Network Solutions Misery

[Robert Gahl]

At 05:57 PM 5/19/00 -0400, Gary Wardell wrote:

>Well, I haven't had any horror stories with NSI either but I am also quite
>happy with eNic.cc (except for their slowness at setting up host records).
>
>As for only needing a password, yes, but I'm the only one that has my
>password.  And I can do everything needed from their website.  No, I
>haven't had trouble finding what I need.
>
>As for e-mail confirmation at NSI.  That can be a problem is the contact
>information is wrong so the e-mail never gets there to be confirmed.  Or
>what about when the host your moving from is ticked off at you and just
>plain doesn't respond?
>
>I also have had to walk clients through the NSI process and I have had
>clients set up every thing themselves at eNic.cc and Joker.com without my
>help.

Granted that this only relates tangentially to much of what has been 
discussed on the list, each registrar comes with their own set of problems. 
There are some I have dealt with in various forms over the years, prior to 
them becoming registrars, and there is nothing in their organization which 
would imply that their reincarnation would be any better than what I 
experienced in their past life.

Having said that, I'm not all that happy with NSI either, but I have 
learned how to work the system to make things happen. In the above "bad 
email" scenario, you send them a fax on letterhead indicating the changes 
you want to happen, and voila, they happen. They may not happen in the 15 
seconds or more you want it to happen, but it will happen. Followup phone 
calls often do the trick. The general rule at NSI is that if you are the 
"owner" of the domain, it doesn't matter what the "pissed off" ISP does or 
doesn't do. The key is being the owner (and being the administrator doesn't 
hurt, either, letting the ISP been the zone/technical contact). And, in 
fact, if you are good enough, you can trick their email system into 
accepting a change when no one responded. I've personally seen that happen.

Like dealing with every other business around the U.S. (I can't speak for 
others since I don't live there), the squeaky wheel gets the grease. The 
positive side of NSI is that if you don't get the answer you want, you can 
often call back and get it from the next representative you talk to :(

The bottom line is that NSI will either eventually "get it" or they won't, 
in which case, they will disappear from the horizon. Competition generally 
insures that will happen. I suspect a lot of the other registrars will 
eventually do the same. It's not the most rewarding job in world from my 
perspective :(
===
Bob Gahl Bicycle (Ryan Vanguard) Mobile  ||     @
     ARPA/Internet: bgahl at bawcsa.org      ||  !_ \
    URL: http://www.bawcsa.org/bgahl/     ||  (*)-~--+--(*)
"Sahn joong moe low ful how jee yah ching wong" - "When the
mountain has no tigers, the monkey will also declare himself
king." Chinese Proverb