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About Us
Table of Contents
(In this document the word
“Client” refers to person who use services provided by Web Concepts USA. The
words “Service Provider” refers to Web Concepts USA.)
Service Provider’s services may not be used to
facilitate distribution of information whose content or meaning, or the
distribution or transmission thereof, violates any applicable laws or
regulations.
Service provider’s services may
not be used to facilitate distribution of information whose content or meaning,
or the distribution or transmission thereof, violates any applicable laws or
regulations.
Service Provider’s services may
not be used to facilitate activities which disrupt or interfere with the
performance or functional behavior of networks or systems. Such interference or
disruption includes, but is not limited to:
propagation of computer worms or viruses; and the transmission of
information which, by virtue of its content, amount, or routing, degrades the
performance, functionality, or reliability of any network or system.
Service Provider’s services may
not be used to facilitate activities which interfere with personal productivity,
privacy, or comfort of users of systems or networks. Such interference or
disruption includes, but is not limited to:
distribution of unsolicited advertising or recruiting materials; and
transmission of annoying amounts of information not desired by the recipient(s).
If and when such activities are
brought to Service Provider’s attention, and upon Service Provider’s
reasonable investigation, a Client is found to be in violation of this policy,
such account is subject to termination of Service Provider’s services, with
the forfeiture of any and all fees paid to Service Provider.
This Acceptable Use Policy is in
effect immediately. Any Client having previously paid for services, who does not
agree to abide by these terms may send notice within ten (10) days hereof of
cancellation, and receive a prorated refund of any fees paid to Service
Provider.
Note:
Pornography and sex-related merchandising are prohibited on all servers.
This includes sites that my infer sexual content, or link to adult content
elsewhere. This is also true for sites that promote any illegal activity or
content that may be damaging to our servers or any other server on the internet.
Links to such materials are also prohibited. In addition, any site
selling or promoting bulk email services or software is not allowed.
Examples of non-acceptable content
or links:
¥ Pirated
software ¥ Hackers programs or archives
¥ Warez Sites ¥ Irc Bots
¥
Mp3
While WCUSA prefers not to monitor
account contents, at times it may be necessary for WCUSA employees to examine
system logs and other records to resolve system problems. WCUSA reserves the
right to access an account to resolve system problems. In addition, WCUSA will
cooperate with the appropriate legal authorities in investigating claims of
illegal activity, including but not limited to illegal transfer or use of
copyrighted material, postings or email containing threats of violence, or other
illegal activity. WCUSA makes no
guarantee, expressed or implied, and assumes no liability for the security of
any data on any server including “secure servers.” No computer system should
be considered safe from intrusion. And information including that transferred by
the World Wide Web (WWW), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Telnet, and email may
pass through many computer systems, and should not be considered a secure means
of communication unless encrypted. Even then, information is only as secure as
the encryption method.
Our servers may not be the source, intermediary, or destination address involved in the transmission of spam, flames, or mail bombs. Your domain may not be referenced as originator, intermediary, or reply-to address in any of the above. We consider spam any mass unsolicited message in the mediums of Newsgroups and Email. If you are found to have spammed, then we will immediately, without warning, disable your domain.
So, you’ve figured out how to make a web page.
Unfortunately, you now have a problem. How do you get it onto the Internet?
Well, the easiest and most affordable way is web hosting. You can rent space on
someone else’s server. There are thousands of computers called web servers
which are permanently connected to the Internet. These hosts allow you to upload
(the opposite of download) your page to their web servers. This makes your page
available on the Internet. The next question is, what will your URL (Internet
address) be? Well, there are three choices, each of varying prices. Let’s
pretend we have created a web site for our company XYZ Paving.
The first choice is a
non-virtual address. This would make your address something similar to http://www.webhostprovider.com/xyzpaving/,
this is the cheapest option.
The second choice is
a semi-virtual address. This would make your address somewhat “neater”
looking and is a bit more expensive than a non-virtual address. In this case
your page would be accessible from http://xyz paving.webhostprovider.com.
The last choice is a fully-virtual account. This is the most expensive and most professional address, http://www.xyzpaving.com. However, in this case we must “register” our address for $35 per year with InterNIC and not all addresses are available either. For example, maybe XYZ Paving of Iowa has registered the address http://www.xyzpaving.com. That means we cannot use it. We would have to choose something else like paving.com, xyz-paving.com, xyzpave.com, or pave-with-xyz.com. The possibilities are endless. Available addresses are .com, .net, and .org (for non-profit organizations).
Each site has specific hosting needs. Not all web pages
need the same options. You should be able to find a provider who offers ALL the
options you need. There are currently over 10,000 web hosts.
To understand what options you need, you’ll probably need
an understanding of what options are available. Here is a quick description of
some of the popular options.
Server
Platform – This is a difficult one and is dependant on the customer.
The two most common platforms are UNIX or NT. UNIX provides some technical
advantage, however, it is far more difficult for beginners. UNIX provides the
advantage in high-end applications and busy sites. However, NT is excellent for
beginners and is quite a bit easier for users to learn and make “good” web
sites on. NT opens the door to Active Server Pages and ActiveX.
Commercial
Use Is Allowed – This one is self-explanatory. If you are using your
site for business or if you are selling anything then you’ll need this.
No
Access/Hit Charges – this means
that a host does not penalize busy sites for having a lot of traffic. It
prevents you from being charged extra because your site is getting a lot of
traffic, however, this one is also a double edged sword. The biggest expense to
web hosts is bandwidth. They must install T1’s or T3’s, or whatever kind of
lines to allow your page to be accessible. The more your page is accessed, the
more they have to pay. So, if your site gets very busy then obviously they are
going to do something about it because they will be losing money off of your
account rather than making a profit. So, when you see “unlimited” think
carefully about this. It is never unlimited because a host will never go
bankrupt because of one or two accounts, they’ll get rid of them. 0
Custom
CGI Scripting – CGI Scripts are what make web sites interactive. They
provide the means to do back-end processing and feed information to your
visitors’ browsers. CGI scripts can be written in any programming language,
but most are written in a scripting language called Perl, as it is highly
portable across almost all types of web servers. CGI scripts also take up a lot
of bandwidth though. So, if you are hosting without unlimited traffic, you may
consider this. For the most part, you will want this option unless you have no
desire to make a better site in the future.
Pre-Installed
CGI Scripts – Because it is sometimes difficult for new users to make
their own CGI scripts or install them, many hosts offer common scripts already
setup for them to use. These often include counters, guestbooks, forms, and
shopping carts.
Shell
Account – Shell access is being phased out by hosts. It does create
somewhat of a security hazard and most of the common shell functions have now
been replaced with FTP. If you are doing a lot of CGI or custom scripting, this
is a must though.
Server
Side Includes – Often called
“SSI” this allows you to add some advanced features of servers. SSI is
basically a simple scripting language built right into HTML. Many CGI scripts
now require SSI.
POP
E-mail Account – This allows you to receive e-mail at your web host
provider. So if you have a virtual domain xyzpaving.com, you could have an
e-mail address you@xyzpaving.com.
Server
Log Access – This allows you to keep track of your page accesses as
well as any errors that occur. Server logs are very simple for providers to
setup and are not a security threat. There is no reason for a server to not
provide them.
Database
Available – Databasing is not a very commonly used item. If you need a
database you will have to decide what platform first, UNIX or NT. If you are on
a UNIX server make sure they have mSQL. If you are on an NT server, ensure the
database is ODBC compatible.
Secure
Server (with certificate) – An SSL secure server allows you to process
transactions securely. The certificate ensures your visitors know that the
transaction is secure. Some services offer the secure server, but not the
certificate. BE AWARE!
Audio
Streaming – Most servers now offer some audio streaming. The best type
is RealAudio, however that usually costs extra depending on the number of
streams you use. There are other free audio streamers which will not work as
well and most users will not have the software to listen to your audio.
Video
Streaming – Video streaming one of the most effective ways to get your
presentations across the web. Look for RealVideo, or other alternitives.
MS
FrontPage™ Extensions – If you are designing your site using
Microsoft FrontPage™ this is a MUST! If not, don’t worry about it. Other
things to ask is if the host provides FrontPage bots and scripts. As well, does
the space the extensions take up count against your quota?
Mailing
List – This allows you to run your own
e-mail mailing/discussion list. If you are interested in keeping in touch with a
group of friends, an e-mail discussion list can be wonderful for administration.
Credit
Cards Accepted - Credit
cards offer you protection. If you get stuck with a bad host who leaves you
stranded then it is simple for you to cancel your payment via a chargeback. As
well, if a host cannot get a credit card merchant account that probably says
something about how serious they are about doing business.
Reseller
Packages – If you are interested in making money selling your space to
other people, then you should be interested in reseller packages.
Telephone Support Available – Have you ever been caught trying to do something and find an error message? Well, telephone support can provide quick support usually within a few minutes. This is almost always quicker than e-mail.
The first issue
is resellers. There are hundreds of individuals reselling web services.
They do not provide most of the services themselves, they are a middleman who
makes a commission. Often these resellers will add value with some other
service, such as web site design or perhaps knowledge of your industry or
support in your country. But it is worth remembering that if you have
difficulties with the server, a reseller will have to contact their own provider
to get things fixed, which could delay the resolution of your problem. Most
resellers cannot provide the guarantees that providers can, like money back
guarantees and guaranteed uptime.
So
how can you tell a reseller from a true provider? Well, it isn’t
always easy. But a few of the major things are, is the company registered (Inc.,
LLC, etc.) and do they accept credit cards. Most resellers are neither
registered nor do they accept credit cards. A misconception is that resellers
will admit to being resellers. They won’t!
Another method to
check if a provider is a reseller is to run a traceroute. However, often
many people are unable to understand the results of a traceroute. You could try
to ask a provider how many hops they are from the backbone and what servers they
go through on the way to the backbone. Lastly, it is very difficult to tell the
difference between a reseller and a true provider. There is no fool proof way to
test if they are resellers. The providers running the reseller programs allow
their resellers to keep them anonymous. Don’t get tricked, you cannot tell a
reseller from a true provider by nameservers anymore.
Now that you have a
list of providers who meet all your needs, you have to make the big
choice, but, how do you make a good choice? The most important factors remaining
are price, performance, and commitment.
Price is an obvious
one, but be sure to consider what
kind of commitment you have. For example, some hosts offer $9.95/month, but then
require you to sign up for a full year. Meaning, if you need to change services,
then you have lost a lot of cash.
Service is another
concern. Does this host reply to your questions promptly? Ensure that
you do ask questions before signing up. Another part of service is online
FAQ’s and such. If your questions are answered online, then you don’t even
need to contact support. This can be valuable.
Lastly,
performance is a big factor. Another common misconception is that by
simply loading the hosts main page with a stopwatch nearby will tell you how
“fast” a host is. That is wrong. Some hosts use Java which slows things down
greatly. Others use all text which makes the page load lightning fast.
Recommendation: Use the Top Hosts
traceroute performance checker to judge performance.
Finally, be careful. Just like any business agreement, you should ensure you now what both sides’ commitments are. Read contracts closely and ensure that your site does not go against that providers policies. Check with other customers and ask if the host is registered with the Better Business Bureau. Be sure to get full information on the host like contact name, physical address, zip code, and phone numbers. Try them out, some people lie. Lastly, pay by credit card. It offers much more protection than a check and never pay for a year in advance. Always try starting out one month at a time and then if you are satisfied renew for a longer period.
prices
starting at:
| Personal or Non-Profit (Sub Domain or .ORG) | ....................... $ 5.95 [ ] |
| 10 mg HDD, 1 E-Mail, FTP access, microsoft ext. (Domain registration may apply) Unlimited Alias | |
| Business (www.yourdomain.com or Sub Domain) | ....................... $26.95 [ ] |
| 1
auto responder, 10 mg HDD, 5 E-Mail (name@domain.com), 1 IP, FTP access,
Unlimited Alias MS Frontpage Ext., no setup. (Domain registration may apply) |
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