Hosting Package:  

IPOWER's Starter Plan is good for starting out, which is why it's called what it's called, but your website is going to outgrow it very quickly.  Luckily, they understand that this is going to happen, so they made their next available plan, the Unlimited Pro Plan, only $2 more than their most affordable option.  Unless you need advanced eCommerce features, the Unlimited Pro Plan is going to meet the needs of your website for years to come.  For those users who need a lot of eCommerce options, they have just the thing for you.  For $11.95 per month, you can have more eCommerce solutions at your fingertips.  Unfortunately, they have placed a 50 product limit for their ShopSite capabilities.  They have AgoraCart and osCommerce in place in case you have more than 50 products to offer.

Ease of Use:  

IPOWER's software couldn't have been more easy to use.  We were pleased with how easy it was to complete even the most complex of functions.  Bugs popped up periodically during our use of their software, which were difficult to solve due to the unreliable customer service.  After awhile, you find ways to operate the software without coming across these bugs, but you shouldn't have to do it.  Every product that's released to the public should be free of bugs.  If any bugs pop up, they are remedied right away to prevent them from becoming a burden to any other customers.  IPOWER is aware of the bugs their software has.  They fix some, but are unwilling to fix all of them.  This doesn't do good things for their service's ease of use.

Support and Service:  

We had issues with the response time for IPOWER's customer service.  We had questions about a few of the bugs that popped up in their programming and it took them several days to response.  When they did in fact respond, they left us more confused than ever.  Long holding times and hangups are common when it comes to using their customer service options.  If you're patient, odds are you're going to get what you need out of them, but you have to be really patient.

Site Creation Tools:  

IPOWER doesn't offer any site creation tools to speak of.  You can code your websites using CGI, PHP, Perl or SSI programming languages.  That's good for those of us who have advanced knowledge in website coding.  For the rest of us, we will have to struggle through figuring out how to create website from scratch or go to a website that offers a simple site builder.  Having one included in your website expands the amount of customers you could potentially get.

Server Access:  

IPOWER has a pretty solid FTP tool that's easy to use.  It's difficult to tell how many users you're allowed to add to it though.

Marketing Tools:  

IPOWER offers the customary search engine vouchers and RatePoint membership.  They also have something called SubmitNet, which optimizes your site and submits it to top search engines and directories.  If you sign up for any of their hosting plans, you will get a membership to SubmitNet free.

Reporting and Statistics:  

For statistical analysis, IPOWER offers a graphical web statistic program (they don't say what program they use), access logs, CGI error logs and bandwidth usage reports.

Empower your site and tower over the competition with IPOWER. With this service even high traffic sites operate with nearly 100% uptime, and with 250 GB of monthly transfer ability, your site will never bog down with too many users.

So, if you are ready to roll onto the Internet highway or would just like to change lanes, IPOWER provides an accelerated, smooth ride.

They are getting a bad rap throughout the Internet, but none of the negative contents are deserved. As in other pursuits, don't believe every negative comment out there.  Take what your fellow users say into consideration, but don't use their venom as reason for staying away from their service.  Look into it yourself and determine whether or not it's the right site for you based on your own judgment.