RELIABLE Exchange/BES Host?

bnchester · Thread Author #1 11-29-2011, 12:53 PM

I have not seen this discussed on these forums in the last few years. I have a small company, just a few mailboxes, current BES hosting at exchangemymail. When it works, it's great, and they have responsive customer service. However, in the last few months they have had several multihour, and one multiday, outage, which is just not acceptable.

So the question is, can you please recommend a reliable provider of Exchange/BES hosting services?

Thanks

dosto · #2 11-30-2011, 10:07 PM

This isn't good to hear. I currently use Exchangemymail hosted BES for Google Apps. Although I'm probably going to stick with Exchangemymail for now, here's a link to an alternative Hosted Exchange 2010 | Exchange Hosting Provider | Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 & 2007 | Dedicated & Shared Exchange 2010 Hosting

bnchester · Thread Author #3 12-01-2011, 07:41 AM

Thanks. How did you cope with this week's recent 24+ hour outage, not to mention the previous ones? I can't handle that on my business e-mail.

I looked at this provider and a few others. I'm looking for recommendations based on people's actual experiences. Have you used them before? I have set up an account at Intermedia and haven't yet decided on my migration path.

dosto · #4 12-01-2011, 09:37 PM

I didn't notice a 24 hour outage, and I usually notice things like that. Exchangemymail is the only Hosted BES provider I've used. Obviously, multiple 24hr outages is unacceptable. Good luck with a potential replacement.

IT-Pro · #5 12-07-2011, 08:16 AM

How could they be down that long?

Anyway, we were using PayPerCloud and we had no issues.

mccs · #6 12-07-2011, 09:37 AM

thanks for this post.

i'm looking at setting up my own domain and near-future online presence and was wondering about this as well. i've read about intermedia (from a post on zdnet) and am starting my own research on a good exchange host.

any comments about godaddy's service? anyone use them? (asking because of the one-stop shop domain registry and exchange service...)

thanks.

IT-Pro · #7 12-07-2011, 10:46 AM

I heard from another Managed Service Provider who swore at GoDaddy's service, but I don't have any first-hand experience and don't recall his reasons. I don't see the one-stop-shop as a compelling reason. They may be a jack of all trades, master of none. Its easy to manage domains and dns and exchange in 3 places. After you setup DNS, the only thing you will be administering is Exchange, so the most important decision is Exchange Hosting. Are you looking to white label? What is most important in your decision?

mccs · #8 12-07-2011, 11:25 AM

honestly, i'm at the very infancy of mapping out what i want to do so i'm not sure yet. biggest "thing" is i want to get away from the free-mails (gmail, hotmail) as i begin to self-market.

my next life is more than likely going to be doing consulting work so i need to have a business friendly/professional/connected to what i do email address and domain; e.g., me@mybusiness.com vice the me123@gmail/hotmail/yahoo.

since i'm a one-person enterprise right now, that's what prompted my question.

appreciate the feedback.

mccs · #9 12-07-2011, 11:28 AM

honestly, i'm at the very infancy of mapping out what i want to do so i'm not sure yet. biggest "thing" is i want to get away from the free-mails (gmail, hotmail) as i begin to self-market.

my next life is more than likely going to be doing consulting work so i need to have a business friendly/professional/connected to what i do email address and domain; e.g., me@mybusiness.com vice the me123@gmail/hotmail/yahoo.

since i'm a one-person enterprise right now, that's what prompted my question.

appreciate the feedback.

mccs · #10 12-07-2011, 11:28 AM

(i have no idea why that posted twice...)

IT-Pro · #11 12-07-2011, 11:36 AM

Why don't you sign up as a regular user for now (rather than reseller) to get yourself your professional email. Pay Per Cloud has no minimum quantity of mailboxes so you could just get yourself one.

seaners · #12 12-11-2011, 03:44 PM

I use GoDaddy, and so far they've been pretty reliable. The reason I went with them was because of price. It cost me about $12/year for my .ca domain, and about $10/month for a 2GB Exchange mailbox with BES access. And with the regular 30% off coupons they issue, it costs me less than $10/month all-in.

I use it for personal use only, and it's been very reliable for that purpose. The only issue I had was their useless support when I was trying to get everything going initially. I am not a tech guy, but I know a thing or two about navigating my way around a computer. I read through all their Q&A's, and finally had to call them. When I called them, it was clear they were just reading a script that was of no use to me.

But once I got it setup everything has been great. Once every couple months they'll send out a notification of a 15-30 minute window of down-time, but that's about it.

IT-Pro · #13 12-11-2011, 04:50 PM

Sounds like this was a good fit for you. You get what you pay for, but if this is all you need, then great! Some of our clients don't like the limitations on messages/24hr-period and 20MB attachment limitation.