Bluehost FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

What Types of Support do you offer?
How can I get SSH/Shell access on my account?
Does Bluehost allow pornographic or adult sites?
How long will it take to get my new site online?
What is the difference between parked domains and addon domains?
How do I see how much diskspace and bandwidth I have used?
Where can I report abuse and/or spamming?
Can I make subdomains for my addon domains on the account?
Can I transfer existing domain names to Bluehost?
What do you mean by "free" domain?
Can I send an email with large files/attachments?
What is the absolute path to my folder?
What version of PHP are you running?
Do you support mod_rewrite for apache?
Am I stuck in a Contract with Bluehost if I sign up for a hosting account? What if I cancel early?

Am I stuck in a Contract with Bluehost if I sign up for a hosting account? What if I cancel early?

You do not have a Hosting Contract with Bluehost. You may cancel your account anytime and receive a prorated refund. If you cancel within the first 30 days you will recieve a full refund with the exception of the below mentioned domain name policy.

If you received a free domain name from us during your signup and cancel anytime after the first 3 days. There will be a 10.00 charge for your domain name which will remain your domain name. The remaining balance will be refunded to the current credit card on file. If you paid via Check or Paypal your funds will be refunded using that method.

What Types of Support do you offer?

Email, Live Chat, and Telephone Support.

Bluehost does not offer support for 3rd party installations, coding, programing, or site creation or design of any type. You can go to design.bluehost.com to get custom design work done.

How can I get SSH/Shell access on my account?

In order to enable SSH for your account, you must either fax or email Bluehost a copy of your photo ID (i.e., driver’s license, passport, etc.).

Fax – 1-801-765-1992

Ticket - http://helpdesk.bluehost.com/kb/index.php?x=&mod_id=4&q=34
Be sure to include your domain name with the submission so Bluehost can know what account to reference.

Does Bluehost allow pornographic or adult sites?

Bluehost does not allow:

Pornographic sites - Pornography is defined by Bluehost to be sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal.

Nudity (including photography and art sites) - Women must be wearing a top and bottom (not see through). Men must be wearing clothing on the bottom.

Escort services - Even if your intent is to just have escorts for social occasions. Dating services are allowed as long as they are kept clean.

Adult toy sites - Adult toys are any toys that are designed to be used in a sexual act.

Sale of adult materials - such as magazines, and just about any other adult item.

An exception is lingerie sites but these cannot show nudity or sell adult toys. If you have see through lingerie on your site then you must edit the pictures so that nudity is not shown.

How long will it take to get my new site online?

Bluehost can have your site online the same day you submit your order. Your account will be setup within one hour of your purchase, provided that the order application is accurate and complete. You will receive your account information via e-mail, at which point you can start on uploading files to the space and preparing your site.

However, it could take a few days for the domain name to point to the account, depending on whether it is a new registration or a domain transfer. All new domain registrations are normally processed within 24 hours of submission. Please allow this time period to elapse prior to requesting information on your account.

What is the difference between parked domains and addon domains?

A parked domain is a domain name that points to your main Web site on your account (ex. if cars.com is your main Web site, you can purchase the cars.net and park it so that if a visitor were to type cars.net they would see the same Web site as if they had typed cars.com). An add-on domain allows you to have two separate Web sites on your account that share the space. You can have a cars.com and then a candy.com as an add-on domain. The candy.com would be a completely separate Web site and visitors would not know that it is part of your cars.com account.

How do I see how much diskspace and bandwidth I have used?

To check the disk usage you will need to log into your cPanel and click on the Disk Usage. In order to check the bandwidth usage you will log into your cPanel and click on the Web/FTP Stats then click on Bandwidth.

Where can I report abuse and/or spamming?

If you know of someone who is abusing the system, spamming, etc, you can email Bluehost at 'abuse@bluehost.com' immediately. They will take care of the problem as quickly as possible.

Can I make subdomains for my addon domains on the account?

Subdomains may be created for addon and parked domains, using the subdomain manager. Bluehost does not however, allow sub-subdomains such as sub1.sub2.domain.com.

Can I transfer existing domain names to Bluehost?

Absolutely. To transfer an existing domain name just use the transfer client option when placing your order through the on-line order form. Once your account is setup, follow these steps, make sure to read all of the information before initiating the transfer.

1. Contact current registrar to unlock the domain and change the name servers to
ns1.bluehost.com and ns2.bluehost.com "Please wait 24 hours for the name servers to propagate".
2. Login in to BlueHost cpanel.
3. Click on domain manager.
4. Click on the registrar transfer icon (looks like two circling arrows).
5. Complete the registrar transfer wizard.
6. Respond appropriately to all emails sent from your current registrar and BlueHost.com.

Note: All of the emails will be sent to the administrative contact for the domain name. You will want to make sure when you are unlocking the domain name that you update all of the contact information for your domain name. Also please allow 24 hours for the domain name to unlock before you initiate the transfer process. The transfer process can take up to 10 business days make sure that your domain name will not expire in this time frame as this could create potential problems with the transfer.

Also when doing the transfer of the domain Bluehost registrar will require that you add an additional year to the domains registration which will cost 10 dollars per domain. "Unless this is your main domain, in which case BlueHost.com will pay the 10.00 fee". The transfer process can take up to 7 days so make sure that the name servers are pointing to bluehost's name server to avoid service interruption.

What do you mean by "free" domain?

The free domain must be the main domain on your account, which is the domain that you sign up with. You can get the free domain in one of two ways:

1. Sign up for hosting as a "New Client." Whatever domain name you use here, is the domain name BlueHost will register for free.

2. Sign up for hosting as a "Transfer Client." By using your existing domain and transfering the registration of the domain to bluehost, they will transfer the registration for free. If you want to transfer the registration you'll need to:
-log into your BlueHost cPanel
-click on the Domain Manager icon at the bottom-right of the list
-click on the transfer option next to your domain name (looks like a blue circle with two arrows inside)
-Complete the 8 step process and then allow 5 to 7 days for the transfer to complete.

Note: if your domain expires within 30 days, then you'll want to re-register with your current registrar before transferring the domain to Bluehost. They will automatically add a year to the expiration on all domains transferred to them.

The domain will remain free for as long as it is your main domain with BlueHost.com.