All Change

I have decided that the time has come to move up a level and start to host my own web sites and email on a server I control. As part of the move I am also going to change my ISP (Internet Service Provider) to try to get a more stable service as my present ISP has been having to tweak my connection almost daily to keep me connected. I am sticking with a business service as the contention ratio tends to be better and you don't get the server drops that plague residential connections. I thought a diary of what I am doing might just help any of you that are considering changing your Internet connection or hosting services.

Right where did I start?

The first place is on the web to look for an ISP that offers the services that you want. Many folk buy just on price or because the man in the pub says that this service is the one to go for. Many folk also take as gospel what the TV adds say and promise. A better way is to find out which service all your neighbours are using and then pick another one - why? let me explain.

The Internet works in a way that is similar to your mobile phone. Residential customers are divided up into groups (cells) of 50 connections and the ISPs gamble that not all 50 customers will log on at the same time. This is called the contention ratio. If they do all log on the service just disconnects people until there is enough bandwidth to allow connections to the web. These are the slow downs and dropped servers that are very familiar to Tiscali, AOL, TalkTalk and other popular ISP customers. I pay a bit more a month for a business connection and get a 20 to 1 Contention Ratio. Because I live in the middle of a residential estate there aren't many other business customers around here so I don't get dropped servers or suffer the slow downs all my neighbours suffer. This time round I have plumped for a local business ISP here in Yorkshire (PlusNet) which should give me a similar service to the one I got from Eclipse before they grew too big to give an individual service to all their customers.

Once you have chosen your new ISP you have to ask your present ISP for the MAC code (Migration Access Code) that allows you to switch ISPs without any downtime other than having to type in your new User Name and Password to your router. The only problem you may get here is that some ISPs try to delay giving you your MAC code so that you get fed up waiting and stay with their service. This is against the code of practice and usually if you make that known to to your ISP the MAC code arrives by email within a couple of hours. All you need to do once you have got it is pass it on to your new ISP and then wait till switch over day.

I have done this and been given the switch over date of 28th July. In the mean time I can log on to PlusNet and setup my email mail boxes ready for switch over so that I don't miss any email. I am not going to detail what you need to do to make mailboxes as every ISP is slightly different but most ISP have a help page that gives you detailed instructions how to setup mailboxes and the settings you need for the email program on your computer. This my ISP's help page for setting up email for example.

I have also signed up for a virtual server with ServerChoice who are a sister company of the domain registration company who manage the registration of my domains for me. The server should come on line today so I should be able to tell you how I get on configuring it tomorrow.

In the mean time I have received the Mac code from Eclipse and passed it on to PlusNet so my new broadband connection should be up and running on the 28th July.