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So, about 9 years and 10 months ago, I renewed my main .com domain with Network Solutions for what seemed, at the time, to be a reasonable price - something like $200 for 10 years, if I recall correctly. A couple of years earlier, GoDaddy et. al. burst onto the (well, at least my) scene, with revolutionary low prices, etc. - not really, but they did put some competition into the industry, and maybe that's what kept NS's prices lower.
Today, NS wants $320+ to renew for 10 years, they seem to be no-option bundling their ID shield product in with the registration cost - which, maybe 20 years ago, I might have appreciated. But, since that old name and address have been published from here to kingdom come for the last 20 years, I don't actually want a private registration anymore.
Any opinions on domain registrars? Have any of them every given any normal customers any problems? NS has been "pay and forget" for 20 years now, but they're up for renewal in 2 months, and I'm wondering if I should be shopping for somebody cheaper.
[soylentnews is registered with gandi.net and as far as I know, we have had no issues with them. They have over 700 TLDs (Top Level Domains) available. If you have fewer than 45 domains to register, their "A" rates apply. This comes with: 2 mailboxes (3GB Storage; unlimited e-mail forwarding and aliases) and a free 1-year Standard SSL certificate, data privacy (100% GDPR-compliant hidden email address for whois), live DNS management, and unlimited support.
Current prices:
.org Creation: $14.95, Transfer: $14.20, Renewal: $17.20
.com Creation: $15.50, Transfer: $12.50, Renewal: $15.50
--martyb]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday May 24 2019, @12:14PM (9 children)
$12/year for .com at Google, certainly beats $30+ from Network Solutions. I'll walk the process and see if they want fingerprints, blood samples, etc. One of the processes I was going through at Network Solutions wanted images of two utility bills, or other proof of identity and address - I can't imagine that everyone is doing this now?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Friday May 24 2019, @12:31PM (2 children)
At those levels, for just one domain, the price isn't the issue. What's your time worth? Lot more than minimum wage, perhaps $100/hour? Two hours of your time, that's the price difference between 10 years of Google or NS.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Friday May 24 2019, @01:43PM
That was the thinking that got me on 10 more years of NS in 2009... at this point, it's more of a principle question than just what this one domain costs. I might be registering a second domain, some day, if I can get enough of that valuable time to do anything with some ideas I have.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by number11 on Friday May 24 2019, @04:14PM
NS was the first vendor I used. They jagged around and played games, and then overcharged me. Slime.
GoDaddy was next. But their web interface sucks big time (or at least did when I was using them), and they were continually trying to upsell me.
NameCheap is nice and easy, and the only interaction with them is the email saying it's time to renew. Plus, they donate money to the fights for a better internet.
(Score: 4, Informative) by bryan on Friday May 24 2019, @05:22PM (2 children)
In my experience, Network Solutions is one of the hardest companies to transfer away from. Two months is probably not enough time.
I recently (this year) was involved with transferring around 20 domains from 4 different registrars (GoDaddy, Register.com, NameBargain, NetworkSolutions) to a new registrar (EasyDNS.) This was a company standardization thing - they wanted all their domains in their enterprise level EasyDNS account. While most domains (surprisingly, even GoDaddy) transferred without incident and where complete within a week or two, NetworkSolutions had some serious hurdles and dragged their feet for months. While all the other registrars used modern and largely automated tools, NetworkSolutions still uses Phone/Fax/Postal and lots of humans to do everything manually.
(Score: 2) by bryan on Friday May 24 2019, @05:25PM (1 child)
P.S. I also recommend Gandi [gandi.net].
"No bullshit" is literally their slogan.
(Score: 1) by sqrt(-1) on Saturday May 25 2019, @03:51AM
+1. Gandi is awesome, a long time OSS friendly entity. And along with the domain registration (which is not THE lowest pricing you will find) you get a generous email hosting plan.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday May 24 2019, @10:48PM (1 child)
> [Google] and see if they want fingerprints, blood samples, etc.
They don't need ID. They already know you.
Everything about you.
Everything.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday May 25 2019, @02:24AM
I'm pretty sure NS just has that "send us images of your utility bills" thing to help them to sell the privacy option, which is a big part of why I'm thinking it's time to dump 'em.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 25 2019, @11:11PM
i've had no such bullshit at namesilo.com