Sonic used to be the premier place for web hosting.
Not some fly by night cheapie site, but a solid, well-maintained, ISP that I trusted with all my websites. At this point I have six, each with a domain name, and all hosted by Sonic (some sites double up but I own multiple user accounts.
But now you're "hands off" (this is what one of your techs told me).
It is not reasonable to expect users who want to use Wordpress to have to log into their shell account (can't telnet anymore and haven't done that for years anyway) and edit the .htaccess file in a way I have to look up each time and hope I get right. Do that for every single site. Then repeat the process every few months when there's a new PHP out.
I can't skip the Wordpress upgrades because then my sites will be vulnerable to hackers. This happened once (I was a couple months overdue for upgrading a plugin or two) and Sonic techs read me the riot act, blaming me for my "irresponsible behavior" that allowed hackers access (roll eyes, but yeah, they did that). Now there are some themes/plugins I can't upgrade anymore because my version of Wordpress is too old. It's too old because I have an older PHP and can't upgrade Wordpress.
Then I also need SSL certificates since Google decided "nonsecure" sites are evil (even if we don't take credit cards) and require them. Nearly ever other ISP has a setup with Let's Encrypt (a free and well regarded SSL provider) where you set it up once and all updates are processed automatically. Sonic could do this easily. But no. Instead we have to install the certificate manually (times the number of domain names we have) and then repeat the process every 3 months or so when the certificates expire. Oh and for the privilege of being allowed to do this, we have to upgrade to hosting accounts that cost 2-3 times what we're already paying. Why? No particular reason. It's not costing Sonic anything if we install SSL certificates.
I get that your focus is on internet access. That this is where you're putting all your energy. But I've also been an internet access customer with Sonic for decades. Starting with DSL, moving to Fusion, and now with FTTN (with dreams of Fiber eventually). Is it too much to ask that my hosting is in the same place?
Why does this mean that hosting users have to be second class? Why cut services? You won't even email us invoices anymore. Something that costs you nothing to do (because you did it for years). Why not keep the underlying software like PHP updated (like you used to)? Why not allow people to have automatic renewals on SSL certificates? I'd gladly pay a reasonable one-time setup fee for that.
I don't want to bail on Sonic. I was about to open a 7th account but nixed those plans. I had bragged to friends about how awesome Sonic is, how up-to-date they are with security. And now I'm embarrassed I said anything, because no SSL access is a dealbreaker for my tech-savvy friends.
I can't even have a functioning website at this point. All I have is an old outdated Wordpress with hacker vulnerability and a blaring message telling my visitors it's not secure. How is this helping Sonic in any way? It's not really saving you money. It's not making your customers happy. It's not validating your reputation as a place that is safe and secure for users.
What's going on and will you please fix it?
Not some fly by night cheapie site, but a solid, well-maintained, ISP that I trusted with all my websites. At this point I have six, each with a domain name, and all hosted by Sonic (some sites double up but I own multiple user accounts.
But now you're "hands off" (this is what one of your techs told me).
It is not reasonable to expect users who want to use Wordpress to have to log into their shell account (can't telnet anymore and haven't done that for years anyway) and edit the .htaccess file in a way I have to look up each time and hope I get right. Do that for every single site. Then repeat the process every few months when there's a new PHP out.
I can't skip the Wordpress upgrades because then my sites will be vulnerable to hackers. This happened once (I was a couple months overdue for upgrading a plugin or two) and Sonic techs read me the riot act, blaming me for my "irresponsible behavior" that allowed hackers access (roll eyes, but yeah, they did that). Now there are some themes/plugins I can't upgrade anymore because my version of Wordpress is too old. It's too old because I have an older PHP and can't upgrade Wordpress.
Then I also need SSL certificates since Google decided "nonsecure" sites are evil (even if we don't take credit cards) and require them. Nearly ever other ISP has a setup with Let's Encrypt (a free and well regarded SSL provider) where you set it up once and all updates are processed automatically. Sonic could do this easily. But no. Instead we have to install the certificate manually (times the number of domain names we have) and then repeat the process every 3 months or so when the certificates expire. Oh and for the privilege of being allowed to do this, we have to upgrade to hosting accounts that cost 2-3 times what we're already paying. Why? No particular reason. It's not costing Sonic anything if we install SSL certificates.
I get that your focus is on internet access. That this is where you're putting all your energy. But I've also been an internet access customer with Sonic for decades. Starting with DSL, moving to Fusion, and now with FTTN (with dreams of Fiber eventually). Is it too much to ask that my hosting is in the same place?
Why does this mean that hosting users have to be second class? Why cut services? You won't even email us invoices anymore. Something that costs you nothing to do (because you did it for years). Why not keep the underlying software like PHP updated (like you used to)? Why not allow people to have automatic renewals on SSL certificates? I'd gladly pay a reasonable one-time setup fee for that.
I don't want to bail on Sonic. I was about to open a 7th account but nixed those plans. I had bragged to friends about how awesome Sonic is, how up-to-date they are with security. And now I'm embarrassed I said anything, because no SSL access is a dealbreaker for my tech-savvy friends.
I can't even have a functioning website at this point. All I have is an old outdated Wordpress with hacker vulnerability and a blaring message telling my visitors it's not secure. How is this helping Sonic in any way? It's not really saving you money. It's not making your customers happy. It's not validating your reputation as a place that is safe and secure for users.
What's going on and will you please fix it?