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THE "TRUTH" ABOUT WEB HOSTS:
The problem with buying web space, for most people, is that they don't really
know what they're looking at when they buy it. They simply buy what sounds like
the "biggest" package they can get on their budget, or they buy the
first package they see, and think they are all alike.
A package that claims to have "Unlimited" web space, and transfer may sound
like the biggest "package" you can get, but rest assured, there are
many more important features, and considerations in buying web space.
To
make things even more confusing, some hosting
companies are cheating and lying to their customers!
Take a second
and find out how below:
Space... The
"Unlimited" Trap.
When shopping for a web hosting company, keep in mind that many companies
offer MUCH less space than what's in our packages, and call it
"unlimited." In making this claim, the company will cover themselves
with some tiny, well hidden fine print (look real close!), or simply
rely on their customers not using all of what they are paying for. When the
customer doesn't use all of what they pay for, they can use that space to
cover another customer who is using more than what they thought they might.
One of the problems with this technique is, they have to cheat all the
customers that don't use more space than they expected, to support those who
do.
What do we mean by "cheat"? Read the fine print closely with the
"Unlimited" packages. You'll almost always discover that you won't
be allowed to to resell, or even give away "YOUR" web space. In
other words, should you decide to make your best friend a web site, or let
them use your space to build it in a subdirectory ... that's just tough... it
is prohibited by their well hidden fine print. The explanation usually is
because people would abuse the "Unlimited" space these companies
generously give you. To a certaint extent this is true ... BUT, what
effectively happens, is "YOUR SPACE" is limited to exactly
what you need for your site.
Note: Some companies will even go as far as
deleting your files, and pictures, if they are not linked to a page in your
site! A few hosting companies take it a step further. It's not enough
to limit you to exactly what you need, but they'll limit you to whatever THEY
happen to need to run their servers smoothly! So
when you need more space, instead of moving some domains to a less crowded
server to accommodate you, they restrict YOUR "UNLIMITED" space and
bandwidth so that they can pack more accounts on the same server and make more
money!
Here is an example of the above principle at work. This is a direct quote
from another host's web site:
*The unlimited traffic and disk storage policy
has been established for the ease of use and enjoyment of all our customers.
We reserve the right to limit your disk usage and/or traffic if your site is
negatively affecting the performance of our other customers."
Limit it to what??? EXACTLY how much?? They don't say ... pretty much leaves
how much space and traffic you can use for your site up to the hosting
company. Apparently, it sounds good for them to say "NO LIMITS!" in
their ads, and they probably fool a lot of people who don't read the fine
print.
With Kryss.com, not only do you know EXACTLY how much space and bandwidth you
have, but YOUR space is YOURS! We don't care if you back-up your hard drive on
it! You paid for it, and it's yours, period! With options such as extra
telnet/ftp/pop accounts, your customers/friends can have their own password,
to edit their sites.
Sure, we could say "unlimited" because the odds are, you'll
never use all the space that comes with your package. Our philosophy is simple
... top-notch customer service means being up front, and honest with
customers. You should always know exactly what you are getting, with no hidden
charges. We don't want to cheat, or overcharge "the little guy",
just on the off chance that another customer might actually use more space
than we thought they would. It's just plain dishonest, and that's bad
business!
In reality, space itself does not make the
package. Even if hosting companies could offer you
unlimited space (yes, it's a physical impossibility, but let's pretend),
you're still just getting a huge shell of a "vehicle". What's
important, is what comes with it! Just as a huge roomy bus with no
engine, no air-conditioning, no power steering or brakes, would be horribly
un-fun, and difficult to drive... so it is with a web site with lots of space
and no features.
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Traffic... They Said
it was "unlimited"!
Just as "unlimited space" is a physical impossibility, so is
"unlimited transfer". Beware of companies that offer this as a
feature, as there is always some type of fine print that releases them
from actually giving you "unlimited traffic". One common
stipulation, is to offer you "unlimited traffic" with a little link
to the fine print of:
"If you use more than 20% (or even 10%) of system
resources, you
don't qualify for 'unlimited traffic'. "
Bottom Line: if you are limited to a percentage of system resources (or
limited to anything else for that matter) then it's
nothing short of a lie to represent a hosting package as having
"unlimited" traffic! There are other stipulations, and
deceitful methods that many companies use to give you the illusion of
unlimited traffic, and once you sign a contract for a year, you can't even
back out of it, and find a respectable hosting company.
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Cgi-bin... Do you
need it or not?
It's important that you understand when you buy web space, exactly what is
offered in any given package. This means understanding each feature, so that
you'll know if you want or need it, that is available to you. Just because you
may not know how to write your own cgi-script, doesn't mean that you won't be
able to install a script that you get elsewhere!
For example: If you know you're going to want a guestbook, then select
a hosting package that either comes with a guestbook, OR gives you your own
cgi-bin, so that you can either get your own guestbook script to run, or write
your own. We provide you with both...already set up! Why? Because if you want
a guestbook, but don't know how to write your own, you'll have it.
Having your own cgi-bin is extremely important, because cgi-scripts are used
in so many ways to do so many things. Almost anything interactive on a web
site is done with cgi-scripts. With your own cgi-bin (not just access
to a community one) you have the option of using scripts that are needed to
run your site. There are many free versions of just about any script you can
imagine all over the net. With our packages you can either use the ones we
provide or install your own. Here are a few examples of some scripts:
-
Guestbooks
-
Site searches
-
Forms (to email the webmaster, etc)
-
Counters
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Bulletin boards
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Shopping carts
-
Rotating banner ads
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Site traffic statistics programs
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Random text displayer
-
Free for all link pages
-
Electronic postcards
- MUCH MUCH MORE!
As you can see, cgi-scripts play a lead role in website interactivity! This is
why we feel it is SO important to have your own cgi-bin. Most
"Unlimited" hosts don't even give you complete access to a cgi-bin
(let you put your own scripts in) and others still will let you put your own
scripts in, but only after they "approve" it (they'll charge you
$75.00 PER HOUR to "look over" your script before approving it)
We don't require that you have your scripts pre-approved. In fact, with
Kryss.com, you get your OWN cgi-bin! Don't settle for having "access"
to a hand-full of scripts that some hosting company piled there for everyone
to use. Even if you know nothing about cgi-scripts, with a little reading, and
some practice, most scripts that you find (for free) are easily implemented
into your web site.
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Email Features... How
much is enough?
100 - 500 - Unlimited POP accounts!! Wow ... such a deal!! Now think
about it (And read the fine print on sites that offer unlimited POP
accounts) - How many POP email boxes do you really need. You probably
already have one with your dial-up provider - maybe a few free web-based
accounts as well. Unless you're running a site for an extremely large company,
chances are you'll never need more than 10 to 15 POP email accounts for your
site since you can use aliases/catch-all features for most instances. Many
companies advertise "Unlimited Pop accounts" because it makes their
packages seem bigger, and probably 95% of all of their accounts never use more
than about five of them anyway.
With Kryss.com, your account is setup to receive all emails sent to
anything@yourdomain.com
in the main pop email box of your account, which by default is
yourdomain@yourdomain.com You do not have to edit anything to accomplish this, but of
course you can change it if you like. The difference between a pop account and
an email alias, is that a pop account has its own login and password. Think of
a pop account like a virtual email box, while an alias simply forwards to
somewhere else. As described above, any alias not specifically told to forward
elsewhere is automatically forwarded to the main pop account of
yourdomain@yourdomain.com
If you do need more pop accounts - we can of course provide them, however most
email needs can be handled through the alias and forwarding functions we
provide.
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Support... Can you
reach them when it counts?
Almost all web hosting companies offer some form of support. The important
questions to ask are:
-
How qualified are the people in support?
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How do I contact support?
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How long does it take support to answer my question by email?
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What if I can't send email to support? Is there a phone number I can
call?
All of our support technicians are highly trained, and experienced in every
aspect of our web hosting services. You can rest assured that they are more
than qualified to handle support for your account and actually enjoy helping
you. Our staff is usually able to answer questions through our support desk or
e-mail in 12 hours or less, many times getting you the information you need in
just minutes! In fact, if you haven't heard from us in 24 hours, we want you
to contact us and
let us know about it! We'll make it a priority! We handle support requests through our support
desk, e-mail, and fax. If for some reason you can't find what you need at
our support desk, or can't get through with e-mail (e-mail down, keyboard
problem, modem problem, what have you, Kryss.com
has a phone number that you can use to contact a LIVE PERSON for support!
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Referrals... What's
in it for you?
Most hosting companies
don't offer referral incentives, but we believe that you should be rewarded
for the time it takes you to tell others about our services. That's why we give you a FREE month of
hosting service, for every referral you send us
that signs up for our hosting services! We are confident that you will be
happy enough with our services to recommend us to people, whether we reward
you for it or not... It's just our way of saying "Thank You"
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