The GridService SOUNDS like a fun experiment but isn't.

I know that the idea that your site is hosted on a virtual grid does sound like a good idea but MediaTemple's implementation of this absolutely sucks. They keep promising the release of Cluster Server (cs) which supposedly gets rid of all of the bugs of GridServer but it has been initially promised for 2009 and now is being promised for 2010. The company also initiates a lot of fun looking programmes in it's labs that it never has any intention of finishing. This does not strike me as very professional.

Biggest Pro: Can automatically upgrade WordPress and WP plugins through WP itself
Biggest Con: Slow page speed, bad uptime

MT - the good and the bad

I have been using MT shared server packages and was very, very happy. MT went to the Grid Server package and it has been less that satisfactory. I have experienced a great many slow page responses with MT Grid. The Grid continues to be somewhat problem filled with page serves that are sometimes slow.

Earlier in the process when I would request customer support they were very vague and acted like there was no problem. At some point I have a conversation with a head honcho and said that its was clear that there were issues - please quit acting like there is not. Please tell me what is happening, I respect that more than "We don;t have a problem" when there was clearly a problem. The emails from MT started being clear and filled with details. A breath of fresh air.

For quite some time we have lived by the saying "It's better to dance with the devil you know that the devil you don't" and have not switched hosts. That time has sadly come to an end. I am currently looking for DV server space and have mostly decided against MT as the supplier. Media Temple is aggressive with technology but I just want something that works reliably. It just has gotten old working out another mysterious problem with slow page serves. To be fair I like the instant scalability and used that once with a customers site with a media blitz.

One other thing, Media Temple is aggressive with technology, bleeding edge. This is great. I guess that I am just tired of being the guinea pig. Just give me something that works consistently with fast page serves and good tech support.

With great sorrow I have started putting customers elsewhere.

Biggest Pro: Scalability, support, control panel is excellent
Biggest Con: Too many slow page serves, too many tech support issues.

Media Temple Never Disappoints

Media Temple is the only web host I've ever been with that I would recommend so highly, and that's for one simple reason: real people.

Sure, they have a handful of reasonably priced packages. Yes, their VPSes are fully loaded, very flexible, and have excellent uptime. It's true that their control panel is functional and easy-to-use. And there can be no doubt that they are by far on the cutting edge of server technology (if you get a second, check out Media Temple Labs: http://mediatemple.net/labs/).

But far more important to me than any of those things (though those are all important!) is that when you sign with Media Temple, you don't get a web host, you get a web hosting *partner*. I have had a (dv) Dedicated-Virtual server with Media Temple for two years now, and because I like to experiment, it is fair to say that I have done my fair share of destruction. No matter how badly I screwed up my server, Media Temple's excellent support staff has always been able to fix it without data loss. Not only that, but if you call them, you get an *actual person* within a minute or two-- no long waits on the phone, and very few automated menu options. Online support response time is typically an hour or less.

Media Temple is run by people with a passion for what they do, and who really seem to care about their customers. Despite the prices being a little steeper than other hosting companies, you'll note I gave them a "10" for price value for money; that's because the personal attention to detail that you get with Media Temple so greatly increases the value of their hosting package that their prices are almost *cheap*.

If I had one recommendation, I'd stay away from the Grid Server for another half year or so, they still appear to be ironing out the kinks with that plan. However, do not let reviews of the (gs) service scare you away from Media Temple as a company: they are truly unparalleled in terms of personality and technical expertise, and easily make my "big 3" list of favorite tech companies.

Biggest Pro: A dedicated and caring expert support staff, and an impressive level of personal attention
Biggest Con: Grid Server is a little shaky, and sometimes prices can seem a *bit* steep

Excessive Downtime and Slowness

There have been only 3 days this month in which my sites weren't down at least once throughout the day. My sites are always going up and down, and the response time of the server has been bad.

For a webhost that charges $20/month for shared hosting and has a worse uptime and response time than my other $8/month shared hosting account, they should be ashamed. They're almost always having problems with something on the "Server Grid" service.

I'm rather disappointed, because I though this was going to be a great company to be with. They have given me a few free months of service because of the downtime, but free hosting that doesn't work isn't worth much.

The one main thing that impressed me though is that I've been "Dugg" twice on a somewhat resource-heavy site and the site didn't even slow down (while the traffic was very high.) A couple hours later when traffic slowed, the site went down as usual, and I lost a bunch of visitors.

Their customer service is very good and responsive, and most importantly speak English (more than I can say about 1and1.)

Biggest Pro: Customer Service, reliability during high traffic bursts
Biggest Con: Excessive downtime

MediaTemple Hosting

MediaTemple web hosting have been absolutely excellent in ensuring my website is properly support, often by shooting back fast and extremely detailed support responses. What attracted me to their service was their Grid Server technology, which allowed my site to remain online throughout bursts of traffic. They also host Starbucks, and other large corporations, and can therefore in my opinion be handed a little bit of credibility. I was paying $25 per month with my previous web host, so switching to these guys is without a doubt a no brainer.

Mediatemple Grid server

A lot of websites that I visit, mostly related to web-design, were hosted by Media Temple. I decided to check them out because a lot of these sites were well-known around the design community and must therefore have chosen a reliable host.

To begin with, I checked out their list of clients which was rather impressive with companies like Diesel and Sony. They also just launched their new Grid servers so I felt this was a great time to try their hosting. This shared hosting allows multiple domain hosting on one account, which I was looking for! I currently have 4 domains on my Grid server account and they are all working fine.

The only downside I have experienced so far is how slow their control panel was loading when I first purchased their hosting. But this was probably because the server was new and they were still tweaking things up. After being with them for a year, the control panel is still a wee bit slow but my sites still load fast in the browser, which is more important than me. They also added a lot of new features too after user requests (like multiple user PHP databases), etc. Their customer service is excellent and they usually let you know ahead of time when there is downtime.

All in all, I plan on sticking with Mediatemple and even purchasing their dedicated servers when my sites grow larger.

Biggest Pro: Reliable, stable servers
Biggest Con: Slow control panel (seeing as this is the biggest con, Media Temple is excellent.)

Media Temple

Media Temple is an excellent host! I have been with them for over 4 months now [recentely switched from hostgator] and am extremely happy with my choice. There help and support is great, no down time and i am hosting over 20 other domains on the same account. They are amazing and i recommend them to all!

Biggest Pro: Space & Support
Biggest Con: Cant think of one.