Gobat.com Introduction

Globat.com was founded in 2001, and it claims its goal is to make web hosting accessible to everyone. The company is based in America and has over a decades’ worth of hosting experience, with over 100,000 websites on its network.

Over the years, Globat.com has acquired a number of other web hosting providers such as Hostaway.net, Newista.com and Completehostingsolutions.com. Globat.com is also a part of the Endurance International Group, alongside other brands such as BlueHost, FatCow and Hypermart.

Globat.com is mainly focused on shared web hosting but offers a range of additional services for its customers. Judging by its website, simplicity is the key when it comes to their hosting plans.

Globat.com Hosting Plans

Globat.com only offers Linux-based shared web hosting to its customers. There are two plans available. Each provides unlimited disk space and bandwidth, and customers are able to host unlimited domains.

● The GX01 plan limits the number of MySQL databases the customer can host to 50. This plan provides the customer with a starter ShopSite, allowing them to sell 15 products.
● The GX19 plan offers the only step up from its low cost option. Labelled as ‘your ecommerce solution’, this plan allows for unlimited MySQL databases and provides a ShopSite Plus feature, allowing for 50 products.

There are a range of add-ons available for Globat.com’s shared hosting plans. These include site backups, an SSL Certificate and SiteLock. Customers can also purchase additional services. Globat gives clients the chance to set up a professional SEO campaign, buy professional website design services and obtain a bespoke Facebook page. These all cost extra, though.

Globat.com also provides an affilliate program and a referral program. The reseller program allows customers to sell their own branded server space at an additional cost.

Globat.com Uptime/Downtime

Globat.com does not make any guarantees about its uptime, nor does it publish any uptime statistics for its servers. Globat.com’s servers are located in two data centres in Boston, USA and utilise a pooled server environment.

Data is regularly backed up and the server network is monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The server farms also feature UPS backup power and a diesel generator to keep everything up and running running in case of a power cut.
Globat.com Support

Globat.com provides 24/7 customer and technical support should there be any problems with their service. This includes a live chat facility, a US phone number and an online support console for customers to submit questions and support tickets. There is also a knowledge base, user guides and a range of tutorials for self-help purposes.

Interestingly, Globat.com provide a feedback form for their customers, which hints that they are open to suggestions. There is no Facebook presence for the company that I could find, but there is a Twitter account. It does not appear to be very active at the moment; at the time of writing this article, the last tweet was in 2009, in response to a customer query.

Globat.com in the News

There is a news page on the Globat.com site, and I got the impression that the company had made the news headlines in large American TV networks. However, I was unable to find any articles. The stories it has published seem to be its own press releases. The latest release is from 2008, so it appears that this page is no longer in use.

A scan of the internet and technical blogs suggests that Globat.com have not attracted any other attention in the media, either good or bad.

Globat.com Control Panel

Globat.com’s shared web hosting plans only indicate that they come with a control panel, which provides customers with file managers, site statistics and other normal management features. There is a video in the tutorial pages where you can take a look at the custom panel, and that would definitely help smooth the transition to an otherwise unfamiliar system. The control panel does not appear to be a slick as cPanel or Plesk, so this may lose some of Globat.com’s appeal, particularly among more experienced web hosting customers.

Globat.com Extras

Globat.com customers receive a wide range of extras to tempt them to sign up. These include Google webmaster tools and Adwords credits, Yahoo! marketing credits, a free site builder and other marketing tools.

Globat.com hosting supports PHP, Perl, Mambo, Joomla, WordPress and a wide variety of other software for building websites.

Globat.com Money Back Guarantee / Cancellation Policy

Globat.com customers get a 30-day money-back guarantee to reassure them should they find fault with their services. This guarantee is only valid for customers who use a credit card when they sign up and doesn’t include domain name registration fees, setup fees and other additional services they have purchased.

The Globat.com cancellation policy indicates that customers need to give 30 days’ notice to cancel their account. You may not be charged for the full term of the contract if you cancel before it ends, but there is no indication of how Globat.com makes this decision.

Globat.com Summary

Globat.com has a company slogan of ‘Web Hosting Made Simple’, and it’s hard to disagree with that. The company only offers two hosting plans, and both are based on a shared model. Customers looking to move beyond shared hosting will want to look elsewhere.

The services on offer at Globat.com are geared towards helping novice site builders to get online quickly and effectively, backed up with site building services and SEO services. This would make them a good choice for new small businesses looking to get up and running on the internet, but perhaps not for a company who is on the verge of growth.