I dont know if most of you have noticed but many companies out there advertise

Free Control Panel
Free Shopping Cart
Free FrontPage Extensions
Free Blah Blah Blah

why is that? when your paying for the services why do they say they give you this and that free. you are really paying for it. so why are they lying to you?

I think that if you are pay what ever amount of money for something they should not advertise free NADA. Unless its a special. Like if it doesnt come with the plan but that month they are including it at no extra cost fine but not like your paying 19.95 for the plan and with the plan you get a Free Control Panel " because hostabc loves you so much"... yeah right.

There was a time when that extra stuff wasn't free (except for maybe a control panel--I've never heard of a hosting service charging extra for that). No one charges extra for the FrontPage Extensions any more, but most of the time shopping carts have extra setup and/or monthly fees, so there is some justification there for adding a "free" to it if a hosting company includes it in all of their hosting plans at no extra charge. I will agree with you though, it's really not "free," you are paying for it in one way or another.

It's all marketing.
People like "free" stuff.
I like to see words like "included" over "free."

Hehehe I didn't use to think about this "free" gimmick before.... now that you brought it up.... opens my eyes :)

I l ike "included" too!
An alternative perhaps would be "standard"

Yeah, we're thinking about using '...because we love you.' features.

What do you think? Over the top? :cartman:

--Tina

.... then marry me my web host :)

Okay, but you have to pay extra for that. :D

--Tina

Ohhh I thought it is "included"
and you said you love me :(

so much for love... even that costs money... no such thing as a free lunch eh :D

With love it's the same as with bandwidth:
this cost's real money.
:D

Originally posted by SoftWareRevue
I like to see words like "included" over "free."

How about "included for free" :D

cheers,
:beer:

Free attracks attention. That is why "free" is commonly used in advertising. Buy 2, get one FREE. Makes you want to buy 2 right?

Originally posted by dherman76
. . . .Buy 2, get one FREE. Makes you want to buy 2 right? Makes me want to find two people that are buying one. Get them to purchase them together. Then collect the third one for free for setting the whole transaction up.

Yeh . . . just killin' time about now :D

hmmm, maybe if 2 of us went to a dedicated provider, as said, if we buy 2 servers, will you give us one for free? Blah, blah, maybe?

Free onions with your burger!

Seriously, just had to drop in and comment on one post:

...except for maybe a control panel--I've never heard of a hosting service charging extra for that...

I have. There's a company that advertises $1/month hosting... but when you get there, you've got to check off all the so-called "perks," and yes, control panel is one (another $1/month) and so is FrontPage extensions (yet another $1/month). And that's before you get to the regular charges, like ASP support and MySQL. I wonder how many people hit the "back" button right then and there! And.... I wonder how many people go on to sign up!

Originally posted by Lurleene
Free onions with your burger!

Seriously, just had to drop in and comment on one post:

...except for maybe a control panel--I've never heard of a hosting service charging extra for that...

I have. There's a company that advertises $1/month hosting... but when you get there, you've got to check off all the so-called "perks," and yes, control panel is one (another $1/month) and so is FrontPage extensions (yet another $1/month). And that's before you get to the regular charges, like ASP support and MySQL. I wonder how many people hit the "back" button right then and there! And.... I wonder how many people go on to sign up!
heh, its 1 dollar hosting, its what to expect :D

We use "Standard Features" on our web site.

I have to agree that FREE is far too often misused. I've seen services where you basically get every single feature FREE, and yet you have to pay for the privilege of getting all this FREE stuff.

I think that the time where people were gullible enough to buy into FREE is over, or at least I hope it is.