BN3 v MyDomain

[freakysid]

I've registered a domain name for a family member for personal use. I just want to use it to create a few mailboxes and have them forward to different existing pop accounts - only 3 or 4 all up. I don't need SMTP, or any web forwarding.

I've been trialing BN3 and I'm happy with it. Particuarly that it only places a small "signature" at the bottom of recieved emails.

Now that MyDomains is accepting new accounts again I was wondering whether anyone has any advice about which service I should use, given my very simple requirements.

[Son Nguyen]

I've never tried to use email feature on MyDomain, but with other service(redirection), i think they're good, easy, simple and reliable (well, have heard some complaints though)
What you have to lose? Just try it! If not switch back to your current account at BN3

[Sparkie]

I use mydomain.com for the college sites I've designed, and each particular email for the department's site will forward to the department head. Its very easy to use and set up, only complaint I have is that customer service usually takes at least 2 days to respond. They DO have quite an extensive FAQ for you to leaf through, which will answer your most common questions. MyDomain is a great service overall, I recommend it.

[Owen]

Same here - mydomain.com is great - and no signitures at the bottom of forwarded emails.

Owen

[Nicky]

Let me get this straight! I have just had a look through this site and basically it allows you to register a domain name and then offers all these free services right?

It seems to good to be true and I must certainly try out. I couldn't find how much they are charging to register domains. They do say however, that you can register them elsewhere and then move them.

[jumpthru]

Yes mydomain.com is too good to be true. But it IS True! I love mydomain.com i have like 13 domains their right now.

[TWTCommish]

I've heard tons of good thing about MyDomain! Not much about BN3, except I've seen their Everyone.net-style plugin email, and it was less than impressive, to say the least.

[dkilburn]

I just set up an account at mydomain as a test. I have the domain registered with register.com (playful-puppy.com). I changed the nameservers and deleted the automatic url forwarding there. The nameserver change showed up in the whois almost immediately.

At mydomain, I added stealth forwarding for the domain. A couple of questions:

1. Is this actually changing registrars, or is mydomain just redirecting my name to a url?
2. How long does it take for the forwarding to become active? It's been 24 hrs so far, and the domain goes to the default register.com page.

It seems like a very good service. I like the ability to set up subdomain redirections. Since they don't include banners on the redirections, how do they make $$. I mean, what do they get out of it?

Thanks!

[WebKat]

First to Nicky ~ You do not HAVE to register your domain with MyDomain and might not want to anyway as other registrars may be cheaper ~ You can move your domain from any registrar that you currently have to MyDomain. I have my domains registered at 000Domains...so I pay MyDomain...ZIP, NADA

[/i]And for dkilburn[/i] ~~ MyDomain uses frames to display your domain address in your visitors' browser windows. MyDomain's "FAQ about Stealth Redirection" on their website will help answer other questions that you might have...their FAQs are very extensive.

Second ~ MyDomain has always told me 24-48 hrs for changes, but often it was before that ~ they have grown considerably in the last year but now are under new management & servers. *48 hours should be your max and then contact them...it does usually take them 2 days to contact back, but often the changes that I requested have already occurred. But I have always received a reply back. I remember when I first used them, back when you had to use InterNIC to register your domain. I was new and messed up with my email, but they quickly fixed it with the registrar.

Initially it was the domain registration on their site that kept MyDomain online relying on their revenue. But the recent lower registars must have had a negative impact, especially as they increased the amount of domains that they host on their servers. They are partners now with NamesDirect.com (it's sub-sites offer similar services & hosting in addition to domain registration) which is (has to be) their revenue generator. But if users register their domains at other sites, you are right to wonder how MyDomain can offer such features free. It will depend on incoming $$. Like any DotCom company we need to remain flexible to change!

But they acted recently by merging with a larger company, "Global Internet Investments becomes the third largest database of hosted domain names in the world" ~ Their President recently sent all the members a newsletter introducing himself and the goals ahead for MyDomain...I see all of this as a positive move on their part!

Personally I love MyDomain & all their features...

[dkilburn]

I was impressed that you could include meta tags in their redirection frame. Register.com didn't have anything like that!

I'll wait another day or so before I contact them about the domain redirecting to the website. I can see using this service for a bunch of the domains I bought at the $1 sale last month :-)

[jumpthru]

Originally posted by dkilburn
I just set up an account at mydomain as a test. I have the domain registered with register.com (playful-puppy.com). I changed the nameservers and deleted the automatic url forwarding there. The nameserver change showed up in the whois almost immediately.

At mydomain, I added stealth forwarding for the domain. A couple of questions:

1. Is this actually changing registrars, or is mydomain just redirecting my name to a url?
2. How long does it take for the forwarding to become active? It's been 24 hrs so far, and the domain goes to the default register.com page.

It seems like a very good service. I like the ability to set up subdomain redirections. Since they don't include banners on the redirections, how do they make $$. I mean, what do they get out of it?

Thanks!

1. No, mydomain is just redirecting your name to a url.
2. If your domain is still going to register.com's welcome page, that means that the dns servers haven't updated. You say that it shows up in a whois search, but I just did one, and it still said register.com as the nameservers. You might be thinking that it shows up in your mydomain.com control panal, but that doesn't mean the dns servers have switched yet. Give it a week to two weeks for the dns servers to change. After that happens changes at mydomain.com should come in affect within ten minutes at the most (thats in my expeirice, but that is also what they used to say it would take. it has never taken longer then that for me).

[dkilburn]

Originally posted by jumpthru
You say that it shows up in a whois search, but I just did one, and it still said register.com as the nameservers. [/B]

I might be looking at the wrong thing (I'm new to this domain stuff), but a whois I just did with register.com and NS showed this in the Domain Servers section:

NS1.MYDOMAIN.COM 208.184.130.51
NS2.MYDOMAIN.COM 208.184.130.52
NS3.MYDOMAIN.COM 208.184.130.53
NS4.MYDOMAIN.COM 208.184.130.55

...moot point...I just tried the domain and it redirected! Now I guess I better do something with the page!

Thanks for the input :-)

[jumpthru]

Yea, the page is now working for me too (it wasn't coming up earlier). But when I do a whois at whois.net it still says register.com for the name servers. weird.

[dkilburn]

Originally posted by jumpthru
Yea, the page is now working for me too (it wasn't coming up earlier). But when I do a whois at whois.net it still says register.com for the name servers. weird.

The http://www.playful-puppy.com redirection is working, but the main domain playful-puppy.com isn't. Same exact settings on both. I wonder what's up?

[Edited by dkilburn on 11-16-2000 at 04:46 PM]