I have a really stupid question. If I change registrars, but not webhosts, will I experience any site downtime? I've never changed hosts without changing registrars. I want to pick a registrar that is host independent for life.

Can anyone tell me if there is any real benefit to using a registrar such as Network Solutions, who still charge $20/yr for domain registration - are they any safer from being hijacked, etc? (ok, 15/yr for a ten year term) And no, $20/yr is not a significant amount of money, but do I get ANYTHING for my addition $14/year? :)

Also, how can NS provide 100 year terms, I thought 10 years was the limit?

Now you nice people please stop laughing and answer my dumb questions :)

Thanks in advance!!

1. No.
2. The benefits are several: *knowledgeable* support, even over the phone; total peace of mind that your domain is with the second most secure registrar; ... well, that's all. Infact, it is ALOT, if you'll compare Netsol with any fly-by-night wannabe registrar.
3. NetSol does offer 100 year registration on a basis that they register your domain for the maximum possible period (for most TLDs it's 10 years) and then renew it annually untill the total term will reach 100.

Good luck!

... total peace of mind that your domain is with the second most secure registrar...


Thank you for your response Stan, I truly appreciate your concise answers, I just have one question: who are you considering the first most secure registrar? :)

From wikipedia, rank of registrar...

This is a list of domain registrars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_registrar) ranked in order according to the statistics at RegistrarStats (http://www.registrarstats.com/) as of August 3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_3), 2006 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006).
Go Daddy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Daddy)
Network Solutions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Solutions)
eNom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENom)
Tucows (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucows)
INWW (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_IT)
Register.com (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Register.com&action=edit)
Schlund.de (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Schlund.de&action=edit)
Wild West Domains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_West_Domains) (Part of Go Daddy)
Dotster (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dotster&action=edit)
BulkRegister (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BulkRegister&action=edit)
Moniker Online Services (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moniker_Online_Services&action=edit)
DirectNIC (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=DirectNIC&action=edit)
DomainDoorman, llc (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=DomainDoorman%2C_llc&action=edit)
OnlineNIC.com (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=OnlineNIC.com&action=edit)
CapitalDomains (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=CapitalDomains&action=edit)
Public Domain Registry (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Public_Domain_Registry&action=edit)

who are you considering the first most secure registrar? :)

moniker.com

From wikipedia, rank of registrar...

Liandra, this list is based on total domains. What it has to do with this thread?

One more question: I have whois privacy enabled for my 2 little domains. Do I need to disable this in order to transfer registrars?

I am not sure. I usually don't disable it. However, if losing registrar is GoDaddy then you must know that they wouldn't let you transfer out with whois privacy enabled. After you'll disable it, you'll must wait 60 days, because the (in)famous GoDaddy-specific 60-days-no-transfer-after-the-registrant-change rule will be triggered.

Good luck!

I am not hosted with godaddy Thank God, from what I'm reading here today. I'm hosted and registered with ipowerweb

I have experienced their notoriously documented (here) customer service, but I have not read anything about them trying to steal domains....

I don't think they're inherently evil, I just think they're too big for their britches, and they don't enforce any "good customer experience" habits.

Stan... thanks again for all your help today! I cannot say enough what a godsend finding this site has been.

How do you get $20/yr registrations out of Network Solutions when they charge everybody else $34.99?

How do you get $20/yr registrations out of Network Solutions when they charge everybody else $34.99?

That's their domain TRANSFER pricing - $20 for the first year.
When I signed up this afternoon they gave me additional years for the same amount. Also, they 'say' you get a free year (but I really think that it's the first year - $20 transfer fee + free year = first year) ... it's worded vaguely, but that's how I interpreted it. That free year is always so elusive!! But whatever... I'm pretty frugal, but it's just not a lot of money to stress out over!!

AND they say they honor the existing expiry date, and add their years to that.

they charge $10/yr for domain privacy, where as it was free on ipower. But I found I did have to disable it because the emails go to "mydomain.com@whoisprivacy.com" which obviously I do not have access to. I'll know in 24 hours if ipower is trying to steal my domains I guess ;) which is how long they say it takes to remove the whois privacy.

And I imagine I'll start getting a crapload of telemarketing calls again. argh.

So it's been over 24 hours (probably 26 - 28) since I initiated disabling whois privacy on my domains, so that I can change registrars...

At what hour mark am I allowed to get annoyed?

But I found I did have to disable it because the emails go to "mydomain.com@whoisprivacy.com" which obviously I do not have access to.

As far as I understand, mails will be forwaded to you.

Noop, nary an email received, except a sort of confirmation for NS that they had sent the transfer requests to the contactprivacy.com email address. So I went to my host's domain tools and clicked the "disable domain privacy" button, and waited about 28 hours (whereas it indicated it would disable within 24 hours), and contact privacy remained enabled.

So I logged onto their live chat, and inquired. I was told to contact their domain/transfer department via email.

I pressed gently for more direct action on his part. He then indicated that I could update my domain info directly at opensrs.com.

I asked him to hold on... went to that site, updated my domain info, which updated INSTANTLY. I went back to him and tried to ask if this is all they would have done, and asked if they just hadn't gotten around to it yet.

I was then referred back to the domain/transfer department!

He either didn't read my question, didn't understand that I had successfully changed the info myself, and was inquiring why THEY hadn't done it, or was ashamed to actually answer the question, and tried to shove me off onto someone else.

I notified NS that I had updated my whois records and asked them to resend the transfer requests.

Then NS just resent the original requests to the same email address, without requerying the whois database first. sigh............

God forbid anything at all should be easy. grr.

your question is not silly. I had it too.

My domains are now successfully and safely tucked away at network solutions, and resting peacefully. Now if I get completely fed up with ipowerweb I can move hosts with no worries. Otherwise, I'm waiting till my prepaid year expires, so I don't have to be concerned with a refund headache.

Just wanted to say thanks to you Stan for your assistance!!

Nice to see it turn out well