Editors 1 & 1 Internet Review

1 & 1 Web Hosting Review

Posted by Jim on Jan 30, 2006

1and1 Internet is probably the largest shared Web Hosting provider world-wide, and second only to Yahoo! in North America. 1and1 gives off a distinct corporate vibe with its slick Website and Control Panel awash in shades of blue and the elevator music that callers have to endure waiting for support to answer. Underneath this cool exterior we found hosting packages and web tools that are simply hard to beat.

First, 1and1 Internet offers plenty of "product" for its monthly price. We tried out the Linux business package, which comes with 2000MB of storage, 50GB of bandwidth and 500 email accounts - all for $9.95 a month. 1and1 also throws in three domain registrations (and annual renewal) at no additional charge.

We were also treated to a rather impressive package of client-side software after we signed up (although we did have to pay shipping to have a couple of the drivers and manuals sent). The package includes an FTP utility, search engine placement software and an application that helps boost a website's search engine rankings. But the gems of the bundle were PhotoImpact - a full-featured yet easy-to-learn photo editing program, and NetObjects Fusion 8 - a complete, website building tool that (with a little practice) should allow even novice users to create sophisticated sites.

Control Panel access was a little more sluggish than we anticipated, especially given 1and1's preoccupation with a polished image. The company offers a "speed test" so hosting customers can check the CP pages against their connection speed. But our results using a 768Kbps wireless connection were universally positive no matter what speed we selected (below or even above our own). The Orwellian messages of "Good" and "Perfect" provided no real, usable information. (Editor's note: 1and1 hosts some of their admin tools in Europe, which makes for slowish speeds when accessed from North America. This does not seem to affect website performance.)

As you'd expect from a company like 1and1, the Control Panel's layout and navigation is clean and logical. ("Meet our Webmaster, Mr. Spock"). We were able to easily move up and down through the layers of organization. Getting lost inside the 1and1 Control Panel wasn't a concern.

Ok, so 1and1 offers bang for the buck with its main Linux package, and it wraps it all in a professional (albeit a little slow) interface. Check and check. But what about the hosting tools? Here, too, they come through.

Included in the Applications suite is a website wizard called Website Creator. This basic version let us choose from attractive designs and build websites with up to 18 pages. Keep in mind, this was in addition to the NetObjects software that 1and1 also gave us.

Also inside Applications, five basic CGIs are packaged together: guest book, forum, feedback form, visitor counter and date/time display. These are all functional, but very basic, interfaces. If you want anything jazzier (or something that just matches your site better), you'll have to upload custom scripts.

One annoying thing about the visitor counter wizard, we found, was that in the first step we had to choose from one of five counters by selecting a radio button next to "Counter 1," "Counter 2," etc. The problem was that no example of Counter 1 or Counter 2 or any of the counters was shown. It wasn't until we got to the next page of the wizard that we saw what our selection looked like. This may have provided a little mystery to the process, but we'd prefer to know what we're choosing right from the get-go.

A MySQL database was included with our business package, although we needed an outside utility to access it. 1and1 also provides a very nice tool called "WebDatabase," which replaces the need for programming knowledge with templates and a user-friendly graphical interface.

Finally, we were impressed with In2Site Live Dialogue and we expect e-commerce customers will be as well. Each business package includes the basic version of this interactive application, which brought us "virtually" face-to-face with our website visitors. When a potential customer stops by your site (or Norm from the other cubicle in our case), you're immediately notified and can begin a live chat with the person. The full In2site application, which costs extra, allows website owners to do even more, such as remotely guide visitors around their website (We're back to that Orwellian-thing again, but we like it).

1and1 offers 24/7 customer support via phone and email (in addition to FAQs). And once we got through to the phone support (after tapping our toes to what sounded like "Mandy") the rep was knowledgeable and satisfactorily helpful. Email support, however, took a little longer than we liked to get a response.

1and1 could work on its Control Panel to speed it up and soften the feel. But those are minor issues compared with what customers get for their hosting fees: from the server space and bandwidth, to the free software, to the suite of professional hosting tools. Simply put: Cool, clean 1and1 is an outstanding hosting choice, particularly for small businesses that need to establish or upgrade a Web presence.

Visit 1and1.com

Host Monster Site Screenshot (http://www.1and1.com)

 

 

 

 

 

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