private registration

NeptunesMoon

Im looking into getting a .com address. Probably from letshost.ie, they seem to have a good deal going and I've heard good reports, but if somebody knows of a better site share away!

I dont want my info to be seen by spammers and I have found this:
http://www.doteasy.com/Services/PrivateRegistration/

No extra cost but their .com cost is quite high. Its too late to get onto letshost and I cant see anything on their site about private registration. I was onto live chat to another American based domain site and this is what the conversation was. I dont know if he fully understand what I wanted but his answer seemed very confusing to me.

[18:45:47] Daniel B : How can I help you?
[18:46:11] Guest : Hi, is it possible to hide my information from a WHOIS queery if I register a .com address do you know?
[18:47:21] Daniel B : Im not sure but I can try and find the answer for you.
[18:47:26] Daniel B : One moment
[18:47:31] Guest : yes please, thank you
[18:55:33] Daniel B : I apologize for the delay
[18:55:41] Guest : no problem
[18:55:46] Daniel B : You would have to use a different DNS
[18:55:57] Guest : what do you mean DNS?
[18:56:26] Guest : If I register a .com, will my info automatically show up in the WHOIS queery of the .com the minute I register? If so, what do I need to do to hide this information?
[18:56:53] Daniel B : Well, its possible but you would have to identify by your IP or another DNS
[18:57:09] Daniel B : So someone cannot see your whois Query
[18:57:49] Guest : I don't mind giving information to the provider, I just don't want everyone else to be able to see this information
[18:58:06] Daniel B : So your best option would be to run a server that someone cant hack into such as firewalls on the server.
[18:58:31] Guest : Would this be hosted on the .com address I register or elsewhere?
[19:01:12] Daniel B : It would be pinged from the site to where the site is hosted
[19:01:32] Daniel B : or wherever the site is hosted
[19:01:36] Daniel B : Is there anything else i can help you with?
[19:02:53] Guest : that is fine for now. Thank you

I have no problem providing letshost with my info, I just dont want my info publically viewable.

Is this possible with letshost does anyone know and what are the limitations to having it private?

Cheers

NeptunesMoon

I just rang letshost about this. There was mention of the ICANN regulations. What could happen if they see my whois queery without full details?

Cheers!

dahamsta

Many registrars now offer a WHOIS Privacy service. Google for the facts.

http://www.google.ie/search?q=%22whois+privacy%22

adam

NeptunesMoon

I'd prefer to stick with an Irish provider as there are hundreds and hundreds of other providers. Unless you can suggest one who offers this service with a hosting package included for a good price with good service? I wouldn't know anything about who's good or bad unfortunately. I think I will just need a small hosting package. It will be about 2 pages of information and will just be a portal to another site, an affiliation.

Cheers.

phenom

www.godaddy.com is good, Im registered there and have a private registration

NeptunesMoon

Thanks for the suggestion. Their prices seem good and I think I will go for their .com + .net,.biz and .info package for $16 too. I did a quick search on boards for godaddy and there was a bit of a bad word about their hosting package.

Basically, all I want is the .com/biz/net/info address with enough hosting to pass through hopefully a lot of visitors to another site.

I do not want pop ups or anything that seems cheap.

Do godaddy sites have pop ups?

Are you with them for hosting too? How do you find them?

Cheers

rsynnott

NeptunesMoon wrote:

I'd prefer to stick with an Irish provider as there are hundreds and hundreds of other providers. Unless you can suggest one who offers this service with a hosting package included for a good price with good service? I wouldn't know anything about who's good or bad unfortunately. I think I will just need a small hosting package. It will be about 2 pages of information and will just be a portal to another site, an affiliation.

Cheers.

Bear in mind that, despite their page title, letshost aren't REALLY an Irish host; they're an Irish person either with a server in the US or reselling for a US company. Either way, site is hosted in the US.

NeptunesMoon

thanks for that m8.

I think I'll go with godaddy providing there will be no pop ups and that their hosting package will be enough for hopefully what will be loads of traffic. As I said, it will only be a portal so it shouldn't need that much bandwidth no?

Should I just go with godaddy? I get a .com/biz/net/info address for $16 per year altogether with private whois info.Not sure if that includes hosting though.

Should I go with godaddy? I've heard of them before so that has to be a plus, right?

Cheers

dahamsta

GoDaddy sucks the sweat off a dead man's balls. Much the same regard for customers as the lovely company in my sig below. But that's just a personal opinion. Based on ~10 years in the domreg business...

How much traffic do you foresee going through this website? Diskspace is rarely a concern these days, but bandwidth is.

Also, it should be pointed out that unless you're concerned about IP addresses being Irish for SEO purposes, the location of the server isn't relevant. Saying letshost isn't "REALLY Irish" is hardly fair unless that applies: It's an Irish company doing business in Ireland. (And I'm not saying that with bias these days, I have servers in both. I just think it's not on to label.)

adam

NeptunesMoon

So if I had say 1,000 visitors a day, and all they were doing is going to a website and there were 3 different pages with text and about 200kb on images throughout the whole site (so the whole site would only be about 250kb if even) what kind of bandwidth would I need per month? I'm not too sure how it works, but just say I put all the files of the website into a folder on my desktop and it's 250kb and we get 1,000 hits a day and all the hits are doing is clicking a link going to another site.

Why are godaddy so bad?

Can you suggest another company who will do a similar deal? even at a higher cost. I just want the 4 domains, with private whois details, I'm not sure what you meant about the IP address, I don't mind them knowing I'm in Ireland if that's what you mean? Sorry, I'm new to the whole website thing.

If you could suggest a similar site that will provide hosting and private whois for the 4 domains I would appreciate it.

Cheers.

dahamsta

NeptunesMoon wrote:

So if I had say 1,000 visitors a day, and all they were doing is going to a website and there were 3 different pages with text and about 200kb on images throughout the whole site (so the whole site would only be about 250kb if even) what kind of bandwidth would I need per month? I'm not too sure how it works, but just say I put all the files of the website into a folder on my desktop and it's 250kb and we get 1,000 hits a day and all the hits are doing is clicking a link going to another site.

My maths isn't as good as it used to be, but by my reckoning if your average page weight is 100k and you're doing 30k hits a month, that's about 3GB a month. If they visit more than one page, obviously it'll be more. It's not huge, but it's not your average brochureware website either.

Why are godaddy so bad?

I edited my post above: Terrible customer service; plus I've heard horror stories about them disabling domains without examining evidence of abuse properly. If you're not going to be making many changes and you don't need your hand held (and there's zero risk of assumptions of abuse), I suppose it's not going to be an issue, but I still wouldn't use them on principle.

Can you suggest another company who will do a similar deal? even at a higher cost.

Any of the Irish hosts on this board will be happy to quote you, and probably will -- although I'd hope they'll do it via Private Message. They won't be able to match GoDaddy on price, which I view as a good thing. I'm pretty sure most of them can offer WHOIS Privacy.

I'm not sure what you meant about the IP address, I don't mind them knowing I'm in Ireland if that's what you mean? Sorry, I'm new to the whole website thing.

If the site is in an Irish IP block - i.e. it's hosted with a company in Ireland that has IP addresses that have been assigned to them by RIPE, or by an upstream with RIPE IP addresses - there's a better chance of users in Ireland (or users searching for Irish-related resources) finding it than if it's in a non-Irish IP block. That's a gross oversimplification, but it's all you need to know.

adam

NeptunesMoon

Thanks for the reply.

I wont be making any changes to the site at all really, once it's up, that's all we need. In fact, I don't think we'll have to change it once it up at all really. There is also no risk of abusive content on it so that's no problem.

Re: Bandwidth.
so 3gb sounds like a very basic package. I can upgrade if need be I presume.

Why do you see them not being able to match godaddy on price as being a good thing?

I'm willing to pay a bit extra for peace of mind. So all I'm after is a site that will give me hosting and the 4 domains with a private whois queery for all 4 domains. I'll be paying per year.

Is there any other international providers who have a good reputation even though they may be slightly more expensive than godaddy?

Cheers again m8!

dahamsta

NeptunesMoon wrote:

There is also no risk of abusive content on it so that's no problem.

According to your definition, yes. However some providers might not have the same definition. Google for godaddy and nectartech for an example of GoDaddy's definition. Now this won't apply to you, but it does give you an example of what can be expected from them. And that's just one example.

so 3gb sounds like a very basic package. I can upgrade if need be I presume.

Yes. You'd fit in most Irish host's basic plans with that kind of bandwidth, but only just. You should check Ts & Cs with regard to overages with the host you choose before deciding on a plan. It's often wise to take the next plan up from the basic.

Why do you see them not being able to match godaddy on price as being a good thing?

Because GoDaddy cut costs at the expense of customer service. My opinion on things like this is that if you take your business seriously, you should always be willing to pay a little more. If the site isn't earning enough to pay for it, you should be questioning the ability of the site to generate revenue, not the cost of hosting. Again though, that's just my opinion.

I'm willing to pay a bit extra for peace of mind. So all I'm after is a site that will give me hosting and the 4 domains with a private whois queery for all 4 domains. I'll be paying per year.

One thing I should have mentioned is that WHOIS Privacy isn't a free service, you'll probably pay a litle extra. I've only done it once for a client myself, I think I charged an extra €5/year; but it could be more or less, depending on who you go with.

Is there any other international providers who have a good reputation even though they may be slightly more expensive than godaddy

I don't really deal with registrars/hosts at a consumer level any more tbh, you'd probably be better off getting recommendations from someone else. Just bear in mind that you get what you pay for.

adam

NeptunesMoon

Thanks again for the helpful response. Before I answer any of the PM's I've got, I still have a few more questions.

I want to register .com/.net/.biz and .info with the same name. I have no problem paying the registration price for these with the private whois. However, if I buy these all together, will they each need an individual hosting package or will the one cover all four domains? I'll be using the .com mainly, I suppose I could fill the others with the same content just to catch any traffic that may come that way so the .com will get about 99% of the traffic. The main reason for the other 3 is so they are unavailable to anyone else. Is this all automatic with hosting/domain companies?

I will not be using this domain for any spam or abusive content. I simply don't want my details to be publically viewable.

I do value this business and I'm willing to spend the money, however if I can get the same product and service quality cheaper, I will opt for that regardless of what country the company is based in as it doesn't really matter for the website/business as long as I'm getting good service. I am on a budget but want the safest option.

Cheers!

dahamsta

NeptunesMoon wrote:

if I buy these all together, will they each need an individual hosting package or will the one cover all four domains?

It depends on the host, but in most cases they can all point to the same content, or to nothing at all. You may be penalised for the former by search engines though -- I'm not entirely sure of the details in this regard, but if it's a concern, you may with to research it on an SEO website.

adam

mneylon

Most hosting providers offer domain pointers / aliases / addon domains (terminology varies) so that you can have domain1, domain2 and domain3 all pointing to the same content
Some hosts will also allow you to host more than one website on a hosting plan.

If you aren't sure what all the terminology means contact a few hosts and ask them. Most of the Irish providers that frequent this board offer either locall or freephone numbers and if they can't respond to an email query you probably don't want to deal with them long-term

NeptunesMoon

Thanks for the tip Blacknight.

Godaddy.com is the only website I have found that offers the private and multiple address features at sign up (as in you click private/click your .com etc and then give your payment info and that's that). I've searched this forum quite a bit and have seen more thumbs up for godaddy. I still dont like going with somebody who has even one negative remark about them.

Is there anywhere that I can go and simply click private whois/.com/.net/.biz/.info/5gb hosting package and be done with it? A reputable company is all I'm looking for. If it's more expensive than godaddy, I don't mind as long as I have peace of mind.

I can't see these options on any Irish pages "product page" so to speak.

Cheers for the help

mneylon

NeptunesMoon wrote:

I still dont like going with somebody who has even one negative remark about them.

A company or service provider of any reasonable size will always have some negative comments about them.

It is impossible to please all your customers all of the time. Anybody who says otherwise either:

• Has only got a handful of clients
• Or is living on another planet

mneylon

NeptunesMoon wrote:

I can't see these options on any Irish pages "product page" so to speak.

You'll probably find that most of the Irish hosting companies can offer it but that you will have to pay extra for it and you can't signup with it as an option.

dahamsta

I agree. That Blacknight Solutions crowd are right dodgy.

As Blacknight says, most hosts will offer it, they just won't go out of their way to offer it because: a) it's not a major service; and b) it can be used abusively. If you /really/ need to order it on the web - I don't understand why, how hard is it to lash the details in an email - I suggest you search for something like "domain registration whois privacy".

adam

mneylon

Ken Shabby wrote:

I agree. That Blacknight Solutions crowd are right dodgy.

Thanks Adam

I owe you a pint the next time I see you

NeptunesMoon

Well I've been recommended 4 companies so far:

www.godaddy.com
www.register.com
www.enom.com
www.affordablehost.com

It's so hard to know who to go with. Am I looking into this too much? Will they all provide the same basic service?

I've been on to one or two Irish providers, letshost just say to leave the info blank, they don't use info from "domains through proxy" or whatever it's called I don't think.

So I'm not sure if it's the "proper" way to do it, infact, they said my email address would still need to be visible, which is one of the main things I don't want visible because of SPAM etc. I'm willing to pay the extra price for it done the right way.

I don't like to google for things like this as they will all try and sell me their service. I'd prefer a recommendation from users on sites like this:)

I understand why they don't advertise it but I have limited knowledge about this so I want it to be as simple as possible. Who would I email about it? An Irish host do you mean?

Cheers again:)