How long have your host been in business ?

[ibfw]

How can someone find out how long a HOSTING company has been in business ?

Can you find out if they changed their name ?

when you do a WHOIS look-up and you see like Record created on 19-May-2000.
can you rely on that ?

I see some hosts claimed they've been providing service since 1999 but when you do WHOIS sometimes it says Record created on 22-June-2003.

maybe they changed their hosting name and the NEW name was created that date ?

How do you get correct records ?

[WebCash]

You cant its impossible unless you ask customers. Some hosts have whois protect which means you cant see anything anyway

[ExoWorks]

It always better to check them out at http://webhosting.info, it gives some good information about the host. How many sites they host etc..

[Riverworld]

It depends on whom they are, and where they're from.

For example, you can look us up on the Australian Business Registar and it'll show all the dates you need to see. These types of methods are the most reliable...

I remember a discussion previous about an ISP. They had changed their domain name in about 1998, yet they started business in 1994. In the end, someone pointed out the ABR records showed it was indeed 1994.

[ibfw]

Thanks RW, the A B R would only show Australian Hosts tho, correct ?


Name Servers:
ns1.riverworld.net
ns2.riverworld.net

Creation date: 10 Apr 2003 21:54:30
Expiration date: 10 Apr 2006 21:54:30


When you RENEW your registration in 2006 will it show
Creation date: blah blah 2006 ?


This would make the WHOIS DATABASE rather un-accurate won't it ?



Thanks for all the inputs folks, keep them coming.




.

[Riverworld]

Even if you renew a domain name, the creation date stays the same.

How do I know? I originally registered riverworld.net for one year ;)

[Trel]

Take us for example, we started in early 2000 and then in late 2001 went through rebranding. The domain that we used through 2001 is now expired back into the domain pool.

Now to the point. A whois record can give you a good idea of how long the host has been in business but, that may not be all you need. I'd say you can take the word of a webhosting provider that seems honest enough if you have reasonable evidence they have been in business for a long time anyway.

Just my two cents.

[lksoh]

If you renew 30-60(depending on registrars) days after your domain expire your reation date will be the new date. But if you renew before it expires the domain creation date stays the same.

[ibfw]

Even if you renew a domain name, the creation date stays the same.

How do I know? I originally registered riverworld.net for one year ;)

I'm not sure about that, why ?
Because a few months ago Vespacious (http://www.freewebspace.net/forums/member.php?u=15974) mentioned that Vespacious.com (http://www.vespacious.com) has been in business since 1999, I checked on GoDaddy WHoIs (http://www.godaddy.com/) and it did say created sometime in 1999

This week I re-checked and got this

Domain Name: VESPACIOUS.COM
Created on: 29-Oct-03
Expires on: 29-Oct-04
Last Updated on: 01-Jul-04

:confused4 :confused4


LifeLess P , over 3 years ? :applaudin
Yourself and netspace are the only 2 I KNOW of on this forum thats been hosting more than 3 years, more may have been but they havent posted that information on here.





If you renew 30-60(depending on registrars) days after your domain expire your reation date will be the new date. But if you renew before it expires the domain creation date stays the same.

Thanks for that tid-bit, that may have explained my above comment on Vespacious Creation date on the WhoIs :



...................................................

[Riverworld]

If you renew 30-60(depending on registrars) days after your domain expire your reation date will be the new date. But if you renew before it expires the domain creation date stays the same.

Well if you go over your expiration date, then yes you'll receive a new creation date. Your domain expired.

[Decker]

Going by domain name isnt really a great test.

eg. Someone starts up in 2004, but buys a domain name from someone else who reg'd it in 1994 then claims to have been in business for 10 years.

You should try, ask the host, if they have a forum pop in and ask the question of the customers. Mike_R's suggested site http://www.webhosting.info is a goldmine as far as geting info goes, I think the best one is checking your nameservers to see if your on an overloaded server.

[NetConEdge]

I'm not sure about that, why ?
Because a few months ago Vespacious (http://www.freewebspace.net/forums/member.php?u=15974) mentioned that Vespacious.com (http://www.vespacious.com) has been in business since 1999, I checked on GoDaddy WHoIs (http://www.godaddy.com/) and it did say created sometime in 1999

This week I re-checked and got this


:confused4 :confused4


LifeLess P , over 3 years ? :applaudin
Yourself and Vespacious are the only 2 I KNOW of on this forum thats been hosting more than 3 years, more may have been but they havent posted that information on here.






Thanks for that tid-bit, that may have explained my above comment on Vespacious Creation date on the WhoIs :



\
Hi,

Do you know who mentioned that we have been in Bussenis since 1999? Because that is NOT correct ,vespacious is operating under the name vespacious since 2003. Before we did not offer hosting via a company , so 2003 was the first year we registered the domain :).


Stijn

[Decker]

Just goes to show doesn't it ;/

[ibfw]

Hi,

Do you know who mentioned that we have been in Bussenis since 1999? Because that is NOT correct ,vespacious is operating under the name vespacious since 2003. Before we did not offer hosting via a company , so 2003 was the first year we registered the domain :).


Stijn

Just checked some threads, its my mistake, sorry, I meant Netspace (http://www.freewebspace.net/forums/showpost.php?p=458393&postcount=4) with netspaceinternet.com (http://www.netspaceinternet.com) ( no i'm not doubting Netspaceinternet ) this discussion is to see the accuracy of WHOIS databases

sorry for the confusion, but heres the status from Godaddy WHOIS search on
netspaceinternet.com

Creation Date: 02-Sep-2001
Expiration Date: 02-Sep-2006
Domain servers in listed order:
ns1.speedwebhosting.com
ns1.virtualserverhost.com


...

[Jan]

My host has been around since 1998. I am not sure of all the companies he has within the edit group, so I will list the three I know of :)

Domain Name: AUSSIEHOSTS.COM

Registrant:
EDIT Group
Gary Meadows ()
PO Box 455
Kallangur
QLD,4503
AU
Tel. +617.34805496

Creation Date: 02-Nov-2000
Expiration Date: 02-Nov-2004

Domain Name: ENHANCEDHOST.COM

Registrant:
EDIT Group
Gary Meadows ()
PO Box 455
Kallangur
QLD,4503
AU
Tel. +617.34805496

Creation Date: 06-Oct-2001
Expiration Date: 06-Oct-2004

Domain Name: PLESK6RESELLERS.COM
Reseller..............: Edit Group
Created on............: 30/07/2003 00:00:00
Expires on............: 29/07/2004 00:00:00
Record last updated on: 30/07/2003 00:00:00
Status................: ACTIVE


Owner, Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Billing Contact:
EDIT Group
Gary Meadows (ID00002382)
PO Box 455

I will get Gary to fill you in on the others.

[Trel]

Being around since '98 is a very big accomplishment to say the very least.

Also on the note of us being around for 3 years, thank you. We're very proud of that and are even happier to be well into our fourth. :bandit2:

[Riverworld]

Congradulations Zach, it is a great achievement, and I think it would be indicative of your passion for this field ;)

[Moses08]

My host has been in business since 1999.

[ibfw]

My host has been in business since 1999.


impressive

[fcolor]

Well. As other members have also said you can check the whois database for the domain registration date. But some hosts start with one company name and then go with another. So you can ask them for their previuos brand.

Regards
Dimitar

[Jan]

And if they don't answer, so you can check with archive.org, you can assume they are talking rubbish :) I know of a couple of hosts who have held a domain name for many years, but only just started offering hosting on that domain. Owning the domain for many years is still no guarantee of longevity.

I have a couple of domains I have had since 2000, maybe I should start offering hosting now ;)

[Decker]

Just like I said earlier Jan to agree, The domain name won't really reveal much. To be honest recent (last 6 months) performance is probably better as a guide.