Not so Supa! *updated* (supanames.co.uk)

Member Name: fluffypup

Product:	supanames.co.uk
Date:	09/03/01 (2285 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, quick and easy to use and register

Disadvantages: See text, Can't upgrade to cheaper upgrade packages only the Premier Packages @ £99 a year!

My other half was in the midst of setting up a new business venture and was in need of a company website. Our criteria was simple, we just wanted a cheap and reliable website with it?s own domain name, email account (i.e. a pop3 account so that we could send and receive emails via outlook express) and a few megabits of web space. My previous experience of setting up websites involved free hosts, such as Geocities who provided an excellent service but included the words geocities.com in your URL ? which the company didn?t want! It was time to do turn to Dooyoo for some help. After browsing through the relevant web sections on Dooyoo; reading people?s opinions; weighing up the good and the bad points; and then referring to some websites until we eventually found Supanames.co.uk.

Unlike some of the catchy adverts dotted around the internet, magazines and newspapers, Supanames.co.uk allows you to not only register your own domain name BUT also provides other services like web space and an email account. For the then price of £15 you could register your own UK domain name and set up your account, via a secure server (look for the little yellow padlock!). Having a US domain name (.com or .net) was then available at £25 (now its £23.99 ex VAT). The only catch was that you required a minimum period of registration of 2 years. The company?s cost would be an all-inclusive £30. After reading all the small print, we decided to sign up on-line using our credit card (VISA or switch) on the Saturday lunchtime. We had our domain name registered mid-Monday morning and we uploaded our website on the Thursday. The whole process was totally hassle free!

Supanames.co.uk offer two packages ? value host or value host pro. The value host package gives you the domain name, registration, 35mB of web space, one free pop3 email account, WAP/CGI/Perl/Java server support (answers on a postcard) plus 24/7 ftp (file transfer protocol or anytime
uploading) and unlimited web h

osting. The value host pro package gives you the same package but is enhanced with unlimited email accounts, bulletin boards, guest books, FrontPage extensions and password protected directories etc. Check out their website for more details. As we only wanted the basics we weren?t all that interested in the pro package. Our only concerns were the need for FrontPage extensions (as we were going to use FrontPage 2000 to design the website). The basic host package required an extra £25 per year for having this upgrade. As my skills of web page design were and only at a basic level the need for an interactive service (forms and buying on-line etc) could possibly later ? also depends on the success of the business (can it afford it) and how reliant it?s e-commerce capabilities might be in the future.

The only way of uploading your website from your computer to the Internet was via an ?ftp? programme. Whereas, sites like Geocities you could also upload files using their file manager systems. Although, Supanames state that the ftp is free the statement isn?t entirely true. Supanames recommend using ?CuteFTP? which is a shareware programme. It is free to download off the ?Net (about 1.5 Mb) but can only be used freely for a month and then you have to pay $39.95 to continue to use it. As programmes go it?s very simple to use and highly recommended but paying an additional $39.95 add to your costs.

The Supanames.co.uk website itself is very orange & white, easy to navigate and the sections are clearly labelled (sign up, packages, information, prices, guarantees, customer services, news and current status). If you are unsure you are only a click away from a rather helpful email support. Access to your own account is carried out via site control. You are given a username and password that you need to input to gain access to your domain ? although uploading and fil
e transfer is done via the FTP programme. One small criticism is that you can?t enter y
our o
wn username and you are stuck with the password you are given.

So is Supanames.co.uk really Supa? We have experienced two problems with our website. Firstly, we couldn?t gain access to our site after periods where the server was down. Secondly, we had a Microsoft Windows NT message page replace our website. This doesn?t help a business do business! Why pay £30 for 2 years when you can?t even access your own web page? This was only a minor hitch and it was later discovered that the company is relocating and changing operating system (OS) from Windows NT to LINUX, which they claim will be faster and more reliable, although they state that the new OS might interfere with some codes.

Email response and registration was quick and efficient. If you are unhappy with the level of service you receive via an email query, they provide a supervisor?s email address and telephone number to contact. All prices and information are clearly defined and laid out. I find it a bit naughty that they now list their prices excluding VAT. I?m also a bit unhappy about the possible extra cost of £24 per year to shell out on FrontPage extensions, as Microsoft?s html programme package has to be one of the most widely used packages for web/html design (It?s also one of the best, well FrontPage 2000 anyway. That?s only after I completely the two tutorials on the MS website).

The only disadvantages of using a company like Supanames.co.uk rather than Geocities.com are the lack of availability of add-ons like counters, guest-books, calendars and site statistics. This necessarily isn?t the fault of Supanames. They only provide a web hosting services, although the pro package gives you the guest-book options. These add-ons can easily be picked up via other Internet sides like Honesty.com or Bravenet.com. The company doesnR
17;t promote these extras but just provides a cheap, reliable (when it?s not changing servers) and relatively trouble free service, although
if they c
ould provide them across the two host packages would elevate their supaness!

Is it Supanames, Supa? Well, they are a quite good web host. They are relatively cheap at £15 per year (although, this has just changed to £13.99 ex VAT or £16.48 incl. VAT), provides a comfortable 35Mb of space and 24/7 file transfer to your site. Compared to other web hosts listed in the same sections on Dooyoo, Supanames looked the more attractive on grounds of providing not just a domain name, but web space, email and price. Some sites offer cheap domain names but don?t give you the web hosting capabilities. We would like to say that it provides a fast and reliable service but at the moment we can?t! We have experienced problems with servers being down and Microsoft Windows NT information pages instead of our business website. To be fair to the company, they have stated that they are in the process of re-location and changing its software operating systems from Windows NT to LINUX (which is regarded as inherently more reliable and faster). Therefore, the label of sometimes-Supa might be more appropriate.

Update 15/4/01:

We?ve experienced nothing but problems with our website. Most Sunday mornings we were unable to access our site on-line. Last week we had an email to say we had 24 hours to upload our whole website to their new Linux servers, as the existing Windows based servers would stop working. Thanks for the sufficient notice guys ? NOT! Why couldn?t Supa transfer our website from the old to the new servers themselves? After our initial 2 years, we?re be transferring to another service. As supanames.co.uk aren?t all that Supa anymore!

Update 3/7/03:

I'm appauled by the level of customer service. Whilst your site goes down, which can be very regular. They don't ever seem to be in a hurry to give either an explanation or an apology. As for asking for an upgrade - don't bother unless you want the premier accoun
t!

Summary: