domain name registration and webhosting

[newbie1]

I have few questions about domain name registration and webhosting. Hope you can answer..

1. Some of the web hosting plans say it has "Included Domain Names - 5", does this mean they do the registration for the 5 domain names without extra charges? If so, is it advisable? What happens to domain names if I decide to discontinue the hosting services of that company? Can I still keep the domain names?

2. Some plans also say you can "Manage Unlimited Domains" and includes "200 Subdomains". What does this mean?

3. Do you have any recommendations for choosing web hosting companies?

Thanks!

[wheel]

1) If you're looking at 'included domains - 5', you're probably looking at some sort of reseller account, but yes, that would be for 5 domains. Domain registration wouldn't be included in that (not that I've ever seen anyway).

1b) Register you own domain through a registrar, not neccessarily where you do your hosting. That way you make sure your name goes on the ownership of the domain - so you can host it anywhere you like, anytime.

2) that would be a reseller plan, probably for someone doing web hosting or something. I doubt that's what you're looking for.

A subdomain is the part of the website address before the domain. So you could go to:
www.webmasterworld.com
and then set up subdomains (basically seperate websites):
scrapers.webmasterworld.com
viagaraaffiliates.webmasterworld.com
orders.webmasterworld.com
datesforneworleans.webmasterworld.com
(the last four are fictional sites)

Subdomains are not needed by most people, stick to your www unless you have a reason.

3) Yes. I mean No :). Dropping links and product recommendations on webmasterworld isn't allowed. There's a million hosting companies out there. I can tell you that price isn't related to quality - you can get good cheap, and pay a lot of money for garbage.

You should expect to pay $20-$50US a month for a regular website hosting plan. Don't sweat $10 a month.

[newbie1]

"Wheel", thanks for the response. I just sent you a sticky mail since it has some references to web hosting company web site regarding the "included domain names".