Question about paid hosting

[Chobits]

ok, i have been using free hosting for a long time and has finally got sick of how unreliable they are. So i have decided to pay for a website, but since im new to the "paying thing" i wanted to get a few things striaght.
in order to have a "www.name.com" website you need to register a domain and need hosting?? could anyone explain this in better detail?

[Pang]

Yes. You need a domain and hosting.

Some hosting provider will give you a free domain if you sign up with contract.

[Seldimis]

Well it depends. Getting www.name.com is different from web hosting. Getting a .com will only give you the url. You have to buy hosting (or find free which supports domain hosting) in order to use your domain. I suggest 76hosting.com (Don't see their Website, just contact support@76hosting.com)

[_Street_Fighter]

Some hosting companies do give you a free domain if you pay yearly... but some don't... if they do, then ask them for the info... if they don't then:
1) register the domain you want (around $9/yr)
2) find your host and tell them what your domain is and have them setup your account. They'll also tell you where to point your domain to (it's called nameservers)
3) Login to your account for your domain (the site where you registered your domain) and put in the nameservers for the hosting
4) Wait a few days for your domain to update your new domain settings and then you're all set...

Hosting is cheap now since its Christmas/New Year time so you'll find something for cheap... and domains are pretty cheap too (around $9/yr) so you'll be paying about $20-$40/yr for a decent amount of space and transfer/bandwidth...

- SF