Hi Everyone,

I'm wondering....(and this may well be a silly question)....is it smarter to have a country specific domain registration/hosting company for your website? I was just looking at Homestead (as their website designs look pretty nifty and easy enough for a total newbie) but noticed the support number is obviously US-based. I, on the other hand, am not. How do you get around this? Any other Aussies have this problem?

Anyone have any thoughts on Homestead? I like some of their designs. I know not everyone is a fan of the whole template thing - but for someone like me who seriously has NO idea about website design, or any of this stuff in fact, I'm thinking it may be the way to go. The whole sitting-on-hold-on-an-international-call thing if I need support does not thrill me, however.

I have been so close to pressing "buy" on about 500 different domain name/hosting packages in the last three days and CANNOT seem to make a decision with which one to go with! Surely it shouldn't be this hard....

Thanks for listening,

Keri

Hi Keri,
Don't do it! See here http://reviews.cnet.com/internet-acc...-31418003.html

and here http://www.web-hosting-top.com/companies/homestead.com

I can't recommend a template site, maybe others can. For a regular site, I would recommend Yahoo, Tucow, Gater something I forgot the exact name, and (Heliohost which is free). As for the time difference don't worry about that, you can always email them, and most have 24 hour customer support lines. If you still want a template site, do your research and read the reviews.

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Sincerely, Roy
www.accurateAccounting.cz.cc

Hi! I know you want non-us based, but one good hosting provider is Network Solutions. They have 24/7 support via phone, online chat and email both US and International based.

They have template designs or you can have them help you built a site.

http://www.networksolutions.com/crea...aa3537f1e:9jF4

I can't recommend them enough. I am very happy with them for my hosting needs.

Good Luck!

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CAC

Thanks so much to you both

Roy - I've done a bit more research since my post and I think you might be right. They all have good and bad but there seem to be awful lot of bad for Homestead.

I've also learnt that it apparently doesn't really matter if my host is in the US and I'm in Australia. I hope that's right...

Cheers!

Keri