Free Domain Name Offer FAQ

1. What is the free UK domain offer?
2. What are the benefits of claiming the free domain?
3. Is the offer free - or will I be charged?
4. Can I switch my current £1 .co.uk, .me.uk or .org.uk domain to the free offer?
5. I've already opted for a £1 domain but haven't registered a domain against it. Can I claim a free one?
6. I didn't complete the registration process as I wasn't ready to create a domain. Now I want to, but I don't see the offer - why?
7. I now have 2 domains on my account, but they both point to the same website. How can I make them point to different places?
8. Email for my new domain name ends up in my normal mailboxes. How can I point my domain email elsewhere?
9. How do I stop my personal details from being shown on the 'whois' lookup?
10. What happens when I log out and log in later and I can't see the option in the Member Centre?
11. I still get spam to my username email address, what can I do?
12. What are the Terms of the Offer?

1. What is the free UK domain offer?
Between 21st June 2007 and 20th August 2007 you can claim 1 free .co.uk, .me.uk or org.uk domain name. The offer (as announced on the Community Site) is in response to customer requests following the security incident during May 2007, where customers were reporting large amounts of spam. We are offering the free domain as a goodwill gesture to help combat this.
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2. What are the benefits of claiming the free domain?
Registering a free domain will provide you with a brand new email address at no additional cost. Whilst this in itself will not stop spam being delivered to your existing mailboxes, it does allow you to set up a new mailbox for use with your domain name that should then be spam free. We are also looking at allowing customers the functionality to switch off their existing username.plus.com addresses and have their mailboxes associated with their domain instead.
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3. Is the offer free - or will I be charged?
No you won't be charged. The offer is completely free unless you choose to transfer the domain away from PlusNet within 12 months of initial registration. A £5.99 fee applies if you do. This fee is not applicable if you cancel or migrate your account and do not want to keep your free domain.
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4. Can I switch my current £1 .co.uk, .me.uk or .org.uk domain to the free offer?
This is not possible. The domain has been offered to try and move your mail away from a domain which has become spammed. Existing domains cannot, therefore, be used in conjunction with this offer.
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5. I've already opted for a £1 domain but haven't registered a domain against it. Can I claim a free one?
The next domain you register will go under the 'free' option. This will show as free to register once you have completed the domain registration form and clicked 'Confirm'. You can request that the £1 domain option is removed from your account to avoid you paying any unnecessary monthly charges.
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6. I didn't complete the registration process as I wasn't ready to create a domain. Now I want to, but I don't see the offer - why?
Don't worry, you can still register it at a later date - as long as you register it within 60 days. A component for the domain will have been added to your account once you clicked 'Add Domain' on the offer page. If you go to the domain name registration page and register a .co.uk, .me.uk or .org.uk domain you will be able to claim this for free.
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7. I now have 2 domains on my account, but they both point to the same website. How can I make them point to different places?
If you have uploaded both of your sites to the homepages server (ftp.plus.net) then you can point each domain to its own folder on your webspace. This can be done by changing the 'hosting directory' using the domain configuration tools in the Member Centre.

eg. You have 2 domains: domain1.com and domain2.com but they are both pointing to the index.html file in your htdocs folder. Assuming you want to have 2 separate websites, you can create a new folder within htdocs called 'domain2' and upload your second site to it. If you then change the 'hosting directory' of domain2.com to '/domain2' it will look for its index.html file in the domain2 folder instead of the htdocs directory.

Alternatively you may want to point your domain to our CGI (ccgi.plus.com) or FrontPage (fp.username.plus.com) servers. Further details on how to do this can be found at our Usertools site.
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8. Email for my new domain name ends up in my normal mailboxes. How can I point my domain email elsewhere?
This is by design. Email for your domain will automatically point to your existing mailboxes. An alternative is to direct email for your domain to your own mailserver using SMTP mail delivery. This is not recommended for novice users. Find out more about SMTP mail delivery.

Note: If you've had problems with your current mailboxes receiving spam and this is the reason you've claimed your free domain, you may want to setup a new mailbox at Manage My Mail. You can then stop using your current mailboxes totally.
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9. How do I stop my personal details from being shown on the 'whois' lookup?
When registering for your domain look for the option at the bottom of the form which lets you do this. If you don't want your details to be seen just choose 'no'.
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10. What happens when I log out and log in later and I can't see the option in the Member Centre?
Simply go to the Domain Registration page in the Member Centre to register your domain.
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11. I still get spam to my username email address, what can I do?
We are currently working on a method to just allow email sent to your domain name to be delivered. We should have more news on this in the coming weeks.
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12. What are the Terms of the Offer?

1. This is an optional offer to claim a free domain. You do not have to accept this and no changes will be made to any existing PlusNet domains which you may have.
2. Only 1 free .co.uk, .org.uk or .me.uk domain name is available per PlusNet customer account.
3. The free domain is not available to PlusNet customers who have free accounts.
4. The domain will remain free of charge to you as long as you remain a PlusNet broadband or subscription dial-up customer.
5. After you have registered for a free domain we will automatically renew this for you every 2 years at no charge.
6. In order to prevent abuse of the offer, a charge of £5.99 will be applied if you wish to transfer the free domain to another supplier within 12 months of initial registration. This price represents the wholesale cost of the domain and will only apply if the domain is transferred away from PlusNet. It will not be applied if you cancel your account or the domain name at a later date.
7. Out of courtesy, please only register the free domain if you intend to use it.

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