The Perils of Free Webhosting

Ok, I’ve got my webhosting fixed. Lessons learned? Well, to be fair, I tried to go down the cheapskate route and grab myself some free web hosting with on of the many companies out there. But there were a number of problems you all need to be aware of…

First, make sure you read the agreement. I found that the company I was using DID give free webhosting but with sponsored ads. Normally, not a problem but, as you may have noticed, every time you clicked one of the post titles it took you to a 404 ‘page not found’ splash page filled with ads.

Second, make their support does answer you emails. The company I used claimed to have 24/7 support even for users of their free service. Needless to say, but, after 6 emails and two weekds elapsed I decided it was a lost cause and moved my domain. The simple way to test response time is to set up your free hosting only (don’t repoint your DNS,etc just yet) then send the support desk and email (or two, or three, or…) and see how long it takes them to get back to you. If it’s more than 3 days – goodbye!

There you go – some words of caution for readers. Generally, I have no  problem with free webhosting as it’s served me well in the past but on this occassion… you get the idea.

Now I can get back to some regular posting.