus.net. However, being established for a long period
of time doesn’t necessarily mean they have everything to
offer their customers or that they provide the customer
service that webmasters demand. This review looks at all
of the factors that concern the Webmaster looking for a
reliable host.
Unix Hosting Packages
Unix hosting comes in four different flavors, each
offering a different level of storage, bandwidth, and
additional features. The comparison chart on the Unix
hosting page is very handy and shows all of the features
that are included but here is a quick summary of each of
the packages.
Solo Package
This is essentially the beginner package that Aplus.net
offer and, as such, is the lowest priced of all the Unix
hosting packages. You can quickly get a brand new
site that isn’t overloaded with dynamic content or media
files online. It will also allow for some growth with
the data transfer limit.
Free Domain Name
A good addition to this discount hosting package is that
you receive a free domain registration of any available
.com, .net. or .info domains. You also receive ten free
email accounts and can add more for a minimal cost if
required.
Marketing Tools
While the list of marketing tools is relatively short
with this package, the ones that are included should
provide some genuine use to many Webmasters. The domain
suggestion tool provides you with a list of suggest
domains that are based on your keywords and informs you
whether these domains are available. If any are on hold
or are due to become available soon, you can also use
the domain status checker tool to keep a regular check
on their status. You can also keep track of newly
registered domains based on your keywords and any
domains that are due to be deleted as well as have
access to detailed WhoIs records for each domain.
Email Accounts And Features
Your ten email accounts are POP3 compatible but also
come with a web-based client so you can view emails on
the move or on your desktop, depending on your
preference at the time. A Spam filter and Spam
protection package are also included to ensure that your
Inbox doesn’t get literally clogged up with unsolicited
junk emails. Wireless email access is also included
enabling you to access your email not only from the web
but also from wireless, mobile browsers like a cell
phone or blackberry. Aliases, auto-responders and
vacation messages round off what is a fairly impressive
list of email features.
Control Panel Access
Control panel access enables you to manage your email
accounts from anywhere with Internet access. This
control panel is also responsible for managing your
domains, your account, and even your billing. The
powerful and updated control panel manages your FTP
access and activity, mailing lists, and much more. The
design is intuitive and features rich so makes a good
addition to the package.
Further Features
As well as your free domain name you can choose to add
extra domains for a nominal $1.99 per month. You receive 1
FTP account to facilitate quick and easy uploading and
downloading of pages and files. Unlimited sub-domains are
also included with your domain hosting.
The Solo package does not include support for any
scripts but does offer Microsoft FrontPage extensions
and support. The Aplus.net personal blog software is the
only free script that is included in this package and
while there is no site designer included you do get a
thumbnail generator and picture manipulator as well as a
web counter in various styles.
In all honesty that’s about everything that is included
in the Solo package but considering it is the budget
plan it looks likely that most of the budget has gone on
providing a free domain name.
Solo XR Package
Additional space and storage and
3300 email accounts make this a much more serious
contender for the serious Webmaster.
Marketing Tool Additions
There is a huge list of extra marketing tools that are
also included in this package. For Google watchers a
datacenter watch tool enables you to watch how your site
is performing live without the usual toolbar lag, the
KeySuggest tool provides you with an extensive list of
keyword suggestions, while the PageRank tool displays
the Google PageRank of your site. Also included are the
innovative and unique KeyRank tools that show and
constantly track the number of searches performed on a
list of chosen keywords. Link popularity, analytic
tools, and sales letter creation tools are also included
as part of this package making it exceptionally useful
for the online marketer and SEO based marketer.
Mailing List Management
You also receive one mailing list that enables you to
include a full email list of all clients and prospective
clients. This includes a function to enable recipients
of newsletters to quickly and easily unsubscribe from
your newsletter. You also receive one mailgroup which
works in the same way but does not feature an
unsubscribe function.
Domains And Security
Webmasters are able to host multiple domain names giving
complete flexibility over the management of a site and
its respective domains. Instead of just receiving one
free domain name you receive two with this package,
which is again a very good addition to a hosting account
at this price. Security, too, has been enhanced from the
standard Solo package with a shared SSL, FTPS, firewall
protection, and even daily site backups in case the
unthinkable does happen.
Script Support
In terms of script support, Webmasters receive PHP4,
Perl, Ruby, C/C++, Python, and TCL support. They also
receive access to more than 200 free scripts and
libraries that give the power to create the ultimate in
dynamic pages and a user-friendly experience. The
personal blog that is included with the Solo package is
also available, but so to is an advanced blog feature
that is ideal for the budding blogger.
Pro Package
The Pro package really begins to push the boundaries of
website hosting and provides more storage and still more
data transfer, plus 3600 email accounts. Two mailing
lists and 2 mailing groups are included, double that
offered with the Solo XLR package and five FTP users are
enabled. You have the ability to add your own SSL
certificate to show customers that you run a secure and
safe website and you also receive a Secure Server
Certificate.
Basic Ecommerce Additions
If you are looking to include some basic ecommerce
functions then the Pro package includes an OS Commerce
storefront that facilitates the quick and simple
addition and amendment of items as well as your own
merchant account. You can also enjoy five MySQL
databases, 900MB of online photo storage, and 50MB of
online file storage.
EPro Package
The final and complete package is the ePro package.
Storage and email features are the same as with the Pro
package but you still receive a lot more for your money.
A lot of the extra features are aimed at ecommerce
websites and Webmasters and are powerful and feature
rich for you and your customers.
A Mass Of Ecommerce Features
The eCommerce booster package provides Miva5
storefronts. These offer much greater capacity for
search engine optimization and general online marketing.
They allow for the easy addition and acceptance into the
major shopping search engines like Froogle. Three
mailing lists and three mailing groups are included so
you can keep in touch with your customers and send
regular newsletters. Three free domain names and ten FTP
accounts are also included.
As well as merchant account functionality you also
receive a credit card gateway and have the ability to
easily connect your store front to Ebay, Amazon,
Shopping.com, and Froogle. 10 MySQL databases will come
in very handy for numerous categories and because you
are likely to need to display a lot of images for your
products you also receive increased picture storage of
1200MB.
Windows Hosting
The Windows plans are also broken down into four
categories with similar offerings to the Unix hosting,
apart of course from the scripts that are on offer. The
marketing tools are still included with certain plans
and a 99.99% uptime guarantee per year make the plans
extremely appealing.
Dedicated Server Hosting – From $99/Month
The dedicated server plans are extremely appealing with
even the cheapest plan at $99 per month offering an
Intel Celeron 2.8GHz processor with 1GB of RAM, a 160GB
Hard Drive, and 1000GB monthly transfer. At the top end
of the scale, the most expensive dedicated server costs
$349 per month and houses dual Intel XeonE 3.0GHz
processors, 2GB of RAM, dual 250GB hard drives, and
3000GB of monthly transfer. There are also a number of
AMD servers that offer a combination of incredible power
and value.
Aplus Conclusion
As far as web hosts go, Aplus.net offers a huge range of
products and has been in business for well over a
decade. In this time they have amassed more than 200,000
customers proving them to be worthy of this business
life. Whether you are looking for a budget UNIX hosting
plan that gets you online for a minimal amount of money
but includes a domain name, or you want the raw power of
dedicated servers Aplus.net almost certainly have the
package to match your needs.
