Domain name+webhosting+internet access. Do they need to be with the same provider?

krishna

I'm the treasurer of a community nursery and we are planning to set up a website, but also looking for broadband access. Nursery currently uses PAYG dial up which is working out very expensive.

Three questions:
Does it make sense to combine access with website/domain name with a single provider?

Would there be any advantage in splitting them?

What would the best option be price-wise and can you recommend any providers?

The service will be used weekdays during the day only and it's not going to be very high usage. I use Freedom 2 Surf personally and am limited to 2Gig. I have never gone above that and rarely go above 1 gig. I don't imagine they will use any more than me. Only going to be used for web browsing and email.

Hillfly

You could go for a broadband isp that gives you free webspace (eg Virgin.net).
Or you could go for free hosting (like https://www.jamroll.co.uk).

Some places will let you have url masking when you buy your domain name through them. For example i bought a website through https://www.lowcostnames.co.uk. I then set the web masking to point to my free virgin webspace. So when a user typed in my https://www.domainname.com address they were directed to the freewebspace but it looked like they were accessing a genuine hosted site.

Only limits with using free web space from an isp are that you can only connect to the webspace to upload a web page using that isp. So if you change awy from them you will need to move the site too.

intel

All I would say is if its a business just stay away from domain names
that also include the hosters domain aswell as the address is long and
dosnt do your site any favours and is a pain to tell people.

A free one ive got http://www.intels.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

Now if this was a bought one it wouldnt have (.pwp.blueyonder)

And I use https://www.34sp.com for my bought sites for hosting and Domain
and then there is no confusion with whom im with or what I pay.

krishna

Thanks for that. As you say, though if you move ISP then you need to move your webspace. I have done that before (still do) with other sites I have set up. e.g. http://www.healingway.org.uk. I purchased domain through simplynames (when they were still providing cheap domain names) and that forwards to my free webspace at http://www.a3k.f2s.com/healingway. Problem is that initially I was with nildram and it forwarded there. Google picks up on the actual location, so it registered my nildram address. Same happened with many of the sites that were providing links. I'd like to avoid that.

You suggest using domain masking. Not keen on that as it mucks up people's bookmarks and from my investigations some time ago it causes accessibility problems for some people. So ideally looking for proper web hosting with my domain fully supported.

mr_fishbulb

I got my internet access through IDNet, my webspace through MacHosting, and my domain name through 123-reg and they all work. So no they don't need to be the same

intel

mr_fishbulb wrote:

I got my internet access through IDNet, my webspace through MacHosting, and my domain name through 123-reg and they all work. So no they don't need to be the same

I agree it doesnt need to be the same but if they are its only one payment.

krishna

Just looked at MacHosting. Seem to provide a good basic offering for £20 per year. Intel's offering is possibly a little cheaper at £17.95 per year with smaller bandwidth. So with both these options I can purchase a cheap domain name somewhere and then use either of these for web hosting? Will that then be invisible to others? i.e. if they click on a link on the site, will the address bar in the browser still show, e.g. https://www.healingway.org.uk/aboutus.html, or will the name of the hosting company appear?

Also is there any advantage to using different companies for each part; either price or performance?

intel

krishna wrote:

Just looked at MacHosting. Seem to provide a good basic offering for £20 per year. Intel's offering is possibly a little cheaper at £17.95 per year with smaller bandwidth. So with both these options I can purchase a cheap domain name somewhere and then use either of these for web hosting? Will that then be invisible to others? i.e. if they click on a link on the site, will the address bar in the browser still show, e.g. https://www.healingway.org.uk/aboutus.html, or will the name of the hosting company appear?

Also is there any advantage to using different companies for each part; either price or performance?

It will just be https://www.adressinsertedhere.com or uk or whatever no company names involved as like my free space mentioned earlier.

krishna

Is there much variation in the kind of site statistics one can get between different companies? e.g. Macuser and 34sp both mentioned here, will I get information on hits/visits, links, where people have found the site, return visits, file downloads, etc.?

Stompa

It's perhaps worth noting that if you use Masked URL forwarding then it does look to the user as if they're accessing a genuine hosted site. However, if they do a right-click on the page and choose 'Properties' it will reveal the actual address of the site.

Stompa

mr_fishbulb

Stompa wrote:

It's perhaps worth noting that if you use Masked URL forwarding then it does look to the user as if they're accessing a genuine hosted site. However, if they do a right-click on the page and choose 'Properties' it will reveal the actual address of the site.

Stompa

That's what happened when I used to use my 123-reg domain with my free ISP space, but now I use MacHosting, I changed the nameservers in 123-reg and it's all hooked together now.