339 Argyll St.
Fergus N1M2Y4
Ontario Canada
1-800-859-8803
Hawk Host was founded in 2004 under the name Devoted Host. Fast forward six years,
and the company formerly known as Devoted Host, now has a large, vocal group of
happy clients and hosts more than 20,000 websites from SoftLayer datacenters in
the United States.
This Guru Review is written by one of our expert webmasters who used Hawk Host for
more than 1 ½ years.
Review
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Sales
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Prior to committing to a web hosting company, I contacted the sales team at Hawk Host, as well as sales forces from several other firms. Unlike many of the other representatives I spoke with, the Hawk Host staff responded to my email within ten minutes, patiently answered my questions and referred me to their live chat as another means of support. I was so satisfied with the level of quality information I received from the sales department that I opened my shared hosting account with Hawk Host in early 2009.
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Setup
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After paying for my hosting account, a process which took less than ten minutes, I patiently waited for my account to be opened and setup. Hawk Host didn’t disappoint. I received an immediate confirmation of payment by email with a notice indicating that my account was being processed, and that I could expect further information later that same day. Approximately 30 minutes later, my welcome email arrived, containing my login details and basic account information. Hawk Host’s introductory letter was both thorough and helpful.
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Billing
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I chose to purchase my hosting plan by the year, instead of paying month to month, because it afforded significant savings. My credit card was immediately charged without issue. Hawk Host’s billing does not recur automatically, so I was free to stay with Hawk Host after the one year period had ended or move to another hosting company.
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Pricing
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Hawk Host’s shared hosting plans begin at $3.95/month for a small amount of space and bandwidth. Hawk Host offers monthly specials, which I took advantage of, and in addition to paying for a year of hosting in advance, my total Standard hosting package cost less than $40/year—or just over $3/month.
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Reliability
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Hawk Host is extremely reliable. In the 18 months of hosting, I’ve experienced no service outages or hardware failures. My one complaint came recently when Hawk Host performed a kernel update on my server, causing my website to be down for a period of five minutes. Kernel updates do need to be done, but I was unaware that one had been scheduled. Upon checking with the Hawk Host support forums, I learned that a kernel update had actually been announced on the forum and also on Twitter, but not emailed to users.
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Help & Support
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I’ve spoken with the Hawk Host support team by using their convenient help desk online and also with a live chat operator. In both instances, my questions were answered within fifteen minutes and I was satisfied with the experience. Hawk Host also offers 24/7 toll-free phone support, though I’ve not had occasion to use it.
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Uptime
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I use a premium service uptime monitoring tool and have not experienced any downtime with Hawk Host, aside from the five minute kernel update, which is necessary server maintenance. Hawk Host has lived up to their promised 99.9% uptime guarantee.
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Guarantee
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- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- 30 day money back guarantee
Hawk Host guarantees your website will stay online or they will refund your money.
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Terms of Service
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Hawk Host’s terms of service are thoroughly laid out. Highlights include:
- Rates may change at any time
- Accounts will be suspended for non-payment after a period of seven days
- Strictly enforced SPAM policy. Violating accounts will be suspended.
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Bottom Line
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Advantages
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- Very professional hosting company
- Extremely reliable
- 24/7 support
- Easy to use CPanel control panel
- Competitive prices
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Disadvantages
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- Server maintenance announcements are made via Twitter and an online forum, not by email.
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