Domain registry ratings

[John Chambers]

I thought I remembered a discussion here of  the  pros  and  cons  of
various  registries a while back, but searching around in the blu.org
mailing lists didn't turn up anything.  So I thought I just ask:

Do you have any "ratings" comments to make about any of  the  various
companies that handle domain-name registration?

The occasion is that I've had a few  domains  registered  for  a  few
years through web.com, and they mostly Just Worked, without any fuss.
Last week, some friends asked if I'd register a name for them,  so  I
tried.  The attempt disappeared as if I'd never typed anything.  So I
went to web.com to log in and see what the problem was -  and  I  was
told  that my account wasn't valid.  I did a quick whois, and all the
data came up as I expected. I tried the gimmick to have it send me my
password,  and got no email at all at the address listed by whois.  I
tried waiting a few days, checking occasionally, and nothing changed.
My  attempt at registering a name never showed up, and I couldn't get
into my account.

So today, I spent about an hour on the phone with their Tech Support,
and  didn't  much like the results.  The account was there, but I was
told it was disabled - because it's a "no hosting" account. WTF?  The
people  I talked to had an "of course" attitude.  I'd only paid for a
domain name, not web hosting, so the account was disabled.  The  Tech
Support people told me they'd transfer me to Sales, although I didn't
want web hosting.  The Sales person said "of course" the account  was
disabled, since I hadn't yet agreed to web hosting. When I got across
that I wasn't buying hosting, just a name, they finally understood  -
and  transferred  me  to Tech Support.  The person there went through
their ritual, told me the same story, and transferred  me  to  Sales.
And so on.

I finally did talk to someone who agreed that maybe the account could
be  re-activated, but since it was a "new" account (created six years
ago), it would have to be provisioned first, and it would take a few
days.  So during those few days, I'm looking around.

Anyway, it appears that web.com no longer wants to be  a  domain-name
registrar;   they  disabled  non-hosting  accounts  and  give  you  a
runaround unless you pay for web hosting.  So I'm looking around  for
good  and/or bad stories about other registries.  A quick check shows
that all of them seem to offer domain-name service, but all  of  them
talk  mostly  of  web hosting (and their anti-whois service).  Domain
names are turning into a commodity service, with lots of competitors,
it  can't  be all that profitable any more, so it understandable that
they might want to push other products.

So what are good registries for just domain-name plus basic DNS?


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 <:#/>  John Chambers
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