Yes 1&1 is big in the US but not so much as it's in Europe, mostly in the UK. But to tell you the truth is one of the worst when it comes down to customer support, their servers are pretty solid, but try making a phone call to get help and you'll start pulling your hair out.
Well i run an extremely successful Web Hosting Company (one of Wales Biggest) We have intotal nearly 20 servers (19 to be exact), We have one 40u COLO in a local Datacentre.
wow i bought a new one for a project that will take the next 6 odd months to complete....and it was cheap but....like they say.....you always get what you pay for .......except when your low class pub and your beer comes in dirty glasses....yuck!
my parent company is FTC Networks, LLC. and we own over 20 servers for our main sites, and own/manage hundreds more for our clients. you can view info at http://ftcnetworks.com/ if you want to.
I just have what I think is considered shared hosting. I have a deal worked out with someone that I knew had some resources when I was looking for hosting, but they don't have a website or anything.
I have 16 servers now. Half of them for my own site, others i sell shared hosting. Most of them are in LayeredTech, windows servers in ThePlanet, 1 unmetered servers at hivelocity, 1 at TailoredServers.
Only two right now. I just left The Planet - they were good for the two years there but when I needed to make some server changes I just got repeated sales pitches, no help whatsoever and an exorbitant quote. Aside from that they were great!