NetworkSolutions opinions?

[TAPtech]

Hey guys,

My girlfriend's company uses network solutions email. They have 10-15 employees and aren't really at the stage where they would need an exchange set up. Here's the good part though- they are using POP based email! Ick! They always have silly scheduling issues that shared calendars would solve, and everyone has a minimum of 2 devices grabbing emails. POP just stinks for this.

I have recommended that they upgrade to the NS business email which is IMAP based, has an outlook plug-in, shared calendars and contacts, and more storage capacity, yada yada. That was about a month ago.

Yesterday their email "stopped working" for the entire office and it really screwed them up. I beleive it was a NS outtage, but I'm not sure. I have used NS in the past and haven't had any problems with up-time, but I figured I would ask a broader base (you guys!) I am currently just offering advice to her, and wouldn't mind stepping in, but it's the girlfriends employer and well, i dunno... you know?

I am not sure if NS provides higher up-time for the business level emails than for the personal level. Any ideas?

 

[pceinc]

The first thing I will say is you get what you pay for. I have one client on Network Solutions. Not by my choice. They are using NS mail for a little over 100 users. The draw for them is they are only paying about $300 per year. My client constantly complains about spam, outages, and most recently Netsol suspended their account because they said one of the users was sending spam. We had to reset all passwords, right a letter stating why this happened and what precautions are being taken to ensure that it doesn't happen again.
Just today, I get an email from my contact that says one of the users is getting NDR's when sending to outside domains. I look through the forwarded NDR and see the IP address of Netsol's server is listed in the Spamhaus database.

So, you asked for opinions on Network Solutions.
My opinion is they suck.

For 10-15 users, I would go with Google Apps or the cheap Office 365.

 

[kevinjhaag]

+1 Google Apps

It should do you fine and be more reliable for sure.

 

[carrcomp]

+1 Office 365

Simple setup, simple maintenance, and has the added bonus that they don't have to keep upgrading their office software.

The first thing I will say is you get what you pay for. I have one client on Network Solutions. Not by my choice. They are using NS mail for a little over 100 users. The draw for them is they are only paying about $300 per year. My client constantly complains about spam, outages, and most recently Netsol suspended their account because they said one of the users was sending spam. We had to reset all passwords, right a letter stating why this happened and what precautions are being taken to ensure that it doesn't happen again.
Just today, I get an email from my contact that says one of the users is getting NDR's when sending to outside domains. I look through the forwarded NDR and see the IP address of Netsol's server is listed in the Spamhaus database.

So, you asked for opinions on Network Solutions.
My opinion is they suck.

For 10-15 users, I would go with Google Apps or the cheap Office 365.

 

[oldtech]

12+ years using and recommending NS - very happy with them. 1 serious outage ( more than 4 hours) with them in all that time.

 

[TAPtech]

I just checked into pricing- $4.95/month for the NS business to get IMAP, shared calendars and contacts using their outlook plugin.

...or O365 exchange for $4/month. That's a no brainer. They are a legal office and use Microsoft products heavily so I wouldn't recommend Google Apps to them.

Thanks for the help guys. I don't have any problems with NS, I've used them in the past but on a small scale. Good for mom & pop places that need a webpage and basic email for cheap.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Also heavily recommend Office 365. Although consider one of the E packages....get the latest MS Office for each and every user for the life of the subscription, ends up saving the law firm money in the long run because law firms like to stay up to date with Office.

We've done Office 365 new setups with Microsoft....I've seen some people here start complaining about Microsofts support for their recent deployments. I recently rekindled a relationship with AppRiver...my old sales guy is even still there, I'm going to do my next larger tricky Office 365 job through AppRiver. A tiny bit more money....and you don't make as much kickback as you do with Microsoft...but their support is outstanding. Worth if it's a client you want done smooth as possible.