Midphase Introduction
Midphase is an American web hosting company that specialises in shared web hosting but offers a number of other services. Located in Utah and founded in 2003, the company has grown its customer base to over 120,000 and has more than 200 employees at the time of this review.
The company has become a part of the UK2 group, known for providing web services to over one million domains across 140 countries. That gives Midphase solid backing in the industry. Notably, it shares its headquarters with WestHost and other similar hosts.
Midphase has a reputation for cheap and simple web hosting, but it also offers dedicated server hosting as well. Whilst VPS hosting is not available directly, the Midphase website points customers to its sister brand, VPS.net, for these services, so the option is there if you’re prepared to use an alternative supplier.
Midphase Hosting Plans
Options for Linux-based shared hosting with Midphase are kept simple with just two plans on offer. Customers can sign up for a month, 1, 2 and 3 year terms; the longer the term, the cheaper the price. Each plan comes with unlimited disk space and bandwidth.
● The Personal plan allows for 1 website with 10 sub-domains and 1 MySQL database.
● The Business plan removes the limit on websites, MySQL databases and sub-domains and also comes with a SSL certificate and a dedicated IP address.
Windows-based shared hosting is available in a choice of three plans. Each plan comes with unlimited disk space and bandwidth. Customers can choose the term of their contract from monthly up to 3-yearly.
● The Starter plan only allows for 1 website, dub-domain and MySQL database.
● The Unlimited plan lifts the limits on sites, sub-domains and MySQL databases.
● The Business plan also comes with a dedicated SSL certificate and a dedicated IP address.
Linux-based reseller hosting through Midphase is offered on a 5-point sliding scale. This starts with a basic plan and scales up to Plus, Pro, Max and Alpha reseller plans. Again, customers can vary the term of their contract from 1 month to 3 years. All plans come with a brandable control panel, billing software, 10 SSL certificates and a dedicated IP address. The plans start with up to 50 GB disk space and 500 GB bandwidth which can be scaled up to 250 GB disk space and 2.5 TB bandwidth.
Midphase also offers dedicated server hosting based on the processor the customer needs. Each plan comes with free setup and 10 TB bandwidth.
● Servers with the Atom D510 1.66 GHz processor come with a 500 GB hard drive and 2 GB RAM.
● Servers with the Xeon E3-1220 3.1 GHz processor come with a 500GB hard drive and 8 GB RAM.
● Servers with the Xeon E5-2620 2.0 GHz processor come with two 500 GB hard drives and 12 GB RAM.
● Servers with two Xeon E5-2620 2.0 GHz processors come with two 500 GB hard drives and 24 GB RAM.
There is also an affiliate program which allows Midphase customers to earn money for successful customer referrals.
Midphase Uptime/Downtime
Midphase customers are not promised an uninterrupted service as such, but the company says it strives to make its hosting services available at all times. Importantly, this is backed up by an uptime guarantee. This guarantee compensates Midphase customers should the server uptime drop below 99.9% in any given month. As you’d expect, this covers downtime that occurs outside of scheduled server maintenance.
There aren’t any available uptime statistics for Midphase’s servers, but there is a server status page on the Midphase website which anyone can access - even non-customers.
The main Midphase data centre is located in ‘disaster-safe’ Lindon, Utah, although dedicated servers can be held in a choice of locations across the US and the UK. The main data centre is a Tier-3 data centre which utilises redundant power sources and on-site monitoring and security staff, to ensure the servers a kept up and running at all times.
Midphase Support
Midphase customers are given a wide range of support options should there be any problems with their hosting services.
There is a knowledge base for self help purposes and a blog and server status page for news and updates.
Customers can also contact the Midphase US-based support teams 24 hours a day through a live chat facility and free telephone line (a US and an international number is available). Support is also provided via ticket and email.
The plans come with a support response time guarantee although there is no information confirming what this is.
Midphase maintains very active Facebook, Google+ and Twitter accounts. More importantly, it appears to interact frequently with its customers through social media if any support requests arise.
Dedicated server hosting customers are also provided with a comprehensive SLA which covers bandwidth guarantees, connectivity guarantees and hardware replacement guarantees.
Midphase in the News
Midphase has attracted little attention in the media and there is a distinct lack of any news stories, good or bad, about the company. Midphase’s umbrella organisation, UK2 Group have not had much attention either, so it’s probably safe to assume that the services both companies provide are relatively stable.
Midphase Control Panel
Midphase provides cPanel for all of its Linux-based hosting plans. cPanel will be familiar to the majority of web hosting customers who have used reputable hosts before. If you’re not accustomed to using it, Midphase also provides a useful demo on its website.
Midphase Extras
All of Midphase’s hosting plans come with a free domain name. Hosting supports WordPress, PHPNuke, osCommerce, ZenCart, Ruby-on-Rails, Python, Perl and more. Customers are also provided with the Softaculous one-click installer.
Midphase Money Back Guarantee / Cancellation Policy
All of the Midphase shared hosting plans come with a 30 day money-back guarantee, which is relatively standard for shared hosting plans. The refund doesn’t include domain name registration fees and other additional services that have been purchased.
Customers need to complete an online form in order to cancel their account and must give at least 14 days notice before the end of their term to cancel before the account is renewed. Midphase also retains the right to cancel a customer’s account with 72 hours where a customer has been exceptionally rude or vulgar to support staff.
Midphase Summary
Midphase stands up exceptionally well against its competitors in the web hosting industry. Its shared hosting plans are well structured and although there are not any freebies to tempt customers to sign up, the option to purchase shared hosting on a monthly basis is a big plus for anyone who is unsure about whether the service is enough for their needs.
The Midphase support department appears to be well-organised and well-run. Although there are no video tutorials or user guides available, the use of social media sites to liaise with customers is admirable. The choice of data centre locations offers a good amount of flexibility for large companies as well.
I was in the market for a Shared Windows hosting plan 2 months back. I had to choose MidPhase because they offered good Sales support. It's been a nightmare since then. Everytime I contact their tech support over the phone, this support guy David, all he does is say "I'm sorry, you will have to email me the information" and nothing else, seriously. Don't even think of ever calling them over the phone, all the phone support guys are terrible. They have a decent Chat Support, still 5 out of 10 times they will be extremely slow replying and mostly won't be helpful at all.
The worst thing happened yesterday. All my sites hosted with MidPhase were down for 24 hours (seriously). "Check status.midphase.com" is all the support guy had to say when I contacted them. Take a look at what they kept posting the 24 hours when the server was down - http://bit.ly/XZ6kEs
For someone who was used to extremely good support and uptime from other PHP hosting services such as site5, BlueHost, DreamHost, the experience with MidPhase has been shocking. I would love to see many more choices for Shared Windows Hosting in the market.