Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 16:07:52 +0100 (CET) From: Manuel Enrique Garcia Cuesta <megarcia@intercom.es> To: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: How much to pay my ISP for my own Internet domain ? Message-ID: <XFMail.981207160752.megarcia@intercom.es> In-Reply-To: <19981207100338.V603@freebie.lemis.com>
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El 06-Dec-98 a la(s) 23:33:38 Greg Lehey escribia:
>>> * Startup:
>>>
>>> - Static IP: USD 68
>
> I suppose it's reasonable to assume that if you have a static IP,
> you'll be using more resources, *assuming* that this also means a
> guaranteed number to call any time you want.
>
I guess so, I have to say that my current ISP's equipment
looks very responsive.
>>> - Domain registration: USD 83
>
> This is pretty much what Internic charges ($75), including the first
> two years' fees.
Actually, USD 83 is exactly what ES-NIC (or whatever the name )
charges for the registration plus first year only. Nothing to do with
what I told them otherwise since I explicitly stated that my domain
would be a .org one.
>
>>> - DNS/SMTP configuration: USD 214
>
> This seems ridiculously high. What do they need to do?
>
> 1. Add a DNS zone. Say, garcia.org. The entry looks like:
>
> zone "garcia.org" {
> type slave;
> file "db.garcia.org";
> masters {192.168.168.192};
> };
>
> That's *all* they need to do. You do the rest.
>
> 2. Add your domain name to /etc/sendmail.cw:
>
> garcia.org
>
> And the want $214 for *that*?
One more score for me for my guessing right :)
>
>>> - Mail delivery procedure: USD 54 (script that
>>> notifies our server that yours is available to receive pending
>>> messages )
>
> Huh? Who are you and who are we? You have two choices with mail:
> SMTP or POP. It seems that you have chosen SMTP, with which I agree.
> When you dial in, you have a script which connects to their smtp
> server and says:
>
> ETRN garcia.org
>
> That's all.
"We" is my ISP and "you" is me, if this makes any sense. I will
be using SMTP indeed. Though, it seems their sendmail is older than 8.8
and, as far as I can recall, you cannot talk him into understanding
ETRN or maybe there is some other kind of problem. Another score for me
in any case.
>>> * Monthly maintenance:
>>>
>>> - Static IP: USD 22
>
> Is this about the phone line rental? In that case, it might be
> justified.
If my phone line rental were that much I would be using
smoke signals instead.
>
>>> - Domain: USD 27
>
> Huh? They already charge (a) for the registration, which includes the
> first two years' charges and (b) for the name server. This is even
> more than I had to pay to DE-NIC in Germany for having a .de domain.
> Is this maybe the cost of an .es domain, as opposed to a .com or .org
> domain?
A .es domain costs some USD 5.5 a month from the second year
on. Though I can see a "justification" for all the other costs (you pay
for "something" ) I cannot figure out what "domain maintenance" may be.
>>>> 16% VAT
>>
>> This all adds to what they are already setting me back for
>> "normal" Internet access, some USD 25 a month.
>>
>> By the way, I told them I would register the domain myself
>> with the InterNIC.
>
> That's the way to do it. So what's the money for?
I don't want to think they are trying to cheat me :/
>> They charge Spanish pesetas obviously, I have applied an
>> aproximate exchange rate.
>>
>> I don't know how important this might be, but I think they
>> are running mainly Linux and perhaps some Windows NT.
>
> You need to find this out.
To what extent is it important ? I take it that configuring
a Linux system is about as easy (or difficult ) as unix can be. Of
course it would not be as efficient a server as FreeBSD :) And I
take it also and really hope that they are smart enough not to be
using NT anywhere between the phone line and the upstream provider.
>
>> I know this question is somewhat off topic, but I don't
>> know of any better place where to ask. Personally, I think it is
>> outrageously expensive, much more than it should be. Somebody
>> please convince me that it's not. Thanks in advance,
>
> I think it is outrageously expensive, much more than it should be.
>
> Depending on where you live, you may not have much choice. But you
> have some. The one thing you *must* have from your ISP is the static
> address. OK, that's not even the most expensive thing (the ongoing
> domain registration stuff is), but you don't get a choice.
We Spaniards are somewhat lucky regarding this: whichever ISP
we happen to choose (located in the country, of course ) we always
have the cheapest phone call to it, while for a voice phone call this
cheapest tariff would cover a range of only 10 - 20 kilometres,
depending on the phone network structure in your area. My current ISP
is located 1000 kilometres away and the phone call is as cheap as if
it were around the corner. I can really choose but still it's
difficult: ISPs here used to be known to lie potential customers about
their upstream bandwidth and other throughput data. The best way for
choosing an ISP here is asking people who use them, but up to now I
don't know of any ISP that matches the apparent good performance of
my current one.
> Next, you find somebody who will host your name server and secondary
> MX records for you. People who run University systems or some such
> might be pleased to oblige. They don't even need to be near you--for
> example, I have a secondary DNS server in England (I live in
> Australia), though it's a good idea to have relatively good
> connectivity to your next MX.
The University where I attended might be a good alternative and
I'm already considering it, and besides they are quite near.
> If you do this, you'll drop the setup costs from $419 to $68, and the
> monthly costs from $49 to $22. The question is: do you know somebody
> who would oblige?
Besides the University I will try to play with my ISP the
poor little guy with the poor little PC. Serious, that's what I am
anyway. They are business-biased and maybe I can make them look
downwards a bit.
>
> Greg
> --
Thanks a lot for your comprehensive reply
Manuel Garcia
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