When I first started using 1and1.com for webhosting, I got frustrated with their emphasis on advertising their site and not seeming to help me. The straw that broke my back was when they couldn't help me load a module into their WordPress.com blog software. I called up sales and had them yank my account. The guy I talked to told me how to fix my problem - install the tarball myself.

That was over a year ago and I've been happy since then. I like being able to solve a problem by installing something.

I've since used them to host 97red.com for my son's soccer team. I've had a blast rolling my own perl scripts.

For my son's soccer club site Blitz United Soccer Club, I decided to go with Network Solutions which wasn't an easy choice. I did it in part because the board of directors had some positive experience with Network Solutions and it was the quickest way to move the domain pointers (administered by Network Solutions).

I held my ground and got the Unix offering. And I almost lost it when I realized that while the host was running Unix, I had no frigging ssh or shell access! What I have to do is use lftp to reverse mirror the site from my home web server.

But you know, I now actually like the model. It keeps an instant backup ready and it forces me to make the changes and view the results before I push. Right now I'm not using a database or PHP on the host, which may change my mind. By the way, my users just love the mail filtering and interface that Network Solutions offers. I've gotten a lot of leeway due to just that.