Is there a minimum time commitment or contract?
There is a six-month minimum commitment when you sign up for hosting, and accounts can be renewed on six-month, or annual bases. We work very hard to maintain high standards in hosting and are committed to providing web hosting for our customers' sites. You will receive a discount for choosing to prepay for twelve months.

How do I pay for web hosting?
We strongly urge all clients to pay by credit card so that our online billing system can be utilized. We DO NOT automatically rebill your credit card, but rather we will send out an electronic invoice which you can respond to online.

How safe is my credit card?
We do not store your credit card information on our servers - or anywhere, for that matter. We will e-mail you out an invoice at the time of renewal and you will pay via a secure order form. We do not automatically rebill.

That Control Panel looks good. Do all accounts get that?
Yes. Everyone that hosts at Kabbom Hosting as full access to the control panel.

How quickly are accounts set up?
If you elect to host using one of our standard hosting packages, and sign up online, your login and account information is usually sent to you within the hour. Custom or a la carte packages may take 24 hours or so, depending on the degree of complexity required.

How do I connect to your server?
If you are unsure about connecting to the server, how to build web pages or other 'beginners' stuff, please go to our Getting Started Guide.

I don't have any experience in creating a site. Who can help me create and host my site?
Kaboom Hosting offers full web site design and development through our partner company, Kaboom Group.

What is a dedicated server?
A dedicated server is a computer that hosts only your site. Dedicated servers provide more hard-drive space and greater autonomy and flexibility, including choice of software and database management systems.

How do I get my e-mail?
You can access your e-mail with any POP3-capable e-mail program, including Eudora, Outlook, and MailPro. Full domain specific details about e-mail will be sent to you in your Welcome Packet, providing you have signed up for e-mail services. We also have web based e-mail programs that you can gain access to via your control panel. If you are unsure how to set up a POP account in Outlook, or Outlook Express, please see our handy cut and keep guide here.

  BASIC FAQ stuff about WEB HOSTING

What is web hosting?
Web hosting refers to the process of publishing a web site so that it is available to the world on the Web. Paid web hosting also involves getting a domain name and not having forced ads displayed on your site. Please see our Quick Start Guide for info on how to get started with a paid web host.

What is a domain name?
Domain name is the sequence of letters and number determining the address of your site. This site's domain name is "kaboomhosting.com." You need to register a domain name before your web site becomes accessible at this address.

When I purchase a domain through the Kaboom Hosting website, who owns the domain?
Ensure that you put your name and contact details into the ADMIN CONTACT section of the domain registration process. The individual or organization that gets entered into the Administration Contact is the legal owner of the domain name. For ease of use, and if you decide to host at Kaboom, please place our details into the Technical Contact section. If unsure, we can reserve your domain on your behalf. Please e-mail us.

Are there any advantages to getting a domain name with Network Solutions / Verisign instead of through Kaboom?
No. If anything, we may even be cheaper.

What on earth is FTP?
File Transfer Protocol is the means by which your personal computer - at home or in the office - connects to our server. You will require unique logins and passwords to connect, and that will be sent to you in our Welcome Packet once you have signed up for services.
for more stunning facts about web hosting, see our website glossary.

Is there a limit to the number of times I can make changes to my web site?
We do not place any limits on how often or when you can update your site. Your server is available to you 24/7 for you to update through FTP and Telnet/SSH. There is no charge for making changes to your web site.

What is domain parking?
Domain parking lets you cheaply reserve a domain name for future use and display an "under construction" default page on it. You can register a domain and not park it anywhere but then your site will be simply inaccessible until you get a web host.

Do you host " adult" web sites?
We do have facilities to host some mild erotic photography, Playboy style picture sites, but anything WE consider distasteful or hardcore will not be permitted to host at Kaboom. Please call or e-mail us your intentions.

Do you provide data backup services? How often?
Yes, daily.

What is shared hosting?
Shared hosting is multiple web sites residing on a single server/computer. Shared (or virtual) web hosting is the most fitting way of hosting for 99% of web sites. It means that Kaboom will have one or more servers that will be running multiple web sites (it will be shared). Unless a web site is exceptionally busy or requires a lot of bandwidth, this is the least expensive way to go to get a real web site. You can still have your own IP address with virtual hosting and the site won't look any different to users.

What are the numbers listed under "space" and "transfer"?
Space is the amount of "stuff" you can put on your web site. Available space is usually listed in megabytes (MB, millions of bytes). Single letter takes up one byte. HTML files are usually rather small but pictures and programs can get quite big. Your scripts, emails and stats will also take up space on your host.

Transfer is the amount of "stuff" that visitors to your site can download before you reach your monthly limit. Transfer is usually listed in gigabytes (billions of bytes). After the transfer limit is reached for the month, you will need to pay extra for additional transfer at higher rates. For example, if an average visitor to your site views 3 HTML pages of 20 KB (thousands of bytes) each and 8 small embedded pictures of 10 KB each, and you get 500 visitors per day, you will require at least (3 * 20 + 8 * 10) * 500 * 30 = 2,100,000 KB = 2.1 GB of transfer per month.

How much data transfer will I need?
You can figure out how much data transfer you will require by estimating your average page size (including graphics!) and multiplying it by the number of page views you expect to have in a month. For example with an average page size of 50 KB, and around 2000 page views per day, you will transfer an average of 3 GB per month. In this case, you should get a plan with 4 to 5 GB of data transfer limit per month, so you don't have to worry about overstepping your account's limit, which may cause extra per GB transfer charges.

Can I reduce the amount of data transfer my site needs?
Usually yes. Try to optimize all the graphics on your site. Many GIFs don't look noticeably worse with fewer colors. Make sure you use a graphics suite that allows for jpeg compression. Usually, a typical uncompressed image of 80k can be reduced to 25k without any noticeable picture degradation. Movies, sound files, heavy Flash files, chat rooms are all bandwidth intensive applications, so do watch your traffic stats in the Kaboom Control Panel.

Do you offer "unlimited bandwidth"?
Some companies promote that they offer unlimited bandwidth on virtual servers, but you may find that the fine print in their contracts states that they do indeed charge fees when a certain level of data transfer is surpassed. We state upfront how much bandwidth your site can use per month. If you need more bandwidth than is allotted, we can give you additional bandwidth for a small, graduated fee.

How can I get started right away even though my domain name has not yet transferred from my previous host?
You can access your site right away by pointing your FTP client to the IP address specified in the welcome e-mail you will receive from us when you sign up with Kaboom Hosting. Once your domain has propagated through the system, you can access FTP at www.yourdomain.com

Do I need a static IP address for my site?
Maybe. There are some advantages to having a unique IP for your site. When you change servers, you can point your users to a new IP, so they don't have to wait for the domain name change to propagate. With a static IP, it can also be simpler to upload and test your site before transferring the domain name to a new server. Setting up SSL for secure transactions is also much simpler. You may also not want to share your IP with some sites that could lead to your site being banned by search engines or spam lists.

Where should I put CGI scripts?
CGI scripts can be placed in any directory on your account, though by default there will be a cgi-bin set up for you in your server space. Be sure to follow the instructions for the script you are uploading regarding setting permissions on the files and folders you create, as they vary from script to script. Generally CGI scripts need to have permissions set to 755.

Can't I just get a DSL line or a cable modem and host the site or my own computer?
Sure, you could do that, but it's not a good idea for several reasons. First, vast majority of ISPs won't let you legally use a residential cable modem or a DSL line to host a public server. You would have to get a more expensive business package. Second, ADSL and cable lines usually have lower upstream bandwidth than downstream bandwidth, so your site may appear to be sluggish under heavy traffic. Third, DSL and cable lines have a much lower reliability than dedicated T1 or better lines. Fourth, you wouldn't have the benefit of data security, data backup, UPS power, and technical support that Kaboom can provide.