Attempting to phone Namesco for a customer, only to find the lines are constantly engaged due to a new, forced, mass password change. Lines have been hammered since 21November (see http://www.names.co.uk/network_status.html), and we had to find out this information from the site by Googling ”namesco server status“. When you try and call their support line (0845 363 3630), all you hear is an engaged tone. On some accounts, the message “Please update the password for the following user(s) at your earliest convenience. This will allow us to store it using the latest, most secure method of cryptographic hashing, which is part of an important security upgrade. Failure to complete this process may result in the user(s) being automatically locked in future.”
We have been using Namesco for several years; their servers are reliable, and help has always been on hand when we needed. However, we feel that their re-seller control panel is outdated, and renewal prices for domains are extortionately high! (Namesco – .co.uk 2 years £19.99, Heart internet – .co.uk 2 years £5.98). Thing is, Namesco fool you in by charging £5.98 for a new .co.uk domain, but when it comes to renewal time, the price goes up to twenty quid plus VAT! (prices correct December 2012 – see here). If you want to transfer the domain away from namesco, a £10 + VAT charge is payable (all the other players will do this for free).
Along with their security breach in January, we feel this is the last straw, and will be looking elsewhere for reseller hosting.
Having said that, let’s leave Namesco in a good light – we have always found their DNS propagation to be very fast, the DNS control panel to be one of the simplest to understand, and the customer service to be outstanding.
