Two months back I was reporting my problem with Bluehost’s database error. I was told that the database server is down due to routine maintenance but I do not think that’s the reason.

I sent a couple of emails to the customer supports since then and was replied with the same reason – site down because of database server maintenance. The situation is a little frustrating as the support do not tell the truths and let me know what’s happening behind the scene (or maybe because they didn’t know). There were several similar problem experienced by others.

Fortunately, the problem is fixed by now. There’s no more significant down time observed by now and the database connection errors had not occurred for more than a month. I’m glad that this is fixed but I still don’t know what happened for the entire January. I can tolerate with short term poor server performance but I don’t really like the way Bluehost handle their clients when there’s a problem. Their hosting offer – unlimited hosting, unlimited addon domains, free domain name, unlimited database, still looks good to me but their customer support lost my compliments. I guess this is one of those situation where you can’t get great real human services in low price.

Hopefully they’ll notice the issue and rectified things in the support department before it’s too late.

There were nothing much to write about Bluehost hosting service in February. There are no significant down time for the past one week but I can’t be sure that the database connection errors is settled. I’ll observer the server status and website’s uptime for a little longer before I can draw any conclusion.

Right now in case you wish to learn more about Bluehost hosting, check out: www.bluehost.com.

I didn’t really know the actual down time because I was not tracking closely on the website but it’s confirmed to be more than 3 hours. All three MySQL databases with my Bluehost account *disappeared* (thus the connection error). I wasn’t sure why that was happening but it scares the hell out of me.

Without any delay I emailed Bluehost and yelled for help.

The first the support staff I encountered wasn’t what’s happening but he quickly referred me to the upper level. In his own words – he’s referring me to their company ‘engineer’. The folks at support department was professional and didn’t do much ‘PR talks’. After about an hour of silence from the supports, all three databases were back and ReviewBluehost.com is back to normal.

At first I had the feelings that my databases were accidentally removed but Bluehost refused the possibility of that. I tried to ask for an explanation after everything is fixed but there were not much to be told. MySQL server down was the official explanation for the incident:

Dear Customer,

The databases are not deleted they just wont show up if the MySQL Server goes down because cPanel and your scripts wont be able to connect to them. It should resolve usually with in 5-60 minutes depending on what has to be done.

Thanks
Brandon O.
Level 2 Scripting Specialist
Bluehost.com
866.573.4678

Well if this is true, I hope you are not hosting on the same MySQL server with me coz this means your site/blog could be down at that time as well.

Bluehost vs Lunarpages in a glance

To save your time, I had highlighted several key hosting features of Bluehost and Lunarpages below.

From the table, you’ll see that there are indeed not much differences between the two. In fact, pricing is the only differences between Lunarpages and Bluehost (with LP slightly cheaper than BH).

In term of popularity, Bluehost is much welcomed among webmasters. Google Trend (refer to the diagram) shows that Bluehost is growing much faster when compare with Lunarpages.

To my wild guess I think this is due to Bluehost’s quality customer support as well as aggressive web marketing plans.

Guest Article: Comparison between Bluehost and Lunarpages

On top of my personal review, I’m glad to have experienced web writer – Justin Knights to share his view on the topic. Check out his view about Bluehost and Lunarpages in this guest post below.

Comparison Between BlueHost and Lunarpages

There are many hosting providers out there in the market today and 2 companies that are worth mentioning is BlueHost and Lunarpages. Both these companies have been around for quite some time and have a good reputation in the industry. However, which company is the better of the two? Lets us make a comparison to see which company excels in the different categories.

By comparing the packages provided, Lunarpages provides specific packages for blogs, small business or enterprises but BlueHost is not clear in their packages. So, to find out which package suits you if you want to choose BlueHost, you will need to spend s little time to do a research. Lunarpages also provides Window hosting while BlueHost do not. Even though this might not be big matter, it still proves that Lunarpages provide something that BlueHost do not provide.

Next, we take a look at the price for both companies. Lunarpages is the more cost effective choice but Bluehost are much welcomed among webmasters. Bluehost is hosting a lot more domain than Lunarpages at the moment and a check on both companies search popularity will show that Bluehost is way ahead of Lunarpages. From the customer’s point of view, both companies are satisfactory. In fact, many customers have websites hosted by both of these companies. Last but not least, both companies provide user friendly hosting panels. Different users prefer different panels like cpanel, Fantastico. Both companies provide the same stuff.

For a conclusion, the company that you will choose must be an effective business investment. Lunarpages provide more choices and is cheaper; while BlueHost, despite being more popular, offer less hosting choices and are slightly more expensive.

Bluehost vs Lunarpages: Who’s the best?

So who’s the best between Lunarpages and Bluehost? Well it seems that it’s pretty tough to choose between these two hosting companies. In case you’re looking for budget hosting, then Lunarpages is recommended; for those who don’t mind paying a little extra for the pop star, then Bluehost is very much your choice. All in all, both hosting companies are doing very good in their industry. In case you are still unsure with them, I suggest you to try both services yourself as they both offer 30 days free trial period.