Beachcomber.NET

We have taken this guide below from Webhost Directory post located here : http://forums.webhostdir.com/showthread.php?postid=11713&t=8167#post11713.
We feel that this is an excellent guide and Q and A for anyone looking for website services and we have answered all the questions as completely and honestly as possible.

AS ALWAYS, feel free to ask us your questions at Sales@beachcomber.net, through our LIVE CHAT buttons on the website, by phone at (508)-529-1122 or by IM. Our answers are below

If you would like a blank copy to send to another hosting company to compare answers, Please feel free to contact us and we will e-mail it out to you.

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The following is a guideline that I have prepared to assist you in finding a hosting company. The idea was to keep it simple and direct, but there are many avenues to investigate when searching for that "perfect" host (although the term 'perfect' is used cautiously). Lookup the answers from the host's site. If detailed information is missing, that may be a sign in itself. You can always call and speak with a TECHNICAL support person (salespeople will generally "yes" you to death). I plan to update this list, so check back often. Good luck and take your time looking.

BUSINESS GUIDELINE REFERENCE:

 
At the Better Business Bureau (http://www.bbbonline.org/consumer/index.asp)

COMPANY:

1) How long have you been in business?

We have been in business since 2000 but did not offer services to the public until the beta period was successful in Feb 2001

2) Are you owned by or affiliated with a parent corporation?

Yes, Beachcomber Creations, Inc

3) Are you a member of the Better Business Bureau On-Line Reliability Program? (www.bbbonline.org)

Yes

3a) If so, is there a link on your main site?

Yes

If so, verify that fact. Click on their BBB logo and ensure the BBB shows their proper identification (name, address, etc).
NOTE: Don?t rely fully on this. A perfect example is http://www.invite.net. The BBB currently reports a ?satisfactory? record, yet the forums at webhostdir clearly state the opposite (reference http://www.denver.bbb.org/report.ht...2990&national=Y and http://forums.webhostdir.com/showth...50&pagenumber=1). Granted, issues noted within the forum may have been resolved (albeit eventually), but it?s the WAY they were mishandled at the time that should concern you. The BBB will remove a bad rating once the issues, as known to them, have resolved. However, you probably want to avoid companies who have a history of poor customer relations. That?s where the WebHostDir Forums come in handy ? run a search on any web company! (http://forums.webhostdir.com/search.php)

SUPPORT:

1) What type of support do we get with our membership (fee vs. charge)?

Free support for services purchased.

2) Where can we find support phone numbers at your website?

Go to "Contact Us"

3) Are there any limitations to your support offering ? E.G. ?We limit our technical support to our area of expertise?? (Reference http://www.rackshack.net/aboutus/tos.asp) ?

Yes, we can not support products not purchased directly through us (like domain registrations from NetSol or custom CGI scripts), although if they involve website functionality we will try to help

4) Day / Time support is not available?

E-Mail and Live Chat Technical support is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Phone SALES support is generally available from 9am - 5pm Mon-Friday EST but for sales and billing only.

5) If our website and/or email becomes unavailable due to reasons at your facility (or related), are we entitled to a refund for lost time?

Yes... We will offer a refund for 2X the amount of time lost regardless of duration of downtime for any reason NOT related to customer error.

 NOTE: Ask what duration of downtime is considered eligible for refund.
 

CUSTOMERS:

1) How many active customers do you have?

We are a private company and prefer not to answer this question for two reasons:

A) We feel privacy extends to both of "us". We do not sell banner ads on our site, will never sell your information and would only provide information about you WHEN and IF you gave us permission (as a reference as an example)

B) There is no right or wrong answer for you on this and for sure there is no correct answer for us. Our customer count changes daily and hourly (and we would have to update this page at all times to avoid a lawsuit by some litigious wacko) so there is no accurate answer. More importantly, IF we have hundreds or thousands of customers is immaterial. We treat every customer with the best service we can and refuse to be baited into the "you're to small to handle my business", or "You're to large to take an interest in me and my site" debate. We will be more than happy to provide references upon request.

2) Please demonstrate a few of your large and/or prestigious accounts to us (what is their web address?).  You can confirm hosting info at http://www.internic.net/whois.html and http://www.netsol.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois.

Again, a privacy issue. We will be more than happy to provide references upon request.

 3) Do you prohibit (or plan to) hosting adult content sites? NOTE: If they do host adult content, or ever plan to, you may want to avoid them. Although these hosting companies may utilize fast equipment and connections, they push a great deal of graphic content through the pipeline, which may slow down your traffic. Not to mention the ethical rationale.

No, we do not prohibit adult websites (although we do review content for offensiveness).

CANCELLATION POLICY:

1) What is refundable / non-refundable?

We have a 30 day money back guarantee for cause on all hosting, reseller or dedicated server plans . Cause is any demonstrated failure on our part to deliver services purchased. Simply put, we do not want a 30 day money back offer to turn into a scammers delight as "first 30 days free". We used to offer the first 30 days free and became the target of a great deal of scammers and spammers...So. If you can provide us with a reason that we failed to provide the services you purchased from us we will be more than happy to give you a refund.

Secure server certificate and domain registration fee's ARE NOT REFUNDABLE

2) What if we sign up for 1 year in advance?

That is GREAT ! Welcome.....

3) If refund available, is it full, prorated or percentage-based?

See above for specific service policies. When offered, the refund is Pro-rated. If you sign up for a year at $120.00 and want to leave after 1 month we will refund $108.00 (11/12's of the purchase price)

4) Is there a timeline where refund eligibility becomes void?

No

RATE CHANGES:

5) If we sign up for 1 year in advance, is that price locked despite any price changes on your end?

Yes (for hosting plans only)

6) When was your last price increase (e.g. for hosting)?

December 2001

 

SETUP FEES:

1) Do you charge tax for any fees (setup, etc.)?

No. These services fall under the state tax laws of MA since that is where we are located and by law these services are, at this time, not subject to tax.

1a) If so, do prices already include the tax? NOTE: Services typically do not incur taxation. This is usually a scheme to get more money out of you. E.G. "100% of the setup fee is subject to the 8.25% tax rate" (Reference http://www.rackshack.net/aboutus/tos.asp)

SERVERS:

1) How many servers do you have?

Same answer as "How many customers do you have ?"...Sorry, but I will say a lot... hundreds

2) Do you utilize hosting ?pools? (array of linked servers)?

No

3) Will our site ever be moved between servers, at your convenience, due to server demands?

No. This causes to many issues for both us and you. If we feel that due to growth of sites on a server we should lower the demands and move sites off we will ask for volunteers from the appropriate amount and types of site to cause the least amount of disruption. But lets be clear, we will NEVER do it without the customers clear consent and agreement. That said we may have to move sites because of server upgrades, etc...But we would give plenty of notice for something like that

3a) If so, will we be notified? 3b) Before or after the move?

See above

4) How do you prevent downtime and loss to our databases at the time (our customers may be interacting with the DB)?

5)How do you prevent hackers from accessing the system? Prevent email relaying?

With Updated and secure software, etc..

5) Processor type and speed?

Subject to change rather frequently.

5a) Pentium III? 5b) How much RAM?

Boy, is that dated....LOL
 

OPERATING SYSTEM & LANGUAGES:

1) Linux? Windows? Versions??

Linux

2) Perl version 5 (+) or current, PHP, CGI, etc.?

Yes

3) What others?

Didn't understand this

?4) Is CGI-script sharing prohibited (can we use a script from an outside server, such as used by http://www.cj.com)?

Yes

SSL:

1) Do you provide a secured server area that we can utilize (for free)?

No be we do have our own SSL product that is priced very aggressively to allow really anyone to have a custom SSL for their own site.

NOTE: You typically need to purchase your own SSL Certificate so a visitor won?t be prompted with a security mismatch. Reference http://www.thawte.com/ or http://www.verisign.com

2) Do you provide an easy method of setting up our SSL Certificate on the server?

Sure..We will do it for free

HOW DO YOU CONNECT TO THE INTERNET:

1) Who is your backbone provider?

See our Network page for partners stats http://beachcomber.net/NOC.html.

2) Redundancy?

Please see http://beachcomber.net/NOC.html.

NOTE: "Redundant" means that if any of their Internet connections get interrupted, an alternate Internet connection will take over.

DOMAIN PURCHASES:

1) If we were to purchase a domain name through your company, will we be the rightful owner (e.g. Listed in every category per ?who is? records)? NOTE: Most of the hosts who offer "free" registration typically have strings attached such as registering themselves at the owner of your domain. You want to avoid that; in case you wish to cancel, they would own your domain! Easy rule to remember: nothing is truly free.

Absolutely YES

DOMAIN PARKING:

?1) Do you allow domain parking and, if so, what are the fees?

?Please confirm our understanding of Parking. If "abc.com" is our domain and we park "xyz.com" under abc.com, then surfing to "xyz.com" will automatically bring the visitor to "abc.com"? (This is domain parking; don?t let them tell/sell you otherwise)

Yes

SUBDOMAINS:

1) Do you provide this and, if so, what are the fees?

Yes under our Sub-Domain and some Power Linux Plans

2) Are there any limitations to this (quantity, use, etc.)?

Most are unlimited but check the plan to be sure or ask us directly

DOMAIN TRANSFER:

1) We will set all ?who is? contacts (admin, technical, etc.) to point to our company and not yours. Is that acceptable? NOTE: There is no need whatsoever to have their info in your domain records except as advertisement for them. The only entry that point to the hosting company is the Name Servers (ns.hosting.com and ns2.hosting.com, for example).

Absolutely YES

2)? How long to transfer a domain from another provider to you (to be set up and entered into your DNS servers)? NOTE: This should only take 24-72 hours at the most, including the time to propagate through the global Internet.

At our end, less than 6 hours. It could take 24-72 hours to propagate through the global Internet and you to see the changes yourself.

FTP ACCESS:

1)? Do you allow utilities such as ?WS FTP Pro? and ?Cute FTP? to access our site?

Yes

?2) Do we have unlimited FTP to our site (24hours/365days a year)?

Yes

IP ADDRESS:

?1) Do we get a unique, static IP address? NOTE: This is very important because you?ll need it in the event your name-based URL fails. Can also be used for FTP and email server.

On some plans (and less and less) we provide a static IP. On shared IP Plans, you can always reach your site through http://SharedIP # XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/~username/. This is done to help conserve a limited resource we are all starting to recognize, IP Numbers. As we prepare for all sorts of demands on IP addresses (like appliances, etc) the global supply of IP's need to be conserved. Think of it like that fancy DSL and Cable router you have in your house. Your network on the internet has only one IP shared by all the computers on the house. This is the same thing and is prudent policy.

?2) May we (and customers) use the IP address to access our site, or are we restricted to using the name-based address (www.yourdomain.com)?

See above

3) If not, what if your registration takes a long time; we would still want people to be able to access our site via IP address?

See above

4) If not, what about using FTP to set up our site (via WS FTP pro)?

You can used the shared IP with your unique username and password and that will bring you to your webspace

VIRTUAL DNS:

1) Do you provide this (so the DNS records per ?who is? will show our own personal name server)?

For dedicated and virtual server customers, Yes

2) If so, will anyone be able to track our domain, IP or email address back to your company?

OK...Lets get realistic....Of course...If someone wants to bad enough I believe they can find my underwear size. This does change often and I have NO IDEA why it would be of value to anyone but in this day and age no ones information is truly confidential.

ALLOWANCES & OVERUSAGE:

1) Despite agreed upon limits, do you react to use of system resources (e.g. CPU utilization, etc.)?

If a site is dominating server resources we notify the account responsible and ask them to look into the situation at their end. I after a reasonable period of time (24-48 hours depending upon the characteristics of the issue) we will either suspend the process or the site if need be so as to provide a consistent and reliable product to all of our other customers. And history has shown that when (and they are so rare) those situations do occur the customer involved knows they have and could be "crossing the line" and quickly works with us to resolve the situation

2) If so, what are those limitations?

Really case by case

3) Will your system automatically notify us if we are approaching the allowed storage and/or transfer amount?

Yes through the CPanel Interface

4) In the event that we exceed the allowed storage and/or transfer, do you (1) notify us first, (2) bill us without notice or (3) deactivate the site?

This question goes to show how bad this industry has gotten. We choose #1 (again Cpanel will notify you at 80% usage)an only if we are being totally ignored do we go to #3. We will never bill you without notification.

?5) What are your overage amounts and fees (and are they published at your site)? 5a) Per Disk Space. 5b) Per Bandwidth (transfer).

This to is a moving target (cost of Bandwidth and space has changed a lot over the past couple of years) and is arranged on a case by case basis. Usually it involves changing plans to one that better suits your needs instead of per GB costs (this can run away from you too quickly and cause a lot of heartache for both of us)

E

MAIL & SPAM:

1) Is it acceptable if we send unsolicited email using your network? Perhaps only during certain hours of the night?

Absolutely, Positively, without questions or appeal NO. Please note our General Terms of Business. Spamming (and that is what this is) will not be tolerated. And you should NEVER work with a hosting company that allows it. Such companies wind up on Spam Blocker lists and your ability to send legitimate mail may be compromised when your hosting company finds it's way on to a BANNED list. Beware.....

2) What if we use "opt-in" (in the initial mailing) and "out-out"? (Reference http://www.opt-email.com/)

Yes, we support safelists as long as they are well policed and on their own Dedicated Servers only

3) Do you support mailing lists?

Yes, a mailing list/group of people requesting information and/or inclusion is a group communicating through e-mails is great and we fully support this. It is part of the fun of the internet.

4) If so, what rules apply to mailings (quantity, best time to send, etc.)?

Mailing must be under 750-1000 per hour.

5) Is it acceptable if we send unsolicited emails using a different network (e.g. our Hotmail account)?

NO, you will be terminated as per our TOS

6) What if we own a dedicated server, which has a virtual name server?

Spam reflects very poorly on any company that "supports" it and if traced back to us in any way impacts our business image. And we really do not like it. So the answers is NO...and again, see the TOS and be forewarned.

BACKUPS:

1) Do you backup our data / site? If so, what frequency are backups run?

Daily, weekly and monthly for sites through CPanel on all reseller and hosting packages.   we do not warranty or guarantee their availability though..you need to be the one responsible for your site being backed up (and I would suggest multiple backups in multiple locations..can never be to safe)

2) In either case, do you supply a File Backup Utility to allow backup of files stored in our account?

Yes Through CPanel

3) If so, can we easily automate this task by setting daily, weekly or monthly auto-backups?

No I am sorry ..Unless you have a real good understanding of CRON jobs and want to set up your own back up process.

4) Can we specify a remote FTP server address or backup to our personal computer?

See above

5) In the event of a crash, do you restore our data / site?

This is touchy....For Hosting Customers we backup sites to hard drives located on the same network and most times the same "box" and sometimes the same hard drive . If your site is corrupted you should be all set. If the hard drive fails, your data MAY be lost if it is backed up on the same drive. If the entire "box" fails or is severely damaged your information will most likely be gone. If a tornado flattens the NOC, I bet your site is toast. Ok, we do not mean to make light of this but if you want to be sure that your site is safe, back it up YOURSELF to multiple computers and at least two different locations one of which can be the live site.

For Dedicated server customers, backups (on another drive) are setup only if purchased.

?6) Do you employ RAID technology (Redundant Array of Independent Disks)?

Yes RAID10

UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER SUPPLY (UPS SYSTEM):

1) Do you use a UPS?

Yes

2) Do you have diesel generator backup?

Yes

3) How often do you test this system?

This is variable

CONTENT:

1) Are there any rules in regard to the type of content we?re allowed to host (graphics, Flash, banners, streaming movies/sounds, MP3, etc.)?

As long as you stay within Bandwidth and Storage Space and do not violate the TOS/AUP, there are no other limitations.

TOS:

1) Where are your Terms of Service located on the web?

Right here: General Terms of Business.

NOTE: Print ALL information to hardcopy; not just the TOS. Some web companies update their info to suit themselves, especially during a crisis.

Good advice. We reserve the right to change our policies (and have regarding spammers to more aggressively discourage this type of "customer) but in the case of a misunderstanding written documentation is always helpful and we encourage it !