BlueDomino Web Hosting

Blue Domino, the web hosting division of CoffeCup Software, prides itself on providing a “straight up deal” when it comes to your hosting needs. With three different packages to choose from-the Express Package, the Extreme Package and the Ultimate Package, Blue Domino offers a wide variety of solutions and a number of services for your web hosting needs at a competitive price. Blue Domino makes the claim that reliable, affordable hosting is their top priority. All of Blue Domino’s plans come with no set up fee, however, Blue Domino’s claim to 99.9% uptime is a bit misleading, and their 24/7 customer service leaves something to be desired. Their customer support staff was not as knowledgeable and friendly as some of the other web hosting companies we reviewed.

Feature Set:

The feature set offered with Blue Domino includes all the basics you need in a web hosting solution. Included are 500o MB storage with 50 GB data transfers (Express Package). You also get 500 email accounts and a $300 package of CoffeeCup software to help you build and maintain your web site for free. All packages include specified storage space, unlimited site hits, unlimited FTP Access (24/7), unlimited email accounts, addresses, forwards, aliases, auto responders, including SMTP (outgoing mail), personal webmail, FrontPage Extensions (optional), Customizable error pages and graphical statistics.

Customer Service:

Blue Domino offers three different support levels with their customer service. They claim 24/7 support through FAQs on their web page, email support and live chat, but our experience included a 3 to 6 hour wait for return email, live chat was occasionally unavailable, and when we called their customer support number our wait ranged between 15 to 30 minutes. Once we spoke with a representative we were promised a call back, and we are still waiting. Enough said.

Control Panel:

We found the installation and ease of use with the Blue Domino products a bit of a challenge; their claim to one hour setup was not accurate. The upload time was long and the navigation was not as intuitive as what some of the other web hosting providers offer, and the Account Administration/Reports pages lacked certain features that the top three products offer. Once you learn the navigation points of Blue Domino, however, your site management should not be too daunting.

Summary:

Blue Domino provides an adequate Web Hosting solution for the price. With three different packages to offer, they can provide web hosting services to individuals and businesses alike. The areas that they need to improve on would be the customer service arena, ease of use, and their claim of the 99.9% guaranteed uptime. If customer service, ease of use, and uptime with your site are important to you, I recommend you review our higher ranked products.