Suzey

Hi there

Can anyone recommend a good domain name reg company for .ca names please?

I'm looking for the following features:

Value for money!
Domain parking
Web forwarding or park page
POP3/IMAP mailboxes
Email forwarding
Email virus protection
SMTP (outgoing) server
Webmail
E-mail technical support

I don't need any web hosting.

thanks in advance!

Suze

dbd33

I would avoid using a name ending in .ca unless you're dealing with the government. Canadian consumers will use a site called .com but American ones will look askance at one called .ca. This matters because hardly anyone lives in Canada, whatever the business, it needs US customers.

Suzey

Thanks - it's just for a personal site, not a business one.

Suze

katisha

Hello,

I was going to go with "dot.ca" but didn't bother in the end for the reason already given. Also, you have to be a citizen or permanent resident to register a .ca domain, and if you're a permanent resident, you must have been there 6 months in the preceeding 12 before you can apply for the domain.

Kat

Suzey

That's interesting - where did you read that? Would also be interested in knowing how they check this.

Got a feeling you've been misinformed here but am willing to be proved otherwise.

Suze

Steve_P

Not sure they were misinformed. Have a look here Canadian Internet Registration Authority it will tell you all ever wanted to know about .ca and registering a domain name.

Cheers
Steve

Suzey

Good lord - you'd think I'd be used to Canadian bureaucracy by now, but I'm still constantly surprised

Suze

discouraged

Hi Suzey,

Have a look at

virtranet.ca

Run by a mate of mine who emigrated from the UK in 2001

Regards,

D.

Colsgirl

Hi

I bought my domain name through http://www.planetdomain.ca/ I also use thrie web hosting which costs $59.95 year.

I bought a dot.com name as it was only $11.99 year and cheaper than a dot.ca which is $19.95 (and that is a sale price).

They have a ticket service, where you can ticket a problem and they reply to you by e-mail.

Best wishes, Louise

Suzey

Thanks for the info!

Suze

SANDRAPAUL

I wonder if this is applicable to all companies? If you trade goods your biggest customer base is likely to be the US, or you would as a company like it to be the US. If you are a service company only servicing the local towns/cities with a personal non-product/manufacturing base you might with a .com get overlooked as one of those service companies from the south and be ignored by the locals. With a .ca at least the viewer realises your location albeit being in BC is not a lot of good if your client base is Ont. I have been looking for a .ca whilst I will retain our 2 .coms. But might have the .ca redirected to one of the dot coms. Covers all avenues possibly but depends on costs.

So perhaps it depends on what you do and what you sell?

dbd33

I suppose but I can't really think of anything people would rather came from Canada, maple syrup or poutine perhaps, something with an ethnic angle, but for everything else Canada functions as part of the US. In our case many of our US customers are limited to buying "domestic" goods and services so we first incoporated in the US and used a US forwarding address. It was only many years later that we got around to having a Canadian corporation. We still bill Canadian customers using a US letterhead (not that there are physical bills any more but the address on the emails in the US) even though some of those customers are on this block and they know we're local.
When domain names came along we did the same as for the mailing address, I think it looks more professional to Canadian clients to be an American firm and there aren't domestic product requirements in Canada as there are in the US.

Outside North America it's a little more complicated, I suppose there are markets where being Canadian might mean something but I tend just to let the customers assume Toronto to be in the US.

babsi

You learn something new every day!

Imagine if the CRTC could be in control of the internet here, just Canadian sites and sites which meet their approval (which you could count on one hand) that we would be allowed to visit.

Steve_P

Woaaaaaaa. Wash your keyboard with soap girl!!!!!!!

Don't you be giving them any ideas.

Let us just hope that they are not monitoring this website. :scared:

NessieOggy

Thanks for sharing the info! We're presently looking at getting a domain name for our community forum site and were thinking of possibly using a .ca

Cheers!

Oggy