Back in November last year I talked about your right to own your own Internet domain, the Internet address that makes your Web site unique, commonly called dot.coms.

When the byte masters were putting the Internet together years ago they realized it would need some way to organize the way information was transferred to all the users of the network and came up with the Domain Name Address (DNS) scheme.

The idea was to take all the computer networks that belong to the a particular grouping, such as the educational community, and make it part of .edu domain. Take all the commercial companies and group them into the .com domain, and so on.

Every time you type in a Web address or email to someone you are using the domain address scheme. There are about 100 top level domains, although in the United States you are most likely familiar with com., org., gov., edu., and net.

Since 1993, Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI), had been the only provider of domain name registration services in the .com, .net and .org top-level domains. This little cozy relationship was established between NSI and the Government. Personally, I found NSI arrogant and unresponsive.

Their fees for registering a domain were pretty high and each year you had to pay them an annual sacrifice to keep the name. To me it was just a scam. Why couldn't a computer keep track of the database for free or a small nominal charge? It seemed monopolistic to me. I wasnt alone in that thinking. The domain scheme has finally been deregulated.

There is now a system in place called the "Shared Registration System."
There are presently sixteen domain registrars in North America looking for your money. Prices now range from $35 to $70 and that includes two years of registration.

There will be more new registrars soon. Some 68 sites have been approved but are not operational yet. Another 26 companies have qualified for accreditation as post-testbed registrars, but are not yet finally accredited.

You can check it at the ICANNs (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ) Web site to see the latest accreditations (www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html).

Most people register domains through their local Internet Service Provider (ISP) like Global2000 (www.global2000.net) or Wizvax (www.wizvax.net). Some ISPs charge $50 more as a handling fee. You can, of course, register a domain by yourself by going to any of the listed domain registrars below and save a few bucks. However, you need to make sure they will host the DNS address. Registering your name is one thing. But it must be programmed into two domain name servers. This is called DNS service. While your local ISP will probably do it for free, most domain registrars offer DNS service as an option, either for a fee or for free. My suggestion is let your local ISP handle it.

You can search the Whois domain database if you are looking to see if a name you want to register is already being used (www.whois.net/).

The following 33 companies now offer full domain registration and are approved by the The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the official body that grants such privileges. Sixteen of the companies service the United States. The rest service non-American countries. Visit each site to see what services they offer such as DNS service, Web site hosting, email, etc.

I have listed the most and least expensive prices next to those site (with no DNS service provided). Expect higher costs for those that provide DNS service. However, price alone does not guarantee quality of service.

We all want to be the master of our own domain but there are those out there that might fight you for it.

A+Net/ABACUS America, Inc. (names4ever.com/)
Alabanza, Inc. d/b/a Bulkregister (www.bulkregister.com/)
All West Communications (www.awregistry.net) $70
America Online (really CompuServe, (domain.compuserve.com)
CORE - Capital Networks Ltd. (www.totalnic.net) $35
CORE - CASDNS, Inc. (www.casdns.net) $70
CORE - FirstDomain.net (www.firstdomain.net)
CORE - Joker.com (www.joker.com)
CORE - Net Wizards, Inc. (www.netwiz.net)
CORE - Nominalia (www.nominalia.net)
CORE - PSI Web Domains (www.psi-domains.com)
(CORE domains are from Switzerland)
DomainInfo.com (Sweden) (www.domaininfo.com)
Domain Bank, Inc. (www.domainbank.com) $70
Domain People (Canada) (www.domainpeople.com/)
Domain Registration Services (www.dotearth.com) $70
Dotster, Inc. (www.earthdns.com)
Easyspace Ltd. (United Kingdom) (www.easyspace.com/)
eNom, Inc. (www.enom.com/)
France Telecom/Olane (France) (www.oleane.com/)
Internet Domain Registrars (US & Canada)(www.registrars.com)
interQ Incorporated (Japan) (www.discount-domain.com/)
Marvin Enterprises, Inc./Global Knowledge Group (www.gkg.net/)
Melbourne IT (www.ina.com.au) $70
NameIt Corporation (www.nameit.net)
Names4Ever (www.names4ever.com) $70
NameSecure.com (www.namesecure.com) $70
Network Solutions (www.networksolutions.com) $70
NORDNET (France) (www.nordnet.net/)
PSI-Japan (Japan) (www.psi-domains.com/)
Register.com (www.register.com) $70
Signature Domains, Inc. (www.signaturedomains.com)
TierraNet Inc. (www.domaindiscover.com/)

©2000 Don Rittner