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| Domain Names FAQ |
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Domain Names FAQ |
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| How do I transfer registrars? | |
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In order to transfer your domain name to a different registrar, you must be current with your existing
registrar. If your domain has expired then you will have to renew with your current registrar. Do not
try and let your domain expire and then be deleted from your registrar's system. There is a good chance
that your domain name might be taken by someone else looking to sell it back to you. The other restriction for transferring registrars is that you must be with your current registrar for at least 60 days since your last registration or renewal. If you meet these restrictions then you can transfer your domain to our registry service. If you are with Network Solutions, Register.com, or GoDaddy then you will need to send and email to support indicating you would like to make the switch and provide us with your user name and password for your current registrar. We will handle the rest of the process for you. If you are with another registrar you will need to change the administrative contact email address for your domain so that it says net-admin@chambergates.com. Once you have changed the administrative contact, send an email to our support team and we will handle the rest of the transfer for you. | |
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| Who owns the domain name when ChamberGates pay the fees? | |
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| You are the owner of the domain name. | |
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| What happens to my free domain name if I cancel? | |
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| If you cancel your web hosting service we will ask that you pay for the remaining term on your domain. We register domains for one year at a cost of $9.95 per year. For example, if you cancelled after 6 months of service we would ask for $4.98 on your final bill. | |
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| Do I have to host my web site with you? | |
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| No. You can still get a domain name at the outstanding rate and point your domain anywhere you like. | |
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| Can I point a domain to my home computer? | |
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| Sure, in fact you can point as many domains as you want to your home computer. The only requirement is that you have a static IP address from your Internet provider. | |
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| Can I point additional domain names to my web site? | |
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| If you have a Silver plan or better you can point your domain at your existing web site by changing the DNS information for that domain. If your domain registrar does not provide DNS services or you have a Bronze or Brochure Plan then you will need to purchase our domain pointing service. | |
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| I pointed my new domain name to my current web site, but why is it still not working? | |
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If you have a Bronze account then in order for you to point an additional domain name to your web site,
you will have to purchase a Domain Forwarding product from us. If the new domain is simply
supposed to point to your existing home page then the cost for this service is $9.95 per year and
includes the cost of the domain name registration. If you have a Silver account or better, then please contact our support department as you can point any number of domains to your web site without any additional services from us. | |
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| Why did you send my request to Network Solutions with the wrong email address? | |
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When we submit a request to Network Solutions/Verisign for modification to your domain name, we must
use the administrative address that you have on file with them and not the address that you provided
to us. The reason is that Network Solutions/Verisign is a completely different company and therefore
ultimately any changes that are made with them are between you and them. If the address you have on file with Verisign is not current then you will need to contact Verisign and have them change your information. | |
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| Is there some giant database on the Internet that tracks this information? | |
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Actually, there are two primary systems that track domain names. The first system is WHOIS and it is
responsible for linking domain names to registered entities like individuals or legal organizations.
The second system is called DNS and it is responsible for linking addresses in domains to IP addresses. The WHOIS databases are run by organizations (some are non-profit, some are for-profit, and some are countries). To see who is running a particular domain you can visit ICANN. The DNS system is a distributed database system and as such there really is no easy way to search for records in the DNS system. If you need to access this type of information you will need a network tool like NSLOOKUP. | |
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| Are your domain names the same as Network Solutions? | |
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From a technical standpoint our domain name registrations are the exact same as those offered by the
larger domain registration companies. In fact, after all is said and done, we end up paying Verisign
(Network Solutions) for the domain registration at a very reduced fee. From a features standpoint our domain registrations are actually superior because of all of the great features that we add to the registration. | |
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| Can I register any domain name for free with your web hosting plans? | |
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| All of our hosting plans offer one free domain name registration for as long as you continue to host with us. We will pay 100% of the domain registration fees if your domain uses .com, .net or .org. We will access a $3.00 charge per year for domain registrations using the .biz, .info or .us domains. We will access a $30.00 charge per year for domain registrations using the .cc domain. | |
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| Will I be listed as the owner of the domain name on WHOIS? | |
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| We will place your name and organization name on the WHOIS record to show the world that you own the domain name. Unless you specifically ask we will place our contact information in the email, phone, and address fields. We do this to protect you from the army of solicitors waiting to sell you something. | |
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| What happens to my free domain name if I already have one? | |
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The free domain name offer applies only to your primary web site (the one you order). If you have not
already ordered you can simply order using your free domain name and then we can point your other domain
to your site (standard charges apply). If you have already signed up using your existing name you can request that we change the primary domain name for your site (a one time setup fee will be charged) and then we can point your existing domain to your web site (standard charges apply). | |
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| Do you support sub-domains? | |
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The actual definition of a sub-domain is another domain within your parent domain. Let's say you have
a domain called mydomain.com. Inside of this domain you can have several hosts like
www.mydomain.com, ftp.mydomain.com and mail.mydomain.com. Now let's say you
built a spanish version of your web sites, you could then create a sub-domain like
spanish.mydomain.com and inside this sub-domain you could have some host names like before
www.spanish.mydomain.com, ftp.spanish.mydomain.com and mail.spanish.mydomain.com. Now some web hosting companies are strictly resellers and do not know the difference between a sub-domain and a host name and incorrectly refer to sub-domains as anything other than www. In their world, ftp.mydomain.com or www2.mydomain.com would be considered a sub-domain. It is important to keep this in mind when you make comparisons. Fortunately, ChamberGates supports both sub-domains and different host names since we control our own DNS servers and do not rely on other company's control panels like so many of our competitors. If you already have a domain name and want a different host name to point to your site then we will simply treat this as any other domain pointing product and there are no extra fees associated for being a little different. If you want us to create a sub-domain please contact our support team and we can discuss the new domain with you, in many cases the pricing is less than $2 per month. | |
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| How do I change the registrant or owner name? | |
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You can change your registrant name (also known as the owner name) by simply emailing technical
support with the new name information you would like to use. It should be noted that there is a $15
fee for changing the domain name registrant. If your domain has ChamberGates as the registrant (this could be because you registered with us a long time ago) then we will change the registrant name free of charge. | |
