Recommended domain name registrars?

[jgbishop]

I'm looking to register a domain name, and I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject. I seem to have learned one thing so far:

1. One should register a domain name theirself, so that they have full ownership of said name (i.e., not getting some domain name registration package with a web hosting solution).

Is that true?

What domain name registrar's are people here happy with? I've heard both good and bad things about GoDaddy.com, which is the registrar I've heard most about. What about someone like register.com (I've heard they might be a little more expensive).

I am interested in WHOIS privacy protection and reliability. Recommendations?

 

[OZEE]

Definitely register your own. That way if you want to move hosts, it's not a big hassle. I use GoDaddy for all of my domains and have been quite pleased. Dunno what negatives you've heard, though.

Regarding the whois privacy... I guess I haven't worried about it. I don't know that it's worth the extra - It certainly hasn't caused me any heartburn yet.

 

[FungusFeet]

I'm happy with Namecheap, which offers free Whoisguard.

 

[blurredvision]

I love Namecheap.com. I'm not up on all the technical stuff for it, so I'm not sure if it offers exactly what you're looking for. Probably does, though .

EDIT: Damn you fungus!! You beat me!

 

[jgbishop]

Thanks for the tip, OZEE. I had not thought of the case of wanting to change hosts. I will definitely register my own domain first.

I see that GoDaddy has a lot of users, but I've also seen some negative things about them over at the WebHostingTalk forums. Stuff about how they block entire countries, or shut down people's domains for things they didn't do. I read these things with a grain of salt, but still...

I'm more interested in people's actual experiences on here. The AT forums' community seems pretty reliable on this stuff. You guys were certainly right about NewEgg - they rock!

Any other tips or recommendations?

 

[Crusty]

namecheap.com

They offer whois guard for free! Definitely the best deal atm.

 

[WannaFly]

I refuse to use namecheap, I had a problem transferring one of my domains to them and their customer service SUCKED.

I use godaddy exclusively, and refer people to godaddy - I'd rather pay $10 a year for whoisguard and get better customer service when i need it.

 

[JackMDS]

The one thing that you Should Not do is get distracted with very low Price.

The differences between the low cost vendors amount to few $$$ per Year, and saving $3-10 for tear should not be a factot in domain owner ship.

In addition to the Good advice already given to you.

Do not buy a Domain that does not provide you with On Line Domain Controller.
If there is No online Domain Controller you are at the merci of the support practice of the Domain Vendor (which usually Sux).

What is a Domain Controller?

It is a link to a page in the site of your Domain Vendor that allows you (with an adequate password) to control on line all the aspects involving your domain
Including, Ownership, Hosting DNS, etc.

Since it is available Online you do not need to contact the vendor's support system to make changes to your domain settings.

Here is an example for of a deal for a frame of reference.

You pay $14.95 for the year. You get your own Domain and a Domain Controller.

You get free space (The Free space is yours as long as you renew the domain with the same vendor at the end of the year).

You can move the domain, renew anywhere that you want, Host anywhere or do with the domain what ever you want No String attached,

Free space amount to:

DirectAdmin Control Panel
20 megs of space
500 megs transfer (per month)
2 Subdomains
5 Email Addresses
Apache Web Server
Server Side Includes (SSI)
Log Files
Frontpage 2002 Extensions
Personal CGI-BIN
Htaccess
Exim Mail Server
Aliases
1 Auto Responder
Vacation Messages
Mail Forwarding
Spam Filters
1 Mailing List
POP3, IMAP and Webmail access
SMTP Authorization
ProFTPD FTP Server
Scripting Tools (Perl, Python, PHP4)
Backup and Restore Manager
Usage Reports
Site Statistics
File Manager
File Upload
1 MySQL Database
Traffic Monitoring
Webalizer statistics

The above example is a Quote from: www.8-95.com

:sun:

 

[cpars]

As said before "register your own", do not buy as part of a package. I use godaddy exclusively and have for a few years now. I am completely happy with their service, I have used register.com before and was not happy with their service.

 

[SiliconJon]

GoDaddy has worked well enough for me. I have not yet done anything real with my webpages, however. I did for a short while host a site to learn some stuff, and didn't have a single problem getting GoDaddy to easily change my domain forwarding. They were very well priced, also.

JS

 

[jgbishop]

Do I have to do anything special at GoDaddy to just register a domain name (nothing else)? Or is the purchasing process fairly straightforward?

Also, does anyone here have any knowledge of WHOIS protection? Is this stuff even legal? Does it work well? Any tips are appreciated!

 

[SiliconJon]

GoDaddy was incredibly easy. Just search for the domain name(s). If they're available, put them in your cart (be sure to get the right domain extension: .net .com etc). Then pay with a Credit card (or proper Debit card). They remind me to renew the domains I have when needed, park or forward them for free, and offer many options. I don't know about the WHOIS stuff...I don't worry about it. Nor have I had any technical issues with them to make a call on.

 

[cpars]

Originally posted by: jgbishop
Do I have to do anything special at GoDaddy to just register a domain name (nothing else)? Or is the purchasing process fairly straightforward?


It is pretty straight forward, you find a domain that is available and pay for it. After you get your host and dns you come back and enter those through you domain config panel.

Also, does anyone here have any knowledge of WHOIS protection? Is this stuff even legal? Does it work well? Any tips are appreciated!

something like this ?
I paid for privacy protection on this domain