Thanks Daudi for the insight. I will surely avoid local ISPs for a smoother running of my websites. I think we should all cultivate a motive of being world class and competing in world class level other than trying to focus on competing with ourselves. On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 9:14 PM, Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo@gmail.com>wrote:
On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 12:21 PM, Daudi Were <daudi.were@gmail.com> wrote:
One reason that Kenyan ISPs lose money, customers and the good will of the technical committee is their backward, dracorian and illegal policies regarding domain names. It has now reached the stage where I believe that NO ONE in the right mind should purchase a domain (.com, .net, .org or .ke) from a Kenyan ISP.
Mainly because they make it such a hassle to transfer your domain out.
All international reputable domain registrars make it very easy to get your Auth Code/EPP Code to transfer your domain away from them if you wish. With Namecheap for example, have your EPP codes in your domain admin screens so you don't even have to ask anyone for it. For many others you get the code in your email at the click of a button.
However, Kenyan ISPs go as far as even lying blatantly to keep hold of a single domain. One person was told that if the get the EPP code they would never be able to use the domain again. Another was told that if they get the EPP code their website and email would go down immediately. Another was told they would have to fill in a detailed form stipulating why they needed the code. In one crazy example last year a ISP wanted me to shuttle between their Mombasa Road and city centre office carrying hard copies of a “letter of authorisation” to get the Auth Code. They did not release the domain until we threatened them with legal action and adverse publicity. They ended up losing the contract to provide internet connectivity as well as domain registration as their aggression/unprofessionalism over a simple USD 10 domain scared one of their big clients away.
What nonsense is this? Why not focus on delievering a reliable service rather than attempting to hold people hostage when they realise how useless the service your deliver is? These guys either ignore or have no knowledge of even the most basic ICANN policies: http://www.icann.org/en/transfers/policy-en.htm
Considering that Kenyan ISPs are probably the main registrars of .ke domains this unprofessionalism represents a big challenge to increasing .ke domain uptakes.
If it were not for the independent .ke registrars and all we had to deal with were Kenyan ISPs then .ke would have died out a long time ago.
Yes, I know I have been speaking generally. I challenge you to name one Kenyan ISP where I can ask for my domain Auth Code during business hours and have it within the hour.
I'd have thought that:
1. They all now do pre-paid, which would make them release your domain at any time within your paid up duration. They should be able to deactivate on time if you did not renew in time, so they should still release the domain anyway.. 2. That they can authenticate you via your registered phone number - you call them. They tell you to hang up and they call the number registered in their DB 3. The idea of hard copy letters while outrageous, is used to protect them from legal redress, but shuttling with the physical hard letter is too much in this age. They can use other methods to verify the authenticity of a scanned/signed copy. 4. There are others who do domain registrations other than ISPs and they are quite responsive.
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