Well today I have moved my Domain to a new host. Why? Well let me start at the beginning. When I first registered my own domain name and began the search for a web host (my isp doesn't host domains and won't allow servers) I found gnxoffline listed as the most inexpensive provider available. My mistake was confusing low cost with value.

My first clue something was wrong was when I tried to submit my application for service and it dumped me out of the web page- no form completed page, no - 'you will receive an e-mail shortly' message , nothing. A day later I finally get a response from them telling me my logon name and password. They don't however provide the ip address of the server so until the domain name gets pointed to their DNS I couldn't log in. When I finally get logged in I find their 'MATRIX Linux server' is nothing more then a preconfigured Cobalt raq server, nothing wrong with that but they could tell people up front that's what they use.

They advertise 24/7 tech. support and 99% uptime but that wasn't what I experienced. About three weeks after I posted my web pages on their server I noticed that often in the late evenings the server was completely unavailable. I checked traffic and could ping their DNS servers etc. but the server I was hosted on was completely unavailable. Then in the morning it would be up again. Then the server disappeared for a whole weekend. I went to their 'automated web support' and left a message. In a couple of days (So much for 24/7 support) I got a reply that the server needed to be rebooted. What?? my linux server at home runs for years without rebooting. Well anyway my page was up again.

A few weeks later I notice the server is unavailable in the late evenings again. After watching this behavior for three weeks I again posted a query on their automated web support. Once more it took a few days to get a response which consisted of 'the problem was fixed' What problem? How was it fixed? What steps were taken to prevent it happening again? No such information was given.

A week later the server is unavailable again. I ignore it, at least it's available during the day. Then on Friday the 24th of August I try to view my web page and get a 'You are forbidden to view this page' message. I try to get e-mail from the pop server and it refuses my password? Once more I try the automated web support and leave a message. The next day (a new record response time) I get a message- You may have violated our terms please e-mail support. So I e-mail them and get no response. Finally on Monday I get one of their sales people in a chat session and ask what is happening. She says she'll check. Later in the day I get her in a chat session again and she says that I have a web-cam on my site which violates the terms. Now mind you there is a link on my page which says web cam, but if you click on it, it shows a few jpegs clearly date stamped 8/4/00. This is from my old web page and was only left to show friends what my web cam looked like. I had not pointed my web cam to gnxonlines servers. I explained all this and was told I would have to sign the terms of agreement and fax them back, I asked for a fax number and was told to scan them in and e-mail them. My scanner doesn't work currently (stripped drive gear) so this wasn't an option. I then e-mailed a detailed response as to what had taken place to all the contacts at gnx I could find (there were only 5) and still did not receive a resolution. I conclude therefore that gnx is a very unprofessional business and I strongly caution anyone who is considering doing business with them to seriously reconsider.