Another Lesson Learned In Domain Renewal

Beware every domain holder’s nightmare: don’t forget to renew!
Every domain owner should know that forgetting to renew a domain name can end in disaster. Last year we learned this very lesson from Sony when they failed to renew SonyOnline.net. Subsequently, thousands of gamers were kicked out of the game network and were unable to access their Sony Online Entertainment accounts.
While we would have liked for Sony to be our last lesson in the importance of automatic domain renewal, it unfortunately is not…  
EE, a British telecom company, failed to learn this very important lesson from Sony and also allowed their domain ‘FSNet.co.uk’ to lapse. Shortly after, the company was bombarded with complaints from thousands of clients who use the domain to access email accounts.
British news reports state that the domain ‘FSNet.co.uk’ was originally registered in 1999 and is something of a legacy domain after the original company, Freeserve, merged with Wanadoo, a French Telecom subsidiary. After another merging the company eventually became EE.
EE specializes in cell phone networks, home phone lines and the sale of electronic devices – similar to AT&T or Sprint in the United States. Since the lapse of the popular ‘FSNet.co.uk’ thousands of Brits have taken to the web to express their frustrations with the company. These complaints are likely to continue, since as of October 6th, 2015 the site has not been restored.
How to avoid domain name mishaps:
To avoid domain disasters similar to Sony and EE there are a few steps that Midphase clients can take:
01. Log in to your CHI account and double check that all of your personal information is up to date. This makes it easy for Midphase to contact you if ever your domains should lapse.
02. Be sure to put the dates that your domains are scheduled for renewal into your personal calendar. When registering domains for two or three years at a time it can be easy to forget the expiration date.
03. Sign up for auto-renew within your CHI account. As long as your credit card information is up to date we can renew your domains for you, saving you the hassle!
04. Always keep an eye on all of your domains, even the outdated ones that you rarely use. You don’t ever want to be the last one to hear that your site is down.
05. Occasionally check your spam folder. Important information can often be marked as spam and slip through your account without notice.

To learn more about domain name expiration read this article from Midphase.com