Anyone used http://www.totalnic.net - too good to be true? (Posted by robp)

Hmm, can anyone explain this? I don't see how they can register a domain name with Internic for $35. There must be some catch or something. I guess that is there fee for just registering the domain, and yout still have to pay for it from Internic. I would just find a web host you want and just go through them.

It would be much easier.

HTH
Curtis

----------
[red]Free Internet Marketing Secrets! [/red] http://www.imsnewsletter.com
[red]Premium Web Hosting! [/red] http://www.1simple.com

Actually Curtis, I am not sure if you are aware of the fact that InterNIC no longer has full control over the domain name registration system. There are now many other registars on the Internet that have full rights to register domains through ICANN... Not Network Solutions. Network Solutions still manages the "official" whois database, but that is it. The only fee that a registar has to pay is $9/yr. (I think) to ICANN. The rest is pure profit.

----------
Dynamic Internet Solutions : http://www.dids.com
UNIX and Windows NT Hosting

Who maintains the official db then?
JP

Yes, Jason is correct. That is what I meant (believe it or not). When I said whois database, I meant root DNS but I just associated the whois database with the root DNS records - my apologies for the confusion there.

As for payment, I thought it was payed to ICANN... I must have associated the $1 voluntary fee with the $9 fee but with the wrong companies.

I really did know what I meant to post, just didn't post what I meant ... Thanks Jason for keeping me on track!

JP, I am not really sure there is an "official" whois database now. I know Network Solutions' Whois is really out of date. But, I think register.com's is pretty accurate as they update with Network Solutions registrations as well as the other registars registrations on a regular basis. To my knowledge, there is no COMPLETELY accurate whois database right now, but there may be...? (Jason?)

----------
Dynamic Internet Solutions : http://www.dids.com
UNIX and Windows NT Hosting

So, is there any way to register a domain on my own and only pay $10 $9 to NSI and $1 to ICANN?

Who is the cheapest company to register through?

----------
[red][Rob P][/red]
[[email protected]]--[[icq]16560402[/icq]]

No, you can't register them on your own. ICANN has quite a list of requirments to become a registar, one of which is a HUGE fee (I don't remember what it was but $10,000 comes to mind - Jason, domain guy, do you know?).

I don't know what the cheapest is but as was brought up in another forum, I don't think going cheapest is going to be the best option because they can't be making a lot of money if they have to pay $9 and only charge $15 - $35 is more reasonable, and I think that is where we will see the price fall to and stay... The lower priced registars will of course drop out rather soon I would assume.

My suggestion, go with an established registar like Register.com or Network Solutions (although I highly recommend register.com because there system is setup extremely well and they know what support is).

----------
Dynamic Internet Solutions : http://www.dids.com
UNIX and Windows NT Hosting

To my knowledge, as Chad said, there is no "official" whois database (to my knowledge, anyway).

As far as becoming your own registrar - that is *very* costly. You can view the complete details (I think) at http://www.icann.org/registrars/accreditation-overview.html

Jason

----------
Hosting Solutions, Inc. - www.hostingsolutions.net
Windows NT web hosting specialists.

Thanks a lot for the info guys!

----------
[red][Rob P][/red]
[[email protected]]--[[icq]16560402[/icq]]

I was informed that we will be able to register domains ourselves very soon.

Just a comment.

Curtis

----------
[red]Free Internet Marketing Secrets! [/red] http://www.imsnewsletter.com
[red]Premium Web Hosting! [/red] http://www.1simple.com

Curtis,

Who told you that? I would be interested to know more about this.

I hate Network Solutions anwyay. I want be my own registars and it's easier that way and I know some of you want and agree it also.

Cheers,

----------
Carolina Web Net
www.carolinaweb.net

Who is "we" Curtis? VenerNet? If so, that is probably the case as they probably have the money to spend on becoming a registar. I don't think having domain name registration abilities is going to help out the hosts at all though. I think it is better that we educate the users on it because there is going to be a slew of registars in the future.

----------
Dynamic Internet Solutions : http://www.dids.com
UNIX and Windows NT Hosting

I have heard many good things about this company. A few of our customers showed me and I am thinking of referring them to our customers for domain names.

----------
Http://one.pcisd.com:4000/index.cgi?Webmaster_Forums
30 day free trial, Instant Account setup and a custom control panel

Regarding the domain registration fees:

1) Yes, it's a $10,000 initial fee to become a registrar.

2) The $6 (not $9 anymore) fee is paid to Network Solutions, who keeps the true domain name database. The whois scripts they are using *are* out of date, not the database(s). Regarding the $6 fee - this past week, Network Solutions reached an agreement with ICANN and the US Government to charge only $6 for each domain registration now rather than $9... that's to maintain the database (which NSI will still remain the "keeper" of for the next 4 years or so).

3) I hadn't heard of the voluntary $1 charge to ICANN but that sounds interesting - why would a registrar want to pay the initial fees plus monthly fees, then another $1 for each domain registered to ICANN? The fee to NSI ($6) *is* mandatory.

----------
The XRS Network
[email protected] - http://xrs.net/

Actually, Chad, NetSol doesn't maintain the official whois database. All they maintain is the root DNS records.

You can confirm this by going picking a domain name that was registered elsewhere (for example, we registered windowswebhost.com at register.com) then go to NetSol's whois page and search for it - it'll come back and say there's no match. But if you go to NetSol's registration page, it'll tell you it's already registered (which it is).

In fact, right now, NetSol's whois database is the least accurate of all the different registrars' whois databases.

So NetSol's only role in this (other than being a registrar themselves) is to maintain the root DNS tables, which they seem to do fine. And that's why they earn the $9 per domain fee (that fee is paid to NetSol, not ICANN - ICANN has a voluntary $1 per domain fee, but registrars are not required to pay that if they don't want to. They are required to pay the $9 per domain to NetSol.)

Thanks,

Jason

----------
Hosting Solutions, Inc. - www.hostingsolutions.net
Windows NT web hosting specialists.

Chad,

Yes VenerNet. They are changing their company name and do a heck lot more. They are going to become very awesome. I think it said it costs $1,000, but I can ask them and see what they say.

Oh, yeah, they do have the money chad. They are a multi million dollar company.

Thanks
Curtis

----------
[red]Free Internet Marketing Secrets! [/red] http://www.imsnewsletter.com
[red]Premium Web Hosting! [/red] http://www.1simple.com

Hi. The service that charges $13/year of $26 for 2 yr per domain is www.opensrs.com. This is in fact possible and I believe that they are ICANN accredited. They are a venture of tucows.com, a well known download site for shareware. In any event, I will probably register a test domain through there and see how it turns out. I was reading the guidelines, and it seemed like they had to go through a very complete review process to get approved... so I would bet that they are trustworthy. But hey, once some people try it I'm sure others will follow .

----------
[red]Web Hosting - Design - Promotion - Programming... at very affordable rates![/red]
InfoStar Web Design: http://www.infostardesign.com

In reply to the original message, I've used totalnic.net for some years, both for company sites and personal ones. No problems, and their service is excellent. Also, the rates are as shown - there are no extras.

ALMOST FIVE YEARS OLD! FOR PETE'S SAKE!