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NetworkSolutions.com Overview
Network Solutions is a web hosting provider whose stated goal is "Helping you start, grow and manage your business online." Founded over 30 years ago as a technology company, Network Solutions now focuses on offering domain registration and website-related services. The company's web hosting package offers dozens of today's most popular plugins, the latest in reliable web hosting technology and an easy-to-use website builder makes website development simple for entrepreneurs, even those without a technical background.
Pricing
Network Solutions' web hosting packages begin at $0.99, a price that makes website hosting affordable for entrepreneurs at any level. This introductory price is available for the first 3 months of service, after which fees will commence at the standard rate of $19.99/month. Network Solutions customers can choose to register for a monthly plan or to pay up front for a period of one, two, three, five or ten years.
Those who opt for the $0.99 introductory offer will pay a $9.95 domain registration fee. The domain registration fee is waived for those choosing a contract for one year or longer. Network Solutions also offers a long list of premium services such as domain expiration protection, which secures your domain if you don't renew it immediately. Other additional specialties include assistance in building mobile versions of web pages, search engine optimization and Microsoft Hosted Exchange email system among others.
Features
Network Solutions Hosting Features:
- 300 GB disk space
- Unlimited domains
- 500 MB of database space
- 1000 email addresses
Web Builder Services:
- Drag and drop site builder
- Template-based site builder
- Photo gallery, user forums, maps and more
- SEO-friendly features
- WordPress, Drupal, Joomla
Technology:
- 24/7 monitoring to ensure uptime reliability
- Monthly site backups
- Site traffic reporting
- High-performance load balanced servers
Ease of Use
The Network Solutions account manager is highly organized and enables webmasters to find what they're looking for with a quick scan of the page. You can manage your emails, upload files via FTP, use the Network Solutions website builder, or complete one of many other available services.
The company's website builder includes hundreds of options of free website templates, as well as premium templates which can be purchased separately.
First steps of
the website builder
Once clients choose a preferred template, they will be redirected to a list of potential web pages and prompted to choose the ones they want to include on their particular site. This step can be especially helpful for anyone who needs a bit of guidance when arranging his or her content. Then, webmasters will enter brief descriptions of their products or services and use popular words to help their website attract a wider audience. Webmasters then enter the Network Solutions website builder, which integrates the chosen template into a drag and drop website builder. Even without reading the instructions it wasn't hard for me to figure out how to use the website builder, since it's highly intuitive to web building demands.
Reminder to
save work
When all of my changes were made, I saved the website and published it, which was quite an easy process. For any issues that did arise, I was able to access the customer support team from the email button in the website builder, and received a response within 24 hours to resolve my problems.
The Add-ons tab of the website builder offered supplemental site design elements, such as calendars, embedded videos, forms, blogs, photo albums and more. I tested the form generator add-on, and was prompted to choose between several forms such as time sheets, satisfaction surveys, site registrations and contact forms. I opted for the contact form and had no trouble adding it directly to my homepage.
Email
setup
Adding email addresses was just as straightforward as the website setup was. On a single page, Network Solutions users can create hundreds of email addresses for any of the domain names in their account. For the user's security, every email password must have at least 8 characters including a special character, a lower case letter, an upper case letter and a number.
Customer Support
Network Solutions offers extremely reliable phone support 24/7. During the course of this Network Solutions review, I contacted their support service multiple times, and was connected to either the sales or technical support department in under a minute each time. During one call, a voice recording told me that my estimated hold time was five minutes, and I was surprised and happy to connect with a representative mere seconds later.
I also took the time to test out the company's email support. I emailed them at 3:10am EST on a Friday morning. I received a reply at 4:29am, which was impressively quick considering the time of day. The representative had fixed the problem and advised me how I could solve it for myself in the future.
Finally, it may be useful to know that Network Solutions has close to 50 articles and a dozen video tutorials to help users solve problems on their own. The articles are found directly in the website builder, making them conveniently accessible when anything confusing arises during site design.
Summary
- Affordable introductory pricing
- Knowledgeable customer service team
- Intuitive website builder