Hosts and registrars

[quartet-man]

I saw on a thread where it isn't a good idea to let the internet host register your domain because they will likely not give it up. Since GoDaddy is a registrar, would this include them too whether you used them for hosting or not? I noticed on the whois info that it says:
Registry Status: CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Registry Status: CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED
Registry Status: CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registry Status: CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
Registry Status: TRANSFER PROHIBITED.

Is this common with most registrars? When it comes time to renew what do we do?
Is registering your own going through one of the registrars instead of hosting companies, or is it doing the work yourself?

The person who it was transferred to a few years back got taken years ago with an email saying the transfer from the previous holder needed more info (can't remember the details) they then held the name hostage when it was time to renew. (If not before.)

The other question is, is GoDaddy still considered to be a poor host, or are they better? I do know they recently called and wanted to ask our contact person how their service was.

It was already registered and hosted through them before me.

Thanks

[mairving]

Never let your host register your domain. If they do they own it and can do what they want to with it. If you want to switch hosts you might have to kick in some $$$ to get your domain name.

GoDaddy and other registars allow you to lock your domain which is what the whois info is showing above. Locking means that nothing can happen to your domain until you unlock it.

More info from GoDaddy (http://help.godaddy.com/article.php?article_id=410&topic_id=165):
We securely manage your domains, and automatically keep your domains locked at the Registry level. When a domain is locked, no one can transfer your domain to another Registrar or account.

We automatically unlock and re-lock your domain in order to accommodate domain management tasks such as updates to your nameserver information and contact information.

If you need to transfer your domain or change accounts, you must manually unlock your domain name. It can take up to fifteen minutes to unlock your domain.