Globat is a hosting company that exclusively offers shared hosting plans for it’s customers.
With an excellent customer support team and premium paid support options, Globat competes with some of the biggest giants in the hosting space (see: BlueHost, iPage, and Site5).
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Globat was pretty hot back in the early 2000’s.
Here is how they’ve trended over the years:
Features
Globat offers a number of features that will mostly appeal to beginner and intermediate web developers.
Here are a few of them:
1) Web Concierge Program: No matter how many bells and whistles a web hosting company has, without good support, it won’t retain customers. Globat is no exception. They do offer the usual technical support through knowledge base and user guides, but they also have two levels of special paid support called Web Concierge Program. Through this program, you have a dedicated person assigned to you to manage your account, expedite your support requests, and help with any installations or troubleshooting.
If you’re a beginner with an exhaustive to-do list and goals to accomplish, their Web Concierge can be of tremendous help. You’ll receive advice, personal training, and guidance on establishing your web presence, through phone, email, or tickets. The two plans are Basic and Premium. The Basic Plan offers support through unlimited emails, while the Premium Plan guarantees up to 3 hours of phone time each month, so you always have direct access to a knowledgeable concierge.
2) Web-to-Mobile Converter: These days, many websites are built with mobile experience in mind from ground up, but you might have old websites that have yet to make the conversion. If your existing webpages need to be optimized for mobile devices, you can use Globat’s Web-to-Mobile Converter. You don’t need to rewrite any code on the existing pages or wrestle with complicated CSS. This converter ensures your pages translate correctly for various mobile devices. It’ll take out all the headache associated with making your website mobile-ready.
This includes removing unnecessary code and improving navigation for a better mobile experience. This is an add-on feature you can purchase, but you’ll save time and money by not having to pay for a developer to rework your website for mobile devices. While it’s preferable to plan your website to work on mobile devices from the beginning, when you don’t have the time or resources to do so, Web-to-Mobile Converter can come in handy.
3) goMobi Site Builder: With mobile usage surpassing desktop usage, it’s pretty much required your website should accommodate mobile devices such as iPhones or Androids. But building a website optimized for mobile devices takes some thought and planning. It can be especially daunting if you’re not a developer. If you’re in the planning stages of building a website, you have the chance to do it right from the start by optimizing it for mobile devices.
You can easily do so with Globat’s goMobi Site Builder. On the surface, this feature sounds similar to their Web-to-Mobile Converter. The main difference is that Web-to-Mobile Converter helps your existing website to be mobile-ready, while goMobi Site Builder will let you build your mobile website from the ground up.
Customer Support
The customer support team at Globat has impressive reviews all around. They offer two levels of customer support through their web concierge program, along with an informative knowledgebase of user guides.
One of the better companies when it comes to customer support, up there with A2, InMotion, and Siteground.
Reviews
Looking over several online reviews we found that Globat users were most satisfied with their customer support team.
One customer was trying to move to Globat and was pleasantly surprised saying: “Had some trouble migrating a site to them last summer and was quite amazed at the way in which Support went the extra mile to resolve things.”
Here another happy customer lists their support above everything else: “There is all sorts of pluses and the price (almost) can’t be beat, but by FAR the best part of working with them over the years is that they have EXCELLENT online 24/7 support.”
We also found negative reviews from customers. It seems most users are unhappy with Globat’s billing procedures and other technical problems.
Here one former customer complains about their hassle after closing their account: “I did not realize that they were still billing us. They would not refund any of the charges. Make sure if you close your account do NOT only do it in the admin panel you MUST talk to a person and double check that they do not continue to bill you!”
Another frustrated reviewer writes that he lost business do to a long-term issue: “We had problems with one of our e-mail addresses that quit working for over TWO weeks. Our business relies on current data on our website and receiving e-mails from our clients and we were crippled for weeks because of their lack of help.”
Pros
1) Advanced Technology: Globat has two data centers that are equipped with 24/7 security, with multiple servers to load balance.
2) Robust Basic Plan: Globat offers two plans to cover different needs, the basic starter plan and ecommerce plan. The basic plan has a low introductory price at $4.44 a month, but includes most features that higher-priced competitors charge.
3) Support: Besides the 24/7 support and quality assurance team, their Web Concierge Program add-on allows you to have direct access to help you with your account, marketing, and web presence.
4) Mobile Optimization: Globat has tools to make sure your website is mobile-ready to improve loading time and visitor experience.
5) Discount on Constant Contact: If you’re planning on starting an email list, Constant Contact is one of the most reputable solutions out there. Globat provides an introductory 50% discount for 6 months on Constant Contact.
Cons
1) Add-Ons: You have to pay separate fees for mobile optimization tools, so you’ll have to balance that against the time you’d save.
2) Weak E-Commerce Plan: The other plan Globat offers is the ecommerce plan at $19.99 per month, but most features overlap with their basic plan and you only get 50 free products for your shopping cart.
3) Control Panel: There is no mention of the type of web-based control panel offered, and no way to test-drive one.
Summary
Globat offers a solid basic plan at a low introductory price, with different add-ons that can help your website.
However, their e-commerce plan leaves something to be desired. With multiple data center locations and load balancing you can rest easy at night knowing your website will stay up and running. If you are looking for a host that provides a wide variety of hosting and pricing options you may have to look elsewhere.