Network Solutions and PENDINGDELETE satatus... few questions

[deadsquirrel]

Hi all. I have a few questions regarding a domain name im desperately trying to register for a company im about to startup. I have been waiting for weeks now and this is the current status:

Domain Name: XXXXXXXXXXX.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: [networksolutions.com...]
Name Server: NS1.ALCHEMY.NET
Name Server: NS2.ALCHEMY.NET
Status: PENDINGDELETE
Updated Date: 27-aug-2003
Creation Date: 19-jun-2001
Expiration Date: 19-jun-2003

>>> Last update of whois database: Mon, 1 Sep 2003 18:04:03 EDT <<<

ok, now I know that it 'suppose' to drop after 5 or 6 days and I have also read on these forums that NS are notorious for taking their time. so...

could someone tell me exactly how long I could be waiting?

Those companies that offer to continuously check the name for you, are they any good? would you recommend me using one? which one? how often do they check the name for you?

sorry for the barrage of questions, its just that I really need this name. It goes perfectly with the company I want to set up. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Imaster]

I am with bulkregister and a similar thing happened with me. I had a domain which I forgot to renew and hence it went into such a status where Bulkregister kept it for 8-10 days and then it went into the internic control for 20-25 more days to get deleted and be available for registration.

So I presume it may in all take around a months time.

[cabbie]

By my calculations this would drop on the 2nd september