I recently clicked an Alibaba Cloud add Banner on Facebook that said Alibaba Cloud offers a cloud server (with 40gb SSD, 1x CPU, 1GB Ram and 1TB traffic for $30 a year). I am familiar with Alibaba (Chinese AWS equivalent) and the owner Jack Ma (and his mindset). The thing that got me interested was hosting was available in Sydney (Something that Digital Ocean does not offer). This hosting deal seems too good to be true. Digital Ocean has similar hosting plans but half the storage for $5 a month (but are not hosted in Australia). I asked Alibaba on Twitter (@alibaba_cloud) some questions last Sunday and got an answer on Friday evening over 5 days later.
If You sign up for Alibaba Cloud here you will get $300 of New User Free Credit to use in 60 days.
I deploy servers on the awesome Vultr platform, you can deploy a server for as low as $2.5 a month, read my guide for setting up a Vultr server here. I love the Vultr management interfaces and support, that’s why I use them. This server is on a Vultr server and it’s fast. .
Or deploy an SSD cloud server like Digital Ocean in 55 seconds. Sign up using my link and receive $10 in credit (2 free months): https://www.digitalocean.com
Read my other guides
-
- Creating an AWS EC2 Ubuntu 14.04 server with NGINX, Node and MySQL and phpMyAdmin
- How to buy a new domain and SSL cert from NameCheap, a Server from Digital Ocean and configure it.
- The quickest way to setup a scalable development ide and web server
- Adding a commercial SSL certificate to a Digital Ocean VM
- Application scalability on a budget (my journey)
Alibaba Cloud
Alibaba seems to have similar products as Amazon Web Services.
After you click Create Free Account you will need to enter a credit or debit card.
You need to verify an email address and mobile number by verifying random tokens (that you will receive).
An email verify token will look like this.
When tour account is created you will be sent an email that states.
“Dear username,
Congratulations for successfully registering an Alibaba Cloud account! Your account ID is:____@ _____.___. Please remember to change your password on a regular basis and keep all account and password information secure.
Please remember to change your password on a regular basis and keep all account and password information secure.
Starting from today, you have 60 days to try and test Alibaba Cloud products with $300 New User Free Credit! The Free Credit will be automatically delivered to your account once you have successfully added a verified payment method. Follow this link to add your payment method and necessary information.”
You will need to add a billing address.
You will need to add a payment method.
Once the payment information is added you will need o to verify this. Alibaba says they will deposit a verification code and a set amount into your bank account that you will need to obtain to verify your account (fair enough).
The problem is I had two deposits and two codes that both did not work and the format of the deposit descriptions was not as expected (I was expecting “INTL* #####” and received “###### INTL*”, I tried both of these codes and neither worked).
The codes would not work.
Error: “The verification code is incorrect. You have 4 attempts left to verify.”.
After 4 attempts I was blocked.
I now sought to report this problem by logging a support ticket? In the Alibaba support area, it appeared I had a “Basic” account that may not have support rights as I could see a “Purchase Support Plan” link?
I found the create support ticket link and proceeded to attach the support related screenshots. Apparently tiff files (Mac default screenshots format are not allowed).
I proceeded to convert my screenshots to png files and attach then.
The support ticket was logged.
I tried again to add and verify my payment method.
Again I received two invalid verification deposits and codes.
Alibaba billing has a few FAQ articles that may or may not hep me
Why have I received two charges to my account?
Alibaba sent both a micocharge and an authorization hold to your card during signup. The authorization hold verifies that your card details are valid and that you do not have a zero balance. The authorization hold is always 1.00 USD. The microcharge is used to verify that you are the owner of the card, and can be any amount less than 1.00 USD. Both charges will be returned to you within 24 hours.
What if my card statement is not in US Dollars?
Users outside of the United States may not be able see the original USD amount of the microcharge in their bank statement because they are billed in local currency. In this case, you may opt to use the accompanying 6-digit transaction code displayed in the transaction description in order to complete account verification.
Alas I am still stuck verifying my payment method.
Waiting for support
A full business day later and I am still waiting for feedback on the ticket.
Support Response
Support said I need to NOT enter the transaction ID and enter the amount instead.
I tried that with no luck 🙁 I have removed m payment details a will stick with Digital Ocean.
It appears Alibaba still have issues with multiple bank verification ID’s being sent. I have deleted my payment car from Alibaba and will stick with Digital Ocean and AWS. I guess I can try and pay Alibaba for more money help, but no.
Alibaba Support >If you want higher level support, refer to Alibaba Cloud Support Plans page https://intl.aliyun.com/support/after-sales
Do they realise I am not a US citizen and entering the amount will not work?
Alibaba Support (Official)
Support Engineer : Dear customer, we apologize for the bad experience you have suffered in micro charge verification, we have engaged the product and development team to make the feature enhancement.
Some of the bank may do not display the USD and random code in the billing statement, we are contacting the bank for further investigation. Currently, you have deleted the adding in the console, would you please try to add the card again to get the authorization & micro charge?
If you have problem in verification, please provide the screenshot of both authorization hold & micro charge in billing statement, we can bypass the micro charge for you after evaluation.
Feel free to contact us if there are any other questions, thanks for your support.
Alibaba Pros
- Australian Hosting Locations
- Robust Signup Verifications (email, phone and bank), so much so I am not verified.
- Cheap (if you can get in)???
Alibaba Cons
- Broken Signup
- I can’t create a VM due to signup verification
- No Authenticator Two-Factor Authentication at login.
- Alibaba Cloud iOS app is not available in English
- Support is lacking.
Alibaba Cloud iOS App
Conclusion
I don’t know how good Alibaba Cloud is as it appears the signup is broken for Australian customers. For now, stick with Digital Ocean and AWS.
I have received an email from Alibaba saying they need more information.
“> Please provide more information so that we can deal with the problem.
> You can log on Aliyun.com or click here to submit feedback.” I tried Alibaba suggestion of entering the bank account verification account but that did not work. Alibaba needs better support. Do they realise I am not a US citizen and entering the amount will not work?
If You sign up for Alibaba Cloud here you will get $300 of New User Free Credit.
Deploy a server on Vultr for as low as $2.5 a month. Read my Vultr setup guide here.
or
Easily deploy an SSD cloud server on @DigitalOcean in 55 seconds. Sign up using my link and receive $10 in credit (2 free months): https://www.digitalocean.com
Read my other guides
-
- Creating an AWS EC2 Ubuntu 14.04 server with NGINX, Node and MySQL and phpMyAdmin
- How to buy a new domain and SSL cert from NameCheap, a Server from Digital Ocean and configure it.
- The quickest way to setup a scalable development ide and web server
- Adding a commercial SSL certificate to a Digital Ocean VM
- Application scalability on a budget (my journey)
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v1.6 Added Vultr info.