Changing DNS servers in Earthlink Hosted WebSite

I'm the new webmaster for a site currently hosted through
Earthlink. I am trying to move it to another, better, cheaper
host which I have already purchased. I need to change the DNS
servers so they will point to the new host.

I have moved other sites, from other hosts. No problem. Go in
change the DNS servers in the control panel. Wait 12 or so hours.
Done.

But with EL, there is no control panel that gives access (with
password of course) to change the DNS. So I contacted tech
support via Live Chat. To make a long story short, I "talked"
with 3 different reps. Each told a different story. I emailed
tech support several times, each time getting a form reply that
they did not accept emailed inquiries. I used the Web interface
for inquiries, each time getting a form reply that they did not
accept emailed inquiries even those these were not email
inquiries! I called, and got a fourth story, which didn't make
too much sense.

Bottom line: 6 full days since my original contact. Nothing has
happened.

Does anyone have a suggestion of how I might get EL to allow me
to do the simple thing of changing the DNS servers (I have
permission and the password and admin name from the owner of the
site.)

Thanks,

Mike

 

Is Earthlink the registrar?

If not, you need to go to the registrar.

If EL is the registrar, I'd suggest finding a new registrar. Make a
final call to them that if they can't help you, you will take your
business elsewhere.

 

Yes, EL is registrar. And the reason I am trying to change the
DNS servers is because we *are* taking our business elsewhere.
Problem is, I can't change the DNS servers w/o their cooperation
and I'm not getting it.

 

Oops, and that is a problem with 'moving around'...

 

I'm looking at EL's promotional ad for webhosting where it sez

EarthLink Web Hosting Benefits
Award-winning 24/7 support by phone
Our business hosting experts are standing by if you ever need some help.
http://www.earthlink.net/biz/ehost/hosting/

On another page comparing the different packages and win vs unix it sez

EarthLink Web Hosting packages include:
24/7 tech support via live chat, email, and toll-free phone
Access to the EarthLink Control Center

Another place it sez

How do I register a domain name through EarthLink?
Domain name registration through EarthLink is available with the
purchase of any EarthLink Web Hosting or EarthLink E-Commerce package.
You can add domain name registration to your EarthLink Web hosting
service by ordering online or calling 1-800-393-6720.

 

Yes but, what happens if 'you' want to change?

 

The telephone line anticipates that decision and goes dead?


EL has incredibly inadequate support for such a large ISP. It is
amazing that something that big can take the attitude that "We aren't
going to provide any support. If you need support, you should find
another provider. We are in the bidness of becoming a bigger and bigger
provider which doesn't provide any support. This is a successful
business model and our stockholders love it. Screw the peons who need
technical support from their ISP. They are killing ISPs and we are
having none of it."

They also have a brilliant philosophy about providing non- newsservice
in the name of providing news, in the same way they have a brilliant
philosophy about providing non-support in the name of providing
so-called award winning support by chat, telephone, and email -- when in
reality, there is only one kind of support and it is extremely narrow.

The only operational support is via chat with an incompetent technical
expertise derived from the cheapest outsourced offshore support contract
that performs only by a simplistic system of cookbook approaches
'remedies' which require and demonstrate no technical competence
whatsoever.

If you actually need thinking technical competence, you aren't going to
find it at EL. EL is busy growing and cutting costs. It is not at all
interested in dealing with people who need support. There are a lot of
'stupid' computer users out there who need a lot of support. EL doesn't
want them as customers, unless they can be handled with the outsourced
incompetent tech chat formula.

 

[I'm not n

 

[snip of 'I'm not necessarily disagreeing with what you said']

My thought was that the OP had decided to 'make a change' and ELN was being,
for want of more information, 'uncooperative'. Well, one just has to 'manage
the move' anyway.

 

I hate following up 'myself'..."Please_ Excuse_Finger_Fart"

 

IMO, the problem the OP is running into is a separate problem of the
customer not being able to figger out how to 'reach' the support they
need -- vs the 'normal' level of incompetency of EL support.

That is, I think normal EL support for general customers is incompetent.
I think this /particular/ level of incompetency is that of not being
able to 'find' the magic key to getting support at the 'branch' of EL
which has to do with web hosting -- which I am assuming is a completely
different branch from the 'huge' incompetent support program for
'regular' EL subscribers.

That is, I think the OP is trucking off in the direction of normal EL
support, which is totally incompetent, instead of trucking off in the
direction of the support to which he is entitled -- so he has run into
his own level of 'incompetence' at finding the right kind of competent
support which is supposed to be serving him.

 

'Okey Dokey' but the OP, IIRC, had already decided to 'make the move'.

 

Right, I'm trying to get this particular site away from being
hosted by EL. (It belongs to someone else; I am the new
webmaster.). To do that, I have to change the DNS away from EL
and point them towards the new host. But EL won't give me the
correct information how to do that.

Normally, this is an easy process. I have done it for other
sites, moving them away from hosts such as Yahoo and smaller
local hosts. It takes less than a minute: you go into the control
panel and change the numbers.

But EL does not have this functionality in their rather lame
control panel. So I have to contact them to get them to do it. I
have tried by Web Chat, by email, by telephone. Several times. In
those cases where I got any response other than a circular one, I
have gotten 4 different answers. In the last one -a phone call to
the specific number supplied by a supervisor in sales and new
customer inquiries -- I was told something that was not even
close to the answers I had gotten before. I asked if she was sure
this would work. It involved going to an Australian site -- I am
in the US -- and using the control panel there. She said that it
would absolutely. But it hasn't. When I try to log into that
control panel on that site, it doesn't recognize the name of the
site I am trying to move away from EL. I'll contact *their*
support and see if I can learn anything from them, but that site
is a general ISP that doesn't have any apparent connection with
EL, so I'm quite dubious.

Because the site I'm trying to move away from EL is for an artist
who has a fair amount of name recognition and is named exactly
after her, I can't really change the name to something similar
and start anew, as someone suggested. I am currently running 8
other sites, so I know a little bit. But I have never encountered
such a problem. All I am trying to do is move the site away from
EL. And I am baffled as to what to do next. Any and all
suggestions welcome.

M

 

It sounds like they're making it hard for you to move. I don't know what the
contract is or what your status really is but if you 'gotta go' then...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ('me',IIRC)

There are 'other names, maybe even "The New 'fair amount of name recognition
and is named exactly after her'" site. Make the damn move, send out a
mailing to subscribers ("Artists Don't SPAM") and get on with it. Once the
hassles with ELN are resolved, drop "The New" part of the name and go back
to 'fair amount of name recognition and is named exactly after her'.

You haven't really said *why* you need to move 'quickly' and not wait,
is spite of the fact that ELN is looking way too slow on their end.

I am a bit confused about you taking over the site as webmaster, etc.

 

I'm the new webmaster for a site currently hosted through
Earthlink. I am trying to move it to another, better, cheaper
host which I have already purchased. I need to change the DNS
servers so they will point to the new host.

I have moved other sites, from other hosts. No problem. Go in
change the DNS servers in the control panel. Wait 12 or so hours.
Done.

But with EL, there is no control panel that gives access (with
password of course) to change the DNS. So I contacted tech
support via Live Chat. To make a long story short, I "talked"
with 3 different reps. Each told a different story. I emailed
tech support several times, each time getting a form reply that
they did not accept emailed inquiries. I used the Web interface
for inquiries, each time getting a form reply that they did not
accept emailed inquiries even those these were not email
inquiries! I called, and got a fourth story, which didn't make
too much sense.

Bottom line: 6 full days since my original contact. Nothing has
happened.

Does anyone have a suggestion of how I might get EL to allow me
to do the simple thing of changing the DNS servers (I have
permission and the password and admin name from the owner of the
site.)

Thanks,

Mike

Not all ISP/Host's provide a control panel for DNS changes. If the ISP/host
does not provide this facility, you can either transfer the domain to
another registrar such as Go Daddy (http://www.godaddy.com) or the new host
if they are a registrar. All registrars must comply with a registration
transfer and make sure it is completed within 5 days
(http://www.icann.org/transfers/policy-12jul04.htm ). They may charge a fee
to carry out the transfer.

The original registrant would need to authorise the transfer.

 

You're, of course, making plenty of sense.

The OP doesn't realize that Earthlink can drag their feet all they want.

************
(and to the OP) I've got a crummy little free website on Earthlink too.
And there's no way I'm going to spend time developing it into anything.
Not when mine uses an email handle in it. D'oh.

Tell your customer that they're not gonna get very far and you're going
to rebuild the whole site somewhere else.
************

 

Would you mind using a quote character?

 

Taking over the site as webmaster simply means that the owner of
the site used to have a friend taking care of such things that
need to be taken care of. Now I am doing that job. I'm moving the
site to a host that is *much better and much cheaper.* Normally,
it takes about a day to move a site, so I bought the new service
(which you always want to do before you drop the old one).

There are no contractual obligations to remain with EL and they
have never claimed that there were. They say, sure, they will
change the DNS numbers so they will point to the new location so
the site can be moved there

The real problem is not that EL is way too slow, but that EL
support seem to have absolutely no idea what it is doing. I've
been told four different things, each contradicting the others,
And NOTHING is happening. 8 days ago I was told it would take 1-3
days, that EL would take care of it. When I checked back after 5
days of nothing happening, I was told that what I had been told
before was not what needed to be done, they had to do something
else. 3 days later I called a direct Website support number and
was told that they would do something else entirely different
instead within 12 hours, but it's been 3 time that already and --
NOTHING. If I had any reason to believe that they knew what they
were doing, I'd sit back and wait.

 

Well, that was to have been the next step -- to transfer the
dolman through the new website host, which is a reseller for a
good, cheap registrar. But maybe you are right, maybe I should do
that first. Of course, EL (or their name registrar) has to unlock
the domain name first, and given the complete lack of response
I've gotten on the DNS, it'll be a surprise if they get that
done. I do very much appreciate you site of ICANN policy on this,
and perhaps that will be a lever. Thanks