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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Luis Obispo, CA
    Posts
    38

    Exclamation FreeHostingWeb problems

    I have four sites hosted by FreeHostingWeb.com, and up until recently I was happy with the service. Over the last few weeks, though, there have been several considerable downtimes and my help desk tickets have gone unanswered. This last weekend my personal site was offline the whole time, and today when I try to go there I get a message that my "new site is ready" for uploading of files. I uploaded all of the files months ago and now I have no idea where they are and why this is happening. I get no response from the help desk, as usual. Does anyone out there know what is happening?

    I notice that the company is "under new ownership", which I suspect is part or all of the problem, but I have not received any communication from them about this.

  2. #2
    Hi Judith,

    We I have to say that by choosing a host with no monthly fees, you kind of stuck yourself with ver low levels of service, technical support, and uptime.

    It appears as though they had a complete loss of data, and your site is gone. Of course, I could be wrong, but if all of your files are gone.....thise seems to be the situation.
    Mark - Owner/Lead Designer
    avidInteractive
    Lead vocalist for Circle7: Circle7 on MTV

  3. #3
    Checking out the site gives a lot of info,

    They have a phone number listed, have you tried giving them a call?

    They mention at the bottom that they have just had a new support centre installed, either its not up and running yet (they should still be able to reply to your tickets though) or they are having problems. I would recommend trying to give them a call.

    One thing that concerns me, as it does with most hosts that only charge a one-time setup fee for a lifetime account is that usually, later on, they notice they cant keep it up. This isnt the case for all of them, but definetely most of them.

    They still have bills to pay, and if their current customers dont need to pay, the only thing they can use is setup fees from new signups.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Luis Obispo, CA
    Posts
    38
    Thanks. I notice the phone number is for sales only. I realize my mistake now. Like another poster here, I went to cnet and relied on a positive review from them. Perhaps the service was better when those tests were done.

    I am hunting for a new host, will gradually move all four of my sites if I can find something reasonable.
    -------------
    www.consciencesites.com
    web design for nonprofits and small businesses

  5. #5
    Judith,

    You also need to realize that those cnet reviews can be posted by the host themselves as well.

    There was a huge issue over this in cnet's downloads.com. Software vendors rate their own software very high, and doop people into downloading or buying the software.
    Mark - Owner/Lead Designer
    avidInteractive
    Lead vocalist for Circle7: Circle7 on MTV

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    771
    Go for a paid host. If you go for a free host then you get what you pay for, which in a free host's case is nothing.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    2,027
    I would move hosts ASAP.

    They charge $30 per gb overage(they provide you with 1gb) and their service seems pathetic.

    For as little as $5 or $6 per month you can get some good hosting for a small site or 2, with good support and no rediculous overage charges.
    Gone.

  8. #8
    I certainly agree with phision
    Mark - Owner/Lead Designer
    avidInteractive
    Lead vocalist for Circle7: Circle7 on MTV

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    1,799
    Why don't you know where the files you uploaded are? Did you FTP in and look for them?
    Like that page says:
    Your new site is online.
    Please upload your files to your public_html folder for viewing via the internet.
    Your secure server can be accesses using: https://saturndns.com/~username/

    What that means is you should FTP in and open the public_html folder. Inside you may see a index.htm file. That is probably their "Site Online" Page. What you need to do is upload a index.htm page to overwrite theirs, or if you upload a index.html, or other index file, you must delete their index.htm page to make yours appear.
    This is called "File Hierarchy" which is the order in which apache looks for index pages to display. index.htm is usually first, then index.html and so on. If there is a index.htm and a index.html page, the index.htm will be displayed. If there is only one index page in there it will be the one that is displayed regardless of the extension.
    I hope this helps.
    DANG DANG! DANG!!™
    I know ***** ripped off everybody else, but they wouldn't do it to me.
    "When you use bottom feed for bait, you are only going to catch bottom feeders."
    "You do what you are, and you are what you do."

  10. #10
    ATST,

    She stated that she had already uploaded her files a few months ago.
    Mark - Owner/Lead Designer
    avidInteractive
    Lead vocalist for Circle7: Circle7 on MTV

  11. #11
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    1,799
    I know she uploaded them, but did she upload a index.html file in the public_html folder and did she delete their index file? This is a very common mistake. I see it all the time. I've even had people from other hosts write our support asking this.

    Gee, I knew the host looked kind of "you know" but I was trying to help figuring she already paid or something. While I was typing you all were replying. Now it looks like I am on the hosts side. Which I'm not. I don't approve of deceptive practices.
    Hey, if you think they suck, then by all means look for a better one I just thought you might want some help using the space while your looking.
    DANG DANG! DANG!!™
    I know ***** ripped off everybody else, but they wouldn't do it to me.
    "When you use bottom feed for bait, you are only going to catch bottom feeders."
    "You do what you are, and you are what you do."

  12. #12
    heh good point.
    Mark - Owner/Lead Designer
    avidInteractive
    Lead vocalist for Circle7: Circle7 on MTV

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Luis Obispo, CA
    Posts
    38
    My site was online and working fine for months. It was only this last weekend that it disappeared.

    I went to look, through my ftp software, and saw all the files were still there on the remote server, including the index.html file. It seems like the site has been moved to another server but I have no idea how to get there. I went to the site listed and got a blank page. Nada. How helpful is that?

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Luis Obispo, CA
    Posts
    38
    idoogleceo, I did not know that cnet reviews are sometimes written by the companies themselves. The one I read was a comparison of four budget web hosts, so it did not seem to be that situation. I am only guessing that things have changed since they did the evaluation.
    -------------
    www.consciencesites.com
    web design for nonprofits and small businesses

  15. #15
    Hi Judith.

    If your files are still on the remote server, then this can be an issue of misconfiguration. If there's downtime, my guess is that the web server you are on may have some major issues that requires them to reinstall the server software, or they may have lost some configuration files in that crash/downtime (just speculating without basis). So what happens is that all your files remain untouched. But perhaps the httpd.conf is reverted back to the default file, thus your domain don't point to your files virtual directory correctly.

    That said, the fact that you cannot get support is indeed a cause for concern.

    My recourse will be in this order: Call, Email or Help Tickets, a second try, and perhaps looking for a new host.

    I hope this is of help.
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  16. #16
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    1,799
    Ok when you FTP'd in, you saw a index.html page, open it and see if it is yours. Maybe they wrote over your index page.
    DANG DANG! DANG!!™
    I know ***** ripped off everybody else, but they wouldn't do it to me.
    "When you use bottom feed for bait, you are only going to catch bottom feeders."
    "You do what you are, and you are what you do."

  17. #17
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    monkey
    Posts
    166
    Originally posted by judith
    My site was online and working fine for months. It was only this last weekend that it disappeared.

    I went to look, through my ftp software, and saw all the files were still there on the remote server, including the index.html file. It seems like the site has been moved to another server but I have no idea how to get there. I went to the site listed and got a blank page. Nada. How helpful is that?
    If you are connecting via FTP to your domain name, you are on the same server, and should delete their default page to make yours appear again. All the files are still there, remove their default page, upload your own default page (if it has been overwritten by theirs) and your'e good as gold.

    Edit: Beaten... kinda. Many ways to go about fixing this.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    735
    judith

    I clicked your website button. The domain will bring up a site of a nice young lady, if you leave the "www" out.

    I don't know what happened or additional info on how to correct, but not all web accounts can access a site both with and without the "www."
    You'll get fewer complaints from over performing than from over promising.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Luis Obispo, CA
    Posts
    38
    Yes, thanks, Sprintserve. I think you are on the right track with your guesses, and I may actually attempt a phone call later. I have sent help tickets. The email address bounces messages, saying the user is over his limit. Not such a good sign. I am actively looking for a new host, not an easy task.
    Last edited by judith; 03-10-2003 at 02:54 PM.
    -------------
    www.consciencesites.com
    web design for nonprofits and small businesses

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Luis Obispo, CA
    Posts
    38
    Gordo is right! That's my site! What the hell...??
    -------------
    www.consciencesites.com
    web design for nonprofits and small businesses

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    735
    judith

    One or more of the earlier posters may have known you could still access without the www, but since they didn't explicitly say it, I thought I should.

    My complete guess is your host changed something in the setup to make their original default index page reappear. Anyway, good luck. . .
    You'll get fewer complaints from over performing than from over promising.

  22. #22
    It could be a DNS setting issue. Do you have control to your DNS zones. Does your current host use any control panels? Like Cpanels and such? If they do, you may be able to rectify it.
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  23. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Luis Obispo, CA
    Posts
    38
    I have a control panel, but I was unable to get to it through the usual means. I will try without the www and see if that gets it.
    -------------
    www.consciencesites.com
    web design for nonprofits and small businesses

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Luis Obispo, CA
    Posts
    38
    No, can't get to the control panel. I will need to write up another help ticket...hahahahaha.
    -------------
    www.consciencesites.com
    web design for nonprofits and small businesses

  25. #25
    That's probably the limit of what we can help you diagnose the problem up to. Hope you resolve it soon with your host Have a nice day.
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