the mail:
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Hello:
As you may have seen, we are making some changes to Dynamic DNS accounts. Instead of making the changes without notice, we wanted to give all of our existing customers a heads up and explain why we are making these changes.
What changes are you talking about?
Previously we allowed each Dynamic DNS account to have 5 free hostnames and you could select them from 88 different domains that we own. Now this will be limited to 2 free hostnames from 18 DynDNS branded domains.
Also, we are increasing the number of hostnames that come with a DynDNS Pro upgrade. Previously, each DynDNS Pro upgrade gave you the ability to add 25 additional hostnames. We are increasing that number to 30.
Why are you making these changes?
There are a number of reasons that we thought it was important to make these changes now.
1. Having 88 free domains to choose from was overwhelming for many of our new users. By reducing this to 18 it makes it easier for people to get started.
2. By limiting the free options to the DynDNS branded domains, it helps grow the awareness of our services. Although we are happy to offer our free services, we simply ask that you help spread the word to other people who might find our paid services helpful. We have to pay those bills somehow.
3. Looking at the stats of our users over the past 12 years, we see that the vast majority of people only use 1 free hostname. Our support team has seen a lot of confusion caused by the five free hostnames, so when you combine that with the normal use case, it just made sense. We are allowing the 2nd hostname for those who need to create a WebHop to access your hostname. If you are going to need more than 1 or 2 hostnames there's a good chance you are using us for something important. If that's the case, we simply ask that you pay $15/yr for the DynDNS Pro upgrade, which provides a number of other benefits.
4. If you are using our services for business critical needs, you should consider our Custom DNS service.
What will happen to my current account and hostnames?
Nothing, as long as you keep your hostnames active and up-to-date. If you allow your account or hostnames to expire, you will have to select from the new domains instead and will be limited to the 2 free hostnames. To ensure you aren’t affected by these changes, upgrade to DynDNS Pro for just $15/yr. Again, there are a number of other benefits to upgrading.
You're just trying to force us to pay you, aren't you?
No, not really. As long as you keep your account active, you won't be affected by these changes. We would never want to have a user feel like they were forced to use our services. This does not seem to be a very good business model to us. You do your part (log into your account or update your hostname monthly) and we will do ours (continue to offer free Dynamic DNS services to you).