From time to time, I get a damned good e-mail that I have to share. This one from Phil asks a question that I thought was well worth looking into:
Hi Mitch, great podcast I try to download each show weekly. I was bitten by the RegisterFly.com problems a while back and today while browsing to their web site it looks like they are still in business? How can this be?
RegisterFly’s demise as an ICANN accredited register was one of the biggest hosting stories of last year. These days you don’t hear much about it though. Technically, yes – they are and can still be in business.
Look Back at the RegisterFly Mess
Back inn 2007, ICANN launched an investigation of RegisterFly since there were a lot of allegations they were sticking it to the customer. With other issues and lawsuits that followed, the RegisterFly co-owners Kevin Medina and John Naruszewicz had a breakup of their own. The road was rocky, the public was mad and then it was made known by an unsealed class action lawsuit that there were claims RegisterFly defrauded customers trying to register or renew domain names.
According to Wikipedia, one of the early lawsuits within RegisterFly was pretty hilarious.
Meanwhile RegisterFly filed suit against Kevin Medina, alleging he had stolen company funds for a $27,000 escort service, a $6,000 liposuction procedure, a $10,000/month penthouse apartment in Miami, Florida and a $6,000 chihuahua dog.
March 31, 2007 was the date that ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) removed RegisterFly’s ICANN accreditation and told them to take the ICANN logo off of their web site. Skipping ahead though the legal mumbo-jumbo they could no longer act as a domain name register themselves and had to give up the domain name registrations they had done to ICANN. GoDaddy and other companies stood up and offered the RegisterFly refugees a home for their domains and that pretty much catches us up to the present date and time.
So Why is RegisterFly Still Around?
Well, this message from Robert O’Neal, Chief Executive Officer for RegisterFly should give you a candy coated reason:
We are an authorized reseller of domain names, the same as we have been for 6 years prior, this has not changed. We are NOT OUT OF BUSINESS as the message may imply to some.
So they can’t act as a domain name register themselves, like a GoDaddy can but they can resell domain names to you, like many web hosts do out there though a reseller service. This is how they did business before becoming an accredited register. So technically they are no longer a domain name register, they are just reselling somebody else’s registration services to you.
Got a little ‘bit of something for everybody on today’s show. From a recap of RegisterFly’s mess to the price you pay for really cheap web hosting the shock and awe Web Hosting Show campaign starts right now. No caucus needed, but plenty of topics that should stir debate.
With the new year here and not much else going on, this makes for the perfect time for web hosts to review their support pages and see what needs to be improved on.
Diving into networking when it is related to web hosting is a little tricker than it might seem. There are a lot of confusing terms and even more confusing explanations of them all. I figured I’d take some of the most often used hosting network terms you might here and try to break them down.
Best Free Image or Graphic Host?
Best Free File Host?
Best Free Video Host?
Cheap Hosting and the Price You Really Pay
There are some providers out there that have the business plan in place to handle it. They just might be harder to find.
Do You Pay for it in Perks?
Some web hosts will get you in the door with the low prices, and then when it comes to addons or accessories to your shared hosting account they stick you with the true costs of hosting. This can often happen with upgrades for JSP and ASP support and other upgrades some, but not all, will need.
Keep an Eye on How Long Your Signing Up For!
For an example, lets say Dummy Example Web Host is offering you a hosting deal you can not beat. It is $3.50 a month for 500 GB Disk Storage and 5 TB of Bandwidth. Now when you get on the order page you notice that this $3.50 a month price is only good if you sign up for the 10 year hosting plan. To get this, you must pay up-front: $420. Now if you know they are good then you have no worries but if you have no history with the company do you really want to sign up with them for the next decade? Better yet – will they even be around that long?
The one thing you have to remember (and I have said it time and time before) you have to do you homework when it comes to signing up with any web hosting company. Don’t be fooled by the special deal – and find out if they really are the best of the best or just another guy with a server in his basement trying to make a buck.
Do I Blame the Web Hosting Companies? No!
I can not blame the web hosting companies, because they need to compete with the next guy down the street and make money while doing so. Thanks to the fact that we have so much competition out there for the proverbial bottom dollar; almost everybody undercuts and over-provides. The secret of cheap hosting is to find the one that does so the best.