davidp Posted January 21, 2006 Posted January 21, 2006 Hi there, I happened to stumble upon www.findmyhosting.com and TCH came out as one of the ones that I am very interested in. I was particularly pleased to see 96% satisfaction from over 900 user ratings. Anyway, you will notice that I have already sent an email to your sales department. In it, are all my questions. I felt inspired to post my inquiry on the forum since I saw how welcoming and friendly the team is I realise that the sales department probably doesn't open until Monday - but I'm just too anxious to see whether this can be done. So here is my inquiry: I am currently hosting my website http://www.freegrace.co.za with a South African company by the name of Afrihost.com . I am paying around $27/month to host my website. The details of the hosting package that I have at the moment are as follows: * 500 MB Web Space * Unlimited Traffic Transfer (2gb/month for now is fine) * FTP Account * 24 hours x 7 days FTP access * 10 MySQL databases * Cpanel X with Fantastico * 100 Subdomains * PHP Support * Daily and Weekly Backups * Site statistics The e-mail features of my package are as follows: * 40 POP3 e-mail accounts * Unlimited e-mail aliases / forwarders The performance features of my package are as follows: * Servers specifications: o IBM dual 2.8 Gigahertz (GHz) Xeon o RAID 5 SCSI drives o 2 Gigabytes (Gb) of RAM Support includes: * Email and phone (phone not necessary) * 90 day money back guarantee (30 day is fine) I would like to move my website to an international company like yours, but have no idea whether it is feasible or possible. Also, I would like the details of my package to be either met very closely or exceeded by you - for a price of no more than $15/month. Additionally, I would like to keep my current domain name. I have already had a look at your website, and it seems as though my requirements will be greatly exceeded. Please can you confirm this for me? Would it be possible to point me to, or supply me with the details of a package which would suit my needs? My greatest concern is that of server speed. Would the response time here in South Africa be badly impacted as a result of the website being hosted internationally? Since most of the visitors are based in South Africa, and only have dial-up access, this is very important. One last thing - my website is Mambo driven. Will it be able to run on your server? I will be happy to receive a reply either here or as an email. I hope to be doing business with you soon! Many thanks, David Peyton Quote
TCH-Andy Posted January 21, 2006 Posted January 21, 2006 Hi David, Welcome to the forums Most of what your require is standard here. We do not offer Fantastico, and whilst we do backups of our servers, you are ultimately responsible - so you need to do your own backups. On other issues - we don't offer dual 2.8 Gigahertz (GHz) Xeon because we use Quad Xeon rather than dual We do not offer unlimited bandwidth - for under $15 (your requirement) you can have 45GB of bandwidth - see our hosting plans Mambo is fine, and you will see very little problem because the servers are in the US. Quote
TCH-Thomas Posted January 21, 2006 Posted January 21, 2006 Welcome to the forum, David. Any other questions, don´t hesitate to ask. Quote
davidp Posted January 21, 2006 Author Posted January 21, 2006 (edited) Thanks Andy! That sounds like great news. Hmm.. Fantastico would have been nice - but considering the website is now complete... I don't suppose I would need it anymore. Will Fantastico ever enter the pipeline? I will have a look at the hosting plans again. I'll probably go for a low-level plan for the church website (www.freegrace.co.za), like silver or something. In addition, I would like to create my own website. So, if this turns out to be what I am looking for, you can expect more business from me - and possibly my friends! I received an email response to my query from another company - and this is what they said regarding the transfer: Steps to change host... 1) Order a web hosting package. 2) Upload your site using the alternative host name. 3) Test your site on our server using the alternative URL. 4) Once you are finished testing, change the NameServers for your domain name at your Registrar to the NameServers listed in your activation notice. 5) Wait approximately 3 days for millions of internet servers around the world to update their DNS tables. 6) Cancel your account with your old web hosting provider once you can access your website on our server using your domain name. Now... I have NO idea where the alternate host name will come from (will I get that once I buy a package?). I also have no idea how to change the NameServers for the domain - and I don't know who or what the Registrar is! So, with regards to the domain transfer, I am still absolutely clueless. If you guys can help me out here and clear up the fog... I will be VERY inclined to offer you my business. Thanks again! David Edited January 21, 2006 by davidp Quote
TCH-Andy Posted January 21, 2006 Posted January 21, 2006 1. Now... I have NO idea where the alternate host name will come from ... That will be in your welcome email 2. I also have no idea how to change the NameServers for the domain You need to to do that at your domain name registrar 3. and I don't know who or what the Registrar is! This is the company who you purchased the domain name (rrather than the hosting) from Quote
TCH-Thomas Posted January 21, 2006 Posted January 21, 2006 Did some searching and it looks like the freegrace.co.za domain have been registered with http://www.namespace.org.za (but I can be wrong). Quote
Deverill Posted January 21, 2006 Posted January 21, 2006 I'm not the best at reading whois entries, especially international ones, but it looks like your host is also the owner of the domain name. Some hosts do that to prevent people from leaving. If someone more knowledgable than I wants to have a go at it, the record can be seen at whois.co.za/cgi-bin/whois.sh?Domain=freegrace&Enter=Enter (mentioned because my normal resources don't do .co.za sites) If your current host uses cPanel then you can submit a ticket to the helpdesk after creating your account and they can try to copy your site over to here for you. It's not guaranteed but usually goes well. If you are thinking about creating other web sites then don't forget the reseller packages. They start a tiny bit more expensive but you can host as many sites as you like, limited of course to the bandwidth and disk storage space of your account. It's much more convenient to manage them and you can switch to a reseller account at any time. Quote
davidp Posted January 21, 2006 Author Posted January 21, 2006 Thanks for the feedback guys. Ok, well I hosted with Afrihost.com - and they also set up the domain for me. If I get their domain forwarding service, it costs approximately $6/month. And if I am going for silver... that's $5! All I can say is... I'm guessing that if I convert to their Domain Pointing/ Forwarding service ( www.afrihost.com/domain-pointing.php ), that this would then be sufficient? I'd just have to get them to point to the new host name, am I right? Sorry for the ignorance . I just know how to use Mambo & Joomla! I know nothing of these details. Thanks again for your speedy help! David Quote
davidp Posted January 21, 2006 Author Posted January 21, 2006 (edited) Thanks for the advice Jim, Fortunately, I do own the domain! This is what my host currently states: 11. Does your Web Hosting Company register your domain in your name or theirs? PLEASE make sure that your Web Hosting Company has registered your domain in YOUR name and not theirs. As long as it is in yours it will be possible to move to another Web Hosting Company without your website being held hostage. We register domain names in YOUR name. I will definately think about getting the reseller package. David Edited January 21, 2006 by davidp Quote
Deverill Posted January 21, 2006 Posted January 21, 2006 Fortunately, I do own the domain! That's great news! So many hosts try to scam people by doing that little trick - I'm glad you can do what you want with your domain. BTW, welcome to the forums and nice website! Quote
davidp Posted January 21, 2006 Author Posted January 21, 2006 Thanks Jim! I am in the process of registering for Silver now. Just a quick question... I went through the order wizard, and entered www.freegrace.co.za as my already existant domain. Now, I'm guessing that to be able to obtain FTP access, I will first be going through an IP address (before I get freegrace.co.za forwarded to it?)? Thanks for all the help. David Quote
TCH-Bruce Posted January 21, 2006 Posted January 21, 2006 Your welcome email will contain an IP address for you to access your site until you change your DNS pointers. Quote
davidp Posted January 21, 2006 Author Posted January 21, 2006 Excellent! I'm going to get my credit card now! Quote
davidp Posted January 21, 2006 Author Posted January 21, 2006 Ok... I've bought the Silver hosting solution. Thanks again for all the help, team! I really hope this works out. I'll be expecting a call from the billing department soon. David Quote
TCH-Don Posted January 21, 2006 Posted January 21, 2006 Welcome to the forums David and welcome to the family we are like family we love to help when you get settled in pop over to the introductions fourm and say hi to your new family. Quote
cajunman4life Posted January 21, 2006 Posted January 21, 2006 Welcome to the forums and family David! Be sure to let us know if you have any further questions as we really are a helpful bunch (if you couldn't tell already). Quote
TCH-Rob Posted January 21, 2006 Posted January 21, 2006 Hey David, welcome home. Are you sure you can't change your name servers through your registrar? Quote
davidp Posted January 21, 2006 Author Posted January 21, 2006 Thanks Rob, Well... the thing is, I don't know who the registrar is. The doman registration/setup and hosting was all bundled into 1 package. So, if I can perhaps find the Registrar, I'd be able to do it through them... but the problem is, I have no idea how to find out who the registrar is. Could it perhaps be http://www.co.za/ ? If it is... and I cancel my membership with Afrihost, then will the domain disappear? Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! David Quote
TCH-Rob Posted January 21, 2006 Posted January 21, 2006 David, I can't be for sure looking at it. It looks as though Afrihost is your billing contact and that they pay .co.za the bill. You may want to ask Afrihost if you are allowed to make DNS changes and how to do so. Quote
davidp Posted January 21, 2006 Author Posted January 21, 2006 Thanks Rob, I'll do that. Once I get the call confirming my order, and the welcome email, and have set up the website on TCH's server, then I'll contact Afrihost. Thanks again Quote
Deverill Posted January 23, 2006 Posted January 23, 2006 While you are at it, see if Afrihost will change the contact fields to your info so in the future you won't have to go through them to change things. Quote
rowanp Posted January 24, 2006 Posted January 24, 2006 Hey David! Glad to see more South Africans using TCH! I am based in Cape Town, South Africa and host 4 web sites with TCH. I can honestly say that they provide the best customer service I have ever experienced (especially coming from South Africa). If you are having any issues with Afrihost or transfering your .CO.ZA domain, please send me a private message and I will be glad to help you out. Regards Rowan P. Quote
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