1and1.com are they for real?

I wouldn't worry.

free hosting? - they push a lot of "look how good we are" kinda advertising in your face. Not too professional I don't think.

woo hoo - they have a $25 million dollar data center!

And on top of that - they're probably getting all the clients that everyone seems to refer to as "wanting the world for nothing".

and only for 3 years...a $1000 value.
Once their free time is up - they'll move on to another host that can offer free/cheap hosting.

If I weren't in web hosting - and had a business site I wanted to ensure was up and running, putting it on a free host isn't where I'd go.

*edit*
Website/Connectivity:
Hosted on I/O optimized own 1&1 Linux version
500 MB web space
5,000 MB/month traffic ($.99 per GB for additional traffic)
No limits on simultaneous hits/bandwidth
Protected by firewall
Daily backups of your website
99.9% Uptime guarantee

sure the uptime is nice...but I'd sure as heck want more than 5gigs bandwidth for $333/yr once my free time was up...

 

They're for real...as far as I know it's the biggest host in Europe, and now expanding to US/Canada.

3 years free hosting seems a lot, but I think it might end up costing less than a big marketing campaign (no brand awareness yet) for the US and Canadian market.
I'm sure they thought about it.

By the way, you've just become a link in their marketing chain by posting this here

 

It is just a way to draw customers. You can see hundreds of threads at www.webhostingtalk.com on this same thing. It is nothing more than a marketing ploy and lots that have tried it are unsatisfied with response times and how things work. This is a good spot for those wanting unlimited for $0.04 a month to go really.

 

People that are unsatisifed there can go to a cheap web host that will charge less then the 3 year fee for the same thing and get better results. I dont think they will get too far here, there is way too much cheap compition. I agree with who ever said I wouldnt put a business on a free host. just remember, you get exactly what you pay for.

 

hehe - I fell under the pressur of my curiosity.

I've signed up with 1and1.com!

though I'm already disappointed by their service. And if it wasn't for Mr. Bond a few posts up - I'd think I was getting screwed by a phone scam.

Here's how things went down:

6:34pm - I fill out the signup form and hit submit.

6:35pm - I receive a nifty email detailing what has to be done to get an account - like going to fill out a form for the phone verification thingy.

6:37pm - after filling out the form for the automated phone call giving me my PIN# to activate my account, I receive said phone call.

How that went down (this is where my insticts say I'm being screwed by a phone scam)

I'm requested to press 1 to proceed. I immediately think by doing so I'll be agreeing to some automated charging to my phone bill. Throwing my better judgement into the fire I proceed.

I'm then greeted with some silly message. then asked to press 1 again to receive my PIN#. I do so. I receive my 4 digit pin#.

6:39pm - I head to the site to enter my pin and get my account welcome email within 30 minutes of my entering my pin (so the website said)

8:25pm - I email their dippy sales team maybe? or whoever the heck answers the info@1and1.com addy. I've not yet received my email with account details.

Now I WOULD have emailed support - had the contact page provided an email address for them. It simply said they accept support via email. *shrugs*
woulda called their 800#, but their closed according to the hours posted on the site.

So yeah - I'm getting what I paid for...

 

Well, there you go. Glad to hear its not a scam, gives the rest of us a bad name if they are. Glad to hear you get what you paid for, that means others feel the same way, and its only a matter of time before others realize it too and go for a pay-for-service host.

 

Their UK site is http://www.oneandone.co.uk

I've used them once for a few weeks, never again! They may be the biggest in Europe but it's possibly the worst host I've ever had the misfortune of using (not just for their useless support). Avoid like the plague if you've any sense!

 

yeah I finally got my email - logged in and spent a half hour trying to navigate around their control panel. This was at the rate of maybe 1 page load per minute.

Maybe it was just my dial up connection + their forced SSL - but WHOA it was super slow.

 

well the dial up could have done it by itself, but dont worry, I doubt any one here is going to go to a host other than themselves any time soon.