Beware of Free Web Hosting Scams
A Web Hosting Article Contributed by Frances Rhea
Free Web Hosting Scams
Finding free web hosting can be a time consuming and frustrating challenge. Using a search engine and entering 'free web hosting' you are provided a list with over 8 million entries! Finding a good free web hosting solution with these odds is overwhelming.
Domain Name with Free Web Hosting
This was one of the biggest problems that I encountered when searching for free web hosting. These companies advertise free web hosting when you register your domain name with them. The problem is that they place your domain name in a locked status. What this means is that the domain name cannot be transferred, renewed, or deleted from the registrar. Hierarchical and associated objects cannot be added or removed from the domain name object.
Your domain name is under the control of the free web hosting provider. If you dislike their services for any reason, you will need to change your domain name. This could pose a problem if you currently have a visitor base that your web site is known by. This could be a definite disadvantage for a business web site. You would need to contact all of your visitors (which is impossible) to let them know your new domain name!
Free Web Hosting Advertised is Not Free
The second problem I encountered when searching for free web hosting was the advertisements that offered free web hosting ended up not being free. Usually I found that the free hosting was only a trial period of a month or two. You were required to register with your credit card and select a plan that they would charge you for after your trial period expired.
Template Wizard Free Web Hosting
This type of free web hosting company invites individuals with very little knowledge of web design or computers. The site indicates that they have simple instructions along with a template selection to set up your web site. This is through a browser control panel that is supposed to use no HTML knowledge. This is not true. Even the simplest control panel requires you to have some knowledge to set up your web site. Even taking their demos, until you have signed an agreement with them you will not see the complex computer terminology in their "simple instructions".
These companies usually provide additional services (such as charges for designing HTML and graphics), or provide a help desk which ends up being a FAQ section for HTML problems.
These companies generate income from the extra services they provide and hidden charges (such as increased bandwidth).
No Contact Information
Another problem I found was missing contact information. Quite often the physical address or phone number was not listed. If you have an emergency you will be unable to contact them quickly. They should have a support number for the weekends and 24/7 support. Trying to get in touch when you have a problem without this information is impossible. Check out their email contact(s) and time their reply.
