With the recent opening up of domain name registration, and having the need to register a series of new domains, I decided it was time to see what else was out there. After doing some basic research and questioning a few friends, I came across two companies Dotster and 123domains. At the time Dotster was advertising $25 (which has since been lowered to $15) registration fees, and the ability to manage all your domains, registered with them, through your web browser. With skepticism I decided to give Dotster a try and registered 3 domains with them, after all it was cheaper then Network Solutions (formerly Internic and your only registration option for the coveted .com .net .org domains), $35, and appeared easier to use. During the registration process I decided to try one of their free services that allowed me to use their nameservers to 'park' the domain till I had a hosting site for it. Not really believing it could be that easy I found myself checking the whois database looking for my new domains every few hours, to my surprise all three appeared in under 24 hours and less then 72 hours after registration everyone I knew was able to access the new domains. It really was that easy.

About a month later I gave Dotster a second chance to prove to me it wasn't really as easy as I was beginning to believe. I had just recently redesigned my site and was in the process of setting it up with a new web host, so I went to Dotster, logged into my account and proceeded to make the changes. Twenty clicks and about 5 minutes later I had updated my domains to reflect the new information and once again, less then 72 hours later everyone was finding the new site. Dotster once again failed to let me down.

Once again, about a month later, with my site working fine and all setup, I decided it was time to update the old domain, and direct it towards the new site. After numerous problems trying to update the old domain (you can read about this in my review of Network Solutions) I gave up and decided to once again try and prove Dotster wrong. I proceeded to fill out the forms required to transfer my old domain from Network Solutions to Dotster. I filled out the online registrar transfer request form and printed it along with the transfer authorization form, took them to the local copy place to be faxed, along with a copy of my driver’s license. The next afternoon, I had an email message stating they received my request and were in the process of transferring the domain. A day later is appeared in the whois directory under the new registrar, Dotster. The only negative experience in the whole process was having to wait 3 days and email them once before I was able to access the domain through my acct. Fortunately they were quick to respond to my email and had the problem corrected in less then 24 hours.

Working wit Dotster has truly been a pleasant experience, and the company is a leader in the next generation of domain name registration and management.




Recommended: Yes