Downtime & email

The honest section. Connecting a domain is routine — we do it all the time — but if your domain already runs a live website or email, there are two things you should understand before we flip the switch.

Why your site can be offline for 24–48 hours

When your domain's signposts (DNS) change to point at your new TrueQuote Website, the update doesn't reach the whole internet at once. Millions of computers around the world keep a copy of the old signpost for a while — it's what makes the internet fast — and they each refresh on their own schedule.

So for up to 24–48 hours after the switch:

• Some visitors see your new website straight away.
• Others still get sent to the old address — and if the old site has been switched off, they may see nothing at all.

There's no way anyone can skip this — it's how the internet works, not a TrueQuote limitation. What we can do is manage it:

• We never switch until your new site is finished and you've approved it.
• We schedule the change for quiet hours (overnight or over a weekend if you prefer).
• If you're leaving an old provider, we ask them to keep the old site up during the changeover, so there's no gap — just a period where some people see the old site and some see the new one.

If your domain has never had a live website on it, none of this applies — there's nothing to interrupt, and the switch is seamless.

Email: tell us before we switch — not after

This is the one that catches people out, so we make a point of it.

If you have email addresses on your domain — anything like info@yourbusiness.co.uk — those mailboxes are directed by the same DNS signposts as your website. When we take over the signposts, we need to copy your email settings across first, or your email stops arriving. Set up correctly (which is exactly what we do), your email carries on exactly as before — same inbox, same password, same phone app. Nothing moves; the signposts just get faithfully recreated on our side.

That's why the get started form asks whether your domain has a live website or email on it. Tick the box, and we'll check your email setup before touching anything.

The golden rule

Tell us what's live, and nothing gets lost. Every horror story about a domain switch — vanished emails, weeks offline — comes down to somebody flipping it without checking what was running first. Checking first is the job; we're rather thorough about it.