Help

Home

Domain Name Registration FAQs

The following FAQs provide detailed information on registering domain names, transferring registrations from your current registrar to us and using the services and features included with our domain name registrations.

For more general information on domain names and the domain name registration and transfer processes, see the Domain Name FAQ.

Transferring Domain Name Registrations to Verizon

Using Verizon's Domain Name Registration Services and Features

Parking Page


How do I transfer my domain name registration to Verizon?

Currently, to transfer your domain name registration to Verizon you must be a customer of Verizon. You can become a customer by registering a new domain with us or by ordering any of our Web hosting plans.

Once you establish an account with Verizon, you can transfer your domain name registration from your current registrar to Verizon using SiteControl, your Web-based control panel. Log in to SiteControl and select Domain Name. Then, select Transfer a Domain Name to Verizon and follow the prompts to initiate the transfer process.



How long will it take for my transfer to be processed?

Transferring a domain name to another registrar can take 5 to 14 days. Once you submit your request for transfer through SiteControl, Verizon sends an email message to the Administrative Contact listed on the Whois record for your domain name requesting authorization for the registrar transfer. The Administrative Contact has 14 days to respond to the email message.

Once the Administrative Contact authorizes the registrar change, it takes 5 to 7 days to process the request. If the Administrative Contact does not authorize the request or does not respond by the deadline, the transfer process will be canceled.



How can I check the status of my transfer ?

Transfer requests can take up to 14 days to process. If it has been 14 days and you have not received any information, you can contact Verizon Support via email at support@verizonhosting.net.



SiteControl requires a password for domain name registration transfers. How do I get this password?

In order for Verizon to initiate a domain name registration transfer process for you, we need the password assigned to you by your current domain name registrar. Without this password, the request will be rejected by your registrar. If you do not know your password, contact your current registrar.



What happens to my domain name during a domain name registration transfer?

Until the domain name registration process completes, nothing will happen to your domain name registration. As long as you remain current with your billing with your current registrar, there will be no service interruption. However, if your domain name expires after you have requested the transfer but before the transfer completes, you will need to renew your service with your current registrar to ensure your domain name remains yours.



Can I transfer my domain name registration if it has expired?

No. Before you can transfer domain name registration, you must bring your domain name billing up-to-date with your current registrar.

If your domain name has expired, you can wait until the domain name becomes available for registration again (typically 70 days after the domain name has expired), however you risk losing the domain name to someone else who registers it first once it becomes available.



What is a redemption period?

When your domain name expires, you generally have 5 to 10 days to bring your billing up-to-date with your current registrar. After this grace period, your domain name enters what is termed a "redemption period." During this time, no action can be taken on your domain name. In order to re-activate your domain, you must pay a fee to your current registrar. This fee typically ranges from $135 to $150. If your domain name is currently in the redemption period, you should contact your current registrar for details.



What is a "registrar hold"?

When you register a domain name, you can request what is known as a "hold" on your domain name. If your domain has a hold on it, Verizon cannot initiate a domain name transfer on your behalf. In this instance, you must initiate the transfer request yourself by contacting your current registrar and requesting removal of the hold.



What is a "registrar lock"?

When you register a domain name, you can request what is known as a "lock" on your domain name. A lock prevents contact information from being made publicly available. If your domain name has a lock on it, you must first contact your current registrar and request that the lock be removed. Once the lock has been removed, Verizon can initiate the domain name registration transfer for you.



What is a Whois record?

A Whois record indicates who owns a particular domain name and provides contact information for the owner. The Whois record is public record, as mandated by ICANN, the governing body that regulates the domain name registration space. You can search for Whois records associated with .com, .net, .org, .biz and .info domain names using Verizon's domain name look-up tool.



What is a registrar? Who is ICANN?

A registrar is a company that has been licensed by ICANN to register domain names for the public. Verizon currently works with AAAQ and DomainPeopel, ICANN-accredited registrars, to process domain name registrations.

ICANN stands for The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. It is a non-profit organization composed of various stakeholders in the Internet space and governs domain name registrations.



Who are AAAQ and DomainPeople?

AAAQ and DomainPeople are the domain name registrars Verizon has partnered with to process domain name registrations. On the Whois record for your domain name, AAAQ or DomainPeople will be listed as the domain name registrar. In particular, DomainPeople is the registrar for .info, .pro, and .us domain names.



Using Verizon's Domain Name Registration Services and Features


What services and features are included with my domain name registration?

With your domain name registration with Verizon, you receive the following tools and features free of charge:

Parking page. Your parking page is set up automatically when your domain name is activated. 48 hours after your domain name has been registered, people typing your domain name in a browser will be taken to your parking page. Without a parking page, visitors will receive a "site not found" error message.

Domain forwarding. Domain forwarding enables you to forward Web traffic coming to your domain name to another Web site you have set up already. For example, if you have a Web site at www.abc.com and register the new domain name xyz.net, you can forward all the traffic to xyz.net to your site at www.abc.com.

Web-based control panel. Domain name registrations provide you access to SiteControl, Verizon's Web-based control panel. When you log in to SiteControl, you can manage your domain name and your Verizon account 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can use SiteControl to:

• Change the nameservers associated with your domain name
• Update your contact information
• Check your billing status in "real time"
• Make payments online
• Access additional domain name set up functions



How do I FTP or upload my Web site to my account?

In order to upload a Web site, you must have a Web hosting plan with Verizon. If you have only domain name registration service with Verizon, you cannot post a Web site. If you need to set up a Web hosting plan, you can do so easily from SiteControl's Order Services section.



Can I upgrade to Web hosting and other services offered by Verizon?

Whenever your needs change, you can easily upgrade from "domain name registration only" to Web hosting or any of Verizon's other services. For example, you can upgrade to an Email Plan that enables you to send and receive email using your domain name instead of your ISP's name (myname@mydomain.com instead of myname@aol.com). If you are ready to create a Web site and get it online, you can easily upgrade to one of Verizon's many Web hosting plans.

To upgrade to Email or Web hosting plans, log in to SiteControl and select Order Service. Follow the prompts to upgrade.



Do I get phone support if I only have domain name registration with Verizon?

Phone support is not available with domain name registration only. However, you can contact Verizon's Support team 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via email at support@verizonhosting.net. You will receive a response within one hour.

Verizon's Help Center provides a number of FAQs and User Guides that can answer your questions. You can use the knowledge base search feature to search all of the documentation for specific words or phrases.

24-hour phone support is available with Verizon's Web hosting plans.



How can I change my nameservers?

If you registered your domain name with Verizon and plan on using our Web hosting services, you do not need to modify any nameserver information. However, if you plan on using a third-party hosting provider, you may be asked to change your nameservers or DNS information associated with your domain. You can find detailed instructions for modifying this information in the User Guide at http://help.hostway.com/vz/.




How do I add email accounts to my domain name?

Email accounts enable you to send and receive email using your domain name instead of your ISP's name. For example, instead of using myname@aol.com you can use myname@mydomainname.com. To add email to your domain name, you need to upgrade to an Email or Web hosting plan. You can upgrade using SiteControl's Order Service section.



Can I modify my MX records myself?

Verizon's MX record editor is only available to customers with Web hosting plans. If you need to modify the information for your domain name to use a different mail server, you will need to make these changes to your nameserver information. You can find your current nameserver and make changes to this information using SiteControl's Domain Name section.



Parking Page

What is a parking page?

A parking page is the default web page that we display when customers register a domain name.



Why has the appearance of the parking page for my domain changed?

We have changed the appearance of our parking page to include advertising, in accordance with industry standards and our registration agreement. This change was only applied to domain names that have the default parking page displayed. If your domain is registered through us and uses our name servers and you have not activated any of our free or paid web services then your domain name will point to our default parking page. Once you are ready to start using our free or paid web services, you can simply make the modifications through our online account manager and your domain will resolve to the new location.



Who gets the revenue from advertisements?

Following industry standards, we have added advertising to our parking page, in order to help support our low domain registration cost. We are also considering developing this as a future product feature for customers, based on demand.



Is my domain hijacked?

No. We have changed the appearance of our default parking page for domain name registrations.



How can I turn off the parking page for my domain or restore it to the old parking page?

You can disable the parking page for your domain by setting up Domain Forwarding for your domain. Both of these services are free and can be activated through SiteControl – http://sitecontrol.hostway.com/vz . If you would like to restore the old parking page you can activate Domain Forwarding for your domain and forward it to: http://redirect.aaaq.com/default.html. Please make sure you are using the Frame forwarding option and not the Location forwarding option.



I am a hosting customer and just published my web site for the first time, so why am I still seeing this parking page?

Please verify that your homepage is named index.html, index.htm or default.htm, and that your web files are in the main web (www) directory.  For more information, please visit the publishing faq