My nephew, a devoted Minecraft enthusiast, recently ventured into the world of online multiplayer. Initially, I offered him access to an idle server of mine, thinking it would be a cost-free solution for his gaming needs. However, this proved “too complicated” for him. He simply wanted to play Minecraft, showing little interest in the technical intricacies behind it.
Consequently, after some research, he settled on Bisect Hosting. Frankly, it wouldn’t have been my personal choice, but ultimately his parents were covering the expenses. Bisect Hosting boasts a range of enticing features, such as “unlimited slots” (which, in reality, translates to shared resources), DDoS protection, SSD storage, managed installations, and a pledge against “overselling.”
Unfortunately, his experience has been far from ideal. The server is frequently offline, experiencing more downtime than uptime. While the tech support team is courteous, they appear somewhat inexperienced. Their technical knowledge seems limited to video games, and our conversations often devolved into jargon-filled exchanges with incorrect terminology. Again, while the support staff is friendly, this alone is insufficient in the server hosting industry. They seem to be a team of young, possibly college-aged individuals.
The Truly Unacceptable Practice
What I found truly astonishing and unethical is the server’s behavior when idle. Essentially, you are paying for what is advertised as a VPS, but if the server remains inactive for a certain period, it shuts down completely! This is baffling. Restarting a modded Minecraft server can take a frustratingly long time – around 5 to 10 minutes, largely due to the complexities of the modifications. This idle timeout is a major inconvenience. I have never encountered a server setup that times out in this manner. Imagine being in the middle of a task in Minecraft, stepping away briefly, and returning to find a blank screen. Any progress made during that session could be lost. (Although, admittedly, “progress” in Minecraft is a subjective term).
It’s unclear whether this idle shutdown is due to a specific Minecraft setting or a deliberate configuration on Bisect Hosting’s servers. Regardless, it’s a seriously flawed and customer-unfriendly practice.
Furthermore, server unavailability extends beyond just idle timeouts. On numerous occasions, the server is simply offline and inaccessible.
In the end, I advised my nephew against prioritizing cost and convenience when choosing a server. He is currently paying for a service that, at best, functions reliably only about 50% of the time, if even that. A quick search online reveals numerous similar complaints from other Bisect Hosting customers experiencing comparable issues.
He should really be the one writing this review, but he, predictably, is too apathetic to do so.
