Network Solutions
Posted under: Network Solutions Ratings
Looks good overall, though a bit pricey, and has some negative reviews. Caution!
Click here to visit Network SolutionsOr click here to see the recommended shared web hosting companies instead.
Summary
Network Solutions have been in business for a very long time now, and have compiled a large suite of services to offer their clients, from hosting plans to designing websites. Navigating this large assortment of options can be a challenge, and the prices are a bit higher than other hosting sites. Overall, they appear to be a hit and miss company depending on the person using the services.
Quick Facts About Network Solutions
- Network Solutions hosting was founded in 1979, hosting websites since 1995.
- Web Hosting Services: Shared (Small) Plan ($9.29/month), Shared (Large) Plan ($12.41/month), Shared Unlimited Plan ($27.18).
- Phone: 1-800-361-5712
Products and Services by Network Solutions
Trying to find the best hosting option available on Network Solutions proves to be a bit of a challenge. They have three different tiers for shared hosting, and the prices change depending on how long you are willing to pre-pay for the service.
The Small Shared Hosting plan starts at $9.29/month for a year contract, and with that you receive: 300 GB of hard drive space, 3000 GB of bandwidth, a free domain name, and 1000 email accounts.
The Large Shared Hosting plan is $12.41/month and gives you the following upgrades: 500 GB of space, 5000 GB of bandwidth, 2500 email accounts, but only the one domain name.
The Unlimited Plan is $27.18/month and gives you: Unlimited bandwidth, unlimited hard drive space, 3 domain names, and unlimited amount of email accounts.
Slightly confusing is that Network Solutions offers an additional plan for WordPress blog hosting. This plan starts at $4.13/month for a year contract, and gives you: 50 GB of hard drive space, 500 GB of bandwidth, one free domain name, and online marketing credits to help advertise your website. This is a steal of a deal for people just starting off with blogging.
In addition to the Shared Hosting plans and the WordPress hosting plans, Network Solutions has a wide assortment of services available: domain name registration ($35.00 without a hosting plan), website design, eCommerce websites, online marketing services, and various packages of services to get your website started. For example, their WebAddress Basic package is $34.99/year and includes one web page, domain name, and an email account. This option is only viable for people wanting to create niche mini-sites or need a landing page for an affiliate link.
Hostorian’s Review of Network Solutions
Network Solutions’ Performance
Network Solutions Hosting offers a 99.99% guarantee for uptime, plus a 30 day limited money-back guarantee.
Network Solutions’ Features
All plans contain the features that are becoming standard across all hosting companies. They include different options for blogging (WordPress, b2evolution, BlogEngine.net), Content Management Systems (Joomla, Drupal, Mambo, DotNetNuke), Wikis (TikiWiki, PHPWiki, and ScrewTurn Wiki), Message Forum, eCommerce (Magneto), Project Management, and more.
Support and Customer Care by Network Solutions
Support for Network Solutions Hosting has almost as many options as their hosting packages. They offer free 24/7 phone and email support, 365 days a year. They also have a series of video tutorials, user guides, support forum, knowledge base, getting started guides, and a domain maintenance guide. If you need assistance doing anything website related, you can find it on this site.
Pros
- Offers great choices for software to get your website operational right away.
- Plenty of hosting options available to find the perfect solution for your site.
- Offers a lot of services to help your website and business succeed.
Cons
- Domain name registrations are expensive compared to the competition.
- Site is overly complicated in setting up a website.
- Plenty of negative reviews out there, including complaints of the support staff being located overseas.
Actual Customer Reviews for Network Solutions
“Absolute worst email service I have experienced (and I have been around since email was invented :-). Constantly battling to simply log on to the site. Constantly tossed off for no apparent reason. Horribly slow response time. Doesn’t work with Internet explorer. Doesn’t scroll properly on my iPhone. I could go on and on but I refuse to let Network Solutions ruin another morning for me!” – NS User
“I have been with Network Solutions for over 10 years…I have NEVER had any problems with Customer Service…it has been fantastic…I have NEVER had my two sites go down…I have NEVER had any issues with the email packages…I have NEVER had ANY problems with image cafe…
I believe the negative reviews are not valid…nor do I think they are written my true NS customers…I have been with NS TOO long know what’s what…
Cmon people…get a grip…
Network Solutions has been nothing but FANTASTIC to me and my two sites…” – Mooosie2
“Used to be great. Not too sure recently. Customer service now offshore and hard to understand and not very responsive. After two days of inoperative email and no resolution to the matter, as well as inconstant information, I am seriously considering a change. to my email and web hosting.” – Fred Carmean
Verdict of this Network Solutions Review
Network Solutions looks like a company that has a lot going for it if you judge it from looking at the website alone. It can be tricky to navigate and to find exactly what you are looking for. Sometimes having too many options is not a good thing when it comes to site design packages.
The prices are a bit high when looking at domain registration or the basic shared hosting accounts, but the WordPress Blog Hosting prices look like a great deal. I would highly recommend checking this site out for your hosting needs, except some of the customer reviews raise red flags for me. Some of the problems were for large sites, but people do not seem to have much luck when it comes to their email services or the customer support. Some complained about the support being overseas help after the office hours had finished and had problems communicating effectively with the support staff. Others complained of their site going down completely and services being canceled.
That being said, all the negative reviews were balanced by positive reviews. I am not sure which way to lean in terms of recommending this hosting company, so I would advise in backing up all your data along the way to ensure your site remains secure and portable to another option if problems arise.
Click here to go to the official Network Solutions website.
I word with wordpress sites and recently had a customer sign up for a hosting plan with network solutions – didn’t ask us who to use.
Had a terrible time with the site transfer and getting the links to work – never had a problem with bluehost or hostgator.
Called tech support and was told it was not in their scope of support to help me. I bought the premier tech support since my customers site had broken navigation. After purchasing this, called back for help and was told they are only available Mon-Fri from 8-5. Are you kidding me?
I have never had service like this from bluehost, hostgator, godaddy. I manage multiple wordpress sites for many customers and have never had these problems. Part of the problem is they only allow you to install wp into a folder and not at the root of you site – no one else has this restriction.
worst experience ever – would NEVER use them for wordpress.
Worst Email Hosting EVER. They shsould be sued for not delivering my emails 100% of the time. I never know if my emails reach my prospective customers or not. LAC(lame ass crap). How many of your emails made it thru last year? Do not use Netsol.
I concur with the poor e-mail and customer service. Developed corrupt e-mail on their storage that caused problems with my Outlook. Took them over two days to resolve the problem (delete the corrupt e-mail). No direct e-mail for support. Online support ticket link give automated 24 hr response that they blew past twice. Initiating a support ticket does not include original details with auto response. I called and their PBX kept misrouting my call. Transferring my call led me to nowhere. “Response times excessive due to weather and reduced staff”. The issue finally got escalated just to receive a response beyond 24 hrs (the second one) that stated they can no longer reproduce the problem and it must have resolved itself – it did not. Finally used a chat feature to get another agent who escalated and solved the problem.
If the admins are not going to ensure healthy server e-mail storage then they should have better customer service.
We have had a terrible time with Network Solutions! I don’t recommend them for a small business. It is difficult to reach customer service when you have a problem and the average phone call will take at least an hour to have your issue resolved. (If they can actually resolve it with just one call!) Reminds me of dealing with Verizon. We switched to another hosting service last year, but have been dealing with Network Solutions “automatic renewal” services for the last 6 months. Every time we think we are done with them, they try to send one more bill for something. As a small business I can send a refund in a matter of minutes, why does it take these guys 48 hours to process a refund and then require you to log in to an account you have canceled to agree to your own refund. Beyond stupid.
Network solutions is the worst. They got us to go for their mail package. It’s down all the time, and it does not warn you if you have reached the limit. These guys are way worse then the basic yahoo and hotmail. On website hosting side nothing special. But they do inundate you with endless offers to buy more time or upgrades. Just plain annoying. Customer service abosolutely SUCKS.ST Stay away.
Network solutions email is worthless, dont have a spam filter and crashes most of the time, never use it, worst in the industry
Horrible hosting even they don’t offer live chat support, what hosting planners in this world are without live chat support. One of the most confusing admin panel they have.