.ca dn registration - any recommendations for inexpensive registration?

[Rick Tomaschuk]

I'm just in the process of transferring a domain from Network Solutions
to Netfirms. $9.95US

1) Current domain registered with Network Solutions at $35.00US/year. I
had to make sure my domain transfer wasn't locked at the Network
Solutions control panel on my account. If 'lock' is on log in find the
page to click then 'unlock'(very easy).

2) Check out FAQ at: http://www.netfirms.com/domain-names-tech
for: How do I execute a registrar transfer for my Domain Name that I
registered elsewhere? Click on the link and scroll down:
https://secure.netfirms.com/signup/us-en/signup-fs_domainlookup?
hostingproduct=hostingbasic

3) You'll need to create an account for basic hosting(free -- no charge
-- no $$) to access your control panel to setup hosting, create
sub-domain, a or mx records. Netfirms tech support has seemed kind of
brain dead for me in the past at times but for low$$ accounts they're
ok.

RickT
http://www.TorontoNUI.ca


On Sat, 2006-01-14 at 16:56 -0500, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
> | From: D. Hugh Redelmeier <hugh-pmF8o41NoarQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org>
> 
> | On Fri, 16 Dec 2005, Peter Armstrong wrote:
> | 
> | | > --- Leigh Honeywell <nyetwork-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> | | > > On 12/13/05, Scott Elcomb <psema4-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>
> | | > wrote:
> | | > > > Netfirms charges $9.95/yr -
> | | > > http://www.netfirms.ca/domain-names
> 
> I just tried to transfer my .com registration to them.  After spending a
> couple of hours at this, I have decided not to do so.  Here is a
> summary of my adventures/discoveries.
> 
> - for some reason, my FireFox thought the page was UTF-16 and showed
>   Han characters and hex in boxes.  I told it "UTF-8" (View:
>   Character Code: UNICODE (UTF-8) and all worked.  Odd!  No idea why,
>   so I don't know who to blame.
> 
> - their web page did not work the way it was documented to (this may be
>   related to something I discovered later).  In particular, their
>   article http://support.netfirms.com/article.php?id=33 says to "begin
>   the signup process at http://www.netfirms.com" whatever that means.
>   The next line may be the answer: select a hosting plan.  But I don't
>   want any hosting, so it is hard to choose a plan.
> 
> - tech support pointed me at a page.  I think that it was not the
>   correct one since the prices were US$ whereas netfirms.ca has
>   prices in C$.  But I use it anyway.
> 
> - I am asked to specify my domain name, select "DNS Transfer", and
>   press search.  (A tech support person agreed with my suggestion that
>   I really should select "Registrar Transfer" instead; the web page
>   description for each is essentially identical.)
> 
> - when I clicked "search", all I got was that the domain "is
>   unavailable".  Makes one kind of sense: I already own that domain.
>   But in another sense it doesn't: I'm asking for a transfer.
> 
> - after talking to tech support for a while ("live chat" and by phone)
>   it turns out that their account names are "domain names" (not
>   really, but that is what they call them) and someone else has
>   created an account with them with the name of my domain.  Yikes!
>   BTW, they told me his email address -- perhaps they should not have.
>   Maybe Nepalese privacy laws are weaker than ours (his email address
>   ended in .np).
> 
> - BTW, "live chat" is a bit like "half-dead chat".  Lots of delays in
>   responses.  Fine.  But when I go away for 5 minutes, they terminate
>   the call.  On the other hand, they do answer the phone and don't
>   seem to be clueless call-centre types.
> 
> - They will not evict the guy from the "domain name" that is the same
>   as the domain name I own.  Even though the can see (from whois) that
>   I do own it.  I guess that it wouldn't upset me nearly as much if
>   they called them "account names".
> 
> - The upshot is that I cannot create a "domain name" (account name)
>   with the name of my domain.  The confusion of terms makes the
>   conversation sounds a bit like "Who's on first".  I asked if I could
>   create the "domain name" ibm.com to create a login and they agreed
>   that I could if it isn't taken (I doubt IBM uses them).
> 
> I take all this trouble as a warning: what's life going to be like
> with them after the marriage?  I'll go elsewhere.
> 
> Now I'm open to suggestions.  I want to renew a .com.  My current
> Registration Service Provider is getting out of the business.  I want
> no hosting: no mail hosting, no web hosting, and most of all, no DNS
> hosting.  (Sales people at netfirms.ca *seemed* to understand this.)
> Actually, I would accept hosting if it were on my terms (like, for DNS
> hosting:  that they accept zone transfers from my machines), but that
> is unlikely.
> 
> I like paying as little as possible, for no good reason.  The couple
> of hours I spent with this so far is an example of why price isn't
> everything.
> 
> One thing that I liked about netfirms.ca is that they are a Toronto
> company.  Oh well.
> --
> The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
> TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
> How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml

--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml