GNBO is Leaving! What Now?
Hello GNBO User
Happy New 2015!
We here at Upperlink would like to thank you so much for choosing us for providing your internet needs.
As we all know, the GNBO platform was scheduled for shutdown on the 31st of December 2014. You may have also received an email from Google stating that and also suggesting alternative means to continue enjoying the internet as a rich resource for your business.
First of all, we would like to clarify the meaning of three internet terms you may have heard from time to time and that may cause you a headache when you hear or see them. They are Domain, Hosting and EPP Code.
Domain:
This is your mark on the internet, your name, how people on the internet can refer to you or find you. They are usually a phrase ending with “dot com”, “dot com dot ng” like “bigsales.com” or “africanwears.com.ng”.
Think of it as a phone number. This phone number is stored in your SIM card and managed by the communications company. How do you get one? You have to first pick a service provider based on choices such as their track record, their network coverage, the bonuses they offer and their rates. You go to their store, you pay for a SIM card, you get it registered and activated and then you can make calls!
This number will always be yours and no one else has the same number. Now, if you don’t use it for a while, it will be deactivated and recycled and eventually resold to someone else.
Hosting:
This is where you store all your internet files; pictures, text, video, forms, emails… everything you want people to see on the internet. This also determines how much data you can send or receive each month, how much of all the data you would like to store and how many emails that you can create.
Think of it like a handset. You now have your SIM card and you need to make calls, store numbers, take photos, play games and other activities you do with a smart phone. So what kind of phone do you need? A simple basic phone? Touch screen with a music player? High Definition camera with a front-facing camera for professional pictures and video chat? Long battery life? All these will determine the kind of hosting (phone) you will need to tie your domain (SIM card) with.
EPP Code:
So, you bought a SIM card (domain) with ABC Telecoms and you are sick and tired of poor network, high costs and terrible customer service. Your neighbour uses XYZ Communications and he enjoys great discounts, can call from every point in town, and there is a service center really close to his house and his office.
He suggests you use them instead, but everyone has your number and you really don’t want to change it and tell everyone you have changed your number. Your number is also in several job applications you have submitted and you are anxiously waiting for responses from the organisations you applied to.
There is a way out! All you need to do is “port” your number from ABC to XYZ at a small cost and no one will even know you are no longer with ABC and are now with XYZ! So much simpler, faster and cheaper than buying a new SIM, registering it and telling everyone you have changed your number.
The EPP code is what is needed to carry out the “port” action from ABC to XYZ when dealing with domains.
So now, these terms should be clearer. So what’s going on with Google, GNBO, Upperlink, your domain, your hosting and my business’s site?
Using the Phone/SIM Analogy
Google came to Nigeria offering free handsets to Nigerians who ran businesses (Get Nigerian Businesses Online). But to use a phone, you needed to buy a SIM card. Upperlink provided these SIM cards (domains) to these businesses so they can get these free phones to use.
Recently, Google decided to collect all their phones back – Google actually had ownership of the phones although they Nigerian businesses you use them for free.
So here is the challenge. Everyone will soon be left with just their SIM cards in their hands with no phones to use them with. All their pictures, videos, contacts and all the stuff saved on their phones will be gone along with the phone!
Google understood that that could be a huge problem for Nigerian businesses and offered to help. Google suggested these businesses could buy new handsets from a well-known foreign telecom company but that would also mean they had to port their SIM cards to the company as well. Keeping your phone and SIM card under the same company made things much easier for both the telecom company and the businesses needing the services.
But here is the thing – instead porting to a new telecom company outside Nigeria and buying their phones, you could just buy a phone right here in Nigeria from the same company that sold your SIM and… and just put your old SIM card in! Plain, simple and easy!
Many clients have called us and asked for an EPP code. This is not necessary at all! All you need to do is contact us at Upperlink, tell us you would like to purchase a hosting plan (a phone). We will then insert your SIM card into your new phone (connect your old domain name to your new hosting plan) and that’s it!
Another thing is what happens to all the pictures and videos and all the other content in your old Google-owned phone? Well those will be lost no matter what happens.
Fortunately, there is a solution for this problem – Upperlink has a SiteBuilder that is very similar to the GNBO site creator! What you can do is “rip” – take a snapshot of your old phone (GNBO-based hosting) before Google takes them back. Once you take out your SIM card and insert it into your new phone (Upperlink-based hosting), you will be able to recreate your site with all the original content from the old site you ripped.
There is a what you can take a quick snapshot of your current GNBO site to save all your information. Unfortunately, this information cannot be directly used with your new phone because they aren’t the same model. So you can use the SiteBuilder to rebuild your phone content (your site) using the SiteBuilder provided by Upperlink.
Alternatively, you can have a professional website builder rebuild your site from scratch. This is a New Year! There are new website trends that make your site look better and have more visitors and expand your business!
This is well understood.
It is truly a painless transition that saves one all the troubles, especially with the provision of a site builder similar to the Google platform.
Well done Upperlink
This is well understood.
It is truly a painless transition that saves one all the troubles, especially with the provision of a site builder similar to the GNBO platform.
Well done Upperlink.
How can one access your site builder plateform?
here are sites that were built by our clients after they got a training from us on our sitebuilder.
http://phenomenalviability.com
http://assangamedia.com.ng
http://urchltd.com
http://ifloshippingltdng.com/
http://facsdotnet.com.ng/
We offer free training on our sitebuilder every Wednesday by 2pm at our head office, 2nd floor Assbifi house,4 Assbifi road, Alausa Ikeja Lagos.
We are pleased with your services as they are worldclass and responsive.
We wish you guide us through the transition process.
Let’s know what is required.
Best Regards.
SAM
Technical Director
Powerware
send me the site builder website please.
Here below, are a few sites built by our clients after they received a free training session.
Phenomenal Viability
Assanga Media
Urch Computers
IFLO Shipping Ltd
facsdotnet
We offer free training on our SiteBuilder every Wednesday at 02:00 p.m. at our Head Office, 2nd Floor ASSBIFI House, 4 ASSBIFI Road, Alausa Ikeja. Lagos.
How much does it cost to create a website?
The Site Builder is completely free Frank. All you have to do is purchase a hosting plan for as low as ₦2,500 for 5GB hosting space.
what about those staying outside Lagos how do they get the tutorial
What’s does the palm cost? We need more details please.
Hello Adewumi,
It all depends on the plan you would like to purchase. The lowest plan which comes with 5GB – which is more than enough for basic sites, costs ₦2,500 annually. This hosting plan also comes with the free SiteBuilder which you can use to build your new site with.
You should already have a domain name, so you’ll just need to get the hosting, and we will have your domain name point to your new hosting plan.
If you need more clarifications and details, you can always send us an email at domains@upperlink.ng.
Have an awesome day!
My website has expired. I sent mail to you promising to renew soon but I have not done so before this problem. Can anything be retrieved?
Kindly send us a mail containing your domain name to domains@upperlink.ng.
Thanks for this enlightenment but this is coming too later. I personal have paid some money before now without having any useful thing out of it.
If your services will work well and affordable, I will go with it
Thanks
Thanks for the comment, i can assure you that our services are affordable and reliable. We also provide a free training on our site builder every Wednesday at our office. Please expect a mail from us soon containing more details on this
We will like to deal with, but our site will be redevelope and what is the cost layout.
Would you like to redesign your site with our SiteBuilder or would you prefer we provide a professional to assist in redesigning your site? Please let us know by sending us an email at domains@upperlink.ng. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Kindly give us further directive how to proceed from here at once before it is too late. Thanks for the rescue.
Well if you want to create the new site using all the contents of the previous one, you can send us a mail to domains@upperlink.ng containing the domain you would like us to rip and directing us to do it.
Afterwards, we advice you to purchase a hosting plan from us for as low as 2,500 for 5GB annually. This excludes the cost of the domain renewal and would serve as your new and personal phone (hosting) where you could insert your sim (domain).
Also you are advised to create an account with us on our platform domains.upperlink.ng/welcome/signup. This would enable you to be able to manage your domain.
That was really toughtful and innovative. I wish to always use my site through your organisation.
Those are very kind words Adewale, we will strive to further provide the best services to you now and in the future. Have an awesome day.
I ve a web I want to swap and to modernise it .what is the cost
Could you please send domains@upperlink.ng a mail, with your current site address and exact details concerning your needs? We will get back to you soon. Thank you!
please can i get phone number in can call to make enquries, i think i have migrated to upper links but i need to be sure.my website is http://www.thenovocollection.com.ng hence the reason why i prefer to call so if i have not i will cross over immediately .
Thanks for making sense out of the non-sense. Thanks for coming up with a solution which would have ended up making a foreign business richer. Actually got in touch with the proposed web based company that google offered. Their fees is not cheap and moreover, its in US dollars.
Please the 2pm timing (for website building tutorials) @ your premises is restrictive! Kindly arrange a morning session for those who cant make afternoon sessions – due to prior commitments e.g school runs to pick up kids at the close of day. Thank you
Hello Bunmi
Currently we can only have 02:00 p.m. sessions but if you cannot make it to any of these, you could always give us a call on +234.909.697.4051 and we would be pleased to reschedule just for you. Thank you.
Thanks so very much, well understood. But please kindly send your office number to the above e mail address.
Thanks!
Will liie to migrate to Upperlink is it e commerce enabled if yes how much
The Upperlink hosting plans support ecommerce solutions. You will have to get a web developer build on for you.
The Site Builder does not come with ecommerce capabilities, unfortunately. If you need an ecommerce solution, you can always contact us via email at info@upperlink.ng or talk to Ope at +234.806.612.3787.
Good one upper link but i will like to have other hosting plans
and secondly can i create my personalized email
thirdly pls do a video on the tutorial
thanx
Proudly 9JA
Hello Slounet,
Thank you for your comment.
If you ever need more information on other hosting plans, you can call Samuel at +234.909.697.4051. He will give you the information you need with all the details pertaining to each plan. You could also email domains@upperlink.ng and make you enquiry.
You can always create personal emails with a hosting plan. These emails will take the form of the domain tied to the hosting plan. For more features and functionalities, you could check out Google Apps for Work – they don’t just offer personalized emails, they offer productivity and collaboration tools. Call Bolaji at 0803.308.8875 for info on that.
A video on the tutorial is a great idea! Once we get that running, we will have a blog post with the link to it and other information you might need for that. Thanks for the suggestion!
You are welcome
How do i migrate from GNBO ?
Please all my domain based email addresses have stopped working due to the exit of gnbo. Please what do I need to do to get them back up and running?
Thanks,
Could you please give us a call so we can further look into your situation and come up with a plan to either migrate you to another platform or store your emails?
Please call us on 0909.967.4051 and ask for Samuel and he will help you out.
It could be that your domain has expired – your emails depend on the validity of your domain.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon!
The number you specified is not on the network, which number can you be reached on please?
Hello Olaitan,
What number did you try? All our lines are always open during office hours.
You could try 0909.697.4051 again or 0708.268.1212 and ask for Samuel.
Tell him exactly what you need or what you need clarified and he will gladly assist you. Have a great day.
how do I have my website back?
Hello Paul,
I’m glad you got to leave a question here.
I don’t think there is a possibility of retrieving your website from the Google hosting servers. They were all taken down over a year ago.
There are ways, however to retrieve a snapshot of your site. You could go to the Internet Archive: Wayback Machine and type in your site’s web address. You may be lucky and the engine may have taken a snapshot of your site. This, however, will only all you copy words and maybe some pictures of your site.
I suggest you rebuild your site from the ground up. Speak to a site developer about what new trends are available to make your site more appealing and more modern. With the method mentioned above, you will at least have a guide on where to start rebuilding your site.
Please don’t hesitate to call us at 0909.697.4051 or 0708.268.1212 or email us at support@upperlink.ng for more information. Have a great weekend!