[ OT ] recommendations for a domain_name registrar

[spellberg_robert]

howdy folks ---

it has been a --very-- long time since i posted to any list ;
   i trust that everyone is well .
i think that this means that , with a few years of experience ,
   i am getting to be reasonably good at solving my own problems myself
   [ my first fbsd was in the high twos ;
     it was in the back of the walnut_creek book that greg lehey wrote
   ] .

normally , i would not send an off_topic post ;
   however , i know that many readers of this list are , in some way ,
   in the "isp" game .
my guess is that more_than_a_few , of said readers ,
   are in a position to answer this question .
i believe that this question will have sufficiently broad appeal .

permit me to digress , briefly , for the purpose of defining context .
this being rural america ,
   for about 18 years , all that i could get , at --this-- site ,
   was dial_up , at about 25 kb/s .
try as i might , every isp would tell me that
   i was "outside of their service_area" ,
   except for those offering dial_up
   [ yes , yes , i know about satellite ; it disappears in bad weather ,
     when i want to look at the radar_loop for tornadoes
   ] .

just recently , i learned of an isp that --can-- "get here from there"
   [ a unit of the fine folks at rise broadband ;
     now that i know about them ,
     i observe that they do not advertise very much ,
     which may explain the recentness of
     my discovery of their existence
   ] .
for four weeks , now , i have been "living large" ,
   at , typically , 500 kb/s to 2000 kb/s .
--finally-- , this means that
   i can take public that portion of my lan that , for a long time ,
   i have been intending to be public
   [ e . g . , fire_wall , dns , mail , et_c .
   ] .

this brings me to my point .
i already have some good names , through network_solutions ,
   in the dot_com , dot_net and dot_org spaces .
i would not mind their high prices so much ,
   if they just did not play such games with the customer
   [ ever notice that you have to decline "auto_renew" about six times ?
     some_times , they are sneaky about it , in the fine_print ;
     then , there is that "transfer_lock" , for my "protection"
   ] .
let us face it ; because of the games , i --do-- mind the high prices .

all that i need is a registrar , with
   a reasonable price for a ten_year lease on each name ,
   easy transfer [ actually , i expect ns to be the problem , here ] and
   no grief .
for anything else , i am either doing it myself or i can find a vendor
   [ e . g . , i found rise_bb for a connection and one ip_address ;
     i have not conclusively established if they can supply a /29 ;
     they really do target the "low_information" crowd
   ] .
because all that i want is the name ,
   the registration service , it_self , should be in_expensive .

i should point_out that , a_while back ,
   some_one had told me about "namebargain.com" and that
   they had been happy with them .
i went looking at them today and i discovered that they are part of
   the same group that has network_solutions [ "web_dot_com" ] ;
   this put me off of them , real fast
   [ if my apprehension is mis_placed , please advise
   ] .

also , i should point_out that
   i can do an online search for the big players
   as well as the next person ;
   every one of those players will claim that they are
   the next_best_thing to cellophane_wrapped bakery_sliced bread .
they all will have photoes of smiling actors
   who portray their happy customers [ some , i am sure ] and
   their knowledgable support personnel [ some , i am sure ] .

q :	has any_one had a sufficiently good registrar experience ,
	  that not only leaves you willing to re_up with them ,
	  but causes you to speak positively about them ?

thanx in advance .
there is no need to cc , as i have already subscribed to -questions ,
   in anticipation of some other , more on_topic , submissions .

rob spellberg
mchenry county , illinois