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PRIME CHOICE
Frequently Asked Questions
| This page answers Prime Choices most frequently asked questions. For support related questions please go to the support page. |
| Who is Prime Choice? Prime Choice is a Web Hosting provider and was formed in early 1997 to provide the most economical, full serviced Web Hosting services in the nation. Many reasons! Generally ISP rates are much higher the Prime Choices. ISP's hardware must support dial-in access. An ISP may get into trouble by way of un-controlled expansion and allow their equipment to become overburdened making your web site slow. Technically a Virtual Domain is an association of an IP address and file structure on our server, and a registered domain name with the Internic. What that means is that that you can find a home for your web site on our Sun SPARCstation web servers and establish a presence on the internet. People that access your account get there by "http://www.yourname.com" instead of "http://www.isp.com/~yourname" Prime Choice will help register your own domain name which will become your unique address on the World Wide Web. The benefits of having your own domain name relate both to marketing and flexibility. From a marketing stand point, every time a user access your site the type your name, you no longer appear as if your renting space from another provider. Regarding flexibility you are no longer tied to a single Web Hosting provider, not even Prime Choice. You are free to move your site where ever you wish and your name stays the same. Its your property. E-mail address stability is another plus. You are now free to shop ISP's and if you move, your email address moves with you. Your e-mail address would look like this name@yourname.com For the most part a Virtual Server and Virtual Domain are different names for the same thing. Its often a matter of semantics. Any provider that offers the basic services described in the Virtual Domain section of this FAQ could call their service a "Virtual Domain" or "Virtual Server". Prime Choice uses Virtual Server to describe a virtual domain account with added features, such as additional space, bandwidth, etc. What domain names are available? Good domain names are going quickly. To check to see if the domain name you want to use is available you can use the WHOIS server at Internic. How do I get my own Domain Name? When you sign up for a Virtual Domain or Virtual Server Prime Choice submit the domain name request to the Internic. How much does it cost to have my own domain? This is probably the best part. Prime Choices "Virtual" accounts are low cost high value accounts. The InterNIC fees are currently $100 for the first two years and $50 a year there after. Transferring existing domain to Prime Choice? Yes! Transferring your existing site to Prime Choice is easy. Prime Choice's rates and service are strong incentives for making the switch. Just check the "transfer" box on the online order form and Prime Choice will assist you with the transfer. Prime Choice is available to maintain your site and provide updates when necessary. Web Site maintenance includes updates, reports on the number of visitors, forwarding any relevant e-mails or other inquiries, and site hosting. We always recommend regular updates and current information to provide incentive for people to return. Our servers are located in a dedicated purpose-built facility on the outskirts of Washington DC. What sort of servers do you run? We run exclusively on Sun SPARCstation servers, each with 32Mb RAM and 2Gb hard drives, running Solaris 2.5 and the Apache Web Servers. These are multi-thousand dollar, high-quality Internet-ready servers, which have been designed from the outset to reliably serve large numbers of files across networks, and to run unattended for days or weeks. Many other web space providers will use ordinary desktop PCs to serve your site, which suffer from poorer performance and greater failure rates. What are your network connections like? Our web servers have a T-3/45Mb optically fiber line installed. This line supports a handful of servers. The bandwidth is better than average even for more expensive accounts and our limits are generous so you can have a very popular site and expect no additional costs. What cgi scripts are available? Prime Choice has a very large CGI library built up of scripts available on the Internet. Some work straight out of the box, most need a little configuration. Remember, if we don't run it, then you can always install it in your own area and use it from there. Glimpse - a fast, powerful, search engine mSQL - database system, with WWW extensions Imagemaps Feedback forms Graphical and text counters Lots, lots more... All our account holders get unlimited support by phone and e-mail. What do I need to access the server? Prime Choice does not offer dial in access. This allows us to dedicate our servers to Web Hosting. . This means that you will still need your current dial-up account, from companies like Erols, Netcom, AOL or CompuServe, to access our servers. Because prices and services change often you may want to consult Iworlds ISP List Prime Choice does meter bandwidth usage, nor do we charge extra for "going" over a pre-defined limit. The only sites that are likely to exceed our limits are those sites that carry prohibited content. General Guidelines
If your account continuously exceeds these limits and you are not carrying prohibited content Prime Choice will attempt to work with you. Any sites carrying objectionable material will be terminated upon detection. Do you offer Java... Streamed audio? Our servers are 100% Java compatible. Developed by Sun Microsystems, the manufacturer of all our server equipment -- we are ideally placed to take advantage of this rapidly developing technology. The Java runtime compiler is installed and available to all. We also offer the Vocaltec InternetWave streamed audio facility, for real-time playback of audio streams. The server, encoder, and player are all free. Do you offer web page design services? Yes! Prime Choice can offer very competitive, Web Page Design, including custom CGI and JAVA scripting. Please see our design pages org contact sales@primechoice.com for more information. What about commercial use of my account? Most Prime Choice accounts are commercial accounts. You are free to conduct any legitimate business over the Internet. Virtual Domains and Virtual Server accounts are free to resale their space. What contract and payment terms are available? All accounts are monthly accounts with three month minimums. The startup costs have been kept to a minimum to get you off to a good start. When you order an account you will pay the setup fee and one months hosting fee. In thirty days, you will be billed for the next three month increment. Prime Choice accepts most major credit cards, money orders and business checks. Business checks must clear before and account will be opened so in this respect it is the least often method of payment. How long does it take to set up a new account? Most orders are processed the same day. Sometimes you can have your account up and running in less than four hours. Registering with the InterNIC can take up to 72 hours, but your account will be built and you can access by direct IP address right away. Acceptable Use and Content Policy Prime Choice prohibits any content that is deemed unlawful by the United States of America. Additionally, Prime Choice prohibits any CONTENT that that is hate oriented or slanderous of any race. Prime Choice has a large number of customers that are distantly Christian in nature and has chosen to NOT host any site, that is direct opposition to the gospel message. This reflects both the mind set of the Prime Choice proprietors and the community which we have been formed to serve. We ask that you not be offended by out position. We can agree to disagree on each others personal convictions. Prime Choice does not and will not support any attempts to legislate the prohibition of any religious organization on or off the Internet. We simply believe that there are ample hosting companies available that share your convictions and vision for your heart felt beliefs and thus are better suited to provide you quality hosting. Beyond these restrictions, most of Prime Choices Content restrictions are geared around bandwidth usage. Prime Choice alone reserves the right to determine which sites that will be hosted and content that is acceptable. If you have any questions about acceptable contact please contact Prime Choice before
You can place an order 24 hours a day by filling out one of the online forms. You will get immediate response from Prime Choice's auto-responder and follow up e-mail and instructions as soon as the account has been set up. |
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