Test o2switch: A Quality Web Hosting at a Unique Price

Hosting your website can quickly become a headache given the numerous online offers. To help you in your choice of a good hosting provider, here is a test of o2switch, a 100% French hosting company located in Clermont-Ferrand.

For a few years, we have witnessed the rise of French web hosting services for websites. In direct competition with established behemoths such as GoDaddy, the Google Cloud Platform, or Amazon Web Services, French hosting companies have nothing to fret about.

OVH Cloud gets the lion’s share, but other French hosting platforms combine quality customer service, advanced features, and attractive rates. And they all have positive reviews. This is the case of web hosting provider o2switch.

Check if you can get any special discount with our o2switch coupon code article.

A Quick Background of o2switch

Since 2003, but under a different name, the o2switch team has been providing web hosting services. The web hosting company has had its ups and downs but has managed to stay on in a very competitive field of web hosting by adapting to the needs of customers and the evolutions of the internet.

An example proving the good judgment of the hosting provider, o2switch created its data center in 2009. At a time when servers were springing up all over the world, it was necessary to look beyond renting data centers abroad. Many shared hosting providers still tend to sublease data centers abroad which can pose huge problems like service continuity, security, etc.

Having the will to manage all of its infrastructure was indeed an innovative vision that allowed o2switch to be recognized as a quality hosting service. And this is thanks to the mastery of its servers located in Clermont-Ferrand. At the same time, the company was also able to offer a wide range of other services.

Another area where o2switch has gained success is in its customer support. When your WordPress site is down, or your customers can’t connect to your Prestashop store, it usually takes long minutes to wait on the phone before getting solutions. Or worse. waiting for hours for a response email from the customer support team.

As we will later see, o2switch’s success over the long term is due to fast and efficient customer service.

Let’s move on to our actual test.

Hosting Offers: o2switch Makes it Easy

Rarely seen in web hosting services, there is no need to rack your brains, o2switch smartly offers a single shared hosting package at 5€ excluding tax per month.

The only downside is that a free test is not offered on o2switch unlike on other hosting platforms. The inability to test drive the service is compensated for by a refund system that’s good for 30 days.

Its all-in-one shared hosting includes:

• 7/7 technical support.
• Arbor Network anti-DDOS protection.
• cPanel interface optimized to manage among others the most used CMS such as WordPress, Joomla, Shopify, Prestashop, or Woocommerce (via WordPress).
• Customizable email service with no limits on sending or accounts.
• Free domain name.
• Guided migration of files and websites of your former host, etc.
• High-performance DNS server.
• Integration of PHP, Perl, Ruby, and Python.
• Programming integration of MySQL 5.7x, MariaDB 10.03x, and PostgreSQL databases.
• SSH access.
• Unlimited disk space.
• Unlimited uploading of multiple subdomains, same for FTP accounts.

o2switch positions itself in the middle between the free but unreliable hosting providers and the offers of dedicated or private servers that strongly weigh down the hosting budget.

Now for those with heavy needs or for a critical application, it is recommended to have a dedicated hosting where you install your server in data centers managed by o2switch with complete provisions on security, redundant power, connectivity to the internet, etc.

A Reliable Service for Optimized Hosting

o2switch claims it loud and clear – it is reliable and fast! This is made possible by having hardware from top-notch brands like Arista and Cisco. The architecture of the infrastructure is designed to allow for high-level service by relying on a data center classification – Tier 4, the maximum in terms of availability rate, redundancy, power outage management, and security.

With such a premiere system, o2switch is to provide a minimum availability rate of 99.99%. To compare, French hosting company OVH seems to be quite slow in displaying the page of a website, sometimes more than a second. The page of a site hosted on o2switch is displayed in less than 500ms, giving you a sure advantage especially if you manage a merchant site.

The cherry on o2switch is that it is certified by ARCEP (Autorité de Régulation des Communication Electroniques et des Postes) which allows it to intervene directly at all levels and to have a privileged relationship with civil authorities. For example, it can have access to the installation, in-house, of fiber optic networks around these data centers.

Effective and Responsive Support: The o2switch Advantage

According to the majority of available reviews from o2switch users, the interest of the hosting provider in customer concerns scores very high. Of course, the support is integrated into the 5€ offer. This is the area that hits the nail on the head in the hosting world. What does it matter how much a server costs if the support is not there?

The response to the phone is almost immediate, although business times are limited to Monday to Friday from 9 am to 12 pm, and from 2 pm to 7 pm. Nevertheless, the answers to emails or tickets are also very fast.

The support is in full French language which is vital for people with little technical web vocabulary in English. The technicians of o2switch will be able to help you with any additional requests such as the migration of your files and your site from your old host, a service provided for free.

Finally, before you get ready on your phone to call the support o2switch, take a look at their hyper-complete and responsive documentation for any questions or concerns. From the creation of your site to its launch, from the change of host to the coverage of cPanel, the support documentation of the provider is complete and clear.

Data Security: The Benefit of Local Tier 4 Data Centers

Concerned with a secured hosting offering? o2switch has invested in a French-French infrastructure. The total control of the data centers is with o2switch. Located in Clermont-Ferrand, in the center of France, the hosting rooms are physically monitored by staff and 24/7/365 video surveillance.

Data Centers for public and private use

A set of data center facilities is available for use by the public and private sectors. There are safety measures in terms of electrical distribution, fire prevention, and many others, allowing the company to deal with any concerns, whether natural, accidental, or intentional.

As seen with the recent worries of OVH, security safeguards are of critical importance. o2switch announced that its servers are fire protected with an automatic gas extinguishing system – Argo 55, a cutting-edge technology that was missing in OVH data centers.

Data Centers are Tier 4 certified

o2switch’s data centers are of the highest security qualification at Tier 4. On-site, in-house management of the entire facility including its monitoring and functionality is a testament to the host’s commitment to protecting your data at all times and providing customers with continuity of hosting service.

Top performance and scalability

o2switch takes care of its customers by investing in state-of-the-art technology and hardware. Professional but also passionate, the o2switch staff sets up technology watches to always be one step ahead.

The company prides itself on its robust infrastructure, optimized hosting, including the Litespeed PHP engine, and a range of efficient technologies like SSD NVMe for database management, cache management by Varnish ideal for developers and e-commerce, or LSCache for your CMS such as WordPress, Joomla, etc.

o2switch Technical Interface: cPanel for Easy and Powerful Administration

Like more and more hosting platforms, o2switch offers a cPanel as its in-house management tool. A free test is possible from this page (1) thanks to the login o2cpanel associated with the password: teste me.

The test is a good way to learn the complete and extensive features of cPanel including file managers, database managers, and measurement tools. This lets you know the data of your sites including access to the famous AWStats log analyzer, a valuable tool to manage your server statistics and fine-tune your natural ranking.

You will also have access to handy website themes to start and create a site from scratch, a complete messaging system, and an application installer to quickly integrate WordPress, Prestashop, Drupal, etc. It would take too long to list all the features of cPanel, so take advantage of the provider’s free trial offer to get an idea.

The Little Extra: A Welcome Environmental Approach

The environmental impact of data centers has long been hidden. The hosting of websites has a lasting impact on the planet’s ecology. So, let’s salute the green approach of o2switch which in 2019 was running 94% on carbon-free energy.

The hosting platform sources as much as possible from nearby French energy suppliers, and all its investments integrate environmental policies. o2witch also ensures that its employees are aware of the need to act responsibly in terms of transport, recycling, etc.

Test Results of o2switch Hosting Provider

You will have understood that o2switch is one of the most important hosting providers on the French market and has achieved a certain level of success abroad such as in Canada, Italy, and Spain, among others.

The strong points of’o2switch

• Unique subscription at 5€.
• Complete server accommodation.
• Intuitive and feature-rich cPanel technical interface.
• High level of support.
• 100% French solution.

The weak points of’o2switch

• Customer support is restricted to the schedule.
• Lack of free trial (otherwise compensated by the low subscription price and a 30-day refund).
• No dedicated or virtual private server (VPS) hosting for enterprise needs.
• A tad too many features and hosting management that can be a bit complicated for beginners.

In conclusion of this test, o2switch merit a distinguished place on the podium of hosting providers in France. This hosting provider is suitable for people managing one or more websites and wanting a complete, efficient, and high-performance service.