Registering a domain

[OberonTheHopeful]

Can anyone recommend a domain registrar?

The one I currently use (Freeparking) used to be great, but have recently become truly awful. Anyone have experience of Monster?

I've used CrazyDomains.co.uk (Australian HQ, sometimes really cheap deals), plus 123-reg.co.uk, GoDaddy.com, MyDomain.com, NameCheap.com, Name.com

Which company you use really depends on what you need... for .com, .info and loads of other domains, worth checking MyDomain.com + GoDaddy.com

For some of the other domain names (like .rocks, .builder, .design etc) there may be specific services which are offering deals.

1and1.co.uk may have some first year deals. All depends on what domain name(s) you are after. Feel free to message me if you want, and I may know other firms offering lower costs, certainly for some of the hundreds of new gTLDs.

Thanks NetworkGuy, that's really useful :) I've started looking at them.

I've been looking at Monster because after my current hassles I wanted a registrar that at least provides phone support. I see GoDaddy do also. I don't have many domains (fewer than a dozen) and would prefer to keep them with one registrar if possible. They're (old style) gTLD's or under the .uk ccTLD. The only new one I want to register is a .uk. Quality of service/support is more important than finding the least expensive for me, as they're mostly used for email so reliability is key.

The one I'm using now has 'lost' one of my domains in migrating to a new system. It's still registered to me, and the zone files are clearly intact, but I can't see it in their control panel, and therefore make any changes. I've raised a support ticket that has gone unanswered, and as it falls under the .uk ccTLD I can't initiate a transfer to another registrar, because it's not showing up in the control panel. Aargh!

I rarely have to make changes, but when I need to add or edit say an A or CNAME record I prefer to be able to do it myself via Web interface, rather than submit a support request. I know Monster (because I've been looking at them) provide for that.

But the (web/mail) hosting from some of these firms is not necessarily ideal.

For a start, few will host it in UK, so an international routing/ congestion issue may cause problems, and to be frank, I'm happier to separate hosting from registration - I can move either if a firm ever lets me down.

Namecheap.com offers full DNS hosting (even for domains not with them).
Have not bothered to check what Name, GoDaddy, MyDomain etc can do, as mostly my domains are registered with them but DNS points to service of Xilo.net (I have a second reseller hosting account with another, so if something major went down at Xilo, I'd be able to alter the MX records, and display a 'holding' page for each domain).

I avoid .*.uk primarily because of the dumb Nominet system (and note that some firms are cashing in on .uk by charging more).

GoDaddy provides phone support from USA (despite 020 number)... to be honest with most of them I've hardly ever needed support, unless their control panel is acting up.

Re hosting, the one I will most happily recommend is Xilo.net - simply on reliability of their service, and that they have multiple servers dedicated to inbound mail, so I can easily put SMEs on with confidence the service will get all their mail. In the past I've found some hosting solutions which combine large numbers of domains, the mail for those domains, and then get filled up (fairly sure it's because some still configure a 'catch all' address for any unknown mail addresses thus getting full of spam, rather than simply rejecting anything for a username that's unknown).

Fair point, I only use the registrar for DNS (and registering the domain obv). I use United Hosting for general Web/email hosting (not much of the former). They're not the least expensive I've come across, but have really good support and are reliable (based in Sheffield I think). DNS for some domains is hosted with them.

A couple of the domains have email hosted on Google apps. Apart from the initial setup (which involves adding a TXT record, presumably so they can confirm admin is in place) it just works; not cheap but does provide Exchange ActiveSync, and has a 99.99% uptime SLA. (And is ad free.) I've never encountered any routing or performance issues.

The .uk hasn't entirely been by my choice, but agree that Nominet make things unnecessarily complicated! I don't usually need support at all, except when they lose one of my domains! Now I can't resolve it, they're not responding to support tickets, emails, or twitter, and I can't phone them.

I have two problems with the current registrar: they haven't registered a new domain for me, and they have somehow 'lost' one. And they have stopped communicating.

A friend on FB has recommended Monster as well. It's not my day job (just manage domains for myself and friends/family) so I don't need a lot of hassle. If a registrar can register the domain properly, maintain the DNS correctly, and let me make changes when I need to, then I'm happy :)

I'll look at all the suggestions and aim to find one in the next few days. I've really had enough of the current registrar!

Really appreciate the input :) I'm guessing this is your day job