Recommendation for a Domain Registration Company

kwondokwondo
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
To all you savy people who have your own domain name, which company is best to go with. Does it matter? I see that REGISTER.COM and NETSOLUTIONS.COM are the best but is pricey compared to some other ones. Does it really make a difference?



I don't have a site yet and will not have one right away but I just want to secure a domain name with my name, therefore, I will not be looking for "packages" but a simple rigistration.



Thanks in advance!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    scarecrowscarecrow Posts: 148member
    Well, for personal sites, I would say to go with the cheapest, and most liked, which seems to be godaddy and dotster.



    But, for clients sites and others that are mission critical, I would suggest register.com. They are the biggest and best, offer pretty good customer service, and their online tools work pretty well.





    One word of caution, stay away from NetSol at all costs. Network Solutions is an absolute nightmare.



    I have learned the hard way with the cheaper fly by night companys, and have decided to stick with register.com as they are probably going to be around for awhile.



    I lost three domain names with domains.com when they got sold, then went out of business. It was total terror trying to get them back, and I have vowed to never again do that. $35 bucks at register.com is more expensive, but I remember when it was 72 dollars a year.. besides, 35 bucks a year is cheap to have a constant domain name, and an email address that is going to go anywhere.



    Money well spent IMHO.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    kwondokwondo Posts: 217member
    Scarecrow,



    Thanks for your input. i just got off the phone with a friend that signed up with NetSol. because his other friends had horrible experiences with other companies. He told me that Net Sol bought/merged(?) with VeriSign, which is very reliable.



    The domain is for an upcoming commercial use. I will set up a email account(s) to go with the domain as well as needing large webspace for client FTP editing of image files. In the meanwhile, I only intend on securing the domain name, but, should I be committed with REGISTER.COM when I do need those additional services or can I go with any other webhosting company? Is REGISTER.COM a webhosting company as well? I'm just not sure what the problem would be if I'm going to pay an intermediary to register a domain. Isn't it like sending a messanger or an assistant to file a formal form and once done it's done (except having to renew)?
  • Reply 3 of 7
    artman @_@artman @_@ Posts: 2,546member
    I use Network Solutions too. Always have.



    In fact, when I saw this topic it reminded me to check mine. I was 3 weeks late. Renewed it in one minute. No hassles.



    Can't comment on the others. I've used NetSol for 5-6 years.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    I've used domainsnext.com for several domains. Their prices are right on, something like $15/year. I have been with them for over a year without any trouble whatsover. They provide virtual nameservers, too.



    But, to qualify, this has been for personal type stuff.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    scarecrowscarecrow Posts: 148member
    This message is from yesterday.. before the boards went south.

    --------------------------





    Yes, exactly. Neither Register.com or Verisign is really a web hosting company. They both offer this service, but I would suggest you get hosted with a real hosting company.



    You can "park" the name, without having to have the web space just yet.



    When the times comes, you can have the web hosting company initiate the trasfer, which will need to be confirmed by the email that you used when you purchased the domain name.



    This is VERY IMPORTANT. Make sure that you use a different email address than the domain name you are registering. Next year, if you want to transfer the name, or possible lose the name because of expiration of your credit card, etc.. your email will go with the domain name. Which will make it very tough to try and move the domain name to another registrar or even possibly to renew it, update info, etc.



    If you have an email address that you know is not going anywhere anytime soon, use that for the registration. I have had clients that used their earthlink emails which are now gone, they have DSL, and the renewal notices kept going to their old address, and hence lost their domain name because it didnt get paid for. After lots of hours on the phone, (because all of their verification is done by that original email address) and faxing written requests on company letterhead, were we able to re-secure the name.



    Just some words of wisdom from someone who has registered tons of names over the years, and I have seen firsthand some of the problems that you can run into.



    Good luck.





    --SCARE
  • Reply 6 of 7
    kecksykecksy Posts: 1,002member
    Myself, and all the guys at slashdot use Go Daddy. They're cheap, they provide free parking and domain fowarding, and they don't try and screw you like Network Solutions. I think I paided $40 to get my domain kecksy.com registered for five years. If you don't end up liking them, I hear it's easy to switch.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    escherescher Posts: 1,811member
    I have used pair Networks for hosting my web sites since 1997. They're still one of the best deals around. When they started selling domain names as pairNIC, I transferred all of my domain names to them (about 10 of them). pairNIC is inexpensive and has a very user-friendly web admin interface. Plus it ties in very nicely with pair Networks web hosting, if you use that also. pair's services have only gotten better and more reliable over the 6 years I have used them. Therefore, I highly recommend pair Networks for hosting and pairNIC for registering domains.



    Escher
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