Globat Review - California Web Hosting Provider

Ranking:	Top 5
Monthly Price:	$4.95 & $19.95 Setup Fee (No setup fee now. Limited time offer!)
Key Features:	5,000 MB Disk Space, 75 GB Bandwidth
Corporate Office:	Globat LLC, 11288 Ventura Blvd. Suite 443, Los Angeles CA 91604, USA
Toll Free Tel:	866-841-2300
Website:	Globat.com

Latest News:

Feb 22, 2005 - Globat adds new hosting features at no extra charge into its Gigabyte Package. The new features are free SSL, marketing and site building tools.

Feb 3, 2005 - Globat announced a significant increase in web space (from 2,500 to 5,000 MB) and e-mail quotas (from 2,500 to 5,000) on all their web hosting packages, along with significant price reductions (from $7.95 to $4.95 per month) on the first year of service.

Overview
Globat, a California web hosting provider, was founded on November 2001 by a team of seasoned dot-com executives and Internet veterans with broad experience in Internet and web hosting technology. Globat is a privately held company with headquarter based in Los Angeles, California. Their popular Gigabyte Package has further improved on Feb 3, 2005 to provide 5,000 MB of disk space with price reduction from US$7.95 to US$4.95. With the accessibility of huge disk space and bandwidth, you are able to create a lot of contents images/pictures, streaming audio and video clips on your website without having to worry about hitting the limits.

For the price of $4.95 per month, let's look at Globat's key features.

Key Hosting Features
As part of the GigaByte Package, you are provided with 5,000 MB of disk space and 75 GB of bandwidth. In addition, the package also offers 5,000 POP3 email accounts with unlimited email forwarding, alias and autoresponders. With $4.95 per month (1 year prepaid with $19.95 setup fee), Globat also supports the use of leading web technologies like Shockwave Flash, PHP4 and Perl to enhance the visual appeal, security and functionality of your web site.

e-Commerce - GigaByte Package is fully support for basic e-commerce use. The full e-commerce capabilities include a free shared SSL (secure Web space), osCommerce shopping cart and a merchant account service (this will allow you take accept credit cards directly from your website).

Site Building Tool - GloBuild is a website building tool provided in GigaByte Package that allows you to build a complete website from scratch with no HTML or coding knowledge required. However, you only have ten professional templates to choose from and it is only limited to five web pages or less. You would have to upgrade to GloBuild Pro at $49.95/year in order to have more templates and to create more pages.

mySQL databases - What makes GigaByte Package stands out from the rest is the 'unlimited' mySQL databases they supported! (We found it to be unbelievable too but we got the positive confirmation from their technical support on that). If your website requires dynamic pages, forums and/or shopping cart software that uses mySQL, now you have 'unlimited' mySQL databases at your disposal.

GlobatGallery - On Nov 19, 2004, Globat added a new feature called 'GlobatGallery' system, that allows you to maintain a photo gallery on your web site with no coding required. 'GlobatGallery' is a feature rich photo album package with full categorization, search and easy upload features from your web browser directly. With this feature, you can share your photos easily with your web site customers.

Customer Support
You can always expect superior customer support from Globat. In a recent survey, 91% of Globat's customers rate their experience with Globat.com's customer service between 'Very Good' to 'Outstanding'. And 98% of its customers either have recommended or would recommend a friend to Globat.

24/7 Toll-Free Phone - Globat provides two 24/7 toll-free telephone numbers that you can call. For sales and billing matters, you can call their main line: 877-2-GLOBAT (877-2-456228). For technical support, you can reach Globat at toll-free number: 866-841-2300. The above toll-free number available to US and Canada customers only. For International customers, you can call their main office at 1-(323)-874-9000.

24/7 Signature Support - Globat offers 24/7 responsive email support to all the Globat customers. Their support ticket system allows you to track your problem status conveniently.

Live Chat - Similar to iPowerWeb, Globat also offers live chat which powered by 'LivePerson' where you can chat online with their support staffs on various issues.

Globat FAQ - Here, you can find Globat extensive answers to common questions in various categories.

Globat Flash Video Tutorials - This is a step-by-step online flash video tutorials designed to help you to configure your website properly.

Network Status - This is a unique service that only found in Globat. For existing Globat customers, you can login to check your server network status in real time!

Data Center
As a California web hosting provider, Globat primary equipment is housed in the main Data Center, Equinix, located in downtown Los Angeles, California and is the same one used by Google, Yahoo and IBM. Their Tier-1 providers include Level (3), Verio and Mzima Networks and operate over private peering networks to avoid overcrowded public exchanges. They also maintain a presence at a second Data Center in Marina del Rey, California exclusively for secondary DNS and email server backup. This facility uses AT&T and Time/Warner for connectivity.

Globat's new B² hosting platform features the redundancy and backup found only at top-level, commercial Data Centers. B² is capable of distributing various areas and functions of your website across multiple servers; each one manages a different application for optimum performance. Other hosting companies run numerous applications on one server, thus increasing the likelihood of failure.

Globat's B² system features Foundry Switches, Network Appliance Raid 4 Filers and on-line backup machines with additional disc drives, ensuring that even if one part of their hosting network goes down your website continues to operate without loss of any data.

Testimonials

Awards
Below is the award garnered by Globat:

> Top 10 Reviewers' Choice Gold Award Winner, 2004 - TopTenReviews

Summary
The $4.95 per month hosting fee is just a marketing tactic! In effect, the web hosting price is computed to be $6.60/month instead of $4.95/month when the one-time setup fee of US$19.95 is taken into consideration. Even so, Globat's GigaByte Package is still a comprehensive web hosting plan with almost everything you need to host your website. It is packed with features such as SSL secured hosting, merchant account and osCommerce shopping cart.

If you are looking for speedy customer service and glitch-free uptime to host a 'huge' website (with a lot of contents and traffics), then Globat's Gigabyte Package offers of 5,000 MB disk space, 75 GB of bandwidth with unlimited mySQL database is our recommended hosting choice.

Visit Globat Now !

(Note: All customers paying by credit card should be aware that to counteract any incident of credit card fraud, Globat takes the precaution of contacting you by e-mail or by phone to verify your purchase. A billing representative will be contacting you shortly upon your order submission. Some International customers are required to fax in or scan a copy of your photo ID and credit card to Globat.)