VeriSign Accuses Competitors Of 'Slamming' 130
Da_Big_G writes: "Newsbytes is carrying this story about how Verisign (owner of Network Solutions) is accusing other registrars (particularly register.com and Tucows/OpenSRS) of impropriety in transferring domains. This is in response to those registrar's complaints over Verisign's new transfer procedure which makes it nearly impossible to transfer a domain away from NetSlo." sally_tor supplied more URLs: Verisign's complaint letter, and a draft response in the making. So let's get this straight: Verisign charges 5 times more than other registrars do, provides much worse service (for instance, my preferred domain registrar provides DNS service, email redirection, prompt web-based changes - all for $12/year), is now interfering with transfers by requiring additional "confirmations" via a system that doesn't accept those confirmations, holds onto domain names after they expire so that it can a) sell the names themselves for inflated prices and b) sell the service of watching for the names to expire, and they have the gall to complain that people are leaving them for other registrars!
If it was only that... (Score:1)
register.com (Score:1)
E-mail forms, in all their glory still supported (Score:1)
I recognise the problems. E-mail forms are good, especially when you need to administer a large number of (your customer's) domains.
I've looked long and hard to find the best registrar which doesn't charge an arm and a leg and still allows me to make changes and register through E-mail forms. As far as I could determine the only registrar completely fulfilling on this promise is Global Village [globalvillage.de]
I've been a very satisfied customer of theirs for over a year now. Their website is in German only (I think), but if you E-mail them, they speak English rather well. Don't be fooled by their somewhat spartan website, they're technically very competent and their procedures and system works like a charm.
As a bonus, they're avoiding anything Microsoftish like the plague (i.e. printable documents categorically in PDF instead of Word format). They do have webforms next to the E-mail forms as well, though; so it's weenieproof as well.
Do something about it! (Score:2)
Squatting Re:That's odd... (Score:2)
Re:just shows the power of the brand (Score:1)
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Re:Things are even worse for web hosting firms/ISP (Score:1)
The technical contact having the ability to make technical changes, without the involvement of the administrative contact, was one of the only things I liked about NSI that most other registrars don't do. For the few domains that I'm still involved with that haven't been moved over to joker.com, this will probably be annoying. Fortunately, the new joker system (once we start switching everything to that) lets me do this! Yay!
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Re:"preferred domain registrar"? (Score:2)
--
Verisign is full of tapioca! (Score:1)
Basically, most people have their ISPs manage their domains for them, and when the ISP moves from Verisign to someone else, Verisign drags their feet so much that the ISP has to attempt a second time to move the domain...and then if they can drag it out long enough, Verisign trys and forces the domain owner to pay for another years
worth of registration before they will allow the ISP to move it off Verisign!
So, Tucows called them out on it, and the letter that prompted this discussion was Verisigns response. Pretty lame.
ttyl
Farrell
Re:Alternatives to NetSol? (Score:1)
_____
Sam: "That was needlessly cryptic."
Max: "I'd be peeing my pants if I wore any!"
Re:"preferred domain registrar"? (Score:1)
All the important stuff gets done through manage.opensrs.net, like Jebus intended.
There is no reason why any vaguely knowledgable person should register their domain through Network Solutions, unless they enjoy pitched battles.
Re:This is very true! (Score:1)
GKG.net (Score:1)
They are one of the ICANN registrars, have no ties to opensrs, and aren't a verisign target! Just a great company doing a great job.
I tried to move my domain from NetSol... (Score:1)
So, weeks later, even though it expired, my domain name is still working, under NetSol control. So I can't just go re-register it. They want to make it next to impossible to transfer a domain away from them. Well, they can fsck themselves, I will just lose the domain if I have to; they will never get any of my money again.
The registrar I tried to transfer to, 000domains.com [000domains.com] has a policy stating that they will charge a 3.95 fee for requests to NetSol for domain transfers that don't go through because they are expired. However, they recognized NetSol's shadiness in this transaction, and did not charge me the fee. I have nothing but good things to say about their service. They were extremely responsive in their email and refunding my money for the failed transfer. I have registered a new primary domain with them for $13.50 a year and I recommend them to everyone I know.
Slashdot "editorial" standards (Score:1)
--
Ian Peters
Re:Let Network Solutions rot! (Score:1)
NetSol asking for payment on non-NetSol domains (Score:2)
P.S. I really recommend gandi.net - they're a bunch of french open source geeks like us (one of the partners in gandi is the one behind the eu.org free DNS).
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Read the letter to ICANN (Score:2)
VeriSign is claiming that their competitors are blatantly defrauding them, and that the evidence provided to VeriSign of the customers wanting to switch is falsified. Looks to me as if VeriSign is the one whose lying. Their analysis of the evidence (as presented in the letter [icann.org]) is bogus.
one provided copies of several e-mails described as having come from more than 20 different customers-all using exactly the same wording and type font; and another provided identical e-mails, all dated after the VeriSign Registrar's request, and claimed that they showed prior customer intent to transfer
Now, must ask VeriSign, how many ways are there to word a registrar switch? "Dear Verisign - we are dumping your ass for a better registrar?". No, they're all probably a standard business letter layout, with a body of:
Dear $ACCOUNTMANAGER
We are switching to using $REGSTRAR as our domain name registrar.
Thank you
$CUSTOMERNAME
There aren't that many ways to do it. In fact, if a large ISP was switching a lot of customers (read the main article), the wording should be the same. And as for same font, umm, wouldn't that be more dependant on the person printing them out? Last time I checked, email didn't embed the font (unless you use html, and not even always then), and that the font would be the same if they were printed by the same person. Nothing unusual at all in that. Hey, here's an open offer to VeriSign: 5 bucks if the font isn't Courier. My $5 is perfectly safe...
Now, the second set of emails being exactly identical is a bit erie, but as I said above, there are two good explinations: there are very few ways to politely word "go f*ck off verisign", and if a big ISP were switching customers they should be identical. As for the dates, well, if someone forwarded them, the email header would have the date of forwarding. And if they were printed, then they would all have the print date. Either way, it would be weird if the dates were before (not after, as stated) VeriSign's request, since that would mean the competing registrar anticipated VeriSign's request.
I doubt that Mr. Lynn (the President of ICANN) won't catch on to VeriSign's obvious attempt at fooling him. And I doubt that VeriSign will like the consequences.
Woah! This article is incredibly wrong. (Score:1)
Now, if I was an "uneducated" domain owner (which many are, trust me, I used to work webhosting tech support) it would be easy to assume that the mail is legitimate. This is purely a blatant way to trick domain holders into switching away from NetSol.
You may not like NetSol, but the fact remains that tactics like this border on fraud. I'll transfer my domain if *I* want to, thank you. I actually think NetSol should go farther and sue the crap out of these companies.
I fully exepect to be moderated into oblivion for going against the party line here, but it doesn't change the fact that these companies are scum of the worst kind, and NetSol is completely in the right here.
-Wintermute
Re:About domain expiration-- (Score:2)
Tell me about it. I registered a domain a couple of months ago, after having waited for it for years (some South African dude nicked it right before my eyes..).
Record expires on 02-Feb-2001.
Record created on 02-Feb-1999.
That's from a whois of the domain I did the 5:th of May!
A few days after that record semi-expired, listing only NS, not the original owner.
Not until the 18:th of May was the domain finally released and I could register it, so they held on to it for about three months after the record expired. Sucked.
That's odd... (Score:3)
Just my perspective...
Re:The complete skinny on expiring domains (Score:1)
After about a 60 day "grace period" the domain goes "on hold" for about six days and then it expires at a few minutes after 6:30 am Eastern.
Is this by-design or is this a race condition bug in Network Solution's domain registration/renewal process?
Re:What's up with Joker.com? (Score:2)
In extreme resort, you can still send them a fax. Did this a few weeks ago and they responded immediately to the problem.
Other than that, joker.com has always given me satisfaction, and the root server is 500 meters from my place
/max
Re:Do something about it! (Score:2)
Here's how NSI got their "evidence" of "slamming": They got a market research firm to do a survey of registrants whose domains had transferred away from NSI and found that 24% of them did not believe they had authorized the transfer of their domains.
This number is actually remarkably low (I am amazed that 76% of registrants are actually savvy and involved enough to know which registrar their domain is with and why) -- many people have all this stuff handled by their service provider and don't want to hear about it. That 24% can easily be accounted for by hosts/ISP's who switched registrars and took with them all the domains they managed.
The letter is to be signed by service providers who have done this http://www.userfriendly.com/transferletter.html [userfriendly.com] -- by the way, http://www.userfriendly.com [userfriendly.com] is a great domain search tool (no affiliatation -- in fact, I'm a competitor)
You will have a hard time moving from Register.com (Score:1)
Just my $.02 (Score:1)
Re:What's up with Joker.com? (Score:3)
OK, that does it. (Score:1)
This is the last straw, though. I'm transfering them as soon as I can.
You should too.
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Re:What's up with Joker.com? (Score:1)
What's up with Joker.com? (Score:2)
Things are even worse for web hosting firms/ISPs (Score:5)
In the past, as a technical contact for a large number of domains that I may or may not have been the registrant of, I could make changes to the domain's contact assignments and DNS info via e-mail (using PGP to authenticate the request, of course). This was good because it could be automated and repeated without having any bit of information that was unique to each domain.
Under the new/recent system, domains registered are assigned an account number (it's possible to have 1 account number to N domains) with a password, and that information is required to make changes to the domain. The technical contact no longer has the authority to make changes unless he/she is given the username/password by the registrant.
There are definite security advantages here, don't get me wrong. But after pressing the NetSol tech on it for a while, he admitted that they have no provision for folks like me that may need to update a large number of domains at once. We were able to determine together that my options are:
A) obtain the account info and password for every domain and make the change myself, or
B) send the change information to every customer/domain registrant, and ask them to change it.
The horror or either option should be apparent, especially in that neither scales well at all.
To make things worse, NetSol is planning ("in the next few months", according to the tech) to assign account numbers and passwords to all the old-school domain registrations that can still be updated by e-mail. This will finally lock me out (as the tech contact) of any control for all of our hosted domains until I contact each customer and ask them to hand over their password.
Don't mean to whine - you can see where I'm going here. I'm wondering if anyone knows of an alternate registrar that allows e-mail based change requests (preferrably with PGP) or otherwise provides some tools to ISPs for bulk updates?
Who is NetSol complaining to? (Score:2)
NetSol has ignored approvals from me, from my existing ISP, ignored customer service queries about why they're failing to live up to their contract. I'm sure they also wrote the contract so they don't have to do a damn thing.
But the ISP that's going to have to cut a refund check because they can't set up www.mydomain.com isn't a party to that contract, and they're understandably pissed but they also understand you don't purchase a commercial web hosting contract to get email and web space under their domain name.
Re:That's odd... (Score:2)
Seriously, though, netsol is just trying to hold on to what little they have left. Somehow, I see M$ in this boat in the next decade, as well...
Heh
-PhaseBurn
Re:Arrogant bastards... (Score:1)
Apparently, they still do... just watch that weird "slamming" analogy that they use...
Re:Verisign and fraud (Score:2)
Quick, please post the name/address of your company, I want some free cash too!
Re:Preferred is a registrar in a non-WIPO nation. (Score:2)
Why not sue NetSol for trademark infringement if they don't let go of your domain name?
Re:This is very true! (Score:2)
That's happened to me, too. Some time before the expiry date of mutopiaproject.org [mutopiaproject.org], I attempted to transfer it to Register.com, only to have Network Solutions send me an email several days later, declining the transfer on the grounds that the account was not in a paid state. After three transatlantic phone calls, I resigned myself to having to sign up with Network Solutions for another year, and I paid by credit card through their website. Some time later, I received an email from them saying that the credit card transaction had been declined. I had to make yet another transatlantic phone call, during which I was told that "We've been having problems with credit cards being declined in the last few days, we'll put it though again ThankYouForCallingVerisign".
Separately from this, I've had quite a lot of problems with their "Mail-From" and "Crypt-PW" authentication systems, which seem to only work part of the time. Basically, whenever you change the details of your domain name, they send you a confirmation email, and you have to reply with the appropriate text depending on which authentication system you use. I had a period of about a week where neither system seemed to be working, though I tried repeatedly, and then suddenly I did the same thing for the 10th time and it just worked.
My advice to anyone who wants to register a domain name is this: don't touch Network Solutions with a barge poll; go to a different registrar, e.g. register.com [register.com].
Re:Slashdot "editorial" standards (Score:2)
- "They have sought to obfuscate by justifying their policy (citing) a problem that doesn't even exist," [said by Tucows President and CEO]
Michael's simply unobfuscating it for you.--
Re:"preferred domain registrar"? (Score:2)
http://www.totalnic.net
Verisign and fraud (Score:5)
We've had a slew of "invoice moments" over the past several years dealing with NSI's unique practice of sending an invoice to multiple parties (admin, tech, and billing contacts).
As I'm listed as the admin contact for a good amount of domains (having built the first ISP in these parts and dealt primarily with business accounts), I updated my NIC handle to have my current address and company two years ago when I took on a new position/company.
Suddenly, the NSI deliquent-looking domain deletion scare invoices started coming in to my new employer (for domains that had nothing to do with that company). If you've never worked in a good sized company, let me tell you how much fun it is explaining why all these bills are coming in for things that appear to be outside projects (especially when they belong to other well-known companies in town).
"Why are we getting billed for Youknowwho's domains?" "What do you mean, ignore the invoices? We can't do that. We're accounting!" "What do you mean you can't make them stop coming?" "How are we to believe that you didn't incur the expense on our behalf? It says our name right there (it sure does)."
I had numerous discussions with the CFO, COO and CEO explaining that these were bogus invoices (hard to believe, yes, from a "real" company) double billed, and only received by us because I was left as the admin contact for the domain. (The only solution I found was getting myself removed from the domains as admin contact - using multiple NIC handles is a pain, and since I've got a single number NIC handle, it's no fun to go get a 5-digit one).
And then the real fun comes when you found out that the idiots in accounting went ahead and paid them... and so did the real owner of the domain... and NSI pocketed the bonus.
Of course, anyone who gets compensated under government contract, and then turns around and double bills the users for what they're doing under contract, ought to have the double billing scam down well.
*scoove*
One of my domains was slammed... and stolen, too! (Score:3)
After tons of phone calls, e-mails, and faxes, I finally manged to get them to return control of the domain after challenging them to provide some shred of evidence that I had actually authorized the change. They never really came forward as to what happened, but with the ease at which the domain was taken originally, I'm actually very glad that NetSol is taking these steps.
Re:The complete skinny on expiring domains (Score:1)
Re:The complete skinny on expiring domains (Score:1)
Personally I feel a 30 day grace period is more than enough. Give an email warning, and send a snail mail warning as well. Then after 30 days, it's done. Not like the power company keeps the eletricity on if you've gone beyond 30-45 days, nor the phone company. So why should a domain be any different?
-Eagle
Re:This is very true! (Score:2)
numb
expired limbo (Score:1)
According to their FAQ:
The WHOIS record "expiration date" simply indicates the current contract period for a domain name registration. Contract periods vary from one to ten years. If you fail to pay your registration fee, your domain name registration is subject to deactivation and eventual deletion from our systems under normal billing procedures and technology requirements. Many factors may cause the "expiration date" to vary from the eventual date of deletion.
What the heck is normal billing procedures and technology requirements? Does this extended delay in droping names allow them to control domains without cost and so that they can sell them at their auction sites? Especially if they can assess popularity by "watching" the number of times an expired domain is queried. Or are they just incompetent and I am paranoid?
Re:This is very true! (Score:2)
I sent an e-mail to Customer Service at NetSol, but they haven't responded to it. Neither was I successful at trying to contact them by the phone.
When I read this, I thought I must have written it... This is verbatim the problem I've been experiencing for the last week or so. The most annoying thing I've seen is in their emails where they instruct you to send responses to another email address instead of using the reply-to field...
An update (Score:2)
When easyDNS receives notification that the transfer has timed out from a pending registry approval (9 days), they can resubmit the request to Network Solutions. I guess I'll have to wait and see what Network Solutions does this time...
Re:"preferred domain registrar"? (Score:1)
Obligatory answer to many forthcoming questions... (Score:2)
http://www.domainnamebuyersguide.com/ [domainname...sguide.com]
While it may not have EVERY registrar out there, it does provide a centralized resource for many of the choices out there - with comparisons of each registrar's pricing & contractual wording.
-ct
These people are idiots (Score:3)
If anyone wants to investigate a company...it should be Verisign. These people have outright robbed me, and continue to try to rob me by sending me bills for services that they have no business sending me.
I got lucky (Score:1)
I shudder to think what would have happened if I had registered with Network Solutions directly.
- JoeShmoe
Re:Let Network Solutions rot! (Score:1)
Speaking of slamming... (Score:1)
The day before yesterday I received a phone call on my cell phone (I have no idea how they got that number) saying that "they would check for me whether the
I'm sure if I had said yes, they would have helpfully offered to transfer my original
-AE
Pot calling the kettle black (Score:5)
One other unrelated NSI gripe that doesn't seem to have been mentioned above is the cost of transferring ownership of a domain with Network Solutions. When you transfer ownership from one party to another within the same registrar, it's up to the registrar what to charge. Network Solutions charges their normal (though irritating) $35 annual fee, and adds a year to the expiration date. However, the transfer takes up to two months to complete!!!! If you want "expedited service," where they'll change ownership within about two business days, there's an additional $199 service charge!! See this [networksolutions.com] for details. Other registrars I've used let you change ownership in a couple minutes with password and e-mail confirmations, and while the security there is arguably too lax, a 2 month wait for a domain already protected with Crypt-PW or PGP protection is absurd.
A similar experience happened to me (Score:1)
After complying (by resubmitting and repaying the transfer fee to the new registrar; the original fee was refunded post-rejection) they again rejected the request for the same reason.
Rather than waste anymore time/labor, I paid their one year renwal fee to make sure nothing untoward happened to that domain name, then resubmitted the change request, which has yet to be answered.
I have been shaken down.
But you missed.. (Score:4)
Microsoft accuses Redhat of bullying
Andover.net posts a profit, hires all slashdot posters
-ted
Arrogant bastards... (Score:1)
This is very true! (Score:5)
I am in this situation right now. My domain at NetSol is expiring early August, so I decided to transfer it to register.com. After I paid $35 transfer fee, I received an e-mail from NetSol asking me to authorize the transfer. I did authorize it, but just a few days ago register.com sent me an e-mail that NetSol denied my transfer request.
I sent an e-mail to Customer Service at NetSol, but they haven't responded to it. Neither was I successful at trying to contact them by the phone.
I don't want to wait till my domain expires in order to renew it, and i DEFINITELY don't want to pay NetSol any more. They're probably the worst registrar out there right now. I am hoping this will get resolved, otherwise I might lose my domain, which would suck severely.
I am hoping /. is read by the VeriSign people and it gets through to their head how dissatisfied people are with their service.
my two cents. (Score:1)
Re:Slashdot "editorial" standards (Score:1)
Network solutions is the devil... (Score:1)
The new method adds one additional step.
Net sol sends out a confirmation that you have to confirm in additional to the confirmation e-mail that your new register sends you.
I suppose it's more secure with both parties sending out the letter, but the disadvantage is that net sol can take literally weeks to allow the transfer.
If they could automate this system I suppose I wouldn't have any complaints.
discountdomainregistry.com (Score:1)
Not 100% perfect, but pretty close.
All changes are very near realtime.
$14.99/year or less.
I think so... (Score:1)
I don't remember seeing management for actual dns records but I've never really looked for it.
http://domainnamebuyersguide.com (Score:2)
My ISP uses OpenSRS. However I'm interested in comparing other OpenSRS-compatible registrars' policies. Also, I'm interested in learning exactly how domain registry works and how it bridges into DNS, like what denotes an SOA and what prioritizes them if there are multiple SOAs by accident. Any pointers? Thanks!
===
Not quite slamming, but a good pressure sell (Score:1)
Re:About domain expiration-- (Score:2)
just shows the power of the brand (Score:1)
Re:This is very true! (Score:1)
Re:OpenSRS (Score:1)
I'm all for dumping NS and getting another registrar, including an OpenSRS affiliate, but make sure you do your research first.
Some OpenSRS affiliates latch themselves on to your domain as Admin Contact, or lock you partly or even completely from modifying your domain information. One case in point is www.domainsdoneright.com which won't let you modify anything in your domain directly through the OpenSRS management web interface unless you ask them to. Even so, they're still the admin contact, and Ghu help you if you have to make many changes upon multiple domains. It's a one at a time thing.
Now, not all OpenSRS affiliates are like this. I'm sure there are many out there that give you full access to your domain, so if you need to change the billing contact info, you can modify it once and apply the change to all your domains. The one I was using dropped out, so I can't recommend them to you.
I'm using another registrar altogether (www.itsyourdomain.com), but it's what works for me. It may not work for you.
The key thing here is to ask your potential registrar what capabilities your given in managing your domain as well as what restrictions they place on you.
Caveat Emptor.
Re:Let Network Solutions rot! (Score:2)
Re:Alternatives to NetSol? (Score:1)
Matt
Re:About domain expiration-- (Score:1)
Re:This is very true! (Score:2)
It took a couple of days for the transfer to go through, but Register.com assured me that there would be no trouble with any refusals for NSI. I never got any email from NSI asking for any kind of confirmation. And I definitely never got a "the request was denied by NSI" notices from Register.com! There shouldn't be any trouble.
Register.com has been nothing but helpful when I've needed to interact with them. NSI never answered any email. They deserved to lose my business. And where are the security upgrades? The web-based administration? I'm still waiting to see any on their site.
Re:About domain expiration-- (Score:1)
'Domain records are updated periodically. Since this is expired and the registrant does not seem to have renewed, it should become available in the next few days as weekly maintenance is done.'
Not exact wording, but enough to annoy when one gets that every couple of weeks.
Re:Verisign and fraud (Score:1)
There's also the teensy little matter of the original payment agreement "two years up front then annually" suddenly changing a few months back to "two years in advance". Expecting bills for US$35, and getting them for US$70 instead. Notwork $olutions still allows a "back door" [networksolutions.com] which (sometimes, when it doesn't break) allows payment for a single year ahead... but how long will it be before they close that?
Sneaky bar stewards deserve to lose all their business, in my opinion. The sooner people vote with their feet and minimise the power of this arrogant and incompetent organisation, the better!
Re:What's up with Joker.com? (Score:1)
Re:discountdomainregistry.com (Score:1)
Do they handle DNS? I want a one-stop-shop, like Register.com.
Ha ha ha ha!! (Score:2)
Get a clue Netsol, its called Competition and its not going away..
Let Network Solutions rot! (Score:5)
Now I have all my domains registered with Dotster [dotster.com], who are a joy to deal with. Everything is quick and web based, the site is decidedly non-Byzantine and has loads of nifty features, and they're pretty damn cheap too.
Disclaimer: I do not work for Dotster. I just like 'em a lot.
--
Uh, wrong-oh (Score:1)
I first offered to purchase the
Well, the domain was to expire May 3, 2000. And I sat and waited. His site never updated, and May 3, 2000, rolled around. Still was registered to him. In fact, about four months later, his hosting finally gave out, but his domain still showed in the Registry and at NSI.
Finally, in late June, 2001, that's well over a YEAR after it was going to expire, NSI returned that their database no longer had the domain, but it was still showing in the registry. I waited patiently some more, and saw that the registry hadn't updated for nearly a week on that bit of data.
Then, when I went to go check it the following day, it had been registered the previous week by a Hong Kong cybersquatter, who just sits on domains to resell them.
Apparently, they grab many domains that people have been looking for and waiting for them to expire. My guess, NSI is selling domain requests and these people go to the backorder query to reserve these domains in hopes of reselling them for big money.
Instead, we're building more sites, and only the main company site uses a
P.S. If anyone wants to buy this domain and donate it to us, life-long cheap anime and gaming stuff await!
Dragon Magic [dragonmagic.net]
Re:Arrogant bastards... (Score:1)
Because people don't need to call them because they set up a domain years ago and it's been working just fine (such as myself). Most people don't need all these spiffy tools etc. - they just need their domain registered and working! Plus, no one wants to move their mission-critical domain to a registrar that has <2 years of being in business - especially with all these failing
This being said, NetSol does suck in comparison to many of the new registrars. I think as these registrars get more mature, others such as myself will find ourselves looking elsewhere when we get our next yearly domain renewal notice.
EarthLink recently moved away from netsol (Score:1)
Recently EarthLink moved all new domain regitrations to register.com who are more responsive especially with their implementation of atomic dns rfc2136 and smooth online interface.
These jokers may be biggest registrar for now but anyone who has had to deal with them on a regular basis is not of the opinion that they are the best place to take your business.
Complications.. (Score:1)
Yes, I work for one of those companies.
Oh, but NSOL provides things the others don't! (Score:2)
Greedy fraudulent bastards.
(2 domains now with OpenSRS, 1 with Qroute)
--
Alternatives to NetSol? (Score:1)
1) Reliable
2) Great Customer Service
3) Technical Know-How
4) Low Prices
5) Added/Neat Features
Since NetSol obviously fails all 5, what do the
About domain expiration-- (Score:3)
This one irked me VERY recently, when a domain I'd wanted (llight.com) was expired, but Network Solution was showing it as still registered for OVER A MONTH. After a long period of post-expiration registration (with it still showing some lady's name, Linda Light, in the WHOIS data (she'd registered her first name's initial plus last name, which happened to be a common word)), it finally expired and now the WHOIS data shows some company based in Korea as having it registered.
I'd like it if NSI actually just EXPIRED domain names and didn't put them into limbo, as appears to be the case here.
On a side note, and since I'm damned curious, does anyone know what happens to a domain registered through NSI once it expires? How many days does it sit idle, and if they do sell them, where?
Me too! (Score:2)
I received the same letter. At first I was worried that NSI had perhaps bought out or acquired all of the domains from Register.com and I was unknowingly transferred to NSI. After reading it I came to the same conclusion you did - a sleezy and deceptive tactic to drum up business. They will NEVER receive my business now.
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Re:The complete skinny on expiring domains (Score:1)
The complete skinny on expiring domains (Score:5)
For the complete dynamics of domain expiring read this;
http://www.ecommercebase.com/article.php/352/20 [ecommercebase.com]
This article has three parts, be sure you don't miss one. Also, there are links to the authors website, and he has more useful links.
These two companies "watch domains";
http://www.snapnames.com [snapnames.com]
http://www.dnsresearch.com [dnsresearch.com]
I have used the DNS Research service for a domain that I really wanted, but they were unsuccessful in registering it for me. At $99 with no guarantee It's pretty expensive. I didn't use snapnames as the snapback was already sold for that domain (so I knew I had competition). However, snapnames didn't register it for the customer either (I could tell because of the registries used).
If you have tried to register a domain at 6:30 am, you can tell that registries really seem to crumble under the load. So when a domain expires (and they do expire) they are only up for grabs for a few seconds. Thus the appearence that "they never expire". The name checker on enom.com website is current, so you can "watch" a name drop (that is if everbody is not trying to grab it - otherwise by time you hit refresh it's already registered). You have to be careful though, because the whois *is not* updated in real time, and many registrars use that to check name availability. You have to try to register the name to see if its available or not.
So, if you are trying to grab an expiring domain, chances are slim as you are a small fish among big fish trying to do the same thing. And yeah, the Koreans have rooms filled with machines trying to grab that "one good" domain so they can squat it. Read the above links for the full details.
If Verisign/ICANN actaully thought about fairness they could change things and make he "drop" a little bit more fair by enforcing the rules (they don't) and perhaps making the daily "drop" a little more random. In other words, ICANN would have to care, and we all know how much ICANN cares....
Re:OK, that does it. (Score:2)
--CTH
--
Re:About domain expiration-- (Score:1)
Grrrr.
Re:"preferred domain registrar"? (Score:1)
One time $79 fee, then $12/domain.
In the light of these new policies, I have transfered most of the domains I didn't register with bulkregister to them and away from NetSlo.
Re:About domain expiration-- (Score:1)
On a side note, and since I'm damned curious, does anyone know what happens to a domain registered through NSI once it expires? How many days does it sit idle, and if they do sell them, where?
Well, from my experience, they go into what you call "limbo" for 30-90 days, during which Network Solutions sends out about 1 email and snail mail per month reminding the registered owner that this is his/her "!!!FINAL NOTICE!!!" and that his/her domain is about to expire. During that time, the registered owner can't transfer the domain to another party without paying NetSol $35 to drag it back out of limbo and into registered status. IMHO, this is utter bullshit, as NetSol sends out so many emails and snail mails before the actual registration period is up that if the owner hasn't renewed it, it's time to let everyone else have a fair shot.
Here's the best part: next, after the domain is actually expired, NetSol gets a week to foist it onto those people who pay for its newly expired domains newsletter. If there are no takers THERE, then it finally moves on to the rest of us. *sigh*
NetSol has a (mostly uninformative) FAQ about it here. [networksolutions.com]
Re:This is very true! (Score:1)
Michael, who's your registrar? (Score:3)
Re:Pot calling the kettle black (Score:1)
I tried to get NSI to transfer a domain name for me for US$199. First, they didn't respond to email requests and then their web form simply directed me to contact a special email account, which also did not respond (still hasn't ten months later).
Thirdly I tried to get them on the phone. I spent a total of six hours on hold to end up talking to two people, neither of whom understood the procedure or spoke English intelligibly.
All I really have to say about NSI is that those jerks are either incompetent or evil and I'm guessing that it's just plain incompetent.
Yeah but.. (Score:5)
Veri - Coming from the English "Very" meaning "a lot" or "to an absurd extreme" and
Sign - A derivative of the mathematical term "sin" meaning "opposite over hypotenuse" or "wrong" (e.g. Jesus done committed no sins)
Since "Veri" implies a plural, "Verisign" translates to "At least two wrongs" which in turn is equivalent to "not right" or "left" put simply. Since the "left" is the party of bleeding hearts and goodwill and brotherhood to all, it follows that Verisign was trying to invoke this feeling when thinking about the company name.
I feel all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.
Dancin Santa
NetSol has a point (Score:2)
Re:That's odd... (Score:2)
I transfered some 10 domains away from them, with in the past few months, and haven' thad a single glitch.
Of course this is a problem to Verisign.
Re:Michael, who's your registrar? (Score:2)
Domain Name: SLASHDOT.ORG
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com
Name Server: NS1.ANDOVER.NET
Name Server: NS2.ANDOVER.NET
Updated Date: 13-jun-2001
Looks like slashdot plays it safe, and uses the big registrar. The registration expires in February 2002, so get your backorders in now!