The company was formed in 2011 after a consolidation of a few separate Australian web hosting brands: Web Hosts Australia, ALBA Internet Solutions, and Dedicated Servers Australia. They’re based in Brisbane, Australia.
Features and Ease of Use
Fluccs offers both managed and unmanaged cloud, dedicated server, and VPS solutions. With their full cloud infrastructure, they’re proud to offer their customers the following features:
- 100% uptime guarantee
- Free automatic backups
- Guaranteed dedicated resources (no oversold servers)
- Free account settings and website transfer service
Their hardware is state-of-the-art, so they’re well able to offer their customers excellent server speeds and network connectivity. My brief tests yielded loading times of under two seconds from Australian ping locations, though other locations had more noticeable lag (understandably so).
Those looking for shared hosting may be disappointed with this provider, however – they do have a single shared hosting package (on either a monthly or yearly contract). Please note this plan starts you off with 50GB storage and unlimited bandwidth – far more than you need if you’re planning on running, say, a simple WordPress website. However, this also comes with their 100% uptime guarantee and all the typical features of a good shared hosting provider (free script installer, free domain registration, and so on), so if you’re willing to spend quite a bit more for the extra reliability, then they may be a good choice.
Fluccs was also one of the first few full-scale cloud computing service providers on the shortlist of the Queensland and Australian Commonwealth governments. Plus, they’re certified by QAssure, an independent accreditation company ensuring that each vendor has the necessary solvency and credentials to supply IT infrastructure services to the government.
Pricing and Support
As is typical of many cloud hosting providers, the hosting services at Fluccs can be a bit pricier than what you’re used to. What you’re really paying for when you go with this IaaS provider is the unparalleled uptime and network reliability, after all. Also, bear in mind that their basic cloud server plan doesn’t actually include any control panel installations – you have to pay extra for the licenses.
If you’re on their pay-as-you-go plan, you’ll especially appreciate the perk of having instantly scalable resources (a perk which, unfortunately, isn’t available with their monthly hosting plans). And let’s not forget that Fluccs doesn’t bind you with any contracts: you have the freedom to cancel anytime or start running applications on the server whenever you need, paying only for the resources you actually use.
Unfortunately, Fluccs doesn’t own and operate their own data centers, so you may experience a bit of a time lag in tech assistance on the rare and extremely unlikely occasion you find your servers down. Instead, they’ve partnered with NEXTDC and Equinix to offer their customers servers in data centers based in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne.
Fluccs offers support by way of a live chat, telephone (Australian toll-free number or a landline for international customers), email, and contact form. They offer tech support 24/7, and in my experience, they’re prompt at responding (under a minute for their live chat and within the day via email) and always offer useful information. I was also pleasantly surprised when I realized that every single one of the representatives I spoke to was Australian – it’s a good sign when the company hasn’t outsourced their support to another country.
