We recently had a pub server run on
ultimategameserver.com.
Apollyon introduced me to the company because he had just started hosting his bot servers on their machines. They were a pretty decent company, but had some distinct problems.
Pros
- These guys are cheap. I got our pub for $0.75/slot, which is much cheaper than any other server hosting company around.
- They have a good user control panel. It has access to a web-based FTP system, as well as to easy-to-find portals to frequent files, such as server.cfg. The panel also makes it easy to stop and restart a server.
- FTP access through port 21 as per usual.
- The ability to create subusers with very specific access to the web-based control panel.
- Relatively quick response to support tickets.
- Locations across the country.
Cons
- High choke in the servers when only a few people joined. We even sent in a ticket for them to look at the problem. They "optimized our rates" (ie, they lowered our sv_maxrate) and it did nothing.
- Somewhat unknowledgeable - when "optimizing our rates", they added sys_ticrate 1000 even though we only purchased a 500 fps server. They also already had sys_ticrate 512 in our command line, so it was doubly silly. They use the command fps_max, which is not a valid server command. Their relatively quick responses to support tickets are generally uninformed and usually "I don't know what is happening, but tell us if it happens again".
- We ordered HLTV with our server, but they completely forgot to set it up until we messaged them, and then (after they told us "you have to buy HLTV to have HLTV) had to explain to them that we did indeed purchase HLTV.
Overall thoughts
This would be a good server company if you're just trying to purchase a low-resource, fun server, like some sort of small bot server. The user-friendliness of the control panel coupled with the cheap prices makes it a good place for less-competitive gamers.
This is a bad server company if you want performance or need a knowledgeable support staff. Their performance does not allow for highly demanding servers or gaming, and their staff is generally unknowledgeable enough to make it difficult to use them as a resource.