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What to do when your registrar (NSI) ignores you?
Frustrated Webmaster writes "For the past two days, I've been trying to make modifications on a domain name I registered through NSI/Verisign. The problem is, they refuse to accept changes through email, and their login system is apparently broken. What are my options? How do I transfer the domain away from NSI if I can't even login to their system?" CD: When I heard that NSI was going to go through yet another interface change, I moved the domains that mattered to me to another registrar. For what it is worth, I can totally reccomend EasyDNS.
I personally think dotster is the best. They have great online management tools and bulk management tools for managing all your dumb novelty domains at once.
They're cheap and the customer support is good too.
I don't work for them, I just like them, disclaimer, etc.
NSI is the worst registrar out there. Here is a list of registrars, any one of which is better than NSI. Personally, I use Bulk Register.
1ALpha7
Live to be Moderated
Ask /. is going straight down the crapper.
This is totally a plug for easyDNS, and anti-verisign.
The answer to the question is trying using the phone. You know, the thing you use when you can't email?
This isn't something worthy of discussion.
I must say, chrisd, your articles blow.
They've been really responsive when I've suggested features or had a question, typically responding in under an hour business days, and same day even on Sundays.
I don't know if they have an e-mail interface, but after NetSol, I sure as hell don't miss that. The web interface is nice, letting you apply changes to one or all domains at once, view domains sorted by expiry date, and there are no locks on company names like NetSol and all have or had.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
That's typical registrar behavior, especially with NSI/Verisign. Since they have had to deal with competition, they have been doing some pretty nasty things including not doing domain transfers. Their reasoning is that they don't know whether it is actually the owner requesting the domain being transfered, and they don't want to be liable for domain jacking. Well, that should be solved by a phone call and maybe a fax of ID, right? Wrong. They have made it super tough to transfer a domain because to transfer a domain means they are losing business to competition so they are going to hold onto your domain for as long as they can. Call it Reverse Domain Jacking if you will.
Both godaddy and easydns I've heard good things about.
Have used easydns and been pleased with their customer service, can you beleive it? Not that I need it with their nice interface but still.
I've had nothing but good luck with EasyDNS... After our last incident with NSI, we transferred our domains to them. The prices are fair, and they do a good job.
.sig: file not found
1coms.com is a small company that offers domains at $12 a year.
i would definetely have to recommend dotster.com as well. they have been nothing but great, and their prices are even better. if you are going to transfer a domain, its 11.95 for a full year.
just my two sense
NewsGeek.net
Dont Stop. Dont Think. Just go!
directNIC.com is $15 and has nice features like free hosting, paid DNS and paid POP3 email accounts. They also have the best interface I've ever seen for a registrar. They make it really easy to mange lots of domains (even hundreds), which is really nice if you have more than a couple domains. Transfering your domain to them or another registrar is a painless process that doesn't involve the original registrar.
My domain name was set to expire in Sept., fine I thought, I let it expire and then renew with godaddy.com (50 for ten years or something). anyway, the expiration date came and went, and I called verisign to make sure it was going to expire, they told me that the domain name does not expire on the day they said it would, but that rather it gets added to a list of sites that get deleted every few months or so! that pisses me off, i want to re-register now, but I don't have control of my own domain!
heldlikesound
Cloud City Digital: DVD Production at its cheapest/finest
These ones spam:
NSI/Verisign/Register.com
Joker.com
Dotster
You can find out more by asking on news.admin.net-abuse.email. However, here's some that don't spam, haven't given any problems, and are groovy all around.
DomainDiscover
GANDI.net
Stargateinc.com
awregistry.net
netwiz.net
--
# Canmephians for a better Linux Kernel
$Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.net";
I work for a registrar here in BC, Canada called SearchBC.com, and in my experience NSI = one huge headache! They decline transfers for no apparent reason, and their tech support people seem to be just random people plucked from the street and stuck into their office.
:D
Anyone looking for a good registrar who *answers* the emails, and cares about keeping you happy? Try us. We do domain registration *and* web hosting.
Anyways, NSI = BAD BAD BAD.
I had exactly same problem.
When I would request a form it would go to my email. But when I fileld it in it would bounce saying wrong email address. So I transwered it to different registrar their system is automatic. When you request transfer email goes out to all contacts either to confirm or deny transfer. If you have access to all email addresses you can confirm transfer without NSI's involvment. Worked for me.
By the way I was getting expiration warnings and bills from NSI. That is months after I transfered the domain.
Hope this helps,
VMPN
They rock. They're cheap. They do dynamic DNS, a store and forward MX...
I haven't found a better service.
BlackNova Traders
i've been using Joker as my sole registrar for the past 2 years. Super cheap, free dns, easy interface, good service. Only minus would be the sometimes awkward translated website / documents (they are a german registrar)....
--BlueLines "The cost of living hasn't affected it's popularity." -anonymous
I transfered a couple from NSI to Gandi and it was fairly painless. The new registrar you choose should have instructions on how to transfer your domain to them, and as part of the process, NSI should contact you to verify it. I had a bitch of a time getting NSI to do things, but they kept pace on the domain transfer. Check out this site for a review of registrars that includes ratings of their terms of service (privacy and who owns the domain). Gandi is currently ranked first for legal policies. =D
I had a similar problem. We had transfered our company website to another server, and I needed to transfer DNS record information over in NSI.
Unfortunately the MAIN e-mail for their records was going to a non existent e-mail matth@ptd.xxx. Yet, on the contact it listed matth@shell.xxxxx.com. I still dont' totally understand it, they said something about how that e-mail address is hard coded when you setup the account and you can't change it... so I'd either have to send an e-mail from the @shell.xxxx.com address or the @ptd.xxx address.
Our mail system runs on a dynamic DNS system. My e-mail would come from: matth@shell.xxxxxxx.com
but for some reason NSI would read it as our dynamic DNS name which would be: matth@andromeda-xxx.dyndns.org. Needless to say, they said I needed to fax a document over with identification like a phone bill or drivers license ID. I said, umm look here, there aren't any phone bills that come to the business because it's a home business, and my drivers licenes doesn't have the business address, because I don't live here! They were like, ok then just fax it over, and exlpain that. I did.. it came back.. you must include ID. After several days I called them again, and said, that I'd like to know why their e-mail system is reading my dynamic domain instead of the domain I'm sending e-mail from, they said it wasn't their problem. How can you argue with someone who's reading from a script and doesn't understand what you're talking about!??! even when I got someone who understood, somehow they still seemed to find an intellegent way to not answer the question. In the long run I ended up forging an e-mail from the main e-mail address for the account which no longer existed (the main problem in the beginning) matth@ptd.xxx. So I forged the e-mail, and forged a return form, and got the domain trasnfered. *sigh* Why does NSI make me do things illegally in order to transfer my DOMAIN? I even went over this on the phone with the lady.. I said.. look why do I need to fax you all this junk? I could just forge an e-mail from my old address, and have it work. she's like well I'm sorry that's how things are.
OpenSRS resellers have a super-easy set of password-protected web forms for updating all of your info. The cool thing is, if for some reason your reseller goes out of business (imagine that!), you can still do maintenance through opensrs.org.
Two that I like and have used are
Domainmonger
and 000domains
Plus, the price is usually cheap ($13-17 per year).
It's easy to switch from NSI/Verisign to these guys. The instructions are on the sites.
You can end up at a place that used to be okay, and now has gone down the tubes.
I wonder what happens if one of these places goes under?
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Great service. They offer 'full' access to your DNS records, and provide the service for *FREE* (after a one-time $30 donation). They even have applications that will update your IP address for your domain (should you have a dynamic IP addess).
Been using it for over a year, and have donated more than my required $30.
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
- Charles Darwin
I agree with that OpenSRS statement. I forgot to mention that SearchBC.com is an OpenSRS reseller.
I've had a similar problem 3 weeks ago. No valid emails, no password and no pass phrase (4 years old domain).
We wanted to transfert a domain and had a LOT of help from a NSI employee who, after talking with him a few minutes, kindly gave us our password after asking a few questions: the company name, the address and the contact handle.
nothing else! I really don't know if we should be happy or scared. Anyway, it's a good reason to change registrar anyway.
So, thanks to that NSI employee that saved that domain!
I would definitely recommend Gandi.net. I've been using them for 6 months now, everything's worked flawlessly since signup, and they don't spam. Better yet, it costs 12 per year (about $10).
Also, Domain Discover makes it incredibly easy to transfer your domain to them. They have a SSL web based interface for making changes.
Note: I don't work for them, but I do have ~15 personal domains registered through them so.. Slightly more expensive them some of the other registrars out there, but I think its worth it to know that my registrar won't steal my domain name if it suits their interests...
One of these days i'm going to find this 'peer' guy and reset HIS connection!
I've been waiting almost 2 weeks now to have my DNS changed. First is was thier "broken" email verification/authentication issue. So I proceeded to FAX the authorization form to them. I was told that within 5 days my DNS would be changed. It has now been 8 days (not counting the week of the email fiasco!). If anyone at NSI is reading this, please have someone resolve this issue, because you really don't want to lose the /. crowd! If my issue isn't resolved tomorrow AM, I am dumping NSI _completely_. Hopefully, others will heed this warning and do the same.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
Working as a DNS Admin for a webhosting company often brings forth problems with client domain names. I've had to deal with everything that you can imagine through them. The best way is to call them. If it's something simple, they'll often accept it instantly right there. If it's something more complex they'll often give you a tracking number and you just fax them proof of yourself and that you own the domain name, and within 24 hours most changes go through. At the first sign of trouble through web/email call them.
Yeah, but good luck keeping the domain.... (Yeah, NSI wouldn't have any right to keep it from you, but good luck arguing.)
I've been using EasyDNS.ca for over 6 mos. No problems with the domain. All very "easy". I've never needed to contact them about any issues, or even had any issues in the first place!
:D My ISP was Bell Sympatico, and their PPPoE implementation seemed to ensure many and frequent IP address changes.
;)
I was using the "dynamic" DNS service that they were offering with a DNS client updating my IP address everytime it changed. No problems reported by people trying to connect to my mail or web servers
My biggest issue (ha!) with easydns is updating dynamic IP addresses from Linux. They recommend ez-ipupdate, which is fine if your box is connected directly to the internet. Mine wasn't: it was NATed behind a router. In this situation you have to jump through some hoops to get the IP address updated. Does anybody know of a ddns client for Linux that works straight-off from behind a firewall, *and* works with easydns? Not that it is important anymore as I have a static IP from Istop.com, and better service
Finally, I like easydns.ca as they're just down the road from me in Toronto. That means my money isn't going to some huge ugly US corporation. As I understand it, easydns.com was set up to compete with the US companies, hence they're happy to accept USD$.
for my domain.
Assuming you pay through a credit card, call up your cc company and complain. They tend to be pretty good at satisfying their customers.
Register is the standard $35/year, but they have been responsive to my questions and inquiries. Even through email I got a 2 day response. I'm not saying they are the best or anything, just solid and pretty straight forward.
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
The only bad thing I've seen in the threads so far is that they spam you. I have NEVER found this to be true, and in all the years I've been using them, I've had the BEST service, the LOWEST prices, and the overall best experience with this registrar.
I even have an opensrs reseller account, and I like this better. (costs like $1 more per domain/year, but don't have to buy in bulk).
In the early days of their service, I even got quick replies from their head admin for some issues I was having transfering domains.
Since the postings related to this article thanks to chrisd's layup are highly centered around advertizing for registrar's, here's mine..
.com.net.org.info(.biz) a year including DNS service and you get an actual invoice shipped to your address from Denmark.
/. in the future - they are not the reason I read the article's and they sort of distort my view on /. as a relaxed resort of recreation :)
DKK 156,-(195,- = 25% Danish VAT included where applicaable) for
at http://sophistic.dk
.. ok that was it, and to chrisd thanks for the advertizement oportunity, but please I can live with out the layups on
What if you use the old forms, and send them in via email? I *HATE* their web interface (it really is bad).... So I've saved my old email "forms" and modify them and email them in. I have made changes as recently as last week with forms that are four years old, without difficulty. They appear to have done a good job with their backward compatibility in the forms.
I have 18 domains registered with network solutions, and I have yet to have a problem. Get them on the phone and scream if you have a problem. Maybe that would work? Good luck.
Before you do anything like that read the terms of use from your cc. This is not an acceptable form of use. Your card may be suspended. Call their 1-800 and let the charge accumulate untill someone responds.
DRM? No thanks, I'll just get it somewhere else...
$15 a year and they have an awesome online control panel for managing all of your domains.
I haven't had a problem with moving and leaving 11 domains.
1;
EasyDNS is by far the best. Many people will recomment others. They'll say they allow you to do everything and more, for a low price.
The problem is these places never come through. EasyDNS is *very* professional, and their service is *very* flexible.
For instance, will others be a back-up mail-exchanger? EasyDNS will, with no hassle
and through a beautiful interface that isn't
dumbed down.
Their services run the whole gambit, from full-blown domain hosting to just being a secondary/slave authority for your domain.
My old employer went through some horrible server
downtimes, and EasyDNS was quite helpful and attentive in managing the domain end of things
by allowing them to switch over all domain servers
very rapidly, w/o red-tape and a lot of $$. They also took over the mail-exchange part and forwarded
their mail very quickly.
EasyDNS is the absolute best bang for the buck, bar none.
I'm not sure if this applies but...
I had simular problems with my new credit card company's website (login system broke) After a while I realized that the site required a 128 bit secure browser (and didn't mention that anywhere). When I upgraded to 128, the login worked.
It's called a telephone. Call them.
Network Solutions is BY FAR the WORST place to register a domain.
Their forms are confusing, even when you know exactly what you're doing. And that assumes you can find the right form in the first place -- even the list of them is confusing! Changing basic things like DNS servers is a nightmare.
Compare to Domain Maniac. It's a snap to change basic info -- you just log in and do it.
So on a purely technical basis, pretty much anything is better than NS.
Oh yeah, then there's the fact that DM charges less than half of what NS charges.
I use PowerDNS.
-- unix is for people without a social life - Patrick van Eijk
Non-net communication can be useful. Call them. They may have you fax something. But you should definitely get results that way.
NSI does suck to work with.
I've been dealing with NSI since 1995. During the middle 90's, they were the only registar company, and when dealing with them for the local ISP I worked for, found them to be un-responsive and totally non-caring.
It took me 6 months to move a personal domain away from them. I tried using their website, and their email forms. Old but still valid email forms from my ISP days. Made some 30 phone calls, and spent over $150 dollars on long distance, because at the time, they did not offer an 800#.
Then, when they did offer an 800#, the call volume got so bad that the only way to reach them was via email, and that was just a large black hole.
In the last 2 years I've migrated every domain I admin to a small registar who offers wonderful website control of my domains, 24 hour tech support (who know what they are doing) vian an 800#, and IF they f8ck up, which happens now and then, they have, EVERY single time, excalated the problem to the right deptartment and it's fixed within a few hours.
NSI is one of the very worst service companies I've ever encounted, and I'm aghast that they are still in business, and screwing with people's domains left and right.
I applied for the .BIZ domain for my company,
.BIZ domain, they told me they aren't administering it, it's neulevel that takes care of it...(that sounded like a ping pong game is about to start).. I asked who to contact at neulevel, neulevel told me NSI would take care of it (ARGH), anyways last time I tried was 2 weeks ago when the .BIZ was supposed to be online, asked them what was wrong, they told me they had a database screwup (good timing guys) and they would get the Neulevel transfer within a week and mail me the new password... that was around november 8th if I recall.... so it's more than a week now and still nothing... god...
I've had nothing but troubles with NSI.
First: The application, they gave me a customer #, a login and a password... few days later, I couldn't log back in the account to see if my application passed, if my domain was accepted or if my company credit card was billed (although I could see it from the receipt generated by the CC company).
Second: Tech support, forget about their email reply, they NEVER reply
Third: I went online with their chatroom stuff, I thought "hey that's a good service" (I hate using the phone), finally they answer your question, it makes sense (I asked why my account wasn't working, they replied they didn't have an account or domain under what I registered, but if I check the neulevel whois database, I'm there (?) , so they told me they would send a password back within a day... of course it never happened).
After a week, I went back to check with them what was happening with the BIZ domain, they told me they didn't have my account and no record of me applying... funny, my credit card does!
I asked what the Fsck was going on, how come I couldn't access my
This brings me to stargate Inc, saw them by a pure coincidence, guess what? 8$/domain when you register at least 2... you get: Email fowarding, static web page, unlimited DNS/NS changing with a nice configuration toolbox, *FAST* service, *FAST* confirmation, heck, Why are companies like NSI still around when you get that kind of royal treatment for a mere 8$??? I was really shocked (and still pissed at NSI). If you can't carry a buisness, let the others do it, we don't have to pay for their incompetence nor the fact that their tech support people don't even know the earth is round yet (so imagine anything having to do with your account).
Anyways, thanks for bringing this up, I almost forgot about it, I'll ask stargate if they can transfer the authorization, and if I'm lucky, maybe I'll be able to actually USE that domain before it expires and I have to renew it...
I don't know about you guys, but they claim software piracy costs BILLIONS per year, but calculare how much is lost in time wasted if we calculate 1-2 hours a week per IT administrator such as myself times the amount of companies that went thru NSI. 35$/yr for a domain might be cheap for corporate usage, but 2 hours/week to fix domain issues and bouncing paperwork around adds to quite a lot, this could almost be worth a class action suit, maybe the management would wake up.
They have converted your domains to the new system, and failed to email you a password. In my case, they munged my contact information as well.
I had to call them, and their answer was that I had to fax a letter to them requesting a password change.
I moved my domains instead.
NSI/Verisign sucks.
-Chris
-- This sig is only a test. If this were a real sig it would say something witty. --
Great website, tools, etc., don't know about service cause I haven't had to bug them yet... have done dozens of registrations and transfers... highly recommended.
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
I started domain hosting with HostOnce recently ( http://www.hostonce.com ) and have had no luck. My account was activated, and I can access my storage through FTP (which doesn't use my domain). I have also transferred my doamins to their DNS servers as instructed. It's been 2 weeks since the longest time period for it to be updated has past.
;-)
Multiple emails to their tech support yielded no response. I WHOISed their nameservers, and contacted the administrator listed, and he responded that he's actually a customer and isn't involved with them (in terms of working for them). I did get a response from their Sales Team once - they said my message would be forwarded to tech.
Anyone have this problem with HostOnce, or any possible solutions? I'd appreciate an email if you do, I'm desperately trying to get my hosting fully working! Thanks.
If you'd like to check out their site: http://www.hostonce.com
Thanks again,
-William ( SHOULD be at http://www.hostonce.com )
P.S. Maybe it's called HostOnce, cause you only ever use them once!
Any of a number of people have suggested transferring your domain away from NSI, and have suggested replacements. There is one big hiccup to beware of, however:
... they wanted $150 for a year. Calls to customer service to get the mess straight proved totally fruitless. We're still unable to register it with another registrar because NSI won't let it go, and NSI won't reregister it for anything like the usual price.
If you try to transfer your domain away from NSI by letting your domain expire and then reregistering it with another registrar, you may find that NSI is holding it hostage.
A customer of mine let one of her domains expire for lack of funds; when the money came in to pay the $30 registration fee, NSI didn't want $30 or $35 or even $70 to re-up it
Also, I moved a domain from NSI to another registrar back in July; in September I started getting bills from NSI for the domains' registration which expires in October, 2005.
Remove the caps and hold to a mirror.
I also like this one at $12.95 per year
Lowest Domain Rates
You can transfer to another registrar without initially contacting NSI yourself. Instead, your new registrar will handle everything. If things go as they should, NSI will shortly send you an automated message asking you to approve the change. You merely reply to the message, filling in a couple of fields in the form. I've done it several times now, it only takes about 48 hours.
I concur...DirectNIC.com is great. I have two domains there, but they have tools that look like they could handle hundreds for me easily.
Also, their interface lets you do anything you need.
BTW, EasyDNS is great software that someone really should do as open source, but AFAIK the DN registration is just register.com.
I highly recommend checking out the DomainNameBuyersGuide to see how various registrars rank among various dimensions (legal, pricing, etc). This is how I found my excellent registrar, DomainDiscover, which has proved to be great.
For the record, I too, am a huge fane of EasyDNS; they provide 4 secondary DNS sites and 2 backup MX for $15 yearly.
use snail mail. as for what to mail - a toxic spider, for starters.
I've had pretty good luck with register.com; they're responsive via phone or email. They haven't screwed up much, but when they do, I always get the sense it's basic incompetence, as opposed to the active hostility that you get from NSI.
go to gandi. No fee for transferring(at least no fee from them).
Got Freedom?
Thinking?
Try zoneedit.com
I had some domains there in the past. I guess that any other are better than them.
Would NSI even bother to send at least a email when you needed to renew your domain. The answer is no. At least a email to the contact person would be nice. So I tried speednames.com and they did the job for me. It took me 10 minutes to register a domain. it takes me 3 minutes to change ip's etc.(and 4 weeks to find a available domain). They don't have a lot of features but, they have what I need and it works without having to use a lot of confusing menus etc.
Did you follow the instructions in the email with the subject like [NIC-999999.2efa] NOTIFY DOMAINNAME-DOM? If not it won't work.
What is pirate software? Software for inventory of stolen treasure?
When I moved my domain, neverending.org, away from NSI, I didn't have to deal with NSI at all. I just told DomainDiscover that I wanted them to take over control of my domain, and after filling out the proper paperwork, I was homefree. I never had plow through NSI roadblocks.
I remember getting an email from NSI saying "We're so sorry to see you go; could you fill out this form and rank us?" I filled out the form, just to vent the problems I saw with NSI.
Recently, NSI deactivated one of my client's domains with no notice six months after the yearly renewal fee had been paid. NSI customer service informs me that the domain was shut off because the renewal fee was never paid. When I told the service rep we'd already paid, he told me they had no record of it. Lacking a confirmation number or credit receipt, my client decided to pay them again. Cool beans, right? Not exactly. Three days pass and the domain is still inactive. I call customer service and they tell me that payment is due on the domain. Amazed, I get the go-ahead from my client and we pay for the domain. Again. Cool beans, right? Wrong. Three more days go by, and you can guess what customer support told me when I called them. So after paying them a _third_ time, NSI finally reactivated the domain, much to my client's clients' joy.
This incident has actually inspired my client to get into the registrar business. He figures he should have no shortage of rebounding disgruntled NSI customers available for the taking.
Personally, I recommended that my client fax a copy of his credit receipt to NSI and formally dispute their ripping him off, but the invoices weren't available, and it would have only been more customers and email lost if he had taken the time to get them.
niko
Many of the readers of Slashdot probably have at least one domain that they are responsible for. NSI is not going to change its policies until large amounts of domain owners start marching out the door.
I own several domains and just last night I was transferring one from NSI to Gandi.net. I have been using NSI for years and have had nothing but trouble from them. I intend to transfer all of my domains that are registered with NSI as soon as possible.
Why NSI sucks:
1) Convoluted process to change or update domains that often doesn't work. The process is about as confusing as those furniture assembly directions that come with cheap furniture.
2) Fees: Why pay $75 for a year when you can pay $25 or less at a registrar that is dependable?
3) Spam: NSI sells their lists to junk mailers. Hello jam-packed PO box!
Just call them. My employer refuses to switch away from NSI. "What if the new registar goes out of business?" is what he says, whatever! I have a pain in the ass time everytime I deal with them, just call wait the 45 minutes and don't leave till get done what you want.
These 'people' (actually I'm not sure if they are people, I've certainly never been able to speak to a human there. I suspect it might be more of an evil artificial intelligence) are the worst. I have been trying to update an out of date email for an admin contact for months. Last time I faxed them official company letterheads, drivers licences, you name it and other than the automated email "we got your request" they maintain a stony silience and the domain info remains the same.
They are more evil than microsoft. I wish someone would declare a Jihad against them.
:wq
When I had all I could take with NSi, I decided to start using a different registrar. So, I went with [anonymous registrar]. [anonymous registrar] does business in Germany, so all the prices are in Euros... and its wicked cheap! EUR 12.00 for 1 year.
When I placed my first order with them, it was for 3 domains at 1 year each. Somehow through the magic of the internet, my order ended up incorrect, and I was charged EUR 144.00 directly from my bank account. I filed a charge dispute with my bank. Instead of trying to deal with a company in Germany, my bank decided to simply refund the money. Best part, is that I ended up with 3 domains @ 4 years each for *free*.
Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
Gandi is "sort of" non-commercial. It was started as a protest against commercial registrars. The founders thought that they were overpriced and were charging for what ought to be free. So they started selling domain names at almost cost ... and to their own surprise, they started making money, which they are investing back to support community project such as Gitoyen.
The interesting consequences of this is that they are not actively seeking customers. They don't have a marketing department. They don't advertise. They don't spam, nor do they try to lock the customers. You are free to go to another registrar -- no fee, no hassle. They are based on free software exclusively.
After having countless problems transfering domains from NSI/Verisign, Updating DNS or changing emails I decided to consult their 'Ask Jeeves' powered question and answer system...
The answer..
Sorry!
You Asked:
how do I transfer my domain to another registrar?
Thanks for asking your question!
Unfortunately, we couldn't find any answers for this one.
Says it all...
A year ago I was working at a college, and we needed to change IPs in order to get a larger address block. Of course, we were registered with NSI. It took almost a week, three signed faxes, extra money to "expedite" the process, and countless hours on hold before everything was straighened out. That was almost a week during the academic year when we weren't receiving email. There were a heck of a lot of unhappy users, as well as one very unappy sysadmin.
Yes I am and yes, I'm going to correct your spelling . Dude...it's deity....not diety.
What does dieting have to do with linux?
And just so this is actually on topic, the credit card thing won't work. Although, if someone gets away with it, please let us know, because credit card companies usually aren't that dumb and I want that companies card.
there are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
http://directnic.net/
Turambar
------------------------------
Common sense is not so common.
--Voltaire
You don't need to work with NSI to get your domain moved to another registrar. I personally use www.tiernetworking.com which is a tucows OpenSRS reseller to transfer my domain over. When you do it will email the administrative contact with a URL you must go to to approve the transfer.
NSI screwed up the nameserver list (for my domains) in the *global* TLDs and it took an act of allah to finally get all records in alignment for me to send my final "get me off of your stinking system"-change-registrar approval message.
Their online support was horrible.
Their live-human-phone support was about as good as trained monkey with a script and a banana.
EasyDNS folks were patient through the whole process and *know their stuff*.
The prices are really good considering it's both yearly registration fee *and* DNS.
Mail store-and-forward has been a major cool feature and their web interface is speedy and reliable (changes happen exactly when they say they will).
All questions are anwered in hours by real folks and their referral program can wind up paying your yearly fees for you if you promote them well enough.
They have *global* coverage (servers in very different locations), providing maximum uptime for your domain.
The *only* thing wrong with them is that they are Canadian... *:^)
NSI needs to go the way of the dinosaur...
Mind the gap...
Wow. I just went through this, trying to change the DNSes for my domains. It seems that one domain, which I registered in 1998, uses the old, agreeably disagreeable method we're all accustomed to. Another domain, which I registered in 1999, uses some other method involving a wholly unmemorizable number and a password which I never set, and which, to my recollection, was never assigned.
I called NSI. Which had the predictable result. I got in touch with what just had to be the least intelligent phone operator ever (or merely the very least motivated), who told me that there was simply nothing to be done short of faxing them. I don't have a fax, and besides, this is ludicrous. The old system isn't there anymore, they didn't provide me a means of transferring to the new, and they want me to prove my identity as a result? Screw it.
The same operator didn't seem to mind when I asked him how to transfer my domain name. Seventy-two hours later (or so) my domain is registered elsewhere for half the price NSI wanted, my DNS records are changed, and everyone's happier (quite probably including the surly NSI phone drone).
Now here's the funny part. The answer to the question is that all you have to do is get the new registrar to ask NSI to transfer the domain name. NSI will email you. All you have to do is respond to the email (following its simple instructions), and you're set. No fax, no proof of identity, nothing. Just have the email address registered with NSI.
The only way I ever got them to do anything was by listening to their phone system for an hour or two (I'm not joking, and that was at international phone rates, several times over the years) until someone picked up the phone, and tried to do the Dogbert-esque "How may I disconnect you" thing.
With a just a little bit more persistence they would finally react.
I transfered to gandi (which went totally smoothly, and only took about 3 days to happen, and costs about half what NSI charge) and have never had a problem with them. They have a web interface that works, they have a mail system that means that a human gets to see your queries within less than a day, and replies --- In short, they do a proper job.
Why the bloody hell NSI are still allowed to have anything to do with domain administration is totally beyond me. It's about time that someone brought a class action against them for wasting tens of thousands of hours of other peoples time.
Further examples of their uselessness:
Use gandi, use anyone --- just run screaming from NSI and your problems will be solved.
Debian: GNU/Linux done the Linux way
I am waiting 5 months already to transfer 6 company and 3 personal domains. I have sent a dozen of e-mails and still my domains are not transferred to the registrar my choice.
...
Now I am getting e-mails asking to pay for those domain names
Since when can a registrar take my (and your?) domains captive?
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
I tell everyone I know not to register with NSI. If there ever was an example of corporate credit card fraud, NSI is it. I prefer to call it e-fraud .
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
If they can't get this process right, I have serious misgivings about their overall reliability and competence.
Another problem with Dotster: their WHOIS lookup will incorrectly return domains being available, when they are actually registered. Or at least it did last time I used them.
YMMV.
Spare me your rationalizations. All I know is, stem-cell research kills a quasi-living four-day-old blob.
I have been using register.com since they started. With the exception of one phone call (new tech apparently), they have been very reponsive to my needs.
:)
:)
In addition to that, while they may charge the full $35, they will typically give me discounts on occasion for being a "valued customer".
Furthermore, wihle most registrars allow you to put in info for a DNS server only, you can use register.com for your DNS servers, and do all your DNS configurations through their website. (This includes A records, CNames, MX records, etc.) It eliminates the need for in house DNS!
I find that they are very worth it.
libertarianswag.com
I fooled around with emails and faxes for weeks, then eventually called their support at 1-888-642-9675. Be prepared to be on hold for a _long_ time, I waited like 40 minutes or so. Annoying, but it's their dime. I was successfully able to make changes to my domain after I talked to them. They even gave me a special fax number to use. Apparently they actually check that fax machine! :)
Hopefully the same number will make it easier for you to move off NSI.
Unfortunately, NSI has much worse problems than that. My domain has been expired on their database since Dec 99 and they wont let me transfer it to another registrar because it is "on hold". I called them and asked them how long it would take until it is deleted from their database and told them it has been over a year and they said "Oh, it will be much longer than that".
This has to be a violation some kind of law.
Anyways, all of my new domain business goes to Dotster, as well as my clients'. Too bad I purchased the domain before NSI lost their monopoly.
I take it you can't do email submission because your domain wasn't registered back when email forms were the norm through NetSol. My old domains I still can (or at least did, last renewal last year), but all the new ones I have to use their web tools.
Just call them and explain the situation. The hold times aren't terrible, and they have a number of verification methods where they can verify you and reset your password or just make the change. I've had to do this a number of times over the last five years for various employers with messed up authentication on their domains (usually an admin with the passwords leaving and refusing to tell it to them), and they've always gotten the changes made quite quickly.
You should switch registrars as soon as possible, not only because NSI is unethical, but because your first few attempts may fail because NSI is very, very bad.
I work for an small ISP and whenever an NSI-registered domain we host comes up for renewal, we suggest that the domain owner switch registrars. We recommend Gandi, a bunch of French Linux geeks who we've never had a single problem with. They charge 12 euros a year, about $10-11. It helps that they are one of the cheapest, because transfers are often denied by NSI, meaning you lose your 12 euros. Make sure to start this process a while before your registration expires, so you can attempt multiple transfers if need be.
Be very, very careful not to let your domain expire. Occasionally, a customer will call up because their web site isn't working and we look into it and see that their domain name expired (generally because they forgot to pay their bill). In that case, we tell them to pay NSI ASAP or we often pay it ourselves, because of the NSI horrors we've had in the past.
One of our customers forgot to pay their NSI bill and the domain expired. NSI deleted it from their database, but it was still in the master registry. So the registry shows the domain as registered through NSI, but NSI has no records for it. This means that nobody can register the domain until it is expunged from the registry (which, funny enough, is also run by NSI). This takes an undetermined amount of time, meaning that they could do it today or they could do it in six months, but they absolutely will not tell you when they're going to do it.
In the case of our customer, it took about six weeks for NSI the registry to expunge the domain, which generally happens around 6:30 a.m. eastern time. As soon as it was expunged, a domain name hijacker registered the domain and won't relinquish it without getting a wad of cash.
Their whole damn business is based on the internet. You would think they could make a usable internet interface right?
As my domains expired, I moved them to Register.com. I didn't even require me to contact NSI to complete the transaction.
I think you meant "that company's card", not "that companies card".
NSI has to lose customers daily. Everyone I know that has dealt with NSI has transferred their domains. I'm in the process, I still have a few more to go. I tell everyone not to use NSI. I know many others that do the same.
Their incompetance can't last forever. If you value your domain, you'll transfer it to a company with sounder business practices.
I've had good experiences with register.com.
If I were you, I'd ditch NSI.
Shameless plug: directNIC offers registrations for 15USD for com/net/org domains. I'm not sure about other TLDs. They have, IMHO, a great management system, even though it "real" DNS costs extra. In the time I've been using them, the interface has improved exponentially. I have not had any problems with them.
I'm not being paid to say this.
You don't say why they refused your e-mail forms. I'm assuming you used one of their web-generated cut/paste forms, or something like that. When I couldn't modify my record due to e-mail authentication problems, I scanned my driver's license, and attached that to an e-mail. Did the trick, and then I promptly transferred to OpenSRS, via my ISP.
--
If R is the set of all sets which don't contain themselves, does R contain itself?
Dude, I hate to break this to you, but you're worrying about nothing. You don't need to log in/e-mail/whatever to NSI to transfer your domains away. Simply choose your registrar and request a domain transfer from them. All the rest is done for you. End of story. You never have to touch NSI at any time during the process...
*Condense fact from the vapor of nuance*
If you only have a few domains, or you need additional services (DNS, mail, basic web page), Register.Com has worked out well for me.
I moved from Network Solutions and have not looked back.
Hi there. I have a similar. I had my ISP register my domain name for me when I signed up with my web hosting site. Now I'm thinking that I'd like to move my web site to a new host. How do I find out how who they used to register the domain name with? Thanks!
We are doing everything in our power to eliminate doing any business with network solutions. When I started at ISP A, they were using previous BAP (some sort of business partner agreement) as the basis of doing registrations. Network Solutions proceeded to move towards their new interface, things changed subtley. Things would stop working one day. Managing a NIC Services domain was pretty easy to do as long as you were the proper contact, under the BAP agreements. managing WORLDNIC domains, which were the new interface worked horribly. I spoke with multiple people trying desperately to come to some sort of terms with their new partner agreements, as I was under pressure to maintain our previous level of service. What really bothered me about there new agreement programs was how silly they were. If you are an affiliate partner, network solutions/verisign would only allow you to list two nameservers. We maintain four for redundancy. Every domain that we'd register would have to be corrected afterwards. Verisign said it was technically impossible to change the number of name servers for an affiliate partner. What ended up coming out later, after a couple of conversations was that they wanted to discourage the affiliate program, so that people would become preferred partners. If you were a preferred partner you could list four but not otherwise. I thought this was lame. All of these problems all because there was no way that we were going to take over billing contact for domains.
In the past year, registrar agreements have posed the biggest nightmare in my daily duties.
We have looked to GKG.NET, and they seem reasonable. I would like to explore their affiliate/partner programs more.
Oh, and did I mention I had to submit 12 different Global Updates to update 750+ domains. I submited the first one, called them up as our deadline approached. I was asked for my TRACKING NUMBER. Explained that I did not get a tracking number. Was told to send it again. Wash, rinse, repeat. 12 times. Finally right before our deadline, I get an email stating it has been completed. Shortly afterward I get my Tracking Number. Periodically for the next two months my global update requests would be return rejected. Very bizarre. I guess their is one man behind the curtain responsible for global updates, I was told their was at least a 30 day delay. Man, I don't want to have to do it again, but our domain count will in the near future triple due to migrations coming to fruition....
What a nasty business... I don't know if I ever figured out the process for transferring registrars with network solutions either...
Brian Seppanen
Minister of Information and Propaganda
Area 54 The Secret Government Disco Labs Provo
Powerpipe.com rules.. $8.88. .. They'll even do DNS for no additional charge.. (A and MX records)
Can do multi-domains at once..
very easy to transfer domains as well..
Web based changes..
ChiefArcher
More reasons not to use NSI.
Last year, I decided to move away from NSI. I was in the same boat : broken web site links, no email reply, etc... A total mess. I lost about one month of getting nowhere with NSI. I contacted a company to do the transfer and then took it from here. The name of the company is tigertech.com. They charge a very reasonable fee, and most importantly they offer the best support I've ever seen on the web so far. Writing a mail on Sunday gets me an answer in the following hour.
I don't have any stock in this company, don't even now if they are public, all I know is that they deserve to succeed in this market, compare to some huge sharks who don't give a darn about your problems.
Try them, you won't regret it.
--PPA
-- I feel better now. Thanks for asking.
I don't work for them, but, I've found GoDaddy to be a VERY cheap and VERY good registrar. They are responsive, and the forms are easy to use (all web-based). Even domain TRANSFERS are a breeze... :)
And then what? Now you have a domain being held by NSI, they're not receiving payment from you for it and you're going to expect them to suddenly comply with your request? If anything, a tatic like that will get your domain stuffed in a hole even further from reach.
You may try GKG.net They've helped me get domains away from the clutches of NSI in the past. Like all of the other registrars mentioned here, they have good customer service, bla bla.
greg
The first thing you do is contact Slashdot. Why, I don't know.
max
So long as your domain isn't past its expiration date, NSI can do nothing to prevent you from transferring it out of their control. Just go to another registrar and follow their procedure to move a domain to their aegis.
I use Gandi.net, myself (not Ghandi.net; that's a squatter, and costs a lot more). Gandi charges 12 EU (about $10 US) to transfer the domain, and tacks on an additional year of registration. Check them out.
Of couse Network Solutions would not answer any of my email or phone calls, for which they are infamous.
So I had to register the domain name "mindsprinc.com" (with ANOTHER registrar, of course -- I never used Network Solutions after that), and then I simply sent them email from that domain name asking their automated system to fix it.
-Don
Take a look and feel free: http://www.PieMenu.com
what i want to know is why when a domain expires, it doesn't really "expire". I assumed that an expiration date means that the domain would go back into the open pool.
it seems like NSI is the only one holding domains after they expire. i personally let 3 domains lapse and using directnic, they were put back into the pool that day.
xavii aka bob
Make a list of domain registrars you are comfortable using ordered by preference. Choose the provider at the top of the list and then fill out their paperwork (or online forms) to transfer the domain name and let them do the work. If that provider of choice won't do it this way then move to the next one on the list. Eventually you will find one that will do it.
This sounds too cheap to me. Can they really be any good?
Verify the information on your record. Scan your id to prove you are the registrant and fax it to them. Then call them them. I've run into this before when e-mail address changed. It's a pain, you'll be on the phone on hold for about an hour while waiting for them to get to you, but it gets it done. You can also use their chat
If you fail logging in 5 times it locks you out, and you have to close your browser (I assume to remove the cookie) and then restart your browser and try again.
I've always found them to be ver responsive to my complaints (at the beginning their forms for maintaining a DNS server sucked.. They actually reprogrammed it for me based on my input!) I moved everything from NSI and am very happy.
Attempted to transfer a domain to another registrar back in July...
:)
It's still not transfered to this day and it has since expired.
Been on the phone with them countless times...finally they agreed to give me a free year's registration for my troubles. 2 days ago I received an email telling me the conversation never took place and that "they don't do that".
Any advice?
How do I transfer the domain away from NSI if I can't even login to their system?
;)
Well, take a peek at the link you've been using, and you'll be one step closer to your goal.
Hey fruit-loop - go read it again. You seem to be the only one having trouble spelling "deity".
sir
My complaint about Slashdot
I, not being one of the many judgemental egotists of this world, will not waste my time criticizing or insulting Slashdot as 1) it is unlikely to change, and 2) Slashdot probably revels in the letters of shock and repulsion that it regularly receives. Instead, I will focus on its sinister diatribes, which, after all, are the things that rob, steal, cheat, and murder. In the text that follows, I won't bother discussing the flaws in its logic, because it really doesn't use any logic. Isn't it interesting which questions Slashdot dodges and what tangents it goes off on? Those dodges and tangents make me think that this is a lesson for those with eyes to see. It is a lesson not so much about Slashdot's anti-democratic behavior, but about the way that Slashdot's op-ed pieces are destructive. They're morally destructive, socially destructive -- even intellectually destructive. And, as if that weren't enough, Slashdot believes that it has its moral compass in tact. That's just wrong. It further believes that it is a bearer and agent of the Creator's purpose. Wrong again!
It may not seem to be very important right now, but "Slashdot" has now become part of my vocabulary. Whenever I see someone gag the innocent accused from protesting gangsterism-motivated prosecutions, I tell him or her to stop "Slashdot-ing". You've heard me say that Slashdot's trained seals are all subhuman insurrectionists. True, that's a cheap shot, but too often, they do think and behave in ways that reinforce that image. This is the very source of the factionalism of which I accuse Slashdot -- justly, as is now more clear than ever. That, in itself, will condemn us to live with baleful, irrational hatemongers any day now.
Given the tenor of our times, statements like, "Slashdot flaunts its personal ultimata and attitudes in front of everyone else" accurately express the feelings of most of us here. An organization that wants to get ahead should try to understand the long-range consequences of its statements. Slashdot has never had that faculty. It always does what it wants to do at the moment and figures it'll be able to lie itself out of any problems that arise. Slashdot may find it inconceivable that it is incapable of handling an adult emotion or a universal concept without first reducing it to something manipulative, uncouth, testy, and probably craven, but it'll come to its senses one day. Many the things I've talked about in this letter are obvious. We all know they're true. But still it's necessary for us to say them, because this has been documented repeatedly.
You've gotta get on the phone, talk to a human (takes some doing), and fax them proof of who you are and the changes.
Fun, eh?
You might consider some or all of the following steps, depending on how badly your current registrar has inconvenienced you:
Oh well.
I've been looking at OpenSRS and I'm curious, is there a list of domain registars which use OpenSRS? Thanks
Granted I am a bit biased, since we are a Tucows/OpenSRS reseller. However, I have not found a more reliable and friendly company to work with than Tucows. The development team is awesome and their support staff is more than willing to work with you. We have been registering our domains through them over a year and a half now, and have never once regretted the move from first NSI and then later registrars.com
We currently retail domains at $13.00 per year (which isn't the cheapest price out there) after buying them wholesale from Tucows at $10.00 year.
If you are serious about registering lots of domains I strongly suggest becoming a Tucows reseller.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
www.haidacarver.com
You don't need to deal with NSI. You can transfer your domain name to another registrar and they can move it from NSI themselves. Expect them to honor the remaining time you have with NSI as well.
I've yet to read any positive comments for NSI.
DNS for $30 per domain... for life. And if you decide you want to drop a domain and get a different one? $0. You already paid for 1 domain worth of DNS, and that's what you'll get, regardless of what the domain is called.
Of course you still need a registrar. I've had no problems with godaddy.com with my 3 domains.
Oh, and they're a not-for-profit.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
Complain to them. With strong language. Worked for me, after [nsi story]two weeks and four faxes I went to their webchat and after waiting an ungodly amount of time they informed me that I should not use the normal fax number. Apparently that is a decoy they put on the website to weed out pranksters. You have to contact them for the top secret real fax number, I learned. So I faxed it to the number and - WOW! - the changes took place. But they were the wrong changes. So I transfered my domain[/nsi story]. Move somewhere else. Fast.
I recently moved 8 domains from NSI to Register.com, paying Register.com a discounted fee for 2 more years on each of the domains. The transfer went through (painlessly!) in about 5 days, and Register.com didn't screw up any of the domain pointers. I'm much happier now that I have NO domains using NSI as the registrar. Also, someone mentioned getting billed by NSI for domains after they were moved, this also happened to me, and not paying had no consequences.
I've been using Register.com for about a year, and have never had their online system go down.
Sales/Support questions usually get answered in about 48 hours, often less time for basic questions. Register.com, however, isn't very friendly if you are an ISP/Host, as you can't just fax/email them with changes to domains. You have to rely on whoever has the admin password for the web interface to make changes to a given domain.
But for my hard earned dollar, godaddy.com is decent @ $8.95 a year. So far they seem stable and no issues.
You really should remember about the whole aol.com fiasco where their domain was hijacked by some crackers with a simple forged email to NSI. You shouldn't use email as the method of change and hopefully NSI has disabled this feature.
The book http://www.realworldlinuxsecurity.com/ should provide more information on this front.
Ask Slashdot!
Hmmm... What's this thingy here? Looks kinda technical! It's got this cord running from what looks like a weirdly shaped banana to this other thingy here with a bunch of numbers on it...
Hmmm, I wonder if I pick up this banana thing and hold it up to my ear? Whoa, that's a weird sound. Whoever came up with that stuff must have been high.
Let's see here, I'll just punch a bunch of these buttons randomly... 1...8...0...0...7...7...9...1...7...1...0
"Hello, you've reached the offices of Verisign. How may I assist you today?"
+1 Insightful, -1 Troll. What can I say, I'm an Insightful Troll.
Unfortunately, this does work, even when the charges were perfectly valid. You would not believe how many of our customers (sometimes accidentally, their brother or someone used their CC to purchase a domain or hosting account without them knowing) call their CC company and request a charge back. 99% of the time it goes through and they get their money back. The point is a domain registration is such a small ticket item that most companies just write it off since it is too small to waste the time fighting. If for whatever reason you are being defrauded, then by all means use this method, because it does work. Even if you do make a mistake, usually the merchant or CC company eats it anyway, especially if it is a small ticket item. That is the unfortunate part about it for merchants like ourselves, but I guess it is one of the costs of doing business. Fortunately most people are honest and don't do charge backs unless there really is reason to do so.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
www.haidacarver.com
Its at love story, god help me help me I thougth yeu, knew the the funky cod4e, your fucked big time ttime style eleee, much beer was in volved
NSI/Verisign will do ANYTHING if their Plantium business partner.
One of my domains for which i was the ADMIN/TECH/BILLING contact, a platium business partner (who recently went out of biz) just sent NSI/Verisign a fax and NSI took the domain from me and handed it to them. NO QUESTIONS ASKED.
There was no legal tangle whatsoever for that name, so NSI did it anyway.
my advice is to MOVE all your domains away from this SCUM registrar.
Having worked with NSI when they were a monoply, I can tell you it's all about calling them, and harassing them. After a while they get VERY sick of your calls, and the ignoring stops. :)
Um, this is my sig.
If you no longer have access to the email address on file, I think your only options are fax or postal mail. I don't have any experience with this, but judging from the other comments, it may be painful.
I guess I've been lucky. In the last month, I've done a domain change on one domain, and a transfer to another registry for two others, and not had a problem with NSI. I was somewhat surprised that it went so smoothly (knock on wood). Obviously, others here haven't been so lucky.
Good luck.
I am dealing with these jerks right now. They store your credit card without telling you and insta-charge it if you show interest in any domain. They also charge you for a domain even if the registration fails.
Sometimes the cheap choice isn't the best. Actually I must admit that I've never had any big problem with NSI other than the fact that they promised me a t-shirt if I renewed for 2 or more years and never sent it. (and didn't respond to my email asking why they didn't send it)
I had the exact same problem and their admin pages were "broken" for at least 3 weeks. I irc'd their support desk and walked through it with them, only to be told that that portion of the web site was not yet functional. I went to registerfly, where I had one domain already, and transfered it off NSI for $8.99, which included the first year. No fees to change information, no hassels. The transfer took about 3 days! NSI still sent me a bill for the next year, but I just pitched it. What a joke.
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
I still haven't been able to find a registrar other than NSI that allows you to make changes to your registration via PGP-authenticated e-mail. And they're slowing phasing out that feature.
Anyone know of another registrar that allows this?
http://www.stargateinc.com -- I moved to them after Domain Bank started spamming me. I've found Stargate to be very inexpensive ($8.85/domain), and they have a full-blown web-based configuration section where domain owners can make whatever changes they want at any time.
As for the service, Stargate really does make NSI look like the sick joke they've become. When I had some minor trouble assigning two new domain names I'd registered to my own DNS boxes, I simply dropped a note to Stargate's tech support. The problem was promptly fixed in less than 24 hours, and I had a courteous and informative response to show for it.
Whatever registrar you select, let THEM take care of the transfer paperwork for you. SG did an outstanding job here as well.
FWIW: I wouldn't go with Dotster. They support spammers. Avoid register.com as well -- big-time spam support, despite their ToS.
Good hunting.
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
I'm a typical anti-social, hermit geek. I hate talking on the phone. I have namezero as a registrar (free domain at the time, so I snagged eightbit.org while I could, and next year I'll get something cheaper,) they specialize in redirecting your domain to your site with frames. It sucks and they don't particularly advertise that you can change your nameserver. I e-mailed them, found out you could indeed do that, and tried changing it over the e-mail. It didn't work because the nameserver wasn't registered with network solutions. I didn't know that until I picked up the phone and called them...aparently the e-mail staff doesn't know how to explain things. So when I get the matter sorted out, I bypass e-mailing them to get my nameserver changed which takes a week in itself and called them. I got it switched, bada-bing bada-boom, four days later I'm rolling in I-own-my-own-server-on-the-internet-heaven.
PICK UP THE PHONE. DON"T BE AFRAID.
--Roy
The case I run into is an expired domain that they will not transfer until I renew it for a year. The fact that they will not actually even maintaining it for the period that they expect me to pay for is crazy. It should be illegal, but unfortunately, you need to just bend over and take it.
I have dozens of domains with them, and they're the cheapeast of the registrars (I think there's one like 20 cents cheaper). You have to provide your own DNS servers, but I've never had any problems.
The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.
...runs the popular Java site called "Cafe Au Lait," and he just posted news yesterday about this very subject.
Apparently, he went through a lot of trouble, but managed to get it done. You might try sending him an e-mail to see what he had to do.
Well, that explains it. I guess I can vouch for register.com spamming. I registered with them and suddenly got triple the spam I'm use to.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
I switched most of my domains over to DirectNIC when I got fed up with NSI about 6 months back. There were many things, but the last straw was that my newer domains were in a different system (some crappy web interface) that wouldn't let me specify more than two DNS servers. I used their support e-mail to ask if it was possible, and after about a week got an (automated) message back saying that their automated help system couldn't answer my question and to fax the information in. Forget that.
Anyway, I just started looking at registrars at random, and ended up at DirectNIC. I've been very happy with them so far. It costs a third as much, and while it uses a web interface, it's a nice one and makes it really easy to manage multiple domains. You can even get SSL certificates through them -- I'm pretty sure it's just a standard Equifax SSL cert -- if you can ignore Verisign's FUD (doesn't bother me one bit, I got a few Equifax certs after balking at Verisign's insane pricing for 128-bit). NSI's "new" interface always just seemed hacked-together to me.
Anyway, ditching NSI made me very happy in itself, and DirectNIC has been pleasing to deal with. I'd gladly encourage anyone to give them a try. The transfer process from NSI is relatively painless; I've heard a lot about them trying to hold on to domains but an email confirmation with a special key to put in a web page was all I needed.
I use register.t3link.com I transfered all my network solutions domains to them. I don't see why people let network solutions trample all over them and charge them an arm and a leg in the process.. duh!
I suggest giving them a call. The phone number is elusive but if you finally get to tech support, they can usually fix the problems. I found there number on the Verizon yellowpages. Verisign Inc 21345 Ridgetop Circle Sterling, VA 20166 (703) 948-3200 Guard it with your life. NSI/Verisign does not give this number out.
Hrm, I wonder if the reason you cant log on is because your going to http://www.netowrksolutions.com
stupid filters please dont reject this because its too short
I've got all mine registered through 000domains.com.
They have the best interface I've seen and you can gain access through any opensrs reseller control panel.
Customer support is top notch too. I've used a lot of guys and so far 000domains.com have been the best.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
http://slashdot.jp/article.pl?sid=01/11/21/0243232
Do people in Japan just not like to post on slashdot tho? It got very few responses.
I agree completely and can personally vouch for NSI's incompetence of late.
... let's suck NSI dry!
I work for an OpenSRS reseller, and in the last four months, I've been working hard at fighting dozens of domains we host over to OpenSRS (out of hundreds we're going to transfer).
NSI has done everything from dropping a good 10% of my contact change requests to spending an honest 15 days for every fax change request. They've even conveniently failed to renew a domain we hosted and charged for a two year registration twice! And their techs have no idea why or any explanation about what to do short of contacting the credit card company!
Of course, none of this is news to most of you. However, strength against NSI is strength in sheer numbers.
I'm not here to advertise for OpenSRS, so I won't. But I say, whichever registrar to which you switch
I agree 100%. I would like to start up a site that lists OpenSRS sites. Anyone running an OpenSRS site please send me an email at drvpn@hotmail.com and I will try to get the list updated with your information.
Nick Powers
Encryption: I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to encrypt it...
Having gone through hell with NSI in various capactities over the last decade, I've found that the one way to get reliable support from them is to use the phone. Call their 1-800 number, and stay on hold.
You'll do the punch button shuffle for a few minutes, and then will stay on hold for a very long time. However, you will finally get through to someone who can, more likely then not, help you.
I've spent MANY MANY MANY (did I say lots) of hours on the phone with NSI over the past decade. Every time I get highly annoyed, and rack up the cost of my time spent in my head. But it will get you results.
Then, when things are working, then transfer your domain to another registrar, and don't do it again. This thread has plenty of recommendations, so I'll just leave it at that.
I had to change some domains that someone else had registered and didn't keep track of the account info. I too found that Verisign's online renewal system was broken, so I took a radical tact and actually called them. On the telephone. It worked.
-dc
For christs sake. Did the poor guy ask who to move to ANYWHERE? NOPE. Could you all quit telling him who to move to and start trying to help the guy out by suggesting how to get this resolved?? I'm sure he can pick a new registrar by himself. Especially since there are already 50 posts saying "Use this cool registrar coz they rock"
Normal people worry me!
I can't even change DNS entries on my customers' domains without going through a lot of trouble.
I would never recommend them.
lconn.com
Last year, Business Depot co-branded with register.com to provide domains for the princely sum of $1. I registered 50 and found the register.com maintenance process acceptable, but not as good as OpenSRS.
Both my cats enjoyed having their own domains for a year, though. Their kitty geek status was unquestioned.
Note that I'm not sure which bits of this are ICANN policy, and which are policy of the registrar I used - but I assume the basics of the above are the same for any registrar. For me, it all happened in about a week - most of which was taken up with waiting for 5 days for responses from all three contacts (my tech contact didn't reply).
On a separate note, I can recommend Gandi. They were one of the cheapest when i was looking (just over a year ago), handled the transfer efficiently, and haven't caused me any problems.
I had been trying for -months- to get my domain DNS details changed, and more often than not, there would be simply no reply. For such a simple change, their pathetic, pitiful, piss-weak service was beyond a joke. My previous host had threatened to keep charging me because it was taking so long to get the details changed over to the new host. If I had been charged, rest assured I would be posting the bill to Network Solutions.
Miraculously, though, I tried again for what seemed like the hundredth time the other day and it promptly went through....About f_cking time.
I will definately be going with someone else when the re-registration is due.
I believe they've intentionally broken the system for information update via email in order to force people into dealing with them via fax and phone. Of course, this "expedited service" costs $30 a pop. Run, don't walk away from Network Solutions. My personal recommendation is 000domains.com
For the last 2 weeks I have been trying to get a simple host record updated. The old IP address has been turned off. They send me mail saing its being processed, I call and they say 'well, the system is slow'. So I tried to create a new host record for the new IP, it says its sending a email to the authorized hostname admin. Which I am, and I never get an email!
I'm dreading transferring my last domain over to joker this week. I've done 2 others in the last year with no problems, but it sounds like they are getting worse.
This whole domain registration thing is a crosk of shit as it is. It out to be open, shared, free and first-come, first-served.
Remember Lexington Green!
You are all a bunch of IDIOTS.
Fucking Tucows you jacks and do it yourself instead of going thru another company...
Am I the first person to click the NSI link? Or did no one else notice the bad link (that still worked).
Hammer of Truth
I transfered my domain name easily from NSI to my ISP's Registar (Tucows). Was as easy as pie. I just put in what domain I wanted to transfer, put in my personal information, and I just had to reply to two emails (one from the new, one from the old) and that was that.
The fatherless rodents are doing me the same way.
Verisign does in fact suck. I vote with my feet.
I too recently switched a couple of domains to easyDNS and am pretty much impressed with what they offer. Sure, it's USD35/year as well, but they throw in 4 DNS servers for you, mail MXing as well as dynamic dns if needed.
The main beef with NSI seems to be their Guardian authentication system which supposedly works thru email (with PGP signatures) and thru a web based interface. I've found myself confused by both of these at many times, and mind you, I do not consider myself an Internet newbie. Switching to easyDNS when the domains came up for renewal was sweet, and with their nameservers now being authoritative for my domains, I'm less plagued by net brownouts between the US and Malaysia. Mail gets thru much easier as well with their MX forwarding.
I feel your pain. A couple of months ago, I had to transfer some domains for a few websites that I was taking over when the last webmaster quit and the host went bankrupt. I've done this before and never had any problems, BUT there were two emails set up to allow changes to the domains, and neither email was active anymore. So I made some phone calls, and I'm pretty sure that verisign has all of their tech support done in call centers in India. I was listening to the BBC a while back and they were talking about how its a big business over there to have call centers for US companies since it's so much cheaper for them rather than having it in the continental US.
Anyway, I appreciate the hard work phone tech support people do, they have a tough job, but I could not understand anyone from their end. I called back every other day for 4 weeks because nothing was done to make changes, and everyone gave me the same story.... "wait for 2 days, the system just takes a little while to get everythign through" Talking to their supervisors did nothing to expedite this either. It took over 1 month to finally change all of the DNS settings, and the sites were down in the meantime which meant lost business (and a lot of explaining on my part). My advice is to make sure you know that email address and it's active, give verisign plenty of time to make any changes, and just hope your host doesnt go out of business, because if you have to call Verisign to make changes, you're in for a big headache.
I was registering a new domain name last week, and couldn't log in properly using my existing account number. I attempted chat with a netsol CSR who wasn't very helpful (must be network congestion... try again later). The problem persisted, so I did the chat thang again and got a clueful CSR who told me that I had the "old type of account," and those hadn't been merged since netsol became part of verisign... they expect to reconcile everything eventually; meanwhile, I had to re-register and get a new account number in order to register a domain name. Everything went swimmingly from that point on.
Jon Lebkowsky jonl@polycot.com http://www.polycot.com
Network Solutions was entirely unresponsive to my request to change registration details. Their automated systems ignored correct confirmation email, and when I called and they requested a fax confirmation, that too fell into the black hole.
I was so frustrated. I then found out that I can simply transfer the domain to another registrar. The BEST part is that they apparently have to respond to transfer requests within 14 days, which must be a dramatic thing within such an unbelievable company. The whole transfer process was 100% trivial (I did not have to do anything except confirm some details) and was all completed in the time it would take Network Solutions to pick their nose.
Transfering away is a great solution to dealing with them. In fact, it may be the only solution.
Hey, cool. I used to work for the guys at GKG a few years back as a web developer when I lived in College Station, TX. Paul and Taylor are really nice guys. Glad to see things are worked out well for ya.
JOhn
Campaign for Liberty
What to do when your registrar (NSI) ignores you?
:(. I have no idea what to do about this situation, and i can't afford a domain dispute. sigh.
:(
Answer: Bitch Slap them!
Seriously, though. I've had NOTHING but endless trouble with NSI. They literally ignore me. They refuse to let me renew my domains with them. One domain in particular, diskiller.net, they would not let me pay for! I even rang them, and they wouldn't give me an answer, and refused the eletronic credit card payment over the phone.
I tried to "delete" my domain so i could reregister it elsewhere (we now finally had competing registrars). This wouldn't work. They wouldn't delete it.
In the end i had nochoice, but to wait it out. 6 months went by, and the domain was finally purged from their system, and i reregistered it at register.com. (it expires in a few months, i'm gonna transfer it to gandi. I recommend these folks, cuz they are cheapest, but register.com is very good too).
wasted.net was another important domain of mine. It sat there for endless months before it was finally purged from their system. Unfortunately, within hours of it being purged, someone registered it elsewhere, before i did. So now someone else owns my domain
I also have simliar problems with cnbinc.com. Its expired. I don't even know if they'll let me pay for it, and i don't really care, cuz i don't want to pay for it with them. I want to register my domain elsewhere. I tried to transfer it to register.com, and they refused. Its been 2 years, and i'm still without my company's domain name
Any suggestions?
Should i take legal action?
All i want is a domain, and registered with a decent company, not these scum bags. I've heard nothing but bad news about NSI. In the old days, you had no choice.
These days, we do. Stay away from NSI at all costs.
D.
You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
You could start by doing a WHOIS lookup on your domain since that usually returns the registrar. You could also ask your ISP for the information.
Good Luck
When I needed to update my WHOIS information through EasyDNS, and the change showed up instantly on a whois query, I almost cried with relief.
And the day I had a problem with something and EasyDNS folks sprung in and fixed it for me in minutes (I had stupidly pointed an MX at a CNAME - mea culpa), I did!
Disclaimer: I don't work for EasyDNS, I just use their services and as a satisfied customer exercise my right to say so. I am sure that a lot of other (sub)registrars out there provide equally good service.
You aren't remembered for doing what is expected of you
I signed up with NSI a long time ago and finally decided to move to Register.Com (Who has provided very satisfactory spam-free service including DNS hosting and virtual domains for a mere $35 a year).
But to get back to the story, here's how to deal with NSI when the automated email etc. won't work:
1 - be prepared to spend several hours and about $20 in long-distance charges. Also have a pen and paper handy to make a record of the name and employee number of EVERY person you talk to.
2 - First call the main customer service # in Virginia: 1-888-642-9675
3 - This person will not be able to help you but they will give you another name and number (it varies).
4 - The second person will give a third person and a fax #. You'll have to fax a blown up copy of your driver's license to this number attn: the 3rd person. When you're talking to number 2, ALSO get #3's phone number.
5 - After faxing, call #3 to verify. They will tell you all is well and that you will receive a confirmation email etc. which you "just need to reply to for the changes to take place.
In a word - "horse-puckey!"
Ignore this, and every other email you receive, they won't do a darned bit of good. They are, however, indicators of progress.
6 - The first email is automated and useless. Call #3 back and say it didn't work. They will pass you off to #4 who will send you a real email which may or may not have info for #5. If so, call #5, otherwise call #4 back and they will give you info for #5 over the phone.
7 - #5 has the power and will make the changes for you.
I only know all this because I did it the hard way and went through about three times as many steps the first time 'round. I've done it for clients enough times now though that I've almost got it down.
Good luck!
I've used NSI for a domain name for 3 years now, and I've looked around for others to hold my domain, but the fee is too high as I've seen. So when NSI offered me 20% + T-Shirt I did that. But, that T-shirt haven't hit my mailbox in 4 months. NSI is sad.
Jumpdomain is the bomb. I highly recommend them. http://www.jumpdomain.com
Gandi and 975Register.com
How to contact me - http://www.pervalidus.net/contact.html
There is a name that is now an "expired" registration at NSI that I want. How long will I be blocked from registering it? (I can't register it now, I've tried.) Right now it has been about 2 months.
Any ideas? I suspect 90 days.
the kid from Pakistan rigged his Commodore up to hijack your domain while downloading the latest american movies and sending email from pakistan to india to china to london to the united states and back.
I worked for a hosting company and it was my job to deal with NSI daily. They only way to get anything done is to CALL Verisign and ask to speak to the BAO (Business Affairs Office). They are the ONLY people there that have any power. The customer service reps that you talk to sound like indians for a reason.. Verisign uses a Call Center in India (no lie).
Virginia Office
21355 Ridgetop Circle
Dulles, VA 20166
Main Number: 703-742-0400
Good luck!
Well...
Since one of my domains was also registered directly at Internic (back when it was called that) I got an email that NSI are migrating their domains to a new webbased admin app.
And I recently got an email that the domain in question had been migrated. And that they would be sending out new logins at some point soon...
So I'd guess that's the problem here.
I read once (I forget where) where someone was describing their expierence with network solutions. Their software was choking on their email, it had something to do with not liking how most mail software creates mail headers. This person had to use trial and error to figure out which one, then forge a 'properly' formatted email from himself.*
Another solution would be to get a decent regristrar, but that can cause other problems and can take even longer to sort out. Once you get it sorted out it will probably be very good, but actually making the transfer will make you question why you are doing it.
The easiest solution is likely to figure out what it doesn't like about your email, and forge one it does like.*
*Note to U.S. government. This is merely offered up as a hypothetical solution. I do not advocate the forging of email, nor the impersonation of oneself.
There is a civil war coming in the United States. Remember which side has most of the guns
It occurs to me that the only thing the Better Business Bureau requires is that a company respond to every complaint. Not that they resolve the issue or that they respond favorably, but simply that they respond. Since NSI is infamous for not responding to complaints, perhaps alerting the BBB would be a good idea?
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
Maybe the intent isn't quite as sinister as you think. People's domains often expire because their bill got lost somewhere. NSI customers have some interest in NSI holding on to their expired domain names for a while. And NSI can't really verify that you are transferring the domain to yourself at another registrar.
Don't get me wrong: I don't like NSI's service either and they are milking this for everything it's worth. But that doesn't mean every screwup has a master plan behind it. Mostly, they probably don't fix broken procedures because it doesn't make them any money. Welcome to an unregulated market economy: it will take decades before NSI either shapes up or goes out of business.
Registrars react promptly to WIPO UDRP decisions. If your registrar ignores you, the fastest solution is to get a UDRP ruling from WIPO and let the registrar implement it.
I'd recommend dotster.. they have a good price, and their web interface is very concise and easy to use. They do spam a little though. I had a heap (read: 3 weeks and 3 international phone calls) of trouble with NSI when i was trying to do was redelegate a domain. In the words of the Comic Book guy from the simpsons.. "Worse Web interface ever"
DA & I alerted Davey to it yesterday. Wonder when those "Our sites been compromised, change your password" emails will start flying??
BTW? How do you contact google and tell them to stop caching something like this??
LFS. Have you built your system today?
We had four domains registered through Verisign/NSI... and we had an issue with one because our 'admin' didn't keep the domain records up to date. Most of the work was done via email to hostmaster@networksolutions.com (you need to send a little form back to them after completing the form on the website). Because the details were out of date, one of the emails was not right, so we ended up having to use Fax to authenticate it... it took 8 working days to process it. I contacted the support site, and they're putting the delays down to the fact they're having to play catch-up because of the buy out by Verisign. When they finally did get it all transferred over, they did it midnight friday... so all four of our domains were down over the weekend, and I didn't get SWBell to sort out the DNS until later Monday... I had a very upset boss ;)
I use Gandi.net and so far they are the best. They're only $8 per domain and they give you COMPLETE control over the domain.
In fact YOU are the one who controls the domain. You are the one who owns the domain, unlike verisign.
I had a similar experience back when my domain was hosted with them. I moved and my old e-mail address wouldn't work anymore. I spent 4 months trying to update my info. Only when I moved to a new hosting provider did I get the contact info updated, and then only because the new hosting company had a contact with NSI. (Of course, that company later tried to make off with my money and data, but that's another story.)
I'd recommend going with DirectNIC. They're only $15 a year for domain registration, and they have a robust online domain maintenance tool. I've been able to take care of hosting changes, domain registrations, etc. without having to place one phone call. Best of all, they took care of transferring my domain name away from NSI.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
If you've recently tried to transfer/update information with NSI/Verisign could you please post the number of calls and days/weeks it took to actually resolve your issue?
My company recently changed hosting services and it took me 3 weeks and about a dozen phone calls to modify my domain. Every customer service person told me they were "pushing those changes through immediately" yet, each time they tried to give me a new order number to throw me off the scent. It took me getting angry and using the first order number from a month earlier to get the changes pushed through. The last 2 domains I've purchased have been very smooth transactions and not once have I had to call and speak to anyone.
You get the torches, I'll rally the mob of angry netizens.
c0pe/devic3
yooooooour staaaaaaanndarrrrd innnfeeccction...
I have a relevant experience to relate concerning this issue:
/. about how NSI was getting ready to take possession of unrenewed domain names, auctioning them off. I was starting to feel a little paranoid about losing my domain name, so I decided to just do the more expensive thing and renew the name with NSI in order to avoid the transfer process and simplify the issue.
About 6 months ago, I wanted to transfer a domain name from NSI to another registrar. I'll mention here that the domain name is a fun one, and could potentially be used by any flesh peddler out there (although that's not what I'm using it for).
I tried the transfer at least 3 times over a two week period. Failures every time. At the same time, I successfully transferred three unrelated (and less valuable) domain names from NSI to my new registrar using the exact same procedures and information.
I became suspicious, and figured that maybe NSI had some kind of technical problem. I then read an article on
I couldn't renew the domain name through their website either. I got very odd, vague error messages on their website when I tried to pay via credit card.
So I decided to call their 800 number and renew over the phone as a last-ditch effort. First the person on the phone told me she couldn't renew the domain name. When I pressed for details as to why, she claimed that she didn't know. She sounded confused by what she was seeing on her computer, and put me on hold. I was transferred to someone higher up the food chain, who tried the same process, and apparently encountered the same difficulty.
After about an hour on the phone and 4 or 5 long hold sessions, a person in accounting took my credit card info and forced the transaction through.
Funnier still - the computer system wouldn't allow me to renew for only one year, until the issue was manually overridden by someone in accounting. My only option was a two-year renewal according to the people I spoke with before that.
I was very concerned at this point. I waited on the telephone until receiving my renewal confirmation email specifying the new expiration date.
At the end of the phone conversation, I told the latest representative of the problems I had run into on their website paying by credit card, despite successfully doing the same thing with another domain the day before. She sounded surprised, and put me on hold again.
When she came back on the line a few minutes later, her voice had gone very stiff. She said "There is no problem with our website, sir." I expresses a little surprise, and told her that she could check the unanswered technical support emails I had sent a few days before to confirm that I had been having the problem I described.
"There is no problem with our website." she replied, very monotone, all traces of her previous friendliness completely absent.
I transferred the domain name the next day to another registrar. NSI still sends me renewal notices for this domain name.
First, if your domain is expiring and you want it to remain active, you may have to phone NSI and renew by credit card (when you call, you may ask to speak to Satan directly). Renewing this way you don't have to worry about any authentication - they'll always take your money. Rule #1 is to stay in business.
Second, boycot NSI.
Third, pick another registrar and do the transfer.
I received a copy of an e-mail one of my clients received from NSI that explains their policies on retaining domains. It illustrates that you need to do the transfer before actual expiry, and you can't do the transfer just after renewal either - they have a waiting period (?!).
These guys have instructions on how to escape from NSI. The NSI web site is a waste of time - don't look for answers there.
I think the responsible thing for all us geeks to do is to convince everyone else to boycot NSI because when they send out renewal notices people don't realize that they have a choice. Often, explaining the $$ savings is enough. The freedom is that much better.
fwiw, we are an affiliated OpenSRS vendor, but we only use it internally for our clients' registrations. It's much easier that way because we can make sure that the reg'ns are done correctly by us. I'd recommend any site using OpenSRS.
st
you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
full dns record editing (mx records, etc.)
Backup mail servers, roundrobin domain fallback to redirect your domain if your server is down.
and you can put 5 domains on their service for free!
After two years my Domain Name finally expired but NSI would not release it, despite numerous emails. I tried every day and after 3 months a domain name junkie bought it... I had to pay a heap of money to get it... What action can one take against these monopolistic corporations.. Do I was my time trying to get through... do I sit back and let them walk over me ... is there a correct answer ?
Well there's a simple solution for you... If you don't like it, don't read it! Sure /. has grown over the past few years, and not every article will be of interest to you, but that doesn't mean that it is not of interest to other readers.
I personally have tried out 5 different registrars, with easyDNS being the best so far... Their web interface kicks ass, and their support is second to none.
As far as transferring a domain, it is fairly simple. I got tired of the spam and sales calls that NSI was sending my way... especially the really annoying ones, where they call you about your domain and make it sound serious by quoting a case number - when all they are trying to do is sell you a .biz domain! After that, I switched all of my domains over to easyDNS. It took about three days, but the fees involved went towards an additional year of service.
And no, I don't work for easyDNS... I am just a very happy customer.
Network Solution's fix for this problem is to fax them a document on company letterhead authorizing the changes, which we did several times and they promptly ignored us.
I faxed them a strongly worded letter with the Vice President's sig several times in one day and they finally updated our info about a week later, I then promptly switched to gandi.net which I use for my personal domains.
Here's a little plug for gandi, ~$10USD/year, good service, easy to modify domains, sign up today!
Oh, and stay away from Network Solutions. They're the AOL of registrars.
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine." -- RFC 1925
Kudos for using your extraneous domain for a good cause!
As an Internet professional, I can resoundingly confirm the negligence, ineptitude, lack of ethics, and failures of Verisign/NetSol.
I can also confirm that Verisign has outsourced the "call center" to locations in India and the Phillipines. I feel badly for the offshore call center reps (they are just trying to make a living), but they simply cannot address issues and are generally untrained. It is almost impossible to reach a US representative of Net Sol. The following telephone number (if it stays connected) may help: 703.742.0400. The toll free telephone numbers on the invoices are wrong -- as of 10.08.2001 -- or directly connect to the offshore call centers.
I ended up filing a formal complaint with the Office of the Attorney General in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Perhaps if more complaints are filed, the AGs in the US will hold Verisign/Net Sol accountable. Filing a complaint is easy and can bring results.
It is easy to bad mouth a company, and I normally refrain from doing so -- being a business owner myself. However, if you want to look at a serious and flagrant example of corporate abuse of customers, Net Sol/Verisign, without exception, gets my first vote (not just of technology companies but of all companies).
I've got a few domains with register.com. (I typically initiate their simple 'transfer registrar' process for a domain whenever I get a renewal notice from NSI! Thanks for the reminders! :)
I've not received any spam from register.com.
More importantly, register.com allows you to give them a billing email/postal address that is separate from the addresses you list in the WHOIS database. This allows me to put completely fake addresses in WHOIS (hint: I do not really live on 123 No Spam Ave, No Spam, California 90210!)
NSI's WHOIS database was the single biggest source of spam and junk postal mail!
"And like that
I used NSI, Easyspace and Gandi and by far, Gandi is the BEST!!!! They are wonderful! The ONLY drawback is that what ever changes I make takes 24hours to appear because I'm in the US and they are in France. That dang DNS propagation time thing.
Your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
Doster is great except when they're broken, down, or propagating corrupt master zone files to the root servers...
I suspect they are growing way too fast and not scaling (probably running Win2K DNS or a hodgepodge thereof?).
Also, they don't include system status or phone numbers anywhere on their site (not that anyone else does).
You can find their number on Google though, and their support is relatively competent with prodding, though they do not take responsibility for problems with their system.
After wrestling with NSI for three weeks trying to get some host records changed, I went around them by creating a new ns host with dotster and moving all of my domains to it. I was so impressed that I switched my NSI-registered domain immediately after. Transferring the domain was orders of magnitude easier than changing a host record or even resetting my password (fax you a signed form that you never emailed me?). For a tiny fee I switched it to dotster without ever speaking to a human (thank god, since three NSI reps told me three different things on every issue I asked about) and actually extended the life of my registration for a cheaper amount.
My company uses Verisign for credit card payments and that department is just as unhelpful. We push $80,000 through them every day and they treat us like they are doing us a favor each time they answer the phone. This is a company that needs a serious attitude adjustment (not to mention a technological overhaul) that can only be prompted by a boycott.
Use X2 Domains
it's $15 to transfer and they'll renew the dns for one more year... I don't work form them but I own stock in X2 Studios (the parent company)
Any way it's good fast cheep and offers lots of extra services (like dns forwording, e-mail, dns management blah blah blah)
I've a domain that I've been trying to get changes for almost three months now. Tangled owners, netblocks, uncooperative NSI/third party, and Oh yes, BBNPlanet is in there somewhere. Ha!
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
I totally recommend domain discover, after dealing with NSI - it was like night and day. I moved over 400 domains over there, and am totally satisifed. (as well as my employer who got better service for less cost) Domain discover does not claim the inherent rights to your domain name either. Have you ever read NSI fine print? it is scary - they could pratically take your domain if they liked the name.
WARNING!
DON't DEAL WITH NSI AT ALL! not even to make minor changes before the domain is moved over! Don't even deal with them even if the email cotacts on NSI domains need to be updated first to reach your new address for approval. DONT!
If you can proove to domaindiscover that you have the right to that domain, they will deal with the rest. Just don't deal with NSI at all - switch over and then do with any changes you half to make.
One time I was forced to re-register a domain at NSI because I was afraid it would expire under my nose before the process of transfering to another registar could be completed. I then proceeded to quickly try to continue registration at domaindiscover (which BTW, will honor your NSI registration periond in addition to their initial registration period if you switch over), and was outraged to find out that there was a mandatory 3 month waiting-period between switching registars. - No problem, domaindiscover just kept on it till the waiting period expired and automatically took over the domain with all the updated records. But please, whover you go with - don't deal with NSI.
PS: I don't like verisign either, but that one is up to you.
PSS: I have absolutely no financial interest in domain discover at all other than that I have choosen to register alot of domains there.
I am sure that over there just as here anybody with half a brain can get a job doing just about anything more demanding than working the phones at NSI.
Assuming their fucked-up phone system doesn't disconnect me first I've gotten variously-accented people with Chinese and American and Indian and all kinds of accents and the only thing they have in common is that they are all incompetent to do anything except type stuff into the same webinterface NSI presents to the rest of the world.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
Maybe the intent isn't quite as sinister as you think. People's domains often expire because their bill got lost somewhere. NSI customers have some interest in NSI holding on to their expired domain names for a while.
I must disagree. I'm trying to register a domain name that's been expired since July 2000 -- almost a year and a half -- and NSI is still holding on to it with a kung-fu grip.
I keep asking them for a fax or phone number of someone who can fix it, but I just keep getting a form letter back. It tells me to either contact the original registrant to have him transfer it, or to sign up with SnapNames to get first choice when they finally get around to deleting the record. I can't contact the original registrant because the contact info has been invalid for months, and I'm unsure about paying an NSI affiliate $50 when I don't even know when I'll get the domain.
Has anyone else gotten out of this situation? What's the trick?
Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
I went round and round with NSI for weeks. I couldn't transfer a domain to a new account for all the usual reasons, and creating mock letterhead, getting the owners signature, etc. didn't help. They basically ignored me. Finally I mentioned something to my new host and found out that they had an inside guy at NetSol that could get things through for me. I faxed stuff to him directly and it was done within two days.
Check with your hosting company. They may be able to help. A hosting company has more power of persuasion than an individual user.
Now I use Dotster. Great prices, easy interface, good managment tools. I know a few people on here have had complaints but I don't know anyone who has.
As for boycotting NSI, I think that's a great idea! I already do that and as I pick up new clients I get them to switch too. Its easy to explain all the evils of a company when their faults are so many.
Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.
I use Gandi in France for all my US domain registrations because of their registration agreements first point "Client owns domain" and their price 12Euro is pretty damn reasonable for me here in NZ.
Also they have a really easy "Transfer Domain" option which forces NSI to relinquish the domain if you accept the emails.
NSI often doesn't even bother to reply to the requests from Gandi or the domain owner and so according to the ICANN registrar agreements if two out of the three contacts reply confirming the transfer then it happens.
I transferred ages ago with no problems and they even credited me for the time remaining on the domains.
The only possible spanner in the works could be if you can't pay be credit card as they only accept that or a bank cheque in Euros sent to them.
Oh by the way, Gandi says that it takes up to a week to process domains, but in reality it's never taken more than 1-2 days and as soon as your payment is confirmed the domain becomes unavailable to others.
When shit hits the fan get some of these https://youtu.be/pY-GncsZ-UE
Recently, I tried to move one of my domains away from NSI, and towards one of the OpenSRS resellers.
As per the docs, I make the request, wait up to two business days to receive the case number from NSI, reply to authorize the change and (ha ha) all is well in the world.
I put in the request, waited my two days and then called NSI.
Me: "I'm calling to follow up on a domain move. You've received the request but not assigned a cse number. I need a case number before the time period expires"
Them: "Yes, and what is your case number please".
Me: "I don't have one. That's why I'm calling".
Them: "I'm sorry - I can't help you unless you have a case number".
At least it was a 800 number.
Slashdot? Oh, I just read it for the articles.
I too have been going through an experience straight out of Kafka trying to get my domain name transferred to another registrar. Did you know it takes three to six weeks to process a transfer request, unless you pay $199 for an "expedited process"? No, of course you wouldn't, since NSI's page about Registrar transfers only covers transferring your registration to NSI, with no information about transferring it from NSI. And the page with the "expedited process "info about the expedited processing is so buried that I can not even find it again...
So, since the US Government gave them the monopoly and then took it away, write to you Senators. You can find them at www.senate.gov
And be sure to include a link to this entire message thread!!
AllDNS ripped me off, and didn't respond to phone calls, e-mails or anything else....
Live and Learn...
$16/yr - 2yr mininum
They have a great web-based management interface.
Features that I like for my personal domains:
- DNS managed by them they have entries for roostme.com (or whatever) and www.roostme.com, which is all I need.
- Framed or forwarded website hosting, if you need that sort of thing
- Email forwarding. This was the best feature! By using this it bought me some time until I had my sendmail config ironed out.
- DNS MX record for email. Once I had my sendmail working, I canceled forwarding. Then I had their DNS register the MX record for my server.
Note: The interface was not 100% perfect. It took a bit of thinking on my end to be sure I switched off the email forwarding and MX'ed my system properly.
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai