Please make sure to read through all of this important pre-order information before signing up for a web hosting account:
Pre-Order Information
- Domain Registration
- Setup Time
- Billing
- Multiple Domains
- Subdomains
- DNS Configuration
- Hosted Domain Transfer
- Non-Hosted Domain Transfer
- FAQ
- Mailing Lists
- Shell Access
- Internet Access
- Web Design & Development
- Order Form
Domain Registration
Please Note, Laughing Squid does NOT provide any kind of domain registration services.
If you are looking for a good domain registrar, we recommend our friends Hover.
If you have domain(s) that you would like to have hosted, but are not yet registered, you will need to register them first with a domain registrar. For more information on domain registration, please see our Domain FAQ.
If you have just registered (a) new domain(s), the registration usually takes 24-48 hours. Once your hosting account is setup and we have verified that your domain registration is complete, we will send you an email with all of your new account access information.
Setup Time
The current setup time for web hosting accounts is approximately 24-48 hours, Monday through Friday (accounts are not setup over the weekend). This does not include the time it takes to transfer a domain from your old host. We do not offer any rush or emergency setup services.
Billing
Once your account has been setup, your credit card will be charged for a month. After that, at the beginning of your billing cycle your credit card will automatically be charged. For more info on billing, please see our Billing FAQ.
If at any time you wish to cancel your account, just fill out our Web Hosting Cancellation form.
If you sign-up for web hosting, but never uploaded your files or update your domain record to reference our name servers, you are still responsible for any web hosting charges. You will continue to be billed for hosting each month until you actually cancel hosting. Partial month hosting charges are not refunded when canceling hosting for a domain.
If you have exceeded any of your quotas, you will automatically be moved up to the next incremental package according to your usage. If later on you have reduced your usage, you can request to be moved back down to a lower plan.
Volume pricing is available for current customers who who need additional resources. Add on packages are available in $2 increments and include 1GB of disk space, 10GB of bandwidth and 250 additional compute cycles.
If you know you are about to exceed any of your quotas, please enter a support ticket through our Help Desk to request an upgrade of your hosting plan.
Multiple Domains
Each domain you host with us will need to have its own hosting plan. Multiple domains cannot share the same hosting plan, disk space or traffic, however you can bill multiple domains to the same hosting account. You can also use our Forwarding Squid plan to redirect one domain to another domain or sub-directory of another domain.
If you currently have an web hosting account setup with us, just fill out the order form and you will be asked if you want to add your new domain to your existing account.
Subdomains
In order to host a subdomain with us, you will also need to host the primary domain as well. If you are hosting the content of a subdomain with us, you need choose a hosting plan for a sub-domain and sign-up for hosting. If the content is on another server then we can setup a A record for you. Please see our subdomain FAQ entry for more info.
DNS Configuration
We maintain the DNS entries for all of the domains that we host. We do not host web content only with the DNS maintained by an outside provider. In general, we do not offer any kind of custom hosting configurations. For more info, please see our FAQ.
Hosted Domain Transfer
If you are ordering hosting for domain that is currently being hosted at another web host, once your account is setup we will send you an email with information on how to stage your files on our system so that your website will be mirrored on both the old and new hosts, making the migration transparent to the outside world. We will provide you with a site preview url so you can view your website before it is actually live on our system.
If you are currently using email with your domain, then it is important that you first setup any existing email accounts before you transfer your domain. This way your email will continue to work once the domain transfer is complete.
Once you have uploaded all of your files and setup your email, you’ll then need to update your domain record to reference our name servers.
Non-Hosted Domain Transfer
If you are ordering hosting for a domain that is not currently being hosted anywhere, then you can update your domain record with our name servers at any time.
FAQ
Please read through our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section before you sign up for hosting, that way you will have a better idea of what Laughing Squid is all about and the type of service we can provide for you.
Mailing Lists
We do not provide any kind of mailing list services or allow any kind of mailing list scripts.
Shell Access
We do not offer shell access, however SFTP is available and recommended.
Internet Access
Laughing Squid is a web host only, not an ISP. We do not provide any access to the internet such as dial-up service, DSL, cable and, so on. You will still need to have the means to connect to the internet to access and update a website that we host for you.
Web Design & Development
We do not provide any kind of web design or development services, which includes script installation (other than WordPress) or debugging. In order to use our web hosting services, you should be familiar with web design and know how to use FTP or you have someone who will help you develop your website.
If you would like us to install WordPress for you, submit a support ticket to let us know and we will install a basic default WordPress instance on your site.
I have read through all of the above pre-order information and I’m ready to fill out the secure order form:
