What is a Domain Name?

A domain is a name is a like "pets.com", "poll.net", "charity.org", or "canada.ca". It is made up of two parts, the base name and the extension. The extension can be the famous ".com." , ".net", or ".org" or a country extension like ".ca" or ".uk". The domain names act as a way to point to a website, used for email, and can be used for many other purposes. 

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Why should I get a domain name?

If you want to do anything on the Internet you need your own name to point to what you want to do. If have a business, a domain name can be used for the company website, or for personalized email like yourname@your-business.com. This is much more impressive for clients than have a email at your local ISP. 

It also make  mail your email address permanent and transportable. You can change ISP and still keep the same email address. That's because the domain name belongs to you. You can choose to move it between ISP anytime your want!

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How do I get a domain name?

Our on-line application make registering a domain name very simple and quick. Type in the name that you want to register, fill-out the short application and that's it.

 We do the rest !

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What does it cost?

For domain names ending in .com, .net or .org, there is a $17 US ( $22,95 CDN *) per year registry fee. You can choose to pay form 1 to 10 years. This fee cover the use of your domain. The reason that we can offer this price is that we use an ICAN accredited registry to register your domain name. 

For  domain names ending in .ca, there is a yearly fee of $ 22,95 CDN *. 

Can't I just register directly with Network Solutions?

You can, but you pay more. They charge $49 per name on top of the $70 fee. Many people mistakenly believe they can register for free there. You can't. In order to get a name, you must OWN at least 2 DNS servers.
Since 99.99% of our clients (and the public) do not own and operate 2 DNS servers, they must go through someone else to use there DNS servers to get the name. Part of our service is for the use of our DNS. This is the service that Network Solutions provides for $49.

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Do you have to be my ISP?

No. Your ISP is the company you use to surf the Internet. You do not have be a client of ZiD.com  Internet service in order to register or use a domain name. 

How do I change my domain info in the future?

Simple, just send an email to domainchanges@zid.com with the required changes. We will process them usually in the same day. Other registries can take up to weeks to process your change.

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What is the difference between .COM, .NET, and .ORG?

These domain endings are known as Top Level Domains (TLDs). In the past, the global registry restricted who could register within which category. These restrictions no longer apply and now anyone can register a domain in all three categories. Many businesses now register their domain(s) with all three endings to ensure competitors or speculators do not register a similar domain.

What are the rules for creating a domain name?

A domain name can include up to 63 characters before the .COM, .NET, or .ORG ending. You can use numbers, letters, and dashes in your domain but the domain cannot start or end with a hyphen. Domains also cannot contain spaces. Domain names are not case sensitive, so you can spell -- and advertise -- your domain in UPPERCASE, lower case, or BoTh cAseS for your email and website address. Special characters such as the underscore "_", the exclamation point "!", and the "@" sign are not permitted.

For .CA domains, the rules are currently changing. The main rule is that you have to be a Canadian Resident to register a domain name. More information on the rules can be found at www.cira.ca.

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For Internic (SLD) .Com .Net or .ORG , this is the agreement.

For .CA, this is the registration agreement .