EXABYTES provides web hosting solutions in many packages; shared web hosting, semi-dedicated, full dedicated (or you can just name it, and I can bet you, they have it!). Our alumni member was not that big i.e. about 140 members, so we were thinking of giving the Linux shared web hosting a try and would upgrade if the server couldn’t handle it. We were given three subpackages, as listed below:

Our previous web hosting gave us 10GB of space, and although it looks like it was not enough, truth is we barely used the space. Therefore, we quickly decided and signed up for the EBIZ PLUS package. The registration went smooth and the account details were sent in less than an hour. And the rest I would say became the history and to date, we agree the decision we took years ago, couldn’t be better!  The big compliment is meaningless without any proof and to do that,  I have to first, give highest regards to the quality that they have in their products! And, for the benefits of everyone, let me share the main reason why Exabytes Linux Web Hosting is my all-time favorite!

Leading the looooooooong list is their GREAT & EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE. I have been with Exabytes for close to 6 years (pergh, that is something!), and I have only experience downtime in total of less than 24 hours! Their claim of 99.99% uptime seems bold, but I believe they have delivered it! EXABYTES is armed with many IT Professional who not only know the in-and-out, but also very warm at heart. I would like to share an experience when I just setup a new shopping blog. Apparently, on 4th August 2010, there was some technical issues which resulted in the Apache default page appeared, instead of the blog main page. I was really shocked but at the same time, I had this thinking going on in my mind “hey, let`s see how quick the Support Team can resolve my issue”. I submitted my ticket at 9.42 a.m. and received the acknowledgement from them about 20 minutes later. And, about 40 minutes later, they came back to me saying that he problem is already RESOLVED! I was like “Whoooaaa, so fast! ”

Next, I would like to give big thumbs up for the HARDWARE AND NETWORK PERFORMANCE. As mentioned earlier, initially we had some doubt on whether the shared webhosting can perform and serve the forum. To our surprise, the forum has been operating with almost no downtime. As the content is hosted at local datacentre, one should expect the download and access speed to be ligthning fast and I am glad to let you know, it is performing LIGHTHING FAST, as advertised. For the sake of comparison, I uploaded one big file to the server and ask many of my relatives and friends to download and screencapture the download window. I understand that pictures tell thousand words

Other than the above two main reasons, I also love the fact that they are giving cPanel as the server control panel. With cPanel, you have great and easier control on your webhosting package thanks to the user-friendly graphical user interface. You can quckly create your FTP accounts, create additional subdomains, browse through the File Manager and also monitor your server and bandwidth usage. Everything at your finger click! Mind you, most of the cheapo webhosting provider does not give cPanel, or even if they do, it will come with a price. With Exabytes Linux Web Hosting, this is part of the package. And best of all the packages are priced at an affordable rate.

As a bonus, I believe their PR skills should not be ignored and in fact shoud be given due credit. If you are yet to LIKE their FB page, I highly suggest you to do so. You will be smiling almost everyday with all their status messages. Some of them are very informative, and some are also very casual & #funny. You can take a look at some of the snapshots below.

It’s time for some informative discussion, and observe the feedbacks that they have received from the curious clients.

Not to forget, the announcements on the scheduled maintenance.

What I can conclude from the observations and experience with Exabytes, the LINUX WEB HOSTING (EBIZ PLUS package) is the best web hosting package you can get as, not only you will be getting their excellent performance, but also the customer service, and many other things mentioned above. No worry! Although this post was made as an entry to the iPad2 competition, but rest assured I was not making up stories to please them so that I can get the iPad2. The writings came from the bottom of my heart.

I really hope that at this point you already understand why EBIZ PLUS (Linux Web Hosting) is my Exabytes Favorite Product! I recommend to all my readers to select their EBIZ PLUS as a start, and you may upgrade it to UNLIMITED for a mere RM50 per year. A good deal I must say! FYI, I have been subcribing to EBIZ PLUS package for the past six years on bi-annually basis, which translated into FURTHER SAVINGS! See! Told ya, this may sound too good to be true, but yes it is true!

Worth every ringgit, guys!

and also you have the options to upgrade anytime!

Adios guys!

On the next working day, UNIFI Support Team gave me a call and both of us agreed on an appointment. On the said date, they did come sharp on time; 1.30 p.m. and they spent the next 3 hours trying to pin down the problems. They started their investigative works from the UNIFI box, outside my apartment. Later, they moved up to the SERVER room inside my apartment, and also next, to the CABLE room at my apartment’s level. Unfortunately for them and me, none of those troubleshooting has worked. Finally, they came into my house with the old VDSL modem (white and bulky). He quickly completed the cabling and voila, the internet was back online! He then quickly swapped my black HUAWEI modem with new unit to verify the finding, guess what…. It really worked! It was clear that the culprit was the HUAWEI modem. Hampeh! He was also shocked to discover this. According to him, most UNIFI users would only have problem with their orange DLINK router.

So my prior concern was valid. Unfortunately, I neglected my concern and assumed it would be OK. Serve me right, kan? Hehe
Learning this lesson the hard way, I have thought of some ‘cool’ idea. In fact, it is cool, literally. Thanks to the USB port in front of the DLINK router. The next day, during lunch hour @ Ampang Park, I stopped by computer shop to get the USB-powered notebook cooling pad! The price was a bargain, only RM6. Trust me, it is THAT cheap!
Check out my previous UNIFI setup:

And now, it is cooled by the CHEAP, yet COOL cooling pad! Haha!

Please take note of this, the brilliant USB PORT (red-circled below). I likeee~~ Without this useful port, I would find problem to get the juice for the cooling pad. Hehe

So guys, I am advising and recommending those UNIFI users, to install this simple, yet effect cooling solution. Both devices are now running cool, yet quiet. You may need to bear with the blue LEDs, or perhaps you could scout around for the LEDless pad. Hint: PC Fair is coming soon in April ’11.

In my opinion, although the VDSL modem unit has lifetime warranty, I would prefer proactive solution than active solution i.e. waiting for them to come and fix it. No downtime please.. That’s all!

Cheers!

Image credit (1): USB Port

Prior to UNIFI installation posted earlier, I collected some data to be used as benchmark agains UNIFI, which includes speedstest result, and also pingtest result.

Let’s start with TM speedtest website(http://speedtest.tm.net.my).

Speedtest Result (Speedtest hosted by TM)

Streamyx

Unifi

Previous account (streamyx) was capped at 1.5Mbps to counter the overhead loss. Such configuration enabled me get the subsribed access speed, as advertised. As for Unifi, TM didn’t expect much of signal loss since it’s now on fibre, hence the speed is capped as per advertised. I’ve no complaint on this, and happily accept it

This test is really important and should be done the moment they finished installing Unifi at your place. If you fail to secure good local access speed, one can start guessing what will be the international access speed would be. So always, do this as part of troubleshooting your internet problem. If you do not get the good speed, the start making some noise to TM.

Now, let’s check how Unifi performs outside Malaysia.. i mean, international traffic

We’ll start with our closest neighbour, Singapore.

Speedtest result to Singapore (Speedtest.net)

Streamyx

Unifi

It seems that Unifi still manage to maintain its access speed as per advertised to outside Malaysia; Singapore. Streamyx did some fair amount of job, considering it reached its possible maximum access speed. Now, let’s move a bit further to the east; Japan

Speedtest result to Japan (Speedtest.net)

Streamyx

Unifi

Suprisingly, Streamyx was still having a good connection to Japan, maxing out the access speed as advertised. As for Unifi, the download speed delivered as what promised by TM, however the upload speed seemed to suffer some minor setback. Let’s raise the challenge a bit by moving to the west; UK i.e. Manchester.

Speedtest result to UK (Speedtest.net)

Streamyx

Unifi

Speedtest to UK/US is really important as these are where most of the website contents are hosted. Having poor access speed to UK/US means that you are in deep trouble. Haha! Therefore, it is always good to know your potential limit/constraint so that you can carry out some optimization on  your side to rebound and to get the maximum access speed during download

Based on the tests conducted above, Streamyx was looking quite good, however, Unifi did perform very well, attaining access speed close to advertised. Difference in access speed (1.18 Mbps vs 4.67 Mbps) is therefore the important decisive factor for Unifi to stand out in this test. Now, let’s move further west (US) before we can conclude the testing.

Speedtest result to US (Speedtest.net)

Streamyx

Unifi

Suprisingly, although the tested server was located about 8500 miles away, Unifi seemed to deliver consistent speed, as advertised. Such achievement must follow with great compliment. So double thumbs up to TM! Good job TM!

Fibre is the way forward for the digital communication

As additional analysis, I also did some Pingtest to local server, Singapore, US and also UK server. Typically, local connection to MY should be very LOW (less than 30), otherwise you will face connection drop issues and this is not good for gaming purposes. You may miss headshot dude!

Pingtest result (Pingtest.net)

EDITED: One final test, upload test! Just uploaded HD movie to Facebook. I was quite impressed with the speed. (417 KBps, or roughly about 4Mbps upload speed)

As of now, I’ve been using Unifi for almost one month. How good is it so far? I would say AWESOME!

For those who do not really understand what is Unifi, it is basically another broadband service offered by TM. As opposed to Streamyx which operates over copper, Unifi works over fibre. Therefore, technically less latency and higher access speed can be offered. Unifi is available two main packages; Home and Business package. For every package, they are three sub packages, namely VIP5, VIP10, VIP20 for Home, BIZ5, BIZ10 and also BIZ20 for Business. , Literally, VIP stands for Video, Internet and Phone, a triple play service that TM offers on their fibre line. As for business package, it is a dual-play service, therefore the VIDEO (i.e. IPTV) is not included. Plus, the local calls not chargeable and not free unlike VIP packages. Too bad! However, the difference becomes apparent when we start to discuss on the Fair Usage Policy. VIP packages come with quota, 60GB, 80GB and 120 GB, respectively for VIP5, VIP10 and VIP20. And as you can start guessing by now, the business package is UNLIMITED, with no data quota/cap and no FUP. Hence, being myself who usually consumes 200 – 300 GB per month, I choose BIZ5. If you feel that you can live with the the given quota, I suggest you to take the VIP package. Not only that you can get faster access speed, there are also added value services bundled together with the package; phone and hypp.tv service. As of today, the data cap/quota is yet to be implemented but rumors say it should be up by June/July 2011.

Next is on the installation part. I submitted my online application for Unifi on Monday, and managed to reserve the installation date 4 days after that. Frankly, it was quite fast since most of the forumers @ LYN were complaining on the late installation date. I was very excited considering that I have been waiting for it to reach this area since last year (you guys can ask my wife for the story, haha). Anyway, coming back to the story; on the D-day, I received a call from the TM at about 830 am in the morning, to confirm my availability. I was surfing the internet when suddenly my DSL light started blinking, sharp at 930 am. Just 2 minutes after that, I received another call from them that they already started working on the installation. Overall, the installation took less than 3 hours, since Im staying at high rise building. However, I was expecting shorter installation time since based on my understanding, only small modification and configuration are required at the telecomunication room in my apartment. Generally, for landed house, it usually takes up to 7 hours, depending on the difficulty i.e relative position of FDU unit to your house, where do you want to put the equipment, number of drilled holes, etc. In my case and also other high rise bulding installion, no drilling is required. In fact they will convert your current telephone jack to become the port for Unifi. However, in my case, they took slightly longer due to some small technical issue at the cabinet.

One and half hour later, they came to my house, with a medium-sized box. They later started unpacking the equipment and began the configuration. In terms of number of equipment, it is similar to Streamyx setup, where you require one DSL modem and a router. For Unifi setup, there are two main equipment; VDSL modem (Huawei HG655a) and wireless router (D-Link DIR-65). The pictures below could better describe the difference in setup.

My OLD setup (Streamyx)

My NEW setup (Unifi)

Referring to the Unifi setup (above), the black unit located to the left, is the Huawei VDSL modem and to the right is the Dlink DIR-65 wireless router. And the standing unit the cordless motorola phone

Since Im subcribing to the business package, TM gave the business card holder (as shown below) as the complimentary gift. I like it, thank you TM.

The configuration took less than half and hour. They showed speedtest result and also tested HD streaming from youtube. Both were running fine and smooth. Overall, the TM technicians were very warm and attentive to my enquiries. I would rate them 5/5 for the installation services. I didn’t manage to do much of testing since I promised my boss to come back right after the installation finished. Just managed to carry out one quick testing by downloading nVidia latest driver, and you may check out the download speed below:

Whoaaa!! It was downlading stable @ 570 KBps. My 1Mbps Streamyx can only do between 120 to  150 KBps (shown below), and I’m getting quadrupled speed with Unifi! Very satisfied, I am.  Will do more comparison test and share with all of you later. Stay tuned!

p/s: Operation ‘download-the-internet’ begins…..

Anyway, in few post backs, I shared my personal experience with Torrent, and the alternative to get around its weaknesses. Here, I am planning to share on something that I just recently signed up. But before that, let me share on the incidents that led me to this. Who knows, you might be having similar scenario as we speak.

It all started when I was desperate, looking for this particular file from the internet. Thanks to Pakcik Google, I managed to get a working link, but I was turned off when I discovered the file was hosted by HOTFILE. What makes things become even worse; there was no other mirror link and I don’t have the premium account for Hotfile >.< One knows that it is VERY expensive to maintain several premium account at one go. Just thought of sharing with you the fee for one month;

Rapidshare – ^€6.99 – RM 30

Megaupload – USD10 – RM 33

Hotfile – USD 9 – RM 30

Netload – ^€8 – RM35

Storage.to – ^€7.99 – RM35

To simplify thing, you will need to pay roughly about RM 130 per month to maintain the premium accesses to all the filehosting site. That is madness! There is no way that I am going to set aside that amount of cash monthly! Absurd!

My frustration led me to Service Noticeboard @ Lowyat. And this is where I got my solution to this problem; DLNext service.

DLNext service started several months back and I knew it since I was selected to become the beta testers. I found the speed was very stable and lightning fast. However, since I did not have any pressing reasons to get one, I just simply quit after the trial expired. Looking at current scenario, where the uploaders have started to upload somewhere else, there is a need for me to find alternatives to this.

Taken from DLNext page:

DLNext is a transfer/storage script for use on various popular download sites
Supported: Rapidshare/Megaupload/Depositfiles/Hotfile/Netload/FileFactory/Megashares/Storage.to/Uploading.com/Easy-share at the moment.

DLNext transfers files from Rapidshare/Megaupload/Depositfiles/Hotfile/Netload/FileFactory/Megashares/Storage.to/Uploading.com/Easy-share to our servers and dumps the file on our server.
Premium users may then download these files from our server anytime later.

They got some pretty good server too..

Server Specification (SV1 & SV2)
# Processor – Phenom II X4 810 (4 x 2,6 Ghz)
# Memory – 8 GByte DDR2 800
# Hard Disk – 2 x 1 TByte SATA II (RAID0)
# OS – Linux Debian 5.0 (codenamed Lenny)
# Webserver – Lighttpd
# Network – 1 GBit onboard
# Traffic – 100 Mbit unmetered
# Server Location – Europe.

And the T&C ( I suggest you to read all of this, before signing up)

Guarantee below : -
# Can download any things, 100% privacy
# No storage days limitation, keep as long your account still active
# Support Forum
# Either HTTP or FTP Download.
# Server is open for public and everyone can join
# Chinese characters are supported
# Pass protection Megaupload can be downloaded.

Supported Filehosting : -
# Rapidshare, Megaupload, Netload, Hotfile, Depositfiles, Filefactory, Storage.to, Megashares, Uploading.com, Easy-Share, MediaFire.

Traffic Limit : -
# Rapidshare 7GB/Daily Individual
# Filefacotry & DepositFiles (12GB/Daily Shared among all user)
# Megaupload, Netload, Hotfile, Storage.to, Megashares, Uploading.com, Easy-Share, MediaFire (UNLIMITED DOWNLOAD)

Range of speed (FILEHOSTING to SERVER) : -
# We cannot guarantee it’ll be HighSpeed.
# Range 300KB/s – 7MB/s

Range of speed (SERVER to PC) : -
# Max speed.
# Max concurrent connection: 24 including surfing DLNext & Downloading to PC.

Terms and Conditions: -
# No refunds.
# Shared account is allowed. (Not more than 2 user including urself)
# No remote-upload (Permanent BAN)
# No sharing links to non-subscriber (Permanent BAN)

And finally, the package:

DLNext Premium Service PACKAGE
Inclusive: 20GB Storage , Unlimited download to PC , 24 Max Concurrent.
7 days premium account – RM10
1 month premium account – RM30
3 months premium account – RM80
6 months premium account – RM150

Additional storage 10GB = RM10/month (At least 10GB)

Why I chose them?
1. He is a reliable service provider; the thread has already reached 142 pages loonoooog…

2. Based on the comments from the users, he has been providing very fast service!

3. There are lots of positive feedback on the server uptime and reliability.

4. For a start, 20GB storage is HUGE!

5. You gained premium access to SEVEN file hosting under one account; that is RM100 cheaper (and will be way cheaper if we talk about monthts of subcription)

6. Fast transfer speed from Server to PC, i.e. I maxed out my access speed to 1.5 Mbps

7. My good experience during the beta test

8. It uses the famous rapidleech script, which I have been using for quite some time already on my shared server. So, there is almost no learning curve for me

He took about 5 minutes (from the moment I made my payment) to configure my account. Was it fast? ABSOLUTE YES! He then gave me the login server details along with my login details. Without hesitance, I logged into the server:

The login page looks very simple and neat, so you could expect the loading page to be extremely fast.

Above, is the main page of DLNext. Simple, yet informative. And, you doesn’t need to be a TechG33K to get around the interface, as it is very user-friendly and pretty straightforward. Just head to AutoDownload section to dump your links for downloading purpose.

I decided to give try, i.e. downloaded several files from HotFile server. It turned out to be really good; downloading at 6.5 Mbps speed. Very impressive!

And finally, the ultimate test, download speed from the DLNext server to the PC. Let`s see whether it lives up to expectation..

NICE! It almost maxed out my access speed (1.5Mbps).

The Conclusion: The only drawback of this service is you could download one file at a time from RS/MU/HF to the server, but this setback is counter-balanced with lightning downloading speed. So, I have no issue on that. Overall, I am very satisfied with the service. I believe I may terminate my RS premium account later and add 10GB to DLNext storage space to provide some breathing room (buffer). With this sort of speed, coupled with responsive and excellent customer support (did I tell you, he added me into his YM so that I can just ask him question straight away), I believe DLNext is here to stay. I hereby recommend to those who are looking forward to subscribe to any of the filehosting server, to stop and look at what DLNext has to offer. I bet you it is really worth it!

p/s: Oh crap, my 1.5 TB of harddisk is almost full…