Firm Trying to Get More Users in ‘.net’

Network Solutions, the company that has registered more than 10 million Internet names, apparently isn’t moving enough names ending in the suffix “.net.’

The Herndon, Va., firm began offering Web names ending in “.net” and e-mail addresses for free earlier this month.

After three months, customers will have to register their “.net” names for an annual fee of $40. That’s a 41% discount off the cost for getting a similar package for a name ending in “.com.”

In the Internet’s early days, “.com” names were intended for companies and “.net” names were used by Internet service providers and others operating computer networks.

As demand for Internet names ballooned, the informal restrictions were lifted, allowing the Net savvy to sign up for addresses with any suffix.

But “.com” still dominates: In the first three months of the year, 78% of Network Solutions’ registrations were for “.com” names, compared with 14% for “.net.”