According to a press release from Verisign, effective October 1, 2008, the registry fee for .com domain names will rise from $6.42 to $6.86 and the registry fee for .net domain names will increase from $3.85 to $4.23.

This should come as no surprise to those who follow what’s been happening in the domain name industry over the last few years. Just this past October, a similar price increase went into effect, raising the registry fee for a .com from $6.00 to $6.42. Other registries followed suit raising prices across the board for generic top-level domains.

Elliot Noss, Tucows CEO and President called it “a dark day in Internet history.” At the same time, he predicted perfectly what would happen in 2008, saying, “Worse, this now signals a near-annual event that will take place in all major gTLDs. It is simply wrong.” You can read the full text here.

If history is any indication, we can expect other registries to announce similar fee increases.

On Saturday, March 29th, from 9:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M., Tucows will be holding a Job Fair at our Toronto headquarters. We’re looking for Customer Service Representatives and Technical Support Analysts to join the team. More details on the specific positions, including job descriptions can be found at our careers site.

At the job fair, you’ll get to meet one-on-one with department managers. You’ll have a brief interview with them to give you a chance to talk about what you can bring to Tucows, and to find out more about us. Be sure to bring a couple copies of your resume, a pen and a notebook.

Make the most of your interview:

Last year we provided some tips for those looking to ace the job fair. If you are planning on coming down, be sure to give that a read — there’s some good stuff in there that will help you pull off a stellar interview and make the very most of your only chance to make a good first impression.

We also shot a short video interview with Sherry Azim, who handles recruiting. You might want to have a peek at that as well, if only to remember what summer looks like and to give you a familiar face to look for.

Learn more about us:

If you’re wondering what working at Tucows would be like, we’ve put together a list of the top 10 reasons to join the team. The atmosphere is light, the work is challenging and rewarding, and those around you are as passionate about the Internet as you are. If you want to be a part of making the Internet better and more useful, then Tucows is a great place to make that happen.

Getting here:

We’re at 96 Mowat Ave. in Toronto’s Liberty Village neighborhood. The closest intersection is King St. and Dufferin Ave. TTC riders should take either the 29 Dufferin bus or the 504 King streetcar. From the intersection of King and Dufferin, Tucows is a very short, one block walk east on King to Mowat Ave. We’re just south of King St. on the west side. Drivers will find parking in the area, but make sure you watch the signs and park legally. There’s street parking around, or a big Green P lot on Fraser Ave. (one block to the east).

We look forward to seeing you here on Saturday!

We’re pleased to introduce Joey Olson, our new Technical Support Manager. Joey has been a part of Tucows’ wholesale support group since 2001 and brings a wealth of experience to his new role. To help you get to know Joey a bit better, we’ve put together a short video introduction:

If you have trouble with the embedded Quicktime version above, you can download it here, or try the Windows Media version instead.

As a Vendor Member of the Federation of Internet Service Providers of the Americas (FISPA), Tucows is looking forward to the FISPA Regional Meeting which is happening in Orlando, Florida, on tomorrow (Thursday, March 20). FISPA gives us a chance to meet with current and prospective customers for our range of Internet services.

Communication is a two-way street. Our membership in organizations like FISPA, and this kind of event in particular, provide us with a valuable opportunity to hear from members and to gain a better understanding of their needs. That, in turn, helps us to better tailor our services to those needs.

If you’re attending the meeting, either Max Lufer or Christian Goulart would be happy to talk to you about hosted email or domain names, and we’d love to hear what you’re looking for when it comes to providing quality Internet services to your customers.

One of the best parts of my role here at Tucows is being able to bring talented people into the company.

I’m thrilled to announce that Rohan Jayasekera has joined my team as Director of the Tucows Email Service.

At the risk of sounding like a stalker, I’ve had my eye on Rohan since I first met him at a BarCamp event here in Toronto a few years ago. I was impressed by Rohan’s deep insights on the topic our little “unconference” group was talking about (although I can’t for the life of me remember what exactly we were discussing) and when I got home I did a quick Google on Rohan and found a peer with an incredibly interesting background.

Rather than gush about exact how great a fit Rohan is, I’ll just point you to his blog post about joining Tucows so you can hear it from the man.