BurstNet getting back into the game with SmartHost?

[danielm]

So this post is inspired by the email I just got from a company called SmartHost (smarthost.net). I never used any host by that name or signed up for such an email list so I went to their website to see if I recognized them. Their about page sounded an awful lot like that of BurstNet and since I had some free time I did a quick business search and found that SmartHost is owned by Burstnet Technologies. This explains where they got my email address.

They (SmartHost) claim to have been around since 1998 and the Pennsylvania DOS Database supports that they got registered in 2000. As mentioned, I've never heard of SmartHost and Google came up with no results for a company "operating" since 1998/2000. The Internet Archive explains this part of it when you see that since 2005, the only archives of their website is a cPanel Default Website page. Go back to 2004 or earlier and you see that smarthost.net was basically just a landing page/clone for BurstNet. In my estimation, this means that Burstnet (whoever/whatever entity currently owns it), or someone at some level of involvement is reviving a shell/sibling company of BurstNet's. Still registered/offices in Pennsylvania, this time the servers are in New Jersey (Los Angeles coming soon?).

I don't know the full history of Burstnet beyond the past few years, so I don't know what the relation to SmartHost is/was, however it certainly seems that in one shape or another they are bringing this back to offer a pretty similar lineup of services. This whole thing very well could mean nothing to most people. I had some free time so I decided to see where the email ad took me.

tl;dr: Burstnet back in business with shell/sibling company inactive since 2005 sending emails to the BurstNet email list.

 

[DomainBop]

SmartHost Internet Services Inc (and also Unrestricted Internet Services Inc) were registered by them in 2000

They (SmartHost) claim to have been around since 1998

usenet ad from 1998 (shared hosting): http://en.it-usenet.org/thread/16/462593/

 

[Wintereise]

Misleading name, for only  dumb/retarded hosts will sign up with them now.

 

[DomainBop]

The PO Box used on their WHOIS is the same one used for ratedxxx.net so this is a Shawn endeavor and technically not Burstnet Technologies Inc/DigiPlus "getting back into the game" since he left (OK, was forced out) Burstnet Technologies right before the migration to NC. 

SmartHost is owned by Burstnet Technologies.

I'm going to vote it's owned by Shawn (and Benji is probably the other partner) not Burstnet Technologies and he was too lazy to update the PA state DBA record yet.

SmartHost was registered in Delaware in May.

WHEREAS, SmartHost LLC owns, distributes, and/or provides various products and services that enable entities to utilize, conduct business on, connect to, and publish to the Internet, including the SmartHost and BaZONG! family of services.

Shawn is digging into his stockpile of old domains.

bazong.com:

BAZONG! - Online Presence Management
Coming Soon

 

[D. Strout]

Any company (or individual!) that takes themselves seriously would never buy services from a company called "BaZONG!" Just sayin'.

Also, 1000th post!

 

[drmike]

My cold black heart thanks all of you for the good research!

www.smarthost.net is the new business....

Their Whois is anonymized via PO Box and vague non info...

Their about us is the usual fluff that should send reasonable people running:
 

SmartHost, LLC is a privately owned company based in Northeastern Pennsylvania, United States. Formed in 1998, SmartHost, LLC has expanded its initial Shared Hosting business into a leading, world-wide provider of Virtual Private Servers (VPS), Cloud Hosting, and Dedicated Servers. With over 30 years of combined history within the Web Hosting industry, our management team has decades of experience with global businesses and IT projects of all sizes. SmartHost, LLC has built up an affluence of Web Hosting expertise that places us a step above other providers in the industry. The company owns all of its server and network hardware outright, giving you the peace of mind in the financial stability of your provider. SmartHost, LLC is a company that you can rely on for all of your outsourced IT infrastructure needs.

Kind of funny considering they couldn't pay their own bills and brought in vulture capital money and did multiple failures to pay their leasing obligations.   I expect the leasing part these days in part due to tax caps in the US on deductions... But the outside money, losing control of your company and snow jobbing customers literally until the week prior to Burst, going burst, well....

But the icing on this fraudulent cake (yeah I said fraud you turds --- talk to all those Burst.net customers you fncked over)...  Is this...

Remember Burst.net had a Twitter account with 35k+ followers... And remember when DigiPuss took Burst over and along the circus route, suddenly Burst's Twitter account was wiped clean?  Reset to ZERO followers....  Here is fncking why and how...  sheds light on the people involved and their interacting, while in public the original Burst.net owners pretending they hadn't a clue what was going on with the takeover...

Burst.net's Twitter account, they renamed to hostjedi:

https://twitter.com/hostjedi

They created a new account and perhaps multiple new accounts:

https://twitter.com/burstnet

ANd they dressed that account up to appear it was the original account, by putting in information at that time which was old/false/incorrect:



BurstNET
@burstnet

PA, CA, & FL Data Centers / Web Hosting Provider. #1 Budget Resale Program Globally. Established 1991. Brand New PA flagship facility now online!
Scranton, PA USA
burst.net/?c=83


Now as you probably noticed HostJedi / Smarthost has the original Burst.net account with all the followers.  That's how they did the switcharoo and duped everyone.

Very odd with Burst.net "closing" locations today, that Smarthost is out here in public offering services.   I am unsure what sort of fraud we just saw committed.  No one acquires a company like this (Digiplus acquisition of Burst), then proceeeds to ruin the business in a few months entirely to the point of self closing).  Something more complicated and deceptive going on.

 

[drmike]

Mind you the Twitter collaboration / switcharoo happened after the PA datacenter was abandoned and things were migrated to North Carolina.   At a point with the original owners were missing in action / unavailable to customers of Burst and claiming they were per se victims.

But that account switch proves collaboration between the folks.  A proper investigation of Burst.net should be done and potential customers should be made aware of Burst's new ugly facemask: Smarthost.net.

 

[drmike]

It is also rather humorous that the OP got spammed by the Burst.net folks.

Seems like they can only exist as a spam haven / spammer themselves.

Funny, Alexa and likely other sites get it right --- Smarthost.net = Burst.net

See: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/smarthost.net

Hostnoc / Burst.net remain on the top of Spamhaus' Top 10 sh!thead list:

2 ​

hostnoc.net

Number of Current Known Spam Issues: 61

 

[TruvisT]

SmartHost Internet Services Inc (and also Unrestricted Internet Services Inc) were registered by them in 2000




usenet ad from 1998 (shared hosting): http://en.it-usenet.org/thread/16/462593/

$29.95 per month /250 megs.


YES, THAT'S RIGHT - 250 MEGS!!!


Oh how things have changed.

Nice to see someone else noticed the twitter change as well. They never bothered to clean out the old tweets either..

 

[SmartHost]

Hello all...

I came across this thread, and thought I would clear some incorrect information up by some of the paranoid individuals around here.

1. I am the Founder and prior PRES/CEO of BurstNET. I stepped down from control of BurstNET on January 6th 2014, and left the company comnpletely in late March. I had absolutely nothing to do with the course of events in the last 8 months, and actually prior to that I was being forced down a path to lead to the outcome as well. At the time that I stepped down, BurstNEt was completely salvageable, and if it was handled differently, would still be operating just fine today. All the relocations and issues were down completely without my involvement and even without my knowledge whatsoever. I feel absolutely horrible with what happened to the client base, but this was not my doing whatsoever. I lost more than anyone with this outcome, including 20+ years of my life that I spent building that company.

2. Yes, SmartHost is one of my new ventures. After taking some time off to clear my head, and get over what happened with my baby (BurstNET), I need to get back in the game, as I have a family to support. Hosting is the only industry I have ever known, and I have as much right as anyone to conduct business in this industry.

3. SmartHost has absolutely nothing to do with BurstNET whatsoever. This is a venture owned by myself alone. Do not confuse Smarthost Internet Services Inc with the new SmartHost, LLC. I personally own alot of domains that I purchases throughout the 1990's, including smarthost.net. Back in the day I started up several websites for selling hosting, inluding burst.net, designspot.com, unrestricted.net, nocster.com, and smarthost.net. They were all run as DBA's of my original business: Shawn's Trading Post. At one point some names were legally registered as we thought of making some official new brands, butthat nevered ended up happening. They all had clientele, but burst.net pulled ahead of the pack by far. I rolled up all the clients into burst.net eventually, incorporated and changed the name of the company officially to BurstNET, and the other websites were all closed down over time. I kept most of the domains since then, and bought some more, in assumption that one day I would sell off BurstNET and start up something new...I just never thought it would be under the present circumstances.

4. The Twitter account and WebHostingTalk accounts are personally registered to me, and were all my postings personally. They go along with me whereever I go. I changed the username names, as I am not posting for BurstNET on them anymore obviously. Also, just like any sales rep I have a rolodex of clients that follows me as well. I did not take the BurstNET Facebook account, as that belongs to BurstNET, not me personally, and was managed by the company. Also, I did not have a non-compete with BurstNET, unlike the rest of the staff, so I am free to do as I please...but that is a moot point now with BurstNET gone anyways.

I'll address some nonsense posts by "drmike" in a second post ina few moments. I want to seperate responses to some of that garbage from the factual data in this post. Let me get my tin foil hat on, and I'll be right back to make the next post!

 

[syncrohost]

I smell something fishy but if the statement above is true, more power to you.

 

[SmartHost]

$29.95 per month /250 megs.


YES, THAT'S RIGHT - 250 MEGS!!!


Oh how things have changed.

Nice to see someone else noticed the twitter change as well. They never bothered to clean out the old tweets either..

Ahh...those were the days of high end Celeron 400MHZ processors....I remember it well.

Not hiding the Twitter change, it's always been my account/postings.

I would have deleted them if I was trying to hide such.

I also have my WebHostingTalk account, which was in my name personally.

Using something to make online business posts does not mean it belong to the company as property.

Those go along with me whherever I post, as does my rolodex of clientele.

 

[SmartHost]

I smell something fishy.

Get off your boat then.

Nothing much here other than a guy that lost everything in his last business (after he got involved with the wrong people), trying to start up a new business and support his family.

I would think anyone else in my shoes would do the same.

 

[SmartHost]

Mind you the Twitter collaboration / switcharoo happened after the PA datacenter was abandoned and things were migrated to North Carolina.   At a point with the original owners were missing in action / unavailable to customers of Burst and claiming they were per se victims.

But that account switch proves collaboration between the folks.  A proper investigation of Burst.net should be done and potential customers should be made aware of Burst's new ugly facemask: Smarthost.net.

Wow, the paranoia runs deep with you.

I changed the Twitter account duirectly after new management fired me on March 30th 2014, which is the same time they relocated everything to North Caolina. Prior to that I was still employed with BurstNET handling sales only, and was still posting ads/tweets for BurstNET, and had no reason therefore to move my Twitter account away.

I was unavailable to BurstNET clientele after the North Carolina move because i was fired by new management. I can't assist people with matters if I am no longer employed with the company, and haev no informationabout what was occuring myself. I was just as much a victim here as the client base affected, the vendors, leasing companies, banks, and staff. If anything, I lost more than everyone else combined, not just in monetary value, but in 20+ years of my life spent building that company.

Let me be very clear: SmartHost has nothing to do with BurstNET, other than the fact that I used to own/manage BurstNET originally. There is no conspiracy here with me on this, and it's just a guy trying to make a living after getting screwed over. If you knew everything that went on with the new management, you would change your tune, and probably be sticking up for me here, rather than trying to paint me as the bad guy. Suffice it to say that I wish I never met these people at this point, and BurstNET's outcome would have been much much different.

 

[SmartHost]

Any company (or individual!) that takes themselves seriously would never buy services from a company called "BaZONG!" Just sayin'.

Also, 1000th post!

I disagree...I think it is an awesome name for an advertising company.

No different than a name like Yahoo! in my opinion.

I've saved the name for 15 years or so because I just like it that much.

 

[Kris]

Let me be very clear: SmartHost has nothing to do with BurstNET, other than the fact that I used to own/manage BurstNET originally. There is no conspiracy here with me on this, and it's just a guy trying to make a living after getting screwed over. If you knew everything that went on with the new management, you would change your tune, and probably be sticking up for me here, rather than trying to paint me as the bad guy. Suffice it to say that I wish I never met these people at this point, and BurstNET's outcome would have been much much different.

Well then Arcus, how did you get my email address? This would fall under UCE under this wording. 

 

[MannDude]

@SmartHost, welcome to vpsBoard and thanks for stopping by and providing some answers. Your presence is certainly welcomed.

Please understand a lot of people were negatively impacted during the entire Burst fiasco, as such people will be proceeding with caution and reading into things that may seem trivial to you.

Best of luck with the new venture.

 

[SmartHost]

My cold black heart thanks all of you for the good research!

www.smarthost.net is the new business....

Their Whois is anonymized via PO Box and vague non info...

Their about us is the usual fluff that should send reasonable people running:

Kind of funny considering they couldn't pay their own bills and brought in vulture capital money and did multiple failures to pay their leasing obligations.   I expect the leasing part these days in part due to tax caps in the US on deductions... But the outside money, losing control of your company and snow jobbing customers literally until the week prior to Burst, going burst, well....

But the icing on this fraudulent cake (yeah I said fraud you turds --- talk to all those Burst.net customers you fncked over)...  Is this...

Remember Burst.net had a Twitter account with 35k+ followers... And remember when DigiPuss took Burst over and along the circus route, suddenly Burst's Twitter account was wiped clean?  Reset to ZERO followers....  Here is fncking why and how...  sheds light on the people involved and their interacting, while in public the original Burst.net owners pretending they hadn't a clue what was going on with the takeover...

Burst.net's Twitter account, they renamed to hostjedi:

https://twitter.com/hostjedi

They created a new account and perhaps multiple new accounts:

https://twitter.com/burstnet

ANd they dressed that account up to appear it was the original account, by putting in information at that time which was old/false/incorrect:



BurstNET
@burstnet

PA, CA, & FL Data Centers / Web Hosting Provider. #1 Budget Resale Program Globally. Established 1991. Brand New PA flagship facility now online!
Scranton, PA USA
burst.net/?c=83


Now as you probably noticed HostJedi / Smarthost has the original Burst.net account with all the followers.  That's how they did the switcharoo and duped everyone.

Very odd with Burst.net "closing" locations today, that Smarthost is out here in public offering services.   I am unsure what sort of fraud we just saw committed.  No one acquires a company like this (Digiplus acquisition of Burst), then proceeeds to ruin the business in a few months entirely to the point of self closing).  Something more complicated and deceptive going on.

You are right, there is an absolute ton of nonsense that went on there.

Let me be very clear though: NONE OF WHAT YOU SPEAK OF WAS MY DOING.

Do not confuse me with the new management that took over in 2014.

I have not been making the decisions at BurstNET for 8 months now, and rather forced regarding other matters for quite some time prior to that.

The only thing I can be accused of fairly is taking on too much debt for BurstNET (equipment leasing and the new data center facility). However, there is far more that came into play with that, as by themselves, that would not have been a problem. There were mutiple capital raises that failed, that should have provised millions of dollars in growth funds to the company, and taken out the investors that we currently had (the ones that you all met in 2014 and saw the outcome of them contolling the company). One of those capital raise attempts failed at the last moment, as a company being acquired in the deal got cold feet and crushed the deal when they pulled out. The next round failed as well due to still questionable reasons to this day, though I have my suspictions as to why..and if what I suspect is true...it would just blow everyones minds. If we had closed on our capital raises, the outcome would have completely changed. Businesses fail all the time due to lack of capital, it's one of the top reasons a business can fail actually. Beyond that it was a Murphy's Law situation with the new facility, everything possible going wrong: major delays in getting prior tentant to move out, massive delays in fiber installation, and so forth...we lost a ton of money that was just completely unexpected and unplanned for. On top of that, we lost on of our largest clients right at the same time, who ran out on an absolutely massive balance due us, atthe worst possible timing. I can only hope Karma does what it should there.

Long story short, I am not the bad guy here. I know you want to blame someone, but you are really just kicking the wrong guy here while he is down. 

 

[SmartHost]

@SmartHost, welcome to vpsBoard and thanks for stopping by and providing some answers. Your presence is certainly welcomed.

Please understand a lot of people were negatively impacted during the entire Burst fiasco, as such people will be proceeding with caution and reading into things that may seem trivial to you.

Best of luck with the new venture.

What happened to my client base kept me up at night for months. I felt horrible about that, and I was powerless to do anything about it. No one won in this situation, not the client, staff, vendors, banks, original ownership, and possibly not even the new management/investors. I understand people got hurt more than anyone does, as I got the worst of it having lost everything financially and 20+ years of my life. I just need people to realize I did not do these things, and was not invovled in any way, shape, or form to how everyone was treated. If any of you knew me personally, you would know that none of this is in my nature, and I am just an honest, ethical, and good guy. If anything, what happened to me personally may not have been so bad if I wasn't so honest and ethical...but I think certain people knew that and took advantage of that fact. I assure you I m the one that can't sleep at night on the outcome of everything, and the people actually responsible for this disaster are not giving it a single thought anymore, leaving chaos and loss in their wake. I am not those people, I have a heart.

I can't change the past, I can only do better moving forward, with the knowledge gained prior.

 

[Kris]

Good luck, still wondering how you got my address... and why it took your queue ~15 hours to process