Frequently Asked Questions
What are the setup fees and monthly costs involved?
Set-up is Free and hosting costs depend on what plan you have. Our plans start at $10.95 per month.
How do I set up my email?
All hosting web hosting clients can set up POP Accounts, Forwarders/Aliases, & Auto-Responders in the web-based control panel that comes with every web hosting package. This can be done by yourself, and without any assistance from the hosting staff.
How do I upload my files?
All hosting packages allow the usage of FTP, Telnet, SSH, File Manager, MS FrontPage™, and other web development publishing programs, to upload files to your website. More FTP info can be found here .
Is there a trial period or money-back guarantee?
We offer a full 30 day money back guarantee. No questions asked. If you are not happy for any reason, cancel your service within 30 days of signup and your full setup fee and monthly costs will be refunded. The only exception to a refund, is if you violate our Terms of Service(TOS). Violations of the TOS usually are due to spamming, hacking, and illegal content.
How fast are websites set up?
We strive for a setup time of no more than 2 hours per order. If an order is placed during normal business day hours, orders may be processed in only a few minutes. If an order is placed in the middle of a night, when the least amount of staff is on-site, orders may take slightly longer to process.
Does my website get a control panel?
Yes. Every Hosting package comes with a web browser based control panel. The control panel includes many features including; email configurations, chat rooms, mailing lists, pre-installed cgi scripts, databases, chat rooms, and much, much, more... A demo of the control panel can be found Control Panel here.
How am I billed?
Invoices are sent to you via email. You will receive an invoice for each service/account order every month on the same day the service was ordered (if it is a monthly sevice). Special arrangements can be made for custom billing requirements. We accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Bank Wire Transfers, Company Checks, Personal Checks, Money Orders, Electronic Checks, PayPal and Cash. You can opt to not have your credit card charged every month, until you specifically submit a payment form each month.
How much assistance do you provide for my website?
We will assist you with all support for services provided directly thru our company. We will help you with basic settings for your email software and ftp client, as well as assist you with using the web browser control panel. We can not be responsible for teaching you how to use another company's products. Example: We will assist you with the settings for using MS Frontpage™, but we will not teach you how to actually use the product itself. You need to contact the software maker in such a situation, who provides tech support for how to use their product. We cannot even attempt to support all the thousands of software products on the market. We will attempt to provide some tech support for the most popular programs our clients use. We are not responsible for assisting with your own programs and cgi scripts. If you choose to install your own programs and cgi scripts on your site, you are responsible fully for installing them. We will provide support for any program or cgi script that we provide pre-installed with your web hosting package. We are not responsible for designing, nor developing, your website, including HTML and/or images unless you have ordered these services specifically. We will attempt to give a quick look at your design/development problem, and offer a suggestion if it is a small issue. Anything complicated relating to design/development is not our responsibility unless prior arrangements have been made.
What if the hardware fails?
We stocks replacement parts for all servers. We are always building new servers for our shared hosting clients, as well as our dedicated server clients, so a full inventory of parts is maintained. Hardware failures are uncommon, but they do happen, and are a part of the hosting business. We repair all failed hardware promptly, to minimize any downtime caused by such.
Are there any hidden costs?
No. All costs are stated plainly on our website. We do not hide fees in fine print, or in our terms of service pages. The only costs that are commonly found to occur as a result of an upgrade that was made to your account, or adding other features.
What is Cpanel™? Do you have a Demo?
CPanel™ is the brand name of the web browser control panel software that we utilizes on our web hosting packages. Control Panel.
What happens if I decide to leave your service?
You are free to leave at any time. If your services are on a year to year basis, without any required contract. All advance payments will be refunded if you decide to leave. The amount will be prorated based on monthly charge for hosting.
May I have some examples of some sites hosted by you?
Yes, we can show you live examples of our work. Just ask.
Does my website have their own IP number or is it shared?
This depends on the type of hosting packages you order. Traditionally all hosting packages come with a shared IP address. The exception to this would be if you add-on to packages. Our dedicated servers have the ability to utilize IP based, or IPless, virtual hosting configurations.
What type of support do you offer? Average Response Time?
We offers support to our customers 24/7/365 via web based ticket system, and email. We strive for response times of no more than a few hours. Response times of just a few minutes are quite common during normal business hours. We have recently implemented a web based support ticket system, which integrates all incoming support email into it. The ticket system tracks support inquires by "time waiting" for response from the support dept. We carefully monitor that the support staff maintains a fast response time, with courteous and helpful service.
What are the hardware specs of the servers?
Every server here has different specifications. Whenever a server reaches what we feel to be the limit, another server is built. We are constantly upgrading the server hardware on our network. If more drive space, memory, or faster processors are needed, they are added in at that time. The average shared server is a dual Pentium IV 2.4 Mhz processor system, with 512-1024MB RAM, and 7200 rpm IDE hard drive(s). All servers run spare hard drives for backup requirements.
Can I have adult content on my website?
NO.
May I view your Terms Of Service?
Our terms of service (TOS), including policy and service guidelines, are available online at: AUP.
Do you support International domain names and clients?
We can host all international domains on its servers. We can accept foreign clientele, just please be advised that all correspondence must be conducted in English. The client is responsible for handling the registration process of foreign domain name(s). This must be pointed to name servers on the network as assigned, or you can use other name servers and route the domain name to the address you are assigned. We cannot handle the foreign domain registration process for you, due to the fact that we do not speak all of the potential foreign languages that may be involved. We will assist you however, with any technical information need to accomplish this.
How do I transfer my domain name?
We will attempt to file the necessary electronic forms for your domain name transfer with InterNIC. If we are unable to file such with your specific domain name registrar, we will send you instructions on how to do such yourself, including all necessary technical details. Clients may opt to not have us handle the domain name transfer, or to delay doing such, as an option on the web hosting order form required for signup.
What if my site breaks your "acceptable usage policy" rules?
Users' sites may be suspended for violations of policy, or if extreme, or second time offenders, sites may be cancelled. Each occurrence is dealt with on a case by case basis, and we try to work things out with every client. Notifications will be sent, if any action is taken on your account.
What if I want to upgrade my website?
You may upgrade or downgrade your web hosting package at any time. You will be required to pay the difference in the setup fee for your current plan, and the plan you are upgrading to, should you decide to choose a larger plan. You will then pay the new monthly fee for the new account package that you select.
How is my website monitored?
We maintain internal and external monitoring systems for every server in the Data Center. The servers are checked every 5 minutes via network monitoring software. We monitor uptime as well as individual features and services running on each server. Our staff is notified via alarms, email, screen popups, and paging, if a problem occurs.
What is the uptime?
We strive to maintain a 99.5% network and server uptime service level. This uptime percentage is a monthly figure, and does not include any scheduled hardware/software upgrades, nor "Acts of God". Our definition of "Act of God" includes; fire, flood, tornado, earthquake, telco fiber issues (ie...Verizon™ cutting a fiber line somewhere), backbone peering point issues (ie...UUnet™ having a router go down in Virginia that wipes out internet service for the entire East Coast), hard drive failure (faulty hardware is rare, but cannot be predicted nor avoided), as well as network floods, hacks, and attacks. If we fail to meet it's 99.5% uptime guarantee, and it is not due to one of the above reasons, partial downtime credits will be made available to each client, upon request, on a case by case basis. We do not credit a full month's service if we only have 99.4% uptime. This would not be financially healthy for us, and in turn would only negatively affect the service level we provide to you. "Partial refunds for partial downtime" is our standard policy.
What is your connectivity to the Internet?
Please Data Center page here fo more information
Do you have battery backups and generators?
Please Data Center page here fo more information
What kind of security does the Data Center have?
Please Data Center page here fo more information
What about software upgrades?
We handle all software upgrades/patches on the shared hosting servers. We fully follow all trends in the industry, and monitor all support/bug announcement groups. If a new bug or security vulnerability is found, we immediately upgrade our systems. Microsoft™ regularly release patches for the Windows™ based systems, and crosshosting.com Hosting auto-updates the Linux systems every night from security patch websites. As new software is released, including new versions of operating systems, We evaluate the new software. If the software's new version does not have any security issues, or bug problems, the upgrade is implemented.
What if the server my website is on gets hacked or attacked?
Individually hacked websites are rare. If such occurs, usually they are a target for a reason; hate sites, pirated software, etc... we do not host such websites. If such material is found on one of our servers, it is deleted immediately and the user's account cancelled. Usually the target is the whole server itself. Hackers usually go after a server just to say that "they did", or to use the server to bounce off of to hack something more important. Rarely are any users' files on the server damaged, erased, or modified. For this reason, once a hacker is detected, a server can usually be cleaned up and the hacker locked back out within a matter of hours. At that time the server is restored to full security levels, as if the hack has never occurred. Most hackers get into a system thru valid user accounts. We recommend you use complicated passwords for your account. We strictly reviews all orders for new clients, to make sure they are legitimate. Unfortunately, some fake orders do get thru the system, and that is one way a hacker can gain initial access. We run security checks on the servers daily, so even if a hacker does get in, they are found and dealt with quickly. Most hackers are not malicious, they are just playing or testing their abilities. If an individual attacks the Data Center, measures are in place to cut off such floods and attacks automatically at the backbone level and the router level. We also use firewall technology to fend off most common methods of flooding and attacks to the network.
How is extra bandwidth billed?
We maintain software on every server and on the switches to monitor individual website usage and server-wide usage. Bandwidth is billed per Gigabyte (GB) over your monthly allocation, rounded up to the nearest Gigabyte. Usually between the 3rd and 5th of the month you will receive your bandwidth overage billing, if applicable, for the preceding month's usage.
What is included in my website package?
We provide full hardware, software, support, and system administration for your shared hosting solution. The software provided includes the operating system, ftp & email software, web server software, and a control panel. We even includes free e-commerce shopping cart software. Everything you need to conduct business on the Internet, or maintain a personal website, is included in your hosting solution. We will provide basic support on services/software that we provide you with your account. We do not develop your website for you, nor provide tech support on how to use software products that we do not provide to your directly...even if we do support them. We are always more than willing to help you if we can though with external issues, time permitting.
How many sites are currently running on per server?
We do not have a set quantity of domains running on each machine. We find that ten domains can utilize more resources than 200 others. We monitor each server's performance levels and attempts to maintain a low server load average and high cpu availability. As needed, We will upgrade the hardware, to increase server performance. Individual domains that become to much for the server to handle, and utilize too much server resources, are moved to servers set up specifically for such resource intensive accounts.
Can I host more than one domain name per account?
NO, however you can have multible accounts account.
How do I get started?
Simple! Just select a plan from the hosting catagories to the ft of every page. You will receive details shortly afterwards about how to proceed with your new web hosting account.