Pre-Assignment 1 - Task 2C-4 - Question 2

I have found that prices and can vary according to what domain you choose (.co.za / .com / .org.za etc etc).

I've also found a website that offers some interesting packeges, for eg: - (www.hostworx.co.za)

for R 23.94 p/m you can get 2 Domains, 5 x Mailboxs, 25 x Aliases, 125mb traffic and 65mb disk space, which is not alot, but for R 226.80 p/m you can get 5 Domains, 50 Mailboxes, 250 aliases, 1250mb traffic, 1000mb disk space and 5 databases, which seams like the better one to choose.

You can also register a domain at Mweb, but the cost depends on what domain you choose,and prices are quite reasonable - .co.za @ R 137.00p/a, or a .org.za @ R 250.00 p/a, for international domains like .com, .org or .bizz you can pay R 342.00 p/a.

Also at Google you can design and choose your own domain for free! (sites.google.com)

Domain Registration Services:
www.afrihost.co.za
www.imaginet.co.za

Cost Analysis:

Afrihost lowest price (R 65 pm):
- 300mb Web Space
- 2 Email Addresses
- 100mb Local Traffic
- Unlimited Aliases
- R300 domain name
- Cpanel

Afrihost highest price (R 399 pm):
- 3000mb Web Space
- 2000 Email Addresses
- 6000mb Local Traffic
- Unlimited Aliases
- FREE domain name
- Fantastico Scripts
- Control with Cpanel

Imaginet lowest price (R 19 pm & once off setup fee of R 29):
- 25 MB Web Space
- 10 Email Addresses
- 400 MB Traffic
- R 171-R456 domain name
- PHP
- PERL/CGI

Imaginet Highest price (R 450 pm & once off setup fee of R 169):
- 4000 MB Web Space
- 200 Email Addresses
- 5000 MB Traffic
- Free domain name
- PHP
- MySQL DB(10 databases)
- PERL/CGI
- SSL
- MS SQL
- MS Access
- ASP/ASP.net
- COM Objects

ISP:
On both domain registration services the higher the monthly fee the better the chance of getting a free domain. With Imaginet for example there is a start up fee where as at Afrihost it is probably included in the monthly price.

Registration Fee:
The registration fees goes to the domain name registrar that should ideally be approved by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

Summary:
After reviewing a few posts it is clear that most students have similar findings. As above poster mentioned the domain registrations costs vary depending on the domain you choose (i.e. co.za/.com etc). Free domains are available if you are willing to pay a higher monthly rate. After visiting sites.google.com it seems you able to create a private web domain for free but it is very limited. I have also noticed that different hosts provide different services depending on the price.

Domain Registration Services:
a) Sahost
b) imaginet

Cost Analysis of domain registration Services:
a)
www.sahost.co.za

Domain Registration Pricing

.co.za R250.00 One Year R50.00 / Year
.org.za R250.00 One Year R50.00 / Year

b)
http://www.imaginet.co.za/hosting/?gclid=COGYgrrn9p8CFcJd4wodpToNYA#domains_products

.biz R171.00 R171.00
.com R171.00 R171.00
.mobi R249.00 R249.00
.org R171.00 R171.00
.tv R456.00 R456.00
.co.za R171.00 R85.50
.info R171.00 R171.00
.net R171.00 R171.00
Registration fees:
So far as I can make out from the website the money goes directly to the company.

Free domain name registration:
I have searched through the web and I can’t find any place were you can register a domain free without any hidden agendas. Most places you must take a hosting contract or pay upkeep fees to register your domain for free.

Summary
I have reviewed a few posts. I found similarities to the findings. I am still uncertain to whom the money of domain registration goes to. Prices differ from host to host.

TWO DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION SERVICES:
A.)Synergy Hosting FROM @ R39.00 p/m TO R179.00 p/m
B.)AFRIHOST.COM FROM R65.00p/m TO R399.00p/m

WHAT IS THE COST TO REGISTER A DOMAIN NAME?
Domain name registration costs depend on the costs levied by the central domain authority PLUS the costs of an ISP to support and provide infrastructure for the domain name.Domain names are registered with central domain name authorities. For instance, a .co.za domain name is registered with Uniforum, The central domain name authorities charge a fixed and constant price for domain name registration. This means that there is a flat fee payable for .co.za domain registrations. domain registration prices can vary greatly.Depending on the costs levied by the central domain authority, and the costs incurred by the ISP to make the domain "alive", your ISP will charge you a fee for initial registration and for annual renewal.

REGISTRATION FEE GO TO?
Part of the cost goes to the domain name service provider and ISPs provide additional services for your domain name and will add an additional charge on top of the basic domain registration cost.

DO ANY ISPs PROVIDE A FREE DOMAIN REGISTRATION SERVICE?
I could not find any reputable service provider that provide a totally free service, reading the fine print there is always some sort of cost involved.

DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION

www.imaginet.co.za ; www.africaregistry.com
Registration fees to register a domain name are a yearly payment or monthly, to register a co.za domain name, you’ll pay something like R180.00 for the year, and a renewal cost of approximately the same amount for the following year and so on.
Cost factors depends on the domain name , the country, and with whom you registering amongst other reasons.
The fees go to the company you are registering with, and a percentage would go to the main companies involved who supply domain names to the smaller clients.

Most ISP’s claim to provide a free domain name registration service but instead it is the property of the service provider.

3. www.webafrica.co.za and www.247hosting.co.za
On the first site:
za.net 57
co.za 99
biz 149
name 149
com 149
net 149
org 149
us 149
info 149
co.uk (2 years minimum) 249
mobi new! 249
org.za (R49 renewal) 259
bz 376
tv 399
za.com 1,000
On the second site the:
.co.za R 79 .com R 145 .net R 145
.za.net R 50 .biz R 145 .info R145
.org.za R 250 .co.za R 0 (Transfer ) Special ! .com R130 (Transfer) Special
The registration fee goes to web host or the internet service provider (ISP). There might be a ISP that can provide a free domain registration because the internet is so big its difficult to find one these days.