When the Internet breaks, who do you call?
I don’t really punt myself as a website hosting expert, but I have helped out a few of my clients in the past by offering cheap, simple web hosting. Web hosting is a great service for a freelance web designer to offer because it generally costs next-to-nothing to run. Until something breaks.
The strange thing about hosting problems are that they aren’t normally the fault of the person hosting the website. Of the 10-20 hosting support calls I get each month, I’ve only ever had 1 server outage.
So, if you host a website and you’re not sure who does what, here’s a 3-step guide to “who to call when the Internet breaks”.
1. Can you get on to the Internet?
If you can get on to the Internet, try going to a website that’s updated often (I use skynews.com). If the page loads you have an Internet connection. If it doesn’t, your connection is the problem.
Phone the person who provides you with your Internet connection (usually a phone company or ISP) for assistance.
2. Does your email work?
Now that you’re on the Internet, can you receive email? If your normal email client (MS Outlook, Thunderbird, whatever) shows a send/receive error, try going into your email via the Internet. If you have your own domain, this is often done by visiting http://webmail.yourdomain.com and entering your email username/password.
If this works your email is fine and it’s your Desktop software that’s broken. Phone the person who maintains your computer for assistance. If, on the other hand your webmail account doesn’t work and you’ve confirmed that you have an Internet connection, phone your hosting provider for assistance.
3. Does your website work?
If you’ve checked your Internet connection and your Webmail, and everything works except your website, phone the person who maintains your site (incidentally, that person
Thats it. If you follow these 3 simple steps, you should always phone the right service provider and get your problem fixed without having to threaten mass murder.
Bonus step: If nothing works, check to see if your computer is switched on.
Great advice! I find that regardless of who is best suited to solve the problem, people want to call the person who is easiest to reach.
I agree with Kim above, often times it’s the conscientious person who goes the extra mile that gets the call first. I got called once because a client’s broadband was down to see if I could “pop round and have a quick look”!