AbelCam is much more than just writing software and make it available for download.

There are numerous services required:

- Web Server
- Web Site Design and Engineering
- Email Servers
- DNS Servers

As I have worked for an Internet Service provider for many years, I know what is required and have knowledge to run all these servers and services.

Whatever possible I operate myself. If something is not working as expected, I know who is to blame and usually I can fix it quickly.

However there are some services I can't operate myself.

AbelCam.com and my other websites run on servers I rent from Nine, a swiss internet
service provider. I am very satisfied with them - swiss quality at its best.

Domain registration has to be done by ICANN assigned companies - another service I can't run myself.

A registered domain is not much more than a few database entries:
Domain name, contact information, pointers to name servers.

In all a very simple service, but still very important for the internet to work reliably.

If the domain is not registered correctly, all other services might work to perfection - they will not be accessible as the domain can't be found.

I have used several domain registrars in the past.

The swiss registrar for .ch domains SWITCH has always worked perfectly and their services have become
cheaper in the last five years.

For .com and .org domains I have used Network Solutions in the past. While their service is impeccable they are expensive.

When I discovered spry.com offering .com domains for only USD 7.95 per year, I registered a few domains
with them.

Only two years later they charged USD 12.95 for the same domain registration
(remember, only a few database records). This is an increase of 60%.

At the same time, their service got worse.

Last year I lost control over a domain I had paid for.
Spry.com bluntly claimed that the domain did not belong to me although I had proof of payment and even a confirmation from them.


Read the whole story

This was reason enough for me to move all my registered domains to godaddy.com
While I don't like their agressive advertising on the web site, the service has been fine and priceworthy.

In the one case where I really did require support because I mistakenly ordered the wrong type of SSL certificate,
I got through on the phone right away (to a real person) and this mistake has been corrected within a few
minutes in the same phone call without extra charge.

Compare this to spry.com - I was told in a support ticket

You should be hearing from a specialist within 24-48 hours.

and later the ticket was closed as 'Resolved' without further notice.

Spry.com - no more...!