More than a year ago, I didn’t know anything about domain registration and web hosting. So what I did was I looked for a web host that also offered domain registration services. I found one and I was very happy with it because the hosting package was very cheap (I’ll write another post on why you should never go cheap when hosting your site).
It was very easy because the hosting company did everything for me. All I did was I gave them the domain name I wanted and then I signed up for their hosting package. They also installed WordPress on my behalf.
This was a very good setup for me, especially since I was just starting out. But later on I found out that this was not a good idea.
When Your Web Hosting Starts to Suck, It’s Not Easy to Transfer to a New One
After about six months, the company that was hosting my site started to give poor service. My site was down at least once a week. The worst was it was out for three straight days… and they didn’t even inform me! It got to a point that I got tired of submitting tech support tickets that took them more than a whole day to respond to. That’s why I decided to transfer my site.
I found another hosting company and I was able to transfer my files there. The only problem was, I couldn’t immediately transfer my domain from my previous web host. When I asked them for the Auth Code (or EPP Key), it took them a few days to give it to me. And when they did, they told me that their domain name registrar was currently experiencing problems and couldn’t make any transfers.
Now I didn’t know if it was a delaying tactic on their part or if it were an honest-to-goodness technical problem. But I’ve experienced enough technical problems from them that I just wanted to get out of their service. Or control, because they have my domain.
After a week, I was finally able to change the DNS on my domain. I pointed it to my new web host which turned out to be much better.
Right now, I am renting my own server. I don’t sell hosting, I just use it to host most of my sites and other online endeavors (I call it that when I couldn’t name exactly what I’m doing 
).
So my advice to you is to separate your domain registration from your web hosting. It will make life so much easier for you should things go sour.
Photo by Tim Dorr
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
The best thing to do is get the DNS name servers when you sign up, though I’m a bit confused here. Usually you just have to enter the new DNS server names (or whatever they’re called) on your old host to transfer them.
I know the bigger ones usually have a special page for this even. I’ve bought domain names from Godaddy, but transfered them to Justhost very easily by putting Justhost’s name servers in.
Anyway, live and learn!