FAQ

Where is Australian IT located?
We operate in the Australia, the UK and the USA. Our head office is located on the Gold Coast, Queensland Australia.

Can you tell me a little about your company? How long have you been in business?
Australian IT Web Hosting is a registered company and has been providing web hosting and wed design services since 1998. We originally started in Toowoomba, Australia and later moved to the Gold Coast. This has allowed Australian IT to become a successful and reputable web hosting and domain name provider.

What payment methods do you accept?
Pay by Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Cheque, Australia Post Money Order or Direct Deposit. Our credit card payments are powered by PayPal.

How long until my hosting account is activated?
Web hosting accounts are setup instantly after signup. Every order is checked for fraud and there may be delays if our system requires we manually verify your account before accepting your order.

What happens if I exceed my monthly data transfer for the month?
We do not charge for additional monthly data transfer. Our system will email you when you have reached approx. 80% of your monthly data transfer usage. At this point, we recommend you upgrade to a more suitable package to suit your hosting requirements. If you decide not to upgrade, and your monthly data transfer reaches more than allowed limit of your hosting package, your web site will not be able to deliver your web site. The monthly data transfer limits are reset to zero on the first of each month.

How do I upload my web site? Do I provide it to Australian IT on a disk?
No, you do not need to provide your web site to Australian IT on a disk. You simply need to upload it using FTP. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the standard way of transferring files on the Internet. You can use an FTP program to upload your existing web site to your web space. FTP is built into many programs including Frontpage, Dreamweaver and Windows Explorer. You can also download any FTP program from the Internet to transfer your files.

Do you allow sites to advertise for money on their web site with banners, ads, etc?
Yes, we allow sites to have commercial advertisements and banners. We do not place our own banners or advertisements on your web site.

Do you have examples of sites that you host?
Yes, we have a list of sites we host on different servers available here. What operating systems do your servers use? Our servers currently run Windows Server 2003 (Web and Standard editions)

Do you host pornographic web sites?
No, we do not allow pornographic web sites, mainly because it lowers the overall security of our servers for all users. We do however allow web sites with legal, adult content e.g. erotic stories, online stores, etc.

Is GST (goods and sales tax) included in the advertised price?
GST is included in the advertised price and our order form will charge GST for Australian customers as required by law.

Can I password protect directories?
Yes you can password protect directories with multiple usernames and passwords assuming your package is Business Hosting or above, from within your web hosting control panel.

What are sub-domains?
Sub domains are domain names which point to a subdirectory within your main hosting account and can be accessed by http://subdomain.maindomain.com. Sub domains are available to create through your control panel (check to see if your hosting package includes them). Subdomains are useful if you want to create a sub-web site, like a Customer Support web site, with its very own web address. Sub domains are created through your control panel.

Can I host multiple domain names? What are add-on domains?
Selected hosting packages can support multiple domain name hosting at no additional cost. (The standard and email hosting packages do not support multiple domain name hosting). Add-on domains allow you to host multiple domain names from one hosting account, utilising the extra space and bandwidth available on your main hosting account. Add-on domains point to a subdirectory within your main hosting account. From a web user's perspective, an add-on domain functions just like any other domain name, and the user will not know the site is hosted from your main account.

Is a domain name refundable? Who does the domain name belong to? Can I change my domain name?
All domain names are non refundable and can not be changed once registered. If you need to change your domain, you will need you will need to register a new domain instead and let the current domain name expire. The domain name is licenced to the registered owner as listed in a WHOIS search. You are free to use your domain name registered through Australian IT with any web hosting provider and/or transfer your domain name to another domain registrar. Australian IT does not place our company as the registered domain owner on domains that we register for our customers. What is the difference between a .com.au domain name and other domain name extensions such as .com? Each domain name extension forms a seperate, distinct domain name. For example mydomain.com.au and mydomain.com are two different and distinct domain names, differentiated by the domain name extension. .com.au and .net.au domain names have been specifically designed for the Australian market place and are only offered to the Australian businesses. All .au domain names have special eligibility requirements which must be met before your .au domain name can be registered. There are many advantages of having a .au domain name, including being instantly identified as being Australian - the .au stands for Australia. You may also wish to consider registering domain names with different extensions, such as .com or .net. These domain names are international domain names, designed for the world market and can be purchased by any one, with no special requirements. If available, it is always a good idea to purchase as many different domain names extensions as available e.g. mybusiness.com and mybusiness.com.au, as domain names are given on a first come, first serve basis.

What do I need to change my domain name dns settings to? How do I change my domain name dns settings (name servers)?
Our web hosting dns settings can be found in your hosting welcome email.  Please follow the instructions in your welcome email carefully to change your dns settings. Your domain name DNS settings need to be changed at your current domain name registrar via their domain management systems, so that your domain points to your current hosting account. If you are unable to change the domain name DNS settings yourself, please contact your current registrar for assistance. Once you have made any DNS changes, you will need to allow 24-72 hours for propagation of the new settings.

Can I view my site even though my domain's name servers haven't propagated yet?
Yes, you can view your web site via our shared URL links before your domain name has propagated (resolves to Australian IT). This is ideal when you need to test your web site before going live. Please read your welcome email for your shared URL link. Alternatively, our shared links are available here.

Do you have a manual for your control panel?
Our control panel has help "built in". At the bottom of each page you will find a help section.

I can not access my control panel due to too many login attempts. What do I do?
After 8 attempts, our system will automatically block access to your username. This is done for security reasons to prevent unauthorised access and hacking to your account. The block will remove itself after 6 hours.

What is the path to my web space?
The path is /wwwroot (replace username with your control panel username)

E-Mail I'm having trouble setting up my email. What do I do?
For both incoming and outgoing mail server put mail.yourdomain.com. See email help here.

I can receive email, but I'm having trouble sending email. How do I send email?
If you can not send email using mail.yourdomainname.com as your SMTP server, it may be because your ISP is blocking port 25 on their network, used for sending outoing mail via the SMTP protocol. In this instance, we recommend using your ISPs outgoing mail server, which can be obtained from your ISP. This practice has been put in place in an effort to stop spam. Telstra and Optus are some well known companies that have implemented the blocking of port 25 on their network. The email will still appear to have come from you, however it will be sent through a different network. This is normal and perfectly acceptable.

Where do I check my web mail?
In a web browser visit http://mail.yourdomain.com.au:32000

How can I update my billing info? How do I view / print my invoices? How can I make a payment to my account?
Please login to your control panel.

What is the difference between shared ssl and private ssl?
A shared ssl displays as https//ip/~yourusername/ A private ssl would display as https://www.yourdomain.com in the address bar. A private SSL is more professional when conducting e-commerce online. Australian IT provides private SSL certificates at discounted rates.