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What is 'E-mail'?
E-mail remains the most popular and productive use of the internet, but being slowly eroded by spam viruses. USP continually reviews all types of server solutions that purport to offer cures for SPAM and viruses in attachments - but we have yet to find the perfect system that doesn't also interfere with legitimate email. And we have yet to find a virus solution that is 100% reliable - but a false sense of security can arise if users believe that someone else is doing the virus scanning job for them. In these circumstances we strongly recommend that users should make their own judgements on solutions and install them on their client computers (or LAN mail servers).
Currently the best of the SPAM solutions is provided by Cloudmark via their SpamNet scheme where some 400,000 subscribers literally vote spam into the bin. Claims of 95% effectiveness do not seem to be exaggerated and the writer has not yet found a non-spam message accidentally diverted to spam bin from more than 100,000 messages tested. There are numerous virus solutions, and none are 100% guaranteed. |
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What is 'dial-up modem access'?
The term Dial-Up refers to an Internet connection over a phone line where you must dial the phone number of an Internet Service Provider. Each dial-up customer shares the ISP’s bank of modems with all of the ISP’s other dial-up customers, which is a more efficient use of the ISP’s resources. When one customer disconnects from the ISP, the Internet Protocol address temporarily assigned to that customer becomes available for the next caller. For this reason, a dial-up line is often called a switched line or a non-dedicated line.
Of course, high bandwidth applications haven’t disappeared and now even the 56Kbps modem is often inadequate for those people who want to take full advantage of the information and entertainment opportunities available on the Internet. However, a 56Kbps modem is quite sufficient for those of you who only access the Internet occasionally for e-mail and light Internet browsing. |
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What is a 'Domain Name'?
Most computers connected to the Internet are identified by a unique number called an IP address (for instance, 81.31.115.90). IP addresses do not correspond to a geographical location nor are they easy to remember. Also, IP addresses are FIXED (if you change web hosting companies you'll need to get a new IP address for your site).
Domain names offer a more intuitive way to name and find a website. Each domain name replaces a string of meaningless numbers (an IP address) with a simple word or expression. |
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What is a POP3 Email Box?
A POP3 email box is a complete mailbox on our server. To read and send your email from anywhere in the world you just visit a specific URL and enter your username and password. |
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What is 'Cybersquatting'?
The days of grabbing names that are registered trademarks of other companies or organisations are largely past, and many national legal systems are now dealing with disputes and issues on the basis of existing local patent and copyright legislation.
Nevertheless, there are sufficient "neutral" names available (see what lives at www.sundaytimes.com, for example) that cannot be described as cybersquatting, that there is still a business in trading domain names - especially for those creative enough to think up complete "brand image" packages. "Full sets" of snappy domain names are considerably more valuable than singletons - for example, the "big three" for any UK project would be:-
- mailscape.com
- mailscape.net
- mailscape.co.uk
Opinions differ about the value of .org and the growing number of other "top level domain" addresses are clearly only making /com ever more valuable and exclusive - but every business with only a country-code (CC) domain name will sooner or later wish that they also hold the equivalent domain in .com and probably also .net. Failing to pick a domain with a .com suffix is the first thing that any business growing beyond its country boundaries will regret - especially since the cost of traditional forms of re-branding will always be vast in comparison to the low cost of sorting domain identity at the outset.
Soundalike domains are much more contentious. As advised on the matter of aliasing it's possible to point multiple domain names to a single page. Although mikrosoft or microsopht might be regarded as "different enough" to be acceptable as a trademark, using them for domain names would probably invoke an expensive legal process. And once the lawyers appear, we know who the only winners are going to be, don't we? The cheapest way to head off all forms of dispute is to think up your own identity and then "fence" it with every conceivable phonetic spelling and common mistyping of the domain. |
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How do I get you to host my .co.uk domain name?
To move a .co.uk domain name to USP Networks Ltd, all you have to do is ask your current ISP to change your domain TAG to USP and contact us either by email to
or telephone +44 (0) 1245 348000 and let us know you wish to transfer your domain to us. |
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How do I get you to host my .com / .net / .org domain name?
Please email the name of the domain you wish to transfer to
and we will do the rest. |
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What makes you different from other Web hosting companies including the mega providers?
The same thing that makes big hardware outlets different to your local hardware store; knowledge, experience and above all service. When you ring our phone lines a real person answers it, your email queries are answered on the same day, not the same week or month. |
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What happens when it's time to renew my URL /hosting?
We're flexible; we'll send you a proforma invoice for the renewal fee 4-6 weeks before it expires. You can pay either by cheque or over the phone with your creditcard. |
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What is an IP address?
Most computers connected to the Internet are identified by a unique number called an IP address (for instance, 81.31.115.90). IP addresses do not correspond to a geographical location nor are they easy to remember. Also, IP addresses are FIXED (if you change web hosting companies you'll need to get a new IP address for your site). |
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Can I have my email forwarded to my Hotmail, AOL, etc account?
Yes, just give us a call or drop us an email. |
