New features in the Control Center and the webmail

During the last couple of weeks, we’ve made a few improvements to the Control Center and the new webmail.

  • Automatic Payment of account renewal

    It is now possible to enter a credit card number in the Control Center, which will be used to automatically renew the hosting account when it is about to expire. 60 days before expiry we will try charging for the next period. This is a good way to make sure not to forget renewing the account, and not to risk the account being deactivated due to lack of payment.

    The feature can be found in the Control Center by selecting “Payment” and then “Auto-Payments”. We are not storing your credit card number, though! It will be sent directly to our payment provider, which will store it in a safe PCI-certified environment.

  • New welcome page in the Control Center

    When you log on the Control Center you will now be welcomed by a new page, which in a clearer way will show a list of your top domains, along with shortcuts to easily register and transfer domains. This makes it even easier to get started right after creating a Gigahost account. Furthermore, our systems will now try to look for available domain names that it thinks may be interesting for you.

  • Change the password for email accounts directly from the webmail

    It is now possible to change the password for an email account, without having access to the associated Gigahost account. This is useful if you have a number of email addresses on an account, but do not wish each email user to have access to the Control Center.

    This feature can be found in our new webmail by choosing “Settings” and then clicking the “Password” tab.

A message from Gigahost Public Service :)

Sometimes, we will send important messages to our customers, such as if a hosting account or domain is about to expire, or in case of other important circumstances regarding the account. And if it should happen that you lose the password for the Gigahost account, the contact information is the only means for us to verify your identity and provide access to the account again. Therefore, it is very important to maintain the contact information and ensure it is correct.

Specifically, we sometimes note that an old or invalid email address is registered for the account. This can result in the account being deactivated, because our reminder emails do not come through. So please check that the contact info in the Control Center is entered correctly:

  1. Log on to the Control Center
  2. Select “Settings” and then “Contact Information”
  3. Verify that email, snailmail address, and phone numbers are correctly entered.

If you forget the password for a Gigahost account, and if we are not able to contact you on the addresses given in the Control Center, you will lose access to the account altogether, including the private data located on it. This is because we (naturally) will not give out such information to anyone but the person who owns the account.

So, again, please take a moment to make sure all your information is up-to-date :)

New: Send text messages from your web site!

New: Send text messages from your web site!

For a while, a “Text Messaging” button has been sitting around in the Control Center, but we think it’s about time to officially launch our new SMS Text Messaging product, and outline its features.

People have often suggested that it would be nice if you could quickly and easily send SMS messages from the control center and from own web sites. Our new SMS function makes both possible. There are already quite a lot such services around, but ours stand out in the following areas:

  • Easy and quick
    If you have a Gigahost account, you are already ready to message! From the control center, you already have access to the function.
  • No recurring fees
    Some services charge a monthly amount for access to the messaging gateway. This is free at Gigahost, as long as you have a hosting account with us. (Later it will be possible to get access even without a hosting account).
  • Send from your own number
    You can add your own numbers and use them as sender numbers whenever you send a message. If you get a reply, it will arrive on your phone.
  • History and detailed delivery reports
    See the messages you’ve sent earlier, and whether they were actually delivered to the phone (and what time)
  • Modern RESTful API
    It’s easy to integrate our SMS system with your own services by using our API. We’ve made a sample implementation in PHP, which you are free to use.
  • Robust sending with high availability
    By using several servers physically located different places in the word, we ensure a stable service with high uptime.
  • Quick and easy pre-payments
    Charge SMS messages to your account from the Control Center, and get started instantly. No bills, payment fees, or the like.
  • Good international support
    Send messages with Russian, Chinese, Korean, or Japanese characters with no problems, to destinations all over the world.

Since this is a new product, we just followed our instincts. But we really like suggestions! We already planned features such as an Address Book, scheduled messages, and improvements to the API. But please leave a comment here, or email us, if you have any great ideas!

P.S: We have given you 10 messages to play around with (if you have an account at Gigahost, that is).

Warning! Don’t trust letters from “Domain Registry of America”

Warning! Don’t trust letters from “Domain Registry of America”

Many owners of .com, .net, or .org domains receive letters from an organisation calling themselves “Domain Registry of America” or “Domain Renewal Group”. This company earns its money by finding out when certain domain names will expire, and then by sending off a bill for the renewal of the domain. If you pay the bill, the domain will be transferred to their service, and if you proceed with the transfer, the domain will have to be renewed through their service in the future, at a quite higher price.

Searching for “Domain Registry of America” on Federal Trade Commission.

Therefore, we simply recommend people to tear and bin letters from Domain Registry of America whenever one is received. When your domains are due to be renewed, you will automatically receive an email from Gigahost. It is not necessary to pay others for .com/.net/.org domains.

If you are doubting the validity of a letter you received, you are welcome to forward it to our customer support and ask if we know anything about it.

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