Frequently asked
domain name support questions:
What is a domain name?
Who owns the domain name?
Why should people register domain names?
What are the most popular domain names?
What is the difference between different domain name
extensions?
What is the maximum length of a domain name?
Domain name format rules?
Can I have more then one domain name pointing to the
same website?
Once I have a domain name secured, how long may I use it?
What if my desired name is the same as a trademarked name?
What are
Domain Name Servers?
What is DKIM?
What do you mean by transferring a domain name?
What is required to do a transfer? What are the restrictions?
How do I know my domain
name meets the requirements?
Can I change/cancel my domain name and registration period?
Why is my domain name still showing up as available?
Who will bill me after the initial registration period?
Are there any charges to transfer my domain name
away from Alpha1TecLabs?
Who are listed as the contacts?
I have my own domain
names, can I transfer them to
Alpha1TecLabs?
How do I transfer domain
names to Alpha1TecLabs?
What are your domain name server details?
Are there any transfer fees? What is my cost?
What are the steps in transfer process?
When I transfer a domain
name should I also change the contact
details?
What do I need to support dynamic DNS?
What is a private domain name registration?
What is a domain name expiry
recovery fee?
What are multi-year domain name registrations?
What is IDN?
What is whois?
How long does it take for my
whois information to be updated?
What are the Domain Name Whois Registrar Status
Definitions?
Who are ICANN?
ICANN Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy?
ICANN Registrar Transfer Policy?
Who are Nominet?
Why have I received a welcome email from Nominet?
Nominet force change of registrar TAG transfer UK
domain names co.uk, me.uk, uk, etc
How do I transfer a .co.uk domain name from host
1and1?
What will happen if my registrar doesn't
positively renew my .uk domain name?
Official Complaints Procedure?
Domain Renewals Policy?
What is Data Quality Process?
|
What is a domain name? |
It's a unique name that identifies an Internet web site, so people can find
and visit; its the same as your telephone number, without a number no one
would be able to call you. Another advantage is if you ever change internet
service providers (ISPs) in the future you won't need to change your email address each
time. Domain Names always have 2
or more parts, separated by dots, like "yourname.com", "house.net", "tree.org".
|
Who owns the domain name?
|
You or your client (if you are registering it on someone else's behalf). You
specify at the time of ordering who you want to be listed as the registrant. At
no time do we own the domain name. It is very important if you are the actual
owner that your name or company name is always listed in whois as the
registrant. We have sadly experienced customers held to ransom with
providers and web designers whose customers have fallen out with. Our policy is always to
register the actual owner rather than any third party unless instructed to
do so by the owner.
|
Why should people register domain names? |
Just like a company logo, a brand name, your domain name too represents your
business identity. Its like a personalised car number plate it is unique, it
helps you stand out from the crowd. Having your own domain name can be for
life, it is easily portable, and it is not affected if you change ISP
providers. Domain names are designed for people, IP addresses are
designed for computers. If you want people to find your web site easily, you
will need a domain name. We recommend you choose a domain name that represents
your business and the products and services you offer. The easier your
domain name is to pronounce, the easier it will be to remember.
|
What are the most popular
domain names? |
The most popular cherished sought after domain names end in .com, while .co.uk
is also very popular.
A .UK domain name says you do business in the UK and 4 out of 5 internet
users prefer .UK results when searching on-line, a great indication of
trust in the domain – it really has never been a better time to get your
business on-line and .UK is great place for it to be.
We recommend you purchase
both types of domain endings to promote and secure your business website identity.
When choosing a domain name it is best to choose a memorable name. You
could also register additional domain combinations such as an abbreviation
of your company name as well as your full company name including with and
without hyphens to secure your company name, website branding, thus protecting against
future confusing similar competitor registrations
and domain squatters.
Some
companies even register misspelt domain names of their domain name.
Domain names that are misspelt or spelt similar are then redirected to the main
domain name web site. Other companies register all available extensions:
.com, .co.uk, .net, .info, .biz, .org, etc. If your domain name is
unavailable try using dashes , i.e. www.your-own-domain.com (they can also
show up higher in search engines).
|
What
is the difference between domain name extensions? |
The domain suffixes basically differentiate between the various types of
organizations on the Internet.
Generally, the following rules apply:
Top-Level Domains (TLD) .com -- businesses and commercial enterprises worldwide, can also, be
used for personal sites. .net -- network-related organizations and enterprises worldwide.
.org -- charitable or non-profit organizations worldwide.
.info -- is for anybody that wants to share information on the Net.
.biz -- Restricted to business and commerce worldwide
only.
.mobi -- It is a top level domain dedicated to delivering
the internet to the mobile phone. Applicants must agree to follow the
'Switch On!' style guides provided by the registry. The guides contain a
set of mandatory and recommended best practices for developing mobile
content and services, and compliance with these guides will be
periodically checked by the registry.
http://mtld.mobi/
You can test your .mobi website at
http://ready.mobi/
.name -- is for personal sites (composed of a first and last
name). .tel -- is a domain service that holds all contact details, for
more info visit
http://www.telnic.org/.
Country Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLD)
.uk -- is the new shorter, sharper domain now available for
registration in the UK.
.co.uk -- is for the registration of names relating to commercial
enterprises in the UK. .me.uk -- The me.uk Second Level Domain is intended for personal use.
Domain Name registrations made under .uk are expected to be made for natural
persons, such as Mr John Doe registering johndoe.me.uk .org.uk -- It is for organisations which do not 'fit' into any of the
other Second Level Domains of the .uk Top Level Domain. These may include:
charities, trades unions, political parties, community groups, educational
councils, professional institutions, etc.
.ltd.uk and .plc.uk -- Restricted, to Private Limited Companies
and Public Limited Companies only. In order to register the registrant
must be (for .ltd.uk) a 'Limited Company' incorporated under the Companies
Act 1985, or (for .plc.uk) a 'Public Limited Company' incorporated under
the Companies Act 1985; and
The domain name registered by the applicant must be related to their
company name in accordance with the algorithm set out in the rules.
Most companies that are entitled to use the word 'Limited', 'Public
Limited Company', 'Ltd.' or 'Plc.' in their name are created in this way.
Applications are checked by hand, so will take longer than .co.uk or .me.uk
applications.
.be -- Country
domain for Belgium, useful for relevant local market information about
your products and services.
.co -- Country domain originally reserved for Colombia, now used
as an abbreviation for company, corporation, commerce, and
collaboration, .CO domain names are memorable and short.
.eu -- Anyone based in the European Union can register a .eu
domain as long as it is available.
.me -- is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for
Montenegro
http://www.domain.me/.
The domain name suffix type itself has no
bearing on accessibility on the Internet from a technical standpoint, but
over time the .com domain type has become the most popular, sought after and recognizable on the Internet
today.
|
What is the maximum length of a domain name? |
A valid domain name can have min. 3 max. 63 characters (excluding the
extension) but try to create the shortest domain name that is most recognizable
to your audience.
|
Domain
Name Format Rules? |
You can use any combination of 26 letters in English alphabet,
numbers from 0 to 9 and one "-" (hyphen) character. You can cannot
start or end a domain name with a hyphen, domains are not case sensitive.
Special characters, like the underscore "_", the exclamation mark "!" or
the "@" sign, are not permitted as part of your domain name. No profanity or use of any name
protected by trademark. One and two
letter domain names are not allowed.
The only characters (barring letters and numbers) that can be used in Domain
Names are hyphens. Domain names cannot contain spaces.
|
Can I have more then one domain name pointing to the same website? |
Yes, we support multiple domain names
pointing to the same website, this is often referred to as a domain alias
or domain redirect.
Domain alias is faster while domain redirect can be slower, but better for
search engines. For example domain aliasing is useful if you have two domain names ending
in .com and .co.uk, both would take a visitor to the exact same pages of
your the website; while another example could be to handle typo errors.
|
Once I have a domain name secured, how long may I use it? |
If there are no trademark disputes, your secured domain name will be yours for
as long as you maintain the yearly registration fees.
|
What if my desired name is the same as a trademarked name? |
Generally, if you've registered the name in good faith, it's not a name
belonging to an internationally known company, and you can show that you have a
legitimate reason to use that name then you are likely to be able to keep that
name. That may not be the case if it can be shown that you purchased the name
for the express purpose of re-selling it to a company with a legitimate claim to
the name.
|
What is whois? |
Whois is a tool to retrieve the registration information of a domain name,
including the registrant's name, contact information, and record creation date.
|
What are Domain Name Servers? |
A domain name server is a computer that holds records of domain names.
|
What do you mean by transferring a domain name? |
Transferring means changing the registrars. If you have domains that were
registered with other registrars such as Network Solutions, you do not have to
renew your domain with them. You can transfer the domain to us and renew at our
low rates. Transfer needs to be done before the domain name expires. Please see
the restrictions below.
Transferring a domain name does not mean transfer of ownership; you are still
the registered owner.
|
What is required to do a transfer? What are the restrictions? |
In order to transfer a domain
name successfully certain criteria's should be met: - A domain
name that was registered or renewed less than 60 days ago cannot be
transferred. You will just have to wait 60 days before proceeding with a transfer afterwards. - Domain
names that are on HOLD cannot be transferred. Registrars can place a domain
name on hold, such as domain names that are in dispute between two parties. Until the
ownership issue is solved and domain name is taken out of hold it cannot be
transferred. - If the existing registrar has the domain name locked for either non-payment or
at the user's request domain cannot be transferred. If you have purchased but
not paid for a domain name, existing registrar will not permit it to be
transferred. - Expired domain names cannot be transferred. Original registrar has the right to
refuse the transfer of an expired and unpaid domain. Just to be on the safe
side, we require that you should allow a minimum of 30 days prior to expiration
date to do the transfer.
- All .com, .net, .org,
.info, .biz, .name and .us domains require an authorization code. If you
do not know your Auth Code, you can obtain it from your Registrar. Please
have it ready before you initiate a Transfer of Registrar. - If you don't have access to existing Admin Contact e-mail of the domain
name,
transfer cannot be done. The Admin Contact's approval via e-mail is required. If
your domain names Admin Contact e-mail is not valid anymore, first you should update
it with your existing registrar, and then apply for transfer. Most of our
transfer failures occur due to this reason. You can use WHOIS to find out the
current admin contact email. Do not attempt to do a transfer if your domain does not meet the requirements.
That will result in a rejection and a charge of £10.00 processing fee (to cover
our cost). Same fee will apply if transfer gets cancelled by Admin Contact
either by rejecting or by not replying in 30 days.
Transfer Request acceptance from the
registry can take anywhere from one to 30 days. You do not pay any processing
fee for successful transfers. If a domain transfer is rejected for a different
reason, you will not be charged for any fees.
|
How do I know my domain
name meets the requirements? |
Do a WHOIS search for the domain in question. It will show you the date it
was registered (created), the date it will expire, whether it is on HOLD or not,
and the Admin Contact e-mail. (If the domain was renewed after its original
creation date, you should calculate the last renewal date based on the creation
date)
|
Are there any transfer fees? What is my cost? |
Unless you try to transfer a domain name that does not meet the above
requirements there are no additional costs. Only amount you will be charged is
the one year registration fee. This registration will add one year to the
existing expiration date of the domain no matter how early you do the transfer.
There are some companies that make you pay an additional charge to release
the domain for transfer.
|
What are the steps in transfer process? |
All .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .name and .us domains require an
authorization code. If you do not know your Auth Code, you can obtain it
from your Registrar. 1- You submit a transfer request from our transfer page. A confirmation e-mail
will be sent to the new Admin Contact e-mail. 2- An e-mail for each domain
will be sent to the current Admin Contact e-mail address. The Admin
Contact of the domain (either yourself or somebody else) will receive also
as usual an e-mail message containing a link to the Registrar webpage of
which is the start of transfer process which has to be approved. The new
issue is that in this webpage the Admin Contact must type in the AUTH-INFO
created or set thru the losing registrar website. 3- Then the request will be sent to "loosing" registrar for their approval. This
registrar has to approve or reject normally within 5 days. They usually don't
wait that long. Your domain will be renewed for one year and the new expiration
date will be one year from the last expiration date. The "loosing" registrar may
or may not send a confirmation e-mail, indicating whether they approved or
rejected the transfer (Network Solutions does send e-mails). If you don't
receive an e-mail, using WHOIS you can check the new expiration date of the
domain name.
|
Can I change/cancel my domain name and registration period? |
No. Once your registration is completed your domain name and registration
period is sent to the root servers. After that, the domain name itself and the
registration period cannot be changed. Domain name cannot be cancelled. If you
decide not to use it, you can leave it to expire at the end of the registration
period.
|
How long does it take for my
whois information to be updated?
And Why is my domain name still showing up as
available? |
Please allow up to 24 hours for root servers of InterNIC to reflect the updates
and up to 48 hours for the changes to propagate to entire internet. Domain
registry databases can take between 24-48 hours to be updated so even
though your domain has been registered it may still show up on WHOIS or
"domain checkers" as being available. Global domain names tend to take the
longest to show up as being registered due to a new shared registry
system.
|
Who will bill me after the initial registration period? |
As standard both International and Nominet domain names are
charged for the first two years (Although you can now register International
domains for up to 10 years). After this a renewal is due to the local NIC. If
you have moved the domain away from us in this time, you will be responsible for
keeping up the payment to the local NIC for the domain name. If you bought the
name through us, and if we still look after the domain name when it comes time
to renew, then you will be sent a reminder e-mail and will be able to renew the
domain on-line.
|
Are there any charges to
transfer my domain name away from
Alpha1TecLabs?
|
To
terminate your service and transfer your domain name to a new domain
name registrar, there is an administration fee of £10 per domain name to
process each transfer.
|
Who are listed as the contacts?
|
There are basically four contacts for a domain name. First is the registrant
owner,
this is either you or your client. Next is that Admin Contact, this will be
whomever you choose to list. The admin contact will be responsible for the
overall control if the domain is to be moved so ensure this is an e-mail address
that is not going to become obsolete. Next comes the Technical Contact, by
default we are listed as the Technical contact as it is us who are running the
name servers etc used by the domain name. Finally the Billing Contact, again as
it is us that pay the bill to International, it is us that are listed as the
billing contact.
|
I have my own domain
names, can I transfer them to
Alpha1TecLabs?
|
Yes, we have an extremely popular transfer-in facility. Every month, thousands
of people decide to entrust Alpha1TecLabs with their domain name to benefit from
the freedom of having total control over the domain name themselves.
|
How do I transfer domain
names to Alpha1TecLabs?
|
First of all you will need to
go to our Domain Cart or Order section and complete the order wizard for a "Transfer".
We will then verify the transfer details are correct and then notify you of
the transfer procedure.
|
What
are your
domain name server details? |
Domain name server IP details are listed below:
|
Primary DNS
Servers: |
ns1.alpha1teclabs.com
ns3.alpha1teclabs.com
ns5.alpha1teclabs.com
ns7.alpha1teclabs.com
ns9.alpha1teclabs.com |
IP
addresses: |
213.246.179.130
80.176.195.67
83.104.95.99
217.34.133.49
80.176.198.3
|
Secondary
DNS Servers: |
ns2.alpha1teclabs.com
ns4.alpha1teclabs.com
ns6.alpha1teclabs.com
ns8.alpha1teclabs.com
ns10.alpha1teclabs.com |
IP addresses: |
213.246.179.131
80.176.195.66
83.104.95.98
217.34.133.50
80.176.198.2
|
|
|
When I transfer a domain
name - should I also change the contact
details? |
With a
transfer this is up to you. However, it is better that we are listed as
the email technical contact for a domain name.
|
What is URL forwarding? |
URL Forwarding is directing the visitors of your internet address to a web site
at another address.
|
Why you should get URL forwarding services? |
If you have a web site that have a long or confusing URL you may want to buy a
more useful domain name and then forward it to your existing web site. This
saves you money since you will not have to pay for the web hosting.
|
How will you forward your URL? |
Please send your request details to
support.
|
What
do I need to support dynamic DNS? |
To setup dynamic DNS
you need to obtain a DNS client. Two supported clients are:
DirectUpdate -
http://www.directupdate.net
DynSite -
http://noeld.com/dynsite.asp
|
What is
a private domain name registration? |
Private domain name registration is where you can protect your privacy with a private
registration. With a standard registration, ICANN regulations require that
your private contact information (Name, Address, Email Address, and Phone
Number) be included in the publicly accessible whois database. This means that
anyone, anywhere has access to your personal data. With a TLD private
registration, the registrar's contact information is listed instead of your
personal information. A private registration:
. Protects your privacy
. Shields you from identity theft, stalkers, and fraud
. Saves you from domain-related spam
For country .uk domain names Nominet
provide provide a free registrant whois opt-out field. If the registrant is a
personal registration then the registrant can also choose not to have their
address details displayed on the whois. In this case the 'opt-out' field
should by marked as y. If the 'opt-out' field is marked as n then their
address details will be displayed on the whois. The default value is that the
registrant is not opted-out.
|
What
is a domain name expiry recovery fee? |
If you fail to renew your domain names on time the domain will expire. Once it has
expired the domain name can be deleted at any time. This means all expired domain
names
will be deleted at any time after their expiration date, subject to the
registrar's sole discretion and allocation of technical resources. Deleted
.COM and .NET domains will enter a 30 day Redemption grace period during which
it may be possible to reinstate the domain names for a charge which will vary
between different registrars.
This charge is also known as the domain name
expiry recovery fee. Remember, when you renew, the time is added to
the end of the expiry date, not the date you performed the renewal, so really
you have nothing to lose by renewing early. And if your names are important to
you, go ahead and renew them for two years or more.
|
What are
multi-year domain name registrations? |
Forget about renewing your domain names every
year! Multi-year registrations allows you to register individual domain names
up to 10 years.
|
What is IDN? |
An internationalized domain name (IDN) allows the domain name to operate
without using Western-based characters, which could contain one or more
native language characters. IDN's allow Internet users domain names in the
full alphabet of their language. Such domain names could contain letters or
characters such as Arabic, Chinese, German, Japanese and Spanish, etc.
|
Who are ICANN? |
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the
non-profit corporation that was formed to assume responsibility for the IP
address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system
management, and root server system management functions previously performed
under U.S. Government contract by IANA and other entities. It can be reached
at
http://www.ICANN.org.
ICANN Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy?
ICANN Registrar Transfer Policy?
|
Who
are Nominet? |
Nominet is the Internet registry for .UK domain names.
What is a
registrant?
A registrant is the individual or
organisation (e.g. limited company, partnership, sole trader etc)
that registers a specific domain name. This individual or
organisation holds the right to use that specific domain name for
a specified period of time (two years for a domain name ending in
.uk ). This person or organisation is the ‘legal entity’ bound by
the
terms and conditions of the domain name registration agreement
with Nominet.
What is a
‘registrar’?
A registrar is the company or organisation
that you choose to register your domain name through. This may be
an ISP or a domain name reseller or just a company that
specialises in registering domain names. Registrars have
previously been referred to as 'Registration Agents' or 'Tag
Holders'
The registrar is the
agent through which people register domain names – it does not
mean that they are an agent of Nominet. Your registrar may be a
member of Nominet, but they will act on your behalf rather than
Nominet’s behalf.
|
Why
have I received a welcome email from Nominet? |
It is normal to receive a welcome email from Nominet, it is
nothing to worry about. Nominet operate the UK registry, anyone who
registers a UK domain name will automatically be contacted by Nominet
via email.
When Nominet state you have an account with them they mean your recent domain
name
registration. Your account billing payments, service contract is with us your
registrar. We should always be your first point of contact should you
have any queries.
One useful feature of their operation is that they provide a free control panel where you can login and update your UK domain name
registration whois contact details directly online via "Online Services"
at
https://secure.nominet.org.uk/auth/login.html
|
Nominet Force change of registrar TAG transfer UK
domain names co.uk, me.uk, uk, etc |
If you believe your
current DNS registrar maintainer will not
transfer your UK domain on request you should read
http://www.nominet.org.uk/registrants/maintain/changeregistrar/
to force a change of registrar TAG change request using the online service,
please note Nominet will want to charge £10 (plus VAT). To login to the online
service go to
https://secure.nominet.org.uk/auth/login.html if you have
lost your password and email address, click
Re-establish your identity with
Nominet. Our Nominet UK IPS TAG is:
ALPHA1TECLABS.
|
How do I transfer a .co.uk domain name from host
1and1?
|
To transfer away a .co.uk domain name from your 1and1 account, cancel this
package from
http://contract.1and1.co.uk and choose cancel domains and/or
additional items. Choose the domain name that you wish to transfer and select
change of provider for this domain name then it'll ask you for the tag. Our
Nominet UK IPS TAG is: ALPHA1TECLABS.
A .co.uk domain transfer usually takes
about 24hrs to complete, while a .com type transfer can take about a week to
30 days!
|
What
will happen if my registrar doesn't positively renew my .uk domain name? |
If you fail to renew your .uk domain name with Alpha1TecLabs, Nominet may send
you a final renewal reminder by email. You will then have 30 days to arrange
for your registrar Alpha1TecLabs to renew your domain name. If we do not
receive a renewal request for your domain name within 30 days of the expiry
date, the domain name will be suspended. It will then be cancelled 60 days
after suspension if we have still not received a renewal instruction for
your domain name. The entire deletion
process therefore results in two potential drop dates, ninety-two days and
ninety-nine days approximate after the expiry date of the domain name.
|
Official
Complaints Procedure |
If you are unsatisfied with the service you have received, and you have not
been able to reach a resolution via our support system, you can make a
formal complaint by emailing
support@Alpha1TecLabs.com including your account information, and
detailing the outstanding complaint.
We will acknowledge your complaint within 24hrs, an investigation will be
carried out into the issues raised and a full response will be provided
within 3 working days. Where the issue is particularly complex it may take
longer to respond. If this is likely, we will provide information on the
action which will be taken and advise when you can expect a full response.
|
Domain
Renewals Policy |
Registrants will receive an email 30 days prior to expiry date, requesting
renewal of service and online payment. Note: Registrants can arrange for
more notice or can renew for longer periods by emailing
support@Alpha1TecLabs.com.
|
Data Quality
Process |
We validate registrant data, by validating address and contact details
against payment bank details and post code data and a valid contact email
address. If notified a domain name cannot be validated, we will contact the
registrant again to validate and provide proof of registrant data.
From May 6th
2014, if any registrant is unable to
validate or provide proof of identity, then
we will lock
invalid domain registrations for 30 days before they are cancelled.
|