Task 2c-4 Question 2

2 Domain Name Registration Services on the Internet : www.ImagiNet.co.za & www.Host4Africa.com

Cost to Register a Domain Name:
Depends on where you're registering as prices differ from business to business.
ImagiNet Prices: With the 1st price the initial registration and the 2nd price the annual renewal.
.co.za
South African
Commercial companies R 150.00 R 75.00
.com
International
Commercial companies R 150.00 R 150.00
.net
International
Internet companies R 150.00 R 150.00
.org
International
Non-profit organisations R 150.00 R 150.00
.biz
International
Commercial business R 150.00 R 150.00
.info
International
Informational websites R 150.00 R 150.00

To Whom Does the Registration Fee Go?
I would imagine it does to the person that provides the domain name.

Do any ISPs provide a free domain name registration service?
Most ISPs charge a monthly or yearly fee for that service.

I discovered many domain name registration services. The cost varied in pricing for registration and hosting.
SA Domain
Hosting R92/m with additional extras right up to R900 for "Server farming".
Host 4 Africa offered R9.99pm for a basic hosting offer to "Extreme Hosting" for R199.99pm.
Freepla.com is an ISP offering free hosting with extras like e-mail for 13.99 Pounds pm with a dial-up contract.

I found the following domain name registration services where the prices vary from:

1. cozahost.com - R249 for the initial registration and an annual renewal fee of R175 after the first year

to

2. www.za.net - which offers free registrations for za.net domains and za.org domains.

The registration fees usually goes to the company that did the registration.

Certain ISP's will register a domain for free if you take an additional service, such as a leased/dedicated line, from them.

I found the follwoing sites for domain name registration,

http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp?location=www%2Egoogle%2Eco%2Eza%2Fsearch
Prices range from: R60-00 to R12 000-00.
http://www.cozahost.com/domain_name/prices.asp
Registration: R249-00, yearly fee: R175-00.
www.sadomain.co.za
Registration: R200-00, yearly fee: R92-00.


The registration fee is made up of the fee to the registrar and the fee charged by the service provider.



There is no such thing as a free lunch and also not a free domain name. With the websites below you get the name "for free" but must advertise someone else’s products on your domain.

http://www.free-webhosts.com/free-domain-names.php
http://www.dot.tk/en/pageB00.html

Most ISPs do provide a free service to register a domain name.

The webmaster needs to use his own domain name to shorten the URL. The two domain name reg. services are: www.dotster.com & www.sadomain.co.za. The costs for Domain registration differs, they depend on the extention one uses and the host packages. Some charge initial registration fee of about R249.00 and then annual renewal fees of about R175.00 (www.sadomain.co.za). I guess registration fees will go to the registrar/ National registries and the service or renewal fees to the ISP's. Some ISP's provide free 30 day trial periods. Guess it will be cheaper if domain registrations are done with the registrars and not with the ISP's.

I use a hosting company called websurf for all our websites. Their prices for domain registration and hosting are as follows:

.co.za
R75 regsitration and R75 annual renewal

.com
.net
.org
R99 registration and R99 annaul renewal

.info
.biz
R150 + R150 (Please note that it is compulsory to register .info and .biz domains for a minimum of 2 years) and R150
after the second year.

.org.za
Free to non-profitable organisations(Proof required) R200 otherwise

.za.net
Free

Their hosting packages start at R59/pm for a starter package up to R899/pm for a corporate package. Note that all accounts have a R99 setup fee(once-off) and prices exclude VAT.

Another company I know of is Snowball effect. Visit http://www.snowball.co.za/hosting/domain/ for their pricing.

With regards to the fee for registration and who gets it: Domain name registration in SA is controlled by an organization called Uniforum - the South African domain authority. Registry for all internet Domain names ending in .co.za and provides a public service for the .co.za namespace on behalf of the Internet community. By registering a .co.za domain name, you enter into a contract of registration with Uniforum SA on the following terms and conditions http://co.za/annexure.html.

Free domain name registration is also available but it does come with some fine print ie:

Free Domain Registrations and Annual Renewals

"Webonline offers free domain registration and annual renewal for the following TLD's ".com, .org, .net, .biz, .info, .co.za, za.net, za.org, .co.uk and org.uk" on most of our hosting options.

You may ask what the catch is? Well, here it is - You are required to host your website with webonline for one year after free registration or free renewal of your domain name."

Q3: Domain name registration :
Site1 : http://www.sadomain.co.za/services/300-syndicate.asp?gclid=CL_ygILfoY0CFR1KXgod5WCj0g
Cost : R100 to register and R100 for yearly renewal

Site2 : http://www.intus.co.za/
Costs : R185 to register and R85 for yearly renewal

Site3 : http://www.adept.co.za/
Costs : R115 to register and R115 for yearly renewal

Site4 : http://www.cozahost.com
Costs : R249 to register and R175 for yearly renewal

A fixed and constant price for domain name registrationis charged the central domain name authorities. This means that there is a flat fee payable for .co.za domain registrations. The ISP will charge extra for providing additional services for your domain name. Depending on the level of the additional services, the profit margin of the ISP and their pricing strategy, domain registration prices can vary greatly.
No ISP will provide free domain registration, since a domain name is worth a thousand times more than it's registration costs once it is being used