Viewing Thread:
"Freeola Email Outage"

Perhaps it was a mistake to start discussing email clients in the other thread!


Any update on the email outage please?
Is service likely to return before 5pm?


[s]Hmmm...[/s]

Firstly I like to apologise for the lack of responses from staff in this thread (apart from Butch). I know our support staff have been working hard to answer telephone and support ticket queries as these always come first.

The issue with disk space (on freeolaweb1 I believe) was nothing to do with the recent e-mail problems. Unfortunately several users on our free hosting choose to store very large files (many GB in some cases) that clearly are not web related and breach our terms and conditions. Even though the disk space is very large a few users can fill this over a period of time. If the space gets very low then users start seeing problems such as write errors when trying to FTP up files. This is one way in which using the free hosting for purposes it was not intended can affect other users.

As for the E-mail situation, this appears to have been due to an extremely large influx of mail to the mail system. I believe that the cause of this was identified this afternoon (I can't promise this is correct though as I was not dealing with this problem) and we have been updating our network status page whenever we have new information.

maybe you're right and it is a coincidence...they have now acknowledged that it "may have been useful" to let me know in advance, although they have been very clear that they have the right to do this. Fair enough on one hand, on the other I'd say why annoy a customer. Anyway, I'm drawing a line under that, but I am nervous about this on/off email outage...have we had it too good for too long at Freeola?

Hi webcity1 and welcome to the forums!

I'm sure this is just a coincidence as this week's email problems shouldn't be related to website space issues.

It's been mentioned a few times and is in the T&Cs that you can't use your webspace as a 'backup' or 'archive' - which is fair enough with me.

I have many LARGE sites, so Freeola's unlimited promise does work :¬)

I agree it would be polite to have some notice - perhaps they emailed but it hasn't arrived!!! :¬P


For me I would appreciate some more feedback in this Freeola Services forum when problems like this arise. Again for me it doesn't go hand-in-hand with Freeola's "Passionate about Support" etc. pledges which makes them look silly when I'm sure people are working hard behind the scenes.

What normally happens when 'larger issues' come along is customers get more and more frustrated with the lack of communication and it then all ends up in tears...


No.1 Freeola Fan
[s]Hmmm...[/s]

I get a sneaky feeling that Freeola are going through a bit of a crisis. I've just had a load of data wiped because it wasn't in the htdocs area. They've given me a valid reason, that's not my issue. My issue is they didn't even give me the courtesy of contacting me beforehand and I probably would have done this myself. I don't want to complain as up until now I've been really happy with freeola, but I feel they've been really high-handed about this: here is a summary of the email they sent me:


This afternoon we have taken steps to remove certain files from your webspace , hosted with Freeola. This was due to the size of these files impacting on other users of the server.

The folder in question was also uploaded outside of the 'htdocs' directory. This area should not be used for web files as it will be inaccessible by your site script. The Freeola web servers should also not be used as 'backup' or 'achieve' areas.

The folder removed was called 'archive'.

For future reference, please ensure all web files are uploaded within your 'htdocs' folder and that all files uploaded are web files, in use by your site.


I've queried the fact that they've talked about the size of the files impacting on other users being an issue. If they are offering unlimited webspace - why should this be an issue. If not (and I am willing to be reasonable here - after all how could they possibly offer everyone unlimited webspace!) PLEASE be up front and tell the user how much webspace is available. I think if freeola are running out of space, then they should just contact their customers and clarify these issues. I would rather see all the other good aspects of Freeola continue than for them to fall over because of this issue.

My email has been a bit hit & miss as well.Doesn't seem to working at all at the moment.

"Email Status: Online and Fast" - for me it's looking as if things are following this weeks pattern of starting the day ok and then going on a 'go slow'! :¬(


The Service Status page shows all the earlier email problems resolved but it looks like there is still a problem to me.

Can Freeola investigate please or do you need a Support Ticket?


Thanks,
[s]Hmmm...[/s]

Now experiencing the third outtage in as many days and wondering how I'm supposed to run a business if I can't receive or respond to customer enquiries in a timely manner. Feeling very dispondent at the moment :(

Hi Freeola,

FYI - email seems to be taking around an hour to arrive at the moment...


EDIT: 13:10 email servers unreachable :¬(
I'll keep looking on the Service Status page...


[s]Hmmm...[/s]

Thanks for that.
I love forums!


My service seems to be coming back...
[s]Hmmm...[/s]

As ever, all updates will be made via the Network Status page.

At this moment we have no time-frame for when POP access will be restored, although we do expect it to be 'sooner rather than later'.