Chicago VPS 2048MB Ram 2TB Bandwidth 50GB Diskspace $30 year

I give.....pointless to help you any further.

help? lol

Quote from oldlady : Call it a troll if you will. I've read a lot as a matter of fact, here and elsewhere and it looks like about half are reporting they are satisfied...the other half, not so much. So to me it remains a valid question... why are half getting a VPS that works well and the others getting poor service?

Certainly looks like a troll to me. My rep may not be that high here, but I've been on SD a while... my VPS was setup instantly and worked perfectly. The only issue I've run into (and posted about here), is that their DNS solution isn't that great... doesn't seem to support underscores in the interface, although support was able to fix things for me.

I opened a few support tickets and responses were quick. I don't think the people replying were experts, but they knew enough to help once I clarified. And at $30/year, I wasn't even expecting real support...

In this thread, I've seen:
1) unhappy customers who don't know what an unmanaged VPS is
2) unhappy customers who claim they never received an email (likely user error or receiving email server)
3) happy customers who had issues that were resolved (slow server--moved to new server)
4) happy customers who have had no significant issues

I fall into 4, as do many others in this thread. I have noticed several VERY short performance slowdowns, but the service has been wonderful and ~99.99% for me. I originally ordered this as a dev server, but I might move some production sites over soon.

I am a long time lurker and I just created an account here because I thought it was time. I, too, fell for the lure of a $30 VPS.

Chicago VPS only has regard for a portion of its customers. If I can prevent another from giving money to these boys, then my words are worth the effort it took to post here.

While it's not unique to the hosting market, overselling is apparently working for them. As long as there are a few happy customers posting in the forums, they can continue to bring in new customers who believe anyone who complains is incompetent. This belief also deters all but anonymous posters from admitting they've got a problem with the service. The no refund policy yields revenue from the unhappy customers, and better server performance for the happy customers, since the unhappy accounts are inactive. In fact, it may be that an account is not even created until the customer speaks up.

It's like playing the lottery. Did you get your issues fixed? Then you are one of the winners. It's not fair that you taunt the losers, however, since they have subsidized your VPS.

Quote from geomason : ...I, too, fell for the lure of a $30 VPS.

Can you tell us exactly what happened? What didn't work?

Quote from geomason : In fact, it may be that an account is not even created until the customer speaks up.

That's completely ridiculous. Why on earth would ANYONE do that? They use WHM... account creation is completely automated. On my end, I got the email with my account information within about 10 seconds of payment being processed.

Quote from geomason : It's like playing the lottery. Did you get your issues fixed? Then you are one of the winners. It's not fair that you taunt the losers, however, since they have subsidized your VPS.

OK, back to your issues. What didn't work for you? How did their customer service respond? Can you share support tickets with us?

Nobody is "taunting the losers". It's just that so far, there's a lot of poopooing about this service from a few people and I don't think any have demonstrated that ChicagoVPS has been in the wrong.

I've been pretty consistent in this thread. I had extremely low expectations, and so far this VPS has actually performed quite well. Support has been good but not incredible.

I wouldn't put paying customers on a budget VPS. Period. If only because if anything does go wrong, it'll automatically be: "you put me on a low-price, unknown provider?" CYA with paying customers. And important production sites.

Quote from geomason : I am a long time lurker and I just created an account here because I thought it was time. I, too, fell for the lure of a $30 VPS. Chicago VPS only has regard for a portion of its customers. If I can prevent another from giving money to these boys, then my words are worth the effort it took to post here. While it's not unique to the hosting market, overselling is apparently working for them. As long as there are a few happy customers posting in the forums, they can continue to bring in new customers who believe anyone who complains is incompetent. This belief also deters all but anonymous posters from admitting they've got a problem with the service. The no refund policy yields revenue from the unhappy customers, and better server performance for the happy customers, since the unhappy accounts are inactive. In fact, it may be that an account is not even created until the customer speaks up. It's like playing the lottery. Did you get your issues fixed? Then you are one of the winners. It's not fair that you taunt the losers, however, since they have subsidized your VPS.

Quote from Kickstand : Certainly looks like a troll to me. My rep may not be that high here, but I've been on SD a while... my VPS was setup instantly and worked perfectly. The only issue I've run into (and posted about here), is that their DNS solution isn't that great... doesn't seem to support underscores in the interface, although support was able to fix things for me. I opened a few support tickets and responses were quick. I don't think the people replying were experts, but they knew enough to help once I clarified. And at $30/year, I wasn't even expecting real support... In this thread, I've seen: 1) unhappy customers who don't know what an unmanaged VPS is 2) unhappy customers who claim they never received an email (likely user error or receiving email server) 3) happy customers who had issues that were resolved (slow server--moved to new server) 4) happy customers who have had no significant issues I fall into 4, as do many others in this thread. I have noticed several VERY short performance slowdowns, but the service has been wonderful and ~99.99% for me. I originally ordered this as a dev server, but I might move some production sites over soon.

Before it was up (~6 weeks)
While both geomason and Kickstand make some goodpoints, I have screenshots of the VPS never being provisioned/offline (for ~45 days). So, @geomason's summary makes sense, i.e., for the noobies, who give up in frustration, I'm in that pool. However, to Kickstands point, this is a great value, and hence the extra effort, and Kevin seems to want to resolve it.

After, its up:
Now that its up, the responsiveness of the server has improved, and it makes me happy , clearly, they were overwhelmed/busy and missing emails, I only got it turned on by complaining - my service/VPS was finally up and running after almost ~2 months of complaining.

I was not looking for a refund per se, just help to get some basic management on so I can put up some wordpress, LAMP stack (and custom development like Node.js etc)

The general wiki instructions were spot on, went through like cake for the upgrade thanks SD members

So, a recommendation to the admins,( I do ealize its unmanaged, hence the recommendation)
Since most noobs are familiar with Ubuntu desktop...
A default image for Ubuntu 12.04LTS, with either 1) GNOME or some desktop UI/VNC option OR 2) webmin option would make a lot of these issues go away, and more people happier.
Even a simple help page on how to get this on, would go a long way. I have gotten more help in this forum than the support... so, please do something for the learners..

You guys complain all you want. I'll just enjoy my VPS server.

Also for the noobs complaining, you need to know what a VPS is before you buy it.

Thanks again ChicagoVPS.

Quote from daniel32 : You guys complain all you want. I'll just enjoy my VPS server. Also for the noobs complaining, you need to know what a VPS is before you buy it. Thanks again ChicagoVPS.

It might serve you better to remember, you weren't born an expert, you started as a noob at some point too!

Quote from xmlguy : So, a recommendation to the admins,( I do ealize its unmanaged, hence the recommendation) Since most noobs are familiar with Ubuntu desktop... A default image for Ubuntu 12.04LTS, with either 1) GNOME or some desktop UI/VNC option OR 2) webmin option would make a lot of these issues go away, and more people happier. Even a simple help page on how to get this on, would go a long way. I have gotten more help in this forum than the support... so, please do something for the learners..

Ubuntu 12 is available through the VPS manager. It just wasn't available through the order form. After I got my VPS, logged into the manager and reinstalled Ubuntu 12.

Would be nice to have VNC or Webmin option though.

Quote from xmlguy : It might serve you better to remember, you weren't born an expert, you started as a noob at some point too!

Yes, but the fact remains that people who have no idea what this is shouldn't be ordering this, or should at least be prepared for issues using it.

just thought i'd chime in here. for reference, i'm a long time linux user/systems administrator (though i've moved in to software development for the past few years) and i've had a VPS/VDS for personal stuff (DNS, web hosting, ftp, proxy, secure tunneling, email, various other servers) for about 8 years.

i've used linode, and most recently NFO servers where i was paying ~26/month.

so far, i've been quite happy.

-my VPS (on the chicago server) was set up instantly.
-the few support issues i've had were answered in a prompt manner (they had to setup reverse DNS because that option is disabled in my control panel and one iptables issue)
-server itself responds fairly well and is usually snappy

only real concern so far, and this might be due to overselling, is connection/uplink speed. at one point i was able to get 10 MB/s (80mbps). all today, i haven't been able to break 500 KB/s.

however, for 30/year, and for personal use, this deal cannot be beat.

edit: using debian x64
edit2: while this wasn't a problem for me, it might be for others. while they were trouble shooting my iptables issue, they rebooted my VPS several times, once it was offline for 10-20 minutes. all without warning or advance notice. now, like i said, this is personal use and i didn't have a problem with this, and hey, they were fixing my support ticket with expedience. just a thought for people who might require constant uptime

I've had good experience with support, too.

I have noticed slowdowns, as tenken mentioned above, but support was quick to respond and said it should improve now. They offered to move me to another node if it continues to be a problem. They also helped with setting up my reverse DNS, as it is disabled in my control panel, too.

All in all, I have to say the support has been great, thus far. Keep up the good work!

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Really kicking myself for not biting on the promotion ... this wasn't a price lock in was it? If so I will definitely be kicking myself.

Any chance you guys can release a few more coupon codes ?

Quote from Xplic1T : Really kicking myself for not biting on the promotion ... this wasn't a price lock in was it? If so I will definitely be kicking myself. Any chance you guys can release a few more coupon codes ?

i think it still works. I tried it yesterday and it was working in LA.