Why Some Visitors Still Can't Reach Your Site After a Nameserver Change
Evans
Last Update місяць тому
- If you've recently changed your domain's nameservers (for example, when moving your website to HOSTAFRICA) and most visitors can now reach your site
— but people on one specific internet provider (ISP) still see the old site, an error, or nothing at all
— this guide explains what's happening and how to fix it.
What's going on
- Every domain has its nameserver information stored in two places:
At the registry (the central record for your domain, e.g. .com, .co.za, .co.ke)
— this is updated as soon as your nameserver change is processed, usually within a few hours.
At your old hosting provider's DNS servers
— these don't automatically know your domain has moved elsewhere.
- Most internet providers check the registry and pick up your new nameservers quickly.
- However, some large ISPs use DNS systems that continue asking your old nameservers directly, rather than re-checking the registry, until those old servers stop responding entirely.
- As long as your old host's DNS servers are still online and still answering for your domain, some of these ISPs may keep showing outdated information
— sometimes for days or weeks, well beyond the normal 24–48 hour propagation window you may have heard about.
- This isn't a fault with your new hosting at HOSTAFRICA — once we've confirmed your domain is correctly pointed to our nameservers at the registry level, this becomes a leftover-data issue on your previous provider's side.
How to fix it
- The most reliable fix is to have the old DNS zone removed or updated at its source:
Contact your previous hosting/DNS provider and ask them to either:
Delete the DNS zone for your domain entirely
(since it's no longer in use), or
Update the NS records within that old zone to point to HOSTAFRICA's nameservers. - This removes the outdated information that stuck ISPs keep receiving, and forces them to fall back to checking the current registry record.
- If you no longer have access to your old provider's account, you may need to contact their support team directly and explain that the domain has moved and the old zone should be released.
- Waiting it out is usually not enough in this situation — because the affected ISP isn't just waiting for a timer to expire, it's actively still asking your old servers, which may have no reason to stop answering on their own.
- If the issue continues after the old zone is removed
It can still take some time for the affected ISP's systems to notice the old servers are gone and refresh their information.
If the problem persists for an extended period afterwards, you may need to contact that ISP's support/network team directly, since the delay would be happening on their infrastructure rather than ours.
Need help?
- If you're not sure whether your old zone has been removed, or you'd like us to confirm that your domain is correctly delegated to HOSTAFRICA's nameservers, reach out to our support team and we'll be happy to check this for you.