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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.
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.
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.
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";
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
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.
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!
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...
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.
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 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.
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
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 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!