Watch out: 1and1 might not be quite as bad as godaddy in some of their policies, but they are very close. Avoid if at all possible.

Care to explain in more detail? (I moved from GoDaddy to 1&1 a few months back)

My first website was a combo package from them, which included a domain name.

When I had my own server and tried to transfer the domain there was no way for me to get them to release the domain name. If I cancel my hosting account, then I would have to wait until the domain expires and becomes available again, so that I can then re-register it with another registrar, was their reply. No matter what I tried I couldn't get them to let me transfer the domain name away from them or even update the nameservers to make it point to the new server.

Things surely have changed by now but because of their policy I lost a well established domain name, so that I haven't touched their services ever since.