iPowerweb and vDeck Hosting
iPowerweb has been around for a very long time. They were the first hosting company to offer one simple hosting plan for one low price. Many even believe that iPowerweb was the first hosting company to charge less than $10 per month for hosting. During their first year online they started using the vDeck control panel instead of the popular cPanel system. I’m not sure if they set out to create a better control panel or if their intent was to make it harder for customers to transfer away. vDeck has evolved since those early days and is now a fairly stable control panel controlling nearly one million domains.
One of the pitfalls for customers who are using and like the vDeck system is the scarcity of other hosts using it. Because the vDeck system is proprietary, only iPowerweb or iPowerweb affiliated hosting companies are using the vDeck control panel. Which means if you get fed up with the questionable support and long hold-times at iPowerweb, you have only 3 other choices in hosting providers. The only other vDeck hosting companies that I am aware of are Startlogic.com, Dot5hosting.com and BlueFishHosting.com. All three of these hosting companies are known to be very closely affiliated to iPowerweb.
The same argument could be made for users who are happy with the cPanel or PLESK control panels. But the fact is, when you get used to doing things a certain way - it is very hard to change. Every hosting company and every control panel has it’s own little quirks. The key is to make sure you like it before you sign up for the long haul. Most hosting companies give you a 30 day window to poke around and get used to things. If you’re not happy with the control panel or support, simply cancel your acount and get a refund.
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