Below are some of the most frequently asked questions we receive. If your question is not answered here, check our Support Center, post a message to our Community Forums, or open a ticket.
Non-technical Questions
1. How can I check my account information?
Your control panel will have all the information about your account, including the number of POP accounts and amount of disk space available, the current bandwidth usage for your account, billing links, and so on. If you have questions about your account that are not answered by the information in the control panel or billing system, please contact our technical support department via the helpdesk.
2. I see some hosts offering "unlimited bandwidth". Why don't you offer this?
Technically speaking, there is no such thing as "unlimited bandwidth". Someone has to pay for the traffic somewhere - and if you check the fine print of some service agreements from companies who claim to offer unlimited bandwidth, you'll probably find that they do charge for traffic over a certain amount or they limit the types of files you can use on your site. We dispense with the fine print, and don't restrict filetypes for our clients.
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3. Is there a minimum time contract/commitment?
Not at all. You can pay monthly, quarterly, or yearly. You can also cancel at any time (see the Acceptable Use Policy for policies regarding this).
4. How soon will my account be set up and ready for use?
Your account will be set up soon after your order has been received. All orders must undergo fraud screening prior to setup. Your site can be uploaded to our servers immediately after receiving the welcome email, which will contain the IP address for your account, plus your username and password. In fact, we recommend that clients start uploading their site as soon as possible after setup is complete, so that once domain transfer is completed, the site will be available for use by your visitors.
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5. Do I have access to update my site 24 hours a day?
Absolutely. Whether you're a day person or a night owl, your site is available for you to update.
6. Can you register a domain name for me? Can you set up domains other than .com, .org, and .net?
We can register a variety of domain extensions. Please see the knowledgebase for a complete, up to date listing of extensions and pricing.
7. Can I upgrade my plan or features later?
You can purchase new or expanded features, or upgrade to a new plan by contacting support via the helpdesk. There is no set up fee for upgrading.
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8. Do you offer a money back guarantee?
Yes. If for any reason during the first 30 days as a Hosting Matters customer, you are not completely satisfied with any of our services, we will cancel your account and refund your hosting fees. Fees for domain registration or renewal are nonrefundable, without exception.
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Technical Questions
1. How do I get my email?
If you're familiar with your email client's setup, use the following information to retrieve email from your POP account:
Incoming mail (POP3) server: yourdomain.com
Outgoing mail (SMTP) server: Use your ISP's outgoing mail server. If your ISP permits the sending of mail through server other than their own, you can also use yourdomain.com as the outgoing mail server.
Need more information on setting up a particular email client? Please visit our Support Center and check the knowledgebase area for email to view setup instructions for some of the most popular email clients.
2. I want to get started right away, but my domain name hasn't transferred/isn't in the database yet. How do I do it?
You can upload your page(s) immediately by pointing your FTP client to the IP address you were asssigned when you opened your account. After your domain is fully propagated through the system, you can upload to ftp.yourdomain.com.
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3. Is my site backed up? How often?
Backups are performed nightly on all servers. Rotating weekly and monthly backups are also retained. We highly recommend that all clients keep a current backup of their site content as a matter of habit in the event system backups are unusable for any reason.
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4. How fast are your connections? Who are the bandwidth providers?
The network at the facility where our servers are located is a mix of Tier 1 bandwidth providers, including Sprint, Qwest, TimeWarner Telecom (TWC), AT&T, and Level3, with dual-entry fiber rings. Connectivity is via DS-1s, DS-3s, and OC-12s provided by the facility operator, and further includes a private transport network between Jacksonville, Tampa, Charlotte, Louisville, and Raleigh.
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5. I changed my control panel password and now I can't get in.
Passwords are case sensitive and are limited to 15 characters. If you entered a password longer than 15 characters please try entering the first 15 characters when logging into your control panel.
6. What are your server specifications?
Our standard server has dual xeon, quad core processors, with at least 24G of RAM, and multiple SATA drives. All servers run CentOS Linux, with the Apache web server, PHP 5, and mySQL 5.
7. Do you have a secure certificate that I can use?
Yes, or you can use your own. Please see our Support Center for more information about secure certificates.
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