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C O M M O N Q U E S T I O N S A S K E D
Our FAQ section answers questions that are aimed at both Mad Web Design and also our sister hosting company 123 Internet
Q: What are the setup fees and monthly costs involved?
A: Mad Web Design recommends webhosting packages ordered through 123 Internet. The full rates for hosting packages are shown on the 123 Internet web Hosting pages.
Q: How do I set up my email?
A: Mad Web Design clients using 123 Internet hosting can set up POP Accounts, Forwarders/Aliases, & Auto-Responders in the Web Browser Control Panel which comes with every 123 Internet hosting package. This can be done by yourself, and without any assistance from the Mad Web or 123 Internet staff, although we would be more than happy to manage this on your behalf.
Q: How do I upload my files?
A: All 123 Internet hosting packages allow the usage of FTP, Telnet, SSH, File Manager, MS FrontPage™, and other web development publishing programs, to upload files to your website.
Q: Is there a trial period or money-back guarantee?
A: This is not a valid option for Mad Web Design or 123 Internet to operate as we are both in this business for the long term not just five minutes after making substantial investment in our and your future.
Q: How fast are websites set up?
A: 123 Internet strives for a setup time of no more than 60 minutes per order. If an order is placed during normal business day hours, orders may be processed in only a few minutes ready for Mad Web Design to upload your web site.
Q: Does my website get a control panel?
A: Yes. Every 123 Internet hosting package comes with a web browser based control panel. The control panel includes many features including; email configurations, mailing lists, pre-installed cgi scripts, databases, chat rooms, and much, much, more... The Windows NT™ account control panels run on a Red Hat™ Linux backend, and feature email based features only.
Q: How am I billed?
A: Mad Web Design invoices you via email. You will receive an invoice for your web site design. 123 Internet service/account are purchased on line using the PayPal checkout secure system in advance. Special arrangements can be made for custom billing requirements. Mad Web Design and 123 Internet accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Bank Transfers, and PayPal (tim@madwebdesign.co.uk or hello@123-internet.co.uk).
Q: How much assistance do you provide for my website?
A: Mad Web Design will assist you with all support for services provided directly thru Mad Web Design. Mad Web design and 123 Internet will help you with basic settings for your email software and ftp client, as well as assist you with using the web browser control panel.
Mad Web Design and 123 Internet are not responsible for teaching you how to use another company's products. Example: We will assist you with the settings for using MS Frontpage™, but we will not teach you how to actually use the product itself. You need to contact the software maker in such a situation, who provides tech support for how to use their product. we cannot even attempt to support all the thousands of software products on the market. We will attempt to provide some tech support for the most popular programs our clients use.
Mad Web Design and 123 Internet are not responsible for assisting with your own programs and cgi scripts. If you choose to install your own programs and cgi scripts on your site, you are responsible fully for installing them. 123 Internet will provide support for any program or cgi script that we provide pre-installed with your web hosting package.
Mad Web Design and 123 Internet are not responsible for developing your website, including HTML and/or images that you have created and uploaded. We will attempt to give a quick look at your design/development problem, and offer a suggestion if it is a small issue. Anything complicated relating to design/development is not the responsibility of Mad Web Design or 123 Internet.
Q: What if the hardware fails?
A: 123 Internet stocks replacement parts for all servers. 123 Internet is always building new servers for our shared hosting clients, as well as our dedicated server clients, so a full inventory of parts is maintained. Hardware failures are uncommon, but they do happen, and are a part of the hosting business. 123 Internet repairs all failed hardware promptly, to minimize any downtime caused by such.
Q: Are there any hidden costs?
A: No. All costs are stated plainly on our website. We do not hide fees in fineprint, or in our terms of service pages. The only costs that are commonly found to occur beyond your expected flat monthly rates per service, are those due to increased disk space or bandwidth usage. Pricing for such is plainly stated on our website. 123 Internet very often will allow you to upgrade your packages to the next size up, should you see an increase in disk space levels or bandwidth usage for the current month, and not want to pay for such additional usage. Disk space usage and availability, as well as estimated bandwidth usage, is available to you in the majority of the control panel versions included with the hosting packages.
Q: What is Cpanel™?
A: CPanel™ is the brand name of the web browser control panel software that Mad Web utilizes on its web hosting packages.
Q: What happens if I decide to leave 123 Internet?
A: You are free to leave at any time.
Q: May I have some examples of some sites designed by you?
A: Mad Web has an example page for review available to the public on it's website.
Q: Does my website have their own IP number or is it shared?
A: This depends on the type of hosting packages you order. Traditionally all 123 Internet shared hosting packages come with a shared IP address. 123 Internet dedicated servers have the ability to utilize IP based, or IPless, virtual hosting configurations.
Q: What type of support do you offer? Average Response Time?
A: Mad Web Design and 123 Internet offer support to our clients 24/7/365 via email, messenger and phone. We strive for response times of no more than a few hours. Response times of just a few minutes are quite common during normal business hours.
Q: What are the hardware specs of the servers?
A: Every server at 123 Internet has different specifications. Whenever a server reaches what we feel to be the limit, another server is built. 123 Internet is constantly upgrading the server hardware on our network. If more drive space, memory, or faster processors are needed, they are added in at that time. The average shared server is a QUAD XEON processor system, with 4048MB RAM, and RAID hard drive(s). All 123 Internet servers run spare hard drives for backup requirements.
Q: Can I have adult content on my website?
A: Yes, you can have adult content on your websites.
Q: May I view your Terms Of Service?
A: The Mad Web Design and 123 Internet terms of service, including policy and service guidelines, are available online.
Q: Do you support International domain names and clients?
A: 123 Internet can host all international domains on its servers. 123 Internet can accept foreign clientele, just please be advised that all correspondence must be conducted in English. The client is responsible for handling the registration process of foreign domain name(s). This must be pointed to nameservers on the 123 Internet network as assigned, or you can use other nameservers and route the domain name to the IP address (if you purchase a dedicated IP address) you are assigned. 123 Internet cannot handle the foreign domain registration process for you, due to the fact that we do not speak all of the potential foreign languages that may be involved. 123 Internet will assist you however, with any technical information need to accomplish this.
Q: How do I transfer my domain name?
A: 123 Internet will attempt to file the necessary electronic forms for your domain name transfer with InterNIC. If 123 Internet is unable to file such with your specific domain name registrar, 123 Internet will send you instructions on how to do such yourself, including all necessary technical details. Clients may opt to not have 123 Internet handle the domain name transfer, or to delay doing such, as an option on the web hosting order form required for signup.
Q: What if my site breaks your "acceptable usage policy" rules?
A: Users' sites may be suspended for violations of policy, or if extreme, or second time offenders, sites may be cancelled. Each occurrence is dealt with on a case by case basis, and we try to work things out with every client. Notifications will be sent, if Mad Web takes any action on your account.
Q: What if I want to upgrade my website?
A: You may upgrade or downgrade your 123 Internet hosting package at any time. You will be required to pay the difference in the setup fee for your current plan, and the plan you are upgrading to, should you decide to choose a larger plan. You will then pay the new monthly fee for the new account package that you select.
Q: How is my website monitored?
A: 123 Internet maintains internal and external monitoring systems for every server in the 123 Internet Data Center. The servers are checked every 5 minutes via network monitoring software. 123 Internet monitors uptime as well as individual features and services running on each server. 123 Internet staff is notified via alarms, email, screen popups, and paging, if a problem occurs.
Q: What is the uptime?
A: 123 Internet strives to maintain a 99.5% network and server uptime service level. This uptime percentage is a monthly figure, and does not include any scheduled hardware/software upgrades, nor "Acts of God". Our definition of "Act of God" includes; fire, flood, tornado, earthquake, telco fiber issues (ie...Verizon™ cutting a fiber line somewhere), backbone peering point issues (ie...UUnet™ having a router go down in Virginia that wipes out internet service for the entire East Coast), hard drive failure (faulty hardware is rare, but cannot be predicted nor avoided), as well as network floods, hacks, and attacks. If Mad Web fails to meet it's 99.5% uptime guarantee, and it is not due to one of the above reasons, partial downtime credits will be made available to each client, upon request, on a case by case basis. 123 Internet does not credit a full month's service if we only have 99.4% uptime. This would not be financially healthy for 123 Internet, and in turn would only negatively affect the service level 123 Internet provides to you. "Partial refunds for partial downtime" is our standard policy.
Q: What is your connectivity to the Internet?
A: 123 Internet is connected to one of Chicago's premier hosting providers, providing reliable, scalable solutions for customers of all sizes and services. Located in the carrier-neutral Equinix Chicago Data Center, 123 Internet has access to all the major carriers in Chicago without the need for local loop circuits. Fore more information check this page.
Q: Do you have battery backups and generators?
A: Our Network Operations Center is backed up and protected by UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) systems. In a very rare case of utility outages, our auto-start generators start automatically, taking over for the UPS system and supplying all necessary power for our Network Operations Center. APC™, Tripp-Lite™, & Liebert™ UPS Systems provide the power backups, along with Kohler™ generator systems.
Q: What kind of security does the 123 Internet Data Centre have?
A: The 123 Internet Data Centre in Chicago, IL USA is a high security facility. Double metal security doors, with interior gating, protect the main entrance to the facility. The windows-less facility has advanced security, fire, temperature, and flood alarms, directly piped into the Security Monitoring Company via phone, cellular, and internet connections. A 16-camera digital video system monitors the interior and exterior of the Data Center. This video system is monitored internally at the facility and externally from the Mad Web Sales/Support office. The video data is recorded live both on and off site, and stored for several months ahead. Visitors cannot gain access into the facility without employee escort. The physical servers and equipment area is secured from the visitor's area by huge metal doors, as well as metal sheeting and bulletproof glass walls. Armed guards are planned for the future, but not a necessity at this junction.
Q: What about software upgrades?
A: 123 Internet handles all software upgrades/patches on the shared hosting servers. We fully follow all trends in the industry, and monitor all support/bug announcement groups. If a new bug or security vulnerability is found, 123 Internet immediately upgrades our systems. Microsoft™ regularly release patches for the Windows™ based systems, and 123 Internet auto-updates the Linux systems every night from security patch websites. As new software is released, including new versions of operating systems, 123 Internet evaluates the new software. If the software's new version does not have any security issues, or bug problems, the upgrade is implemented.
Q: What if the server my website is on gets hacked or attacked?
A: Individually hacked websites are rare. If such occurs, usually they are a target for a reason; hate sites, pirated software, etc... 123 Internet does not host such websites. If such materal is found on a Mad Web server, it is deleted immediately and the user's account cancelled. Usually the target is the whole server itself. Hackers usually go after a server just to say that "they did", or to use the server to bounce off of to hack something more important. Rarely are any users' files on the server damaged, erased, or modified. For this reason, once a hacker is detected, a server can usually be cleaned up and the hacker locked back out within a matter of hours. At that time the server is restored to full security levels, as if the hack has never occurred. Most hackers get into a system thru valid user accounts. We recommend you use complicated passwords for your account. Mad Web strictly reviews all orders for new clients, to make sure they are legitimate. Unfortunately, some fake orders do get thru the system, and that is one way a hacker can gain initial access. Mad Web runs security checks on the servers daily, so even if a hacker does get in, they are found and dealt with quickly. Most hackers are not malicious, they are just playing or testing their abilities. If an individual attacks the whole 123 Internet Data Center, measures are in place to cut off such floods and attacks automatically at the backbone level and the router level. Mad Web also uses firewall technology to fend off most common methods of flooding and attacks to the network.
Q: How is extra bandwidth billed?
A: 123 Internet maintains software on every server and on the switches to monitor individual website usage and server-wide usage. Bandwidth is billed per Gigabyte (GB) over your monthly allocation, rounded up to the nearest Gigabyte. Usually between the 3rd and 5th of the month you will receive your bandwidth overage billing, if applicable, for the preceding month's usage.
Q: What is included in my website package?
A: 123 Internet provides full hardware, software, support, and system administration for your 123 Internet shared hosting solution. The software provided includes the operating system, ftp & email software, web server software, and a control panel. 123 Internet even includes free e-commerce shopping cart software. Everything you need to conduct business on the Internet, or maintain a personal website, is included in your 123 Internet hosting solution.
123 Internet will provide basic support on services/software that we provide you with your account. 123 Internet does not develop your website for you, nor provide tech support on how to use software products that we do not provide to your directly...even if we do support them. We are always more than willing to help you if we can though with external issues, time permitting...
Q: How many sites are currently running on per server?
A: 123 Internet does not have a set quantity of domains running on each machine. We find that ten domains can utilize more resources than 200 others. 123 Internet monitors each server's performance levels and attempts to maintain a low server load average and high cpu availability. As needed, 123 Internet will upgrade the hardware, to increase server performance. Individual domains that become to much for the server to handle, and utilize too much server resources, are moved to servers set up specifically for such resource intensive accounts.
Q: Why should I choose 123 Internet as my webhost?
A: Simple. 123 Internet maintains one of the most feature rich hosting packages on the market, so advanced that many hosting companies cannot compete. 123 Internet was one of the first hosting companies in the industry to offer technical support via Instant Messanger, as well as to offer high bandwidth packages (20GB+ per month) to the general public. 123 Internet offers Cpanel™ & WebHostManager™ on it's packages, the premier software in the business.
Q: How do I get started?
A: Simple! Just select you New Account on the 123 Internet web site after consulting with Mad Web Design (if Mad Web Design are managig your new web site), once your payment has been processed You will receive details shortly afterwards about how to proceed with your new 123 Internet Hosting Account!
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