Hello,

Today, on behalf of a client that uses earthlink for web hosting, I called earthlink and requested them to point their nameservers to zoneedit.com so that I could control the DNS setups, without having to go through them each time. This was in anticipation of an upcoming mailserver change that was about to take place.

Two different earthlink people told me they could/would not do that... any DNS mods would *have* to go through them -- I would have to submit a 'request for change' order, blah, blah, blah...

The domain name in question does not expire until two more years. My client and I, both, will be just fine, but I've become a little spoiled using GoDaddy, Zoneedit, etc., plus, it gets under my skin a little.

Just curious, is it within their rights to do this just because the domain name was purchased through them? What rights do the registrant have in a case like this?

Hal Williams

You have to play by the registrar's rules - especially if the original registration was part of a hosting package. Many registrars want/force you to use their DNS because they don't want to have to deal with problems arising from misconfigured domains.

My solution was to change to a registrar that did allow me to use ZoneEdit (AITDomains). I had to buy another year but I got my remaining time with the previous registrar credited to my new registration account.

You have the right to move your registration - as long as your account with the current registrar is paid up. You can't transfer during the grace period after a registration has expired but before the name is made available for reregistration by anyone, or if you have yet to pay for the current registration period.

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/ Peter

Most registrars also make you have to do the transfer 60 days before the domain expires.

Adam