At WordCamp NYC this weekend I decided to do some impromptu research about how prepared different web hosts are for PHP 7 which is scheduled for release on the 12th of November. Without identifying myself or my role, I talked with most of the hosts present. I said hi and asked “What is your plan for PHP 7 support?”. For the hosts that gave poor answers, I’m not going to name names since it likely is just an education issue. The folks that attend events representing hosts are rarely the people with direct knowledge of what is in the pipeline.  For the two that gave great answers, kudos.

Dreamhost and WP Engine both gave me similar and solid answers: They have been doing a lot of internal testing of PHP 7 and while they don’t have a date or exact roll out plan yet, it is in works. This is a solid response in my book. Committing to a date is a hard thing to do. I’m glad these hosts have already started work and are doing testing on pre-release software.

Other hosts had less than stellar responses. These included:

• Having no idea and taking my info down to get back to me.  I’m glad that they are willing to follow up. I’m ok with this answer (as long as they do follow up).
• “I don’t know. What should our plan be for PHP 7?” This was less than ideal, but showed a willingness to learn and hopefully they take the information back and start working on a plan.
• Stating that they weren’t sure when they were going to update since they had problems when they updated to PHP 6. I’m unsure why they had issues since PHP 6 was never released.
• Asking if I meant PHP 5.7. There is no planned release numbered 5.7

I might try again at WordCamp US.  I wonder if the answers will be different?