Virpus

Virpus Networks Company is a web hosting provider that was founded in the early part of 2006. It was established and is still based in Kansas City, Missouri with data centers in Dallas, Texas. The company currently specializes in VPS hosting (as does InMotion) and providing colocation services to more than 4,000 customers across the globe. This privately-owned, debt-free (according to their company profile) web hosting provider is committed to its mission of providing world-class solutions and premium services at competitive prices. With its fully-owned server equipment and network infrastructure along with a management team that mostly consist of knowledgeable people who have been in the hosting business for over 20 years, Virpus Networks guarantees and is supposed to deliver overall high-quality performance with absolute reliability and security to preserve the integrity of customers’ data.

Does that sound too perfect? Unfortunately, it does; and this review will show you how apt the saying is about “being too good to be true…” You’ll find several specific reasons why you should be wary of this company and why I don’t recommend Virpus Networks as a hosting provider that you should entrust your hosting needs to.

Virpus Features

Virpus offers VPS plans only.  You have an option of setting up a Linux server or a Window server.  There is a massive price range between all the plans you can setup.  It means that no matter how big or small of VPS you need Virpus should be able to cover it.   If you’re looking for a shared or dedicated plan, you won’t be able to use their service.  However, I did jump on “live chat” with them, and they told me they could direct me to the right place if I wanted those types of services.

Windows VPS

I am taking a screenshot from their website just to show you the Windows VPS plans:

Linux VPS

Also, I’m taking a screenshot from their site to show you all of their Linux plans:

For their operating system, they support CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and Windows.

SSD

One thing I do like about Virpus is they are using SSD (solid state drives), as opposed to HDD, which a lot of web host are still using.   Think of this as the newer technology for your drives.  They use 100% SSD; a lot of other companies will use a mixture of both.  Because, there are no moving parts and SSD’s work with no mechanical parts and rely on NAND Flash technology they are more durable, reliable, and faster (100X’s faster than HDD).

Control Panel

They use cPanel, DirectAdmin or Interworx for their control panel.  I like how you do have the option to choose between 3 different control panels.  A lot of other competing web hosting companies will not allow that.   On their site, it states that when you prepay on a 4G plan or higher at least semi-annually you get your control panel for the life of the order.

So far it looks so good if you’re wanting a VPS.  The prices are pretty much on par with other companies, they offer different operating systems, they have fast SSD drives, and offer a plethora of control panels.

3 Day Risk-Free

Ok, one thing that strikes me odd is you have a 3-day risk-free guarantee.  Previously, I reviewed ServerPronto and was whining and crying about how they only have a 7-day money back guarantee.   Well, with Virpus you only have a 3-day window on getting your money back if you decide it’s not for you!  Most companies in the web hosting industry offer a 30-day money back guarantee.  The cream of the crop will offer a 90-day money back guarantee.  It just makes no sense to me why Virpus would offer a guarantee that is a 10th of the industry standard!

I’m pretty excited to check out this company since they have a lot of features.  There is only one drawback so far I have seen.  So far it’s not a deal breaker.  Now, comes the time when I am going to put Virpus to the test with performance, uptime, customer service, and then finally round out the evaluation of this company.

Virpus Uptime and Reliability

Uptime

Downtime could be an issue with this company; it’s almost an either all good or not (reported by webmasters) and the 99.9% uptime guarantee the company flaunts hit or miss.  My biggest concern with them is accounts that will get suspended, though.  Here is a screenshot I found on WebHostingStuff.com which shows their uptime statistics:

No, I am not stating that if you use them your going to have downtime issues.  In fact, you might not have any problems.  But, later in this review I will show you about their backup system and why I think it could be improved upon.

Intermittent hourly slowdowns of 10-15 minutes are a common problem among many customers. Worse, they neither notify nor give explanations for outages.  Even when they have to shut you down for legitimate reasons.  Like when they have a problem in the system.  Or, when upgrades are being done or your site, needs to be transferred to another node; unless you barrage them with a million emails and tickets – maybe. In severe instances, downtime happens 4 to 5 times a day and some of them last for 3 hours or more. Now if you sum it up and get the average, you can also calculate the losses you incur when you stay with this company.

Performance

I have high hopes for this web host since they’re using SSD.  Should they be fast right?  I tested Virpus.com with Isitdownrightnow.com, and they do have incredible performance.  Their servers respond in 4.34 ms.  Response time is lightning fast!  Great is under 20 ms!  Just look at the above screenshot!

Reliability

But, one of the biggest concerns amongst Virpus users is they blacklist servers and to my surprise there are a plethora of complaints that shows servers get blacklisted from time to time.  People have complained that they will suspend your account without backing up your files.  Think of a headache you could be facing if you have 10-15 clients and one day you find that your account has been suspended for some unknown reason.

Just from a quick search on WebHostingTalk.com, I have found that there are five negative threads on them and one positive review.  The general feedback just points to mostly negative when talking about this company.  Please see the screenshot down below:

Can you believe this? The backups with Virpus are only weekly.  Meaning that every week your files are backed up. I don’t understand why they can’t just provide their customers with daily backups like InMotion does.  Think of all the lost time when you have to redo everything you have done in a weeks time!  Below is a screenshot of their TOS page and their backup policy:

Virpus Customer Support

Virpus has lacking customer support, and I will point out some reasons on why I state that. Webmasters have reported that it takes a bit for them to get back with you (via ticket response). They have business hours for their support.  It states that right on their website.  Support is offered from 9-5 P.S.T (Monday through Friday).  I had some questions that I wanted to ask Virpus about their service.

On November 12, 2014, I logged onto their live chat.  I wanted to talk to them about their service.  However, I was unable to reach them because it was 8 PM. If you guessed that you wouldn’t get clear-cut answers and your problems remain unresolved even with chat support – you got that right!  Since there are business hours lets say something goes wrong at 5:04 on Friday you have to wait until Monday at nine before you can get your issue resolved.

The feedback from this screenshot shows just how bad their customer support is:

Virpus Review Summary

As a client, you are entitled to expect reasonable performance and reliability, decent customer support and a fully functional backup system, even with a low-budget VPS; not all low-priced hosting plans are as bad as Virpus, believe me. In fact, you can check my Inmotion review, and you’ll see that there are indeed hosting companies that can truly deliver excellent services despite less-expensive prices.

Don’t get lured by Virpus offers that sound too good to be true. Go for authentic low-cost hosting companies that honestly give value for your money. Also check my WebHostingHub Review, where you can see that they have a suitable plan for start-ups and low budget business websites.

Research on Virpus.

Interviews with Virpus clients.