You can now register a .com/.net domain today.
Once the domain is registered
All .com/.net domain names registered with us are stored on our international server. Domains registered with us are automatically provided with their own under-construction page - this notifies potential registrants that the name has been acquired and is now registered. The under-construction page is offered free of charge and may be used indefinitely.
It is possible for Web and/or Mail forwarding to be provided for .com/.net domains.
Domain transfer/release fees are charged are by a majority of registrars, but BB Online make no charge to transfer a domain to another .com/.net domain name registrar.
Background
gTLD's - global Top Level Domains There are over 72 Million .com domain names currently registered, over 10 Million .net domain names and just over 6 million .org domain names. You can search for available domain names through our website, once you have found an available domain name you like, you can register and configure it online and can then personalise your emails and have a good name for your website.
There are two types of domain names, gTLDS, generic Top Level Domains, and ccTLDS - country code Top Level Domains. gTLDs include .com, .net, .org and .gov amongst others, and represent a specific area of interest. The other type of domain names, ccTLD's, include .uk (as in .co.uk), .fr, .us and these represent specific countries and their recognised country code.
gTLDs represent a specific area of interest, .biz was created purely as a domain name to represent business pursuits, individual businesses and anything else relating to business. This has become a guideline rather than a regulation and a .biz domain names' reference to business pursuits isn't enforced. Many people register a domain name under .biz because it is available and more suitable extensions have been taken.
Anyone, anywhere can register a .biz domain name if it is available, you could register your pet cockatiels' name as a .biz domain name and the domain won't be suspended even though the domain name and an associated website doesn't in anyway relate to business.
Originally, .com represented commerce and it could be argued there is no place for .biz as .com fulfilled its purpose, but .com names have come to be the most popular type of domain name and .coms have come to be used for anything, whereas .biz is intended to represent purely business.
At the other end of the scale, .name was created for purely personal use, hence the name ".name". Like .biz, a .name domain names relationship to your personal name isn't enforced. You could register your business name as a .name domain name and point it at your companies website and the name won't be suspended.
The currently available generic Top Level Domains are listed below, along with links to the registries which manage the domains and if any restrictions are applicable:
Some of these domain names have restrictions. For example, you need to prove you are part of the aviation industry to qualify for a .aero domain name, whereas anyone can register a .org. Likewise, .cat domain names are reserved for websites which offer support or reference for the catalan language and culture, but anyone can register a .com and the associated websites content just has to be legally acceptable. For more information on a particular domain name type, click on the links to the appropriate registry in the table above.
At the time of writing, one of the latest gTLDs to be launched has been .mobi. This was created with the intention of having a domain name specifically intended to be used by mobile devices like mobile/cell phones and PDAs when they access the internet. There are regulations governing the websites which appear under a .mobi domain name. You can not just point a .mobi at an existing website (unless it is compliant already), and if your .mobi domain name points to a non-compliant website, it will be suspended. For more information on this, visit the registry website at: http://www.mtld.mobi
The reason for enforced regulations governing .mobi websites is so when people visit a .mobi domain name with their mobile phone or similar device, the visitor will know it will display correctly on his mobile device, thus helping to fulfill the gTLDs purpose of making the internet accessible to mobile devices, it is estimated that this year internet access from mobile devices will far exceed internet access from computers and the difference will get larger as time goes on.
There are other gTLDs being discussed. .tel has been approved and will soon be launched. The purpose of .tel is to act as a directory system, quite distinct from .mobi and not to be confused, the two systems are very very different.
When you visit domain-name.tel, a directory listing of contact details is brought up, including address and telephone details. For example, you have just met an estate agent called Keiron, and he has given you keiron-london.tel as contact. You enter keiron-london.tel into your .tel compatible phone and you can find his current telephone number, so you just need to remember his domain name instead of a number like +44 1234 567890. If he changes his phone number, he just needs to update his domain name configuration and so people only need to know his domain name, not his actual telephone number. This is a very crude overview of .tel, for more information visit the registry Telnic website at http://www.nic.tel.
Another gTLD which has gone through much discussion is .xxx, sponsored by ICM Registry of Florida, USA. This is intended to represent adult-content sites and it has yet to be launched. By having a specific gTLD for adult content, you know what to expect when you visit domainname.xxx.
gTLDs are recognised the world over. People in the USA will be familiar with .com and .us domain names and email addresses. Similarly, people in France will be familiar with .com and .fr, in the United Kingdom people are used to .co.uk and .com. The gTLD .com is the common factor here and is recognised the world over, ccTLDs work all over the world as well, but their popularity is strongest in the countries they represent. This is why people generally recommend you register the .com and the .co.uk domain names.
Some gTLDs have restrictions. .gov gTLDs are reserved for the US government, .mil for the US military, .int for international organisations and so on. The actual restrictions and requirements can be found at the relevant registries website.
The commonly available gTLDs like .com, .org and .net are pretty much unrestricted for most practical purposes, and if the name hasn't been registered you can register it through any number of competing domain name registrars and then the domain is reserved for your use as long as you maintain the subscription. These gTLDs can be registered for a maximum of 10 years, a minimum of 1 year and by yearly increments between the two figures.
Once registered, you can build a website for the domain name, or redirect it to an existing website. You can setup email addresses at @your-domain-name.dot and use 'email forwarding' to direct the emails onto your email address, or take out a dedicated email hosting package.
The main advantage of having your own domain name is it is a lot easier to remember than a URL like http://www2.my-isp.co.uk/homeusers/~yourusername. You could register your name .com or .name and your website can be called http://www.forename-surname.name instead. It is the same with email, it is easier to remember damon@bb-online.com rather than damon1823@my-isp.co.uk.
The other great (and often overlooked) advantage to having your own domain name is if you move location or country, you will change the company who supplies your internet connection and so your email address at that ISP will change. If this happens, you just reconfigure where your domain name points to and everyone who has your address just continues to use the domain name based website or email address and they are none the wiser. Otherwise you need to tell everyone who emails you or visits your website what your new email address is, and what your new website address is.
With the growth of digital cameras, you can have a website which houses your photographs, and everytime you have new photos you want to distribute, you just update your website and people can visit your new photos in a web browser. This is a lot easier than sending 20 photos by email, which may fill up your friends mailbox or the email may be rejected for being too large by their ISP.
New gTLDs can be created by ICANN, the organisation which assigns ccTLDs to countries and manages the root DNS servers which the internet depends on. Launching a new TLD takes a great amount of work, money and resources, if an argument for their existence can be proved. The cost of creating a new top level domain starts at £50,000, and it is an extremely difficult process, the creation of .xxx has been going on for some time, even though the arguments for its existence are logical and clear. For more information on this, visit the ICANN website at http://www.icann.org.
Domain Transfers
There are two types of domain name registrars, accredited registrars who can create new domain names and 'resellers' who use an accredited registrar to create new domain names on their behalf. BB Online UK Limited is an ICANN accredited registrar, which means we can create new .com and .net domain names. There are several companies we have built a long term relationship with us who choose to use us to register .com names on their behalf.
As well as being ICANN accredited, BB Online UK Limited is also accredited as registrars for many countries, including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Luxembourg, Lithuania and many more. This means we can interface with those countries registries and create new domain names under those ccTLDs.
Domain names can be transferred between registrars if the owner or admin contact wishes to do this. There are many reasons why people transfer domain names, one registrar may support a particular hosting application another doesn't, to consolidate domains under one roof, financial incentives. The transfer needs to be approved or requested by the listed domain name owner or admin contact and the transfer process for a gTLD like a .com differs widely to the transfer process for a ccTLD like a .co.uk.
When a .com domain is transferred between registrars or is initially registered, you need to wait sixty days before you can transfer the domain name to another registrar. This rule is set by the registry and affects all accredited registrars, there is no way to circumvent this. This doesn't stop the domain name from working, as you can change the name servers the name uses and thus give control over the email and website to another hosting company. This sixty day rule affects the following domain names:
- .com
- .net
- .info
- .name
- .biz
- .org
These types of domain names also use "Authorisation Codes" to add a level of security to transfers. These codes, commonly called just "Auth Codes", but also called "EPP Transfer Keys" or "Domain Secrets", can contain letters and numbers, and are set by the registrar who currently hosts the domain name. When you want to transfer your domain name from one registrar to another, the current registrar "Unlocks" the name for transfer, then the registrar issues you with an Auth Code, you pass this Auth Code onto the registrar the domain name is being transferred to and the transfer process can begin.
The registrar you are transferring to will send an email to the admin contact for a domain name, as specified in the WHOIS record for that name. Once the admin contact has dealt with this email, the transfer process begins and will take five full days to complete. During the transfer, you can't change the name servers for a domain name or change the listed owner / admin / billing / technical contacts for a domain name. Any required changes will need to be done after the transfer has completed.
There is also a market for expired domain names. When you register or renew a domain name, you can choose how many years the domain is registered for. This can be between 1 and 10 for a gTLD like a .com or a .net. You can renew the domain name after it has been registered, but the maximum time a gTLD can be registered for is 10 years. If you are renewing a domain name, you need to wait until AFTER it has expired before you can renew it for 10 years.
When the domain names subscription expires, the domain name isn't immediately deleted. The domain name will go through a deletion cycle and approximately 2 - 3 months after expiry, the domain is released onto the open market again. If someone wanted the domain name although you had registered it first, they may want to register the domain name as soon as it is released. There are companies out there who specialise in getting expired domain names for you. If you register an interest in a domain name with on of these companies, they will monitor the status of the name and register the name electronically the very second it is released. If several people want the same name, the domain will goto auction. For gTLD's like .com or .net, we recommend SnapNames for expired domain names, and their website is at http://ww.snapnames.com. For .at,.dk,.es,.nz,.se and .uk names, try http://www.domainrecover.co.uk
International domain names from BB Online since 1997
Guernsey (.org.gg) Prices:
Taiwanese (.net.tw) Prices:
Azerbaijani (.biz.az) Prices:
Ethiopian (.gov.et) Prices:
Centralnic Argentinian (.ar.com) Prices:
Lithuanian (.lt) Prices:
Saint Lucian (.lc) Prices:
Haitian (.asso.ht) Prices:
.com/.net Prices
Belarus (.by) Prices:
Moroccan (.ma) Prices:
Ghana (.org.gh) Prices:
Fijian (.biz.fj) Prices:
Irish (.ie) Prices:
Lebonese (.com.lb) Prices: