Why .tel?

Why .tel? Why another domain extension in this overwhelming market of countless other TLDs? What flavor would .tel bring that other extensions have not offered to date?

There is a .tel buzz in the domaining world and people are questioning Telnic’s move to introduce this TLD in the world where .com’s, .net’s, and .org’s rule. Lets see this issue from the viewpoint of a normal internet user, that’s me!

What does .tel offer?

.tel is set to offer a new dimension in details storage and organization by providing a global contact directory. It will change how consumers will locate contact information online. In fact, EnCirca, one of the leading domain registrars is recommending businesses, organizations and trademark owners to rush into registering a .tel domain or miss out being listed in the new global, ‘live’ contacts directory.”

According to EnCirca, and I quote:

.tel domain provides organizations of all sizes a named listing with unlimited contact information in a global directory, accessible from any device connected to the Internet. Customers can search for up-to-date contact information at little or no cost to them, connecting with .tel owners dynamically. Additionally, .tel is search engine optimized through its ability to store indexed keywords, providing additional content for branded discoverability on the web. A listing in this global directory is included in the cost of purchasing the domain name. It requires no technical skill to set up and can be managed by a simple dashboard.

source: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/081203/new009.html?.v=73

EnCirca has gone on to proclaim that .tel “is the Google of online address books”. A bold statement, I say, especially when the domain is yet to make a public appearance.

.tel domain can be seen as a virtual business card; domainmarvelous.tel would offer the public different ways to contact the owners of Domain Marvelous. .tel is not your average domain name TLD; there are no websites involved, at least the website creation part. All the information is stored with the domain registrar and the owners can edit the information via an interface offered by Telnic. The changes would be reflected after the normal DNS propagation.

Privacy Concerns

.tel would bring about privacy issues. Your contact details are flashed out to the entire world and anyone can prank call you. This would be a gold mine for email harvesters. Expect to receive junk mails on your postal box. .tel compromises your privacy details…or does it?

No need to worry. Telnic offers you varying levels of privacy on the information displayed by your .tel domain. You can set access to certain areas of information that only selected people can view. Therefore, you may display your personal email to friends and family, while your business email to the rest of the world.

The advantages

With the aid of the recently made public API, .tel will be available to various devices, such as hand held PCs and mobile phones which means there will no longer be a need to go to Chickenexpress.com to find the number for Chicken Express – you’ll instead go to Chickenexpress.tel. its still unclear as to how .tel can be utilized to get localized information as default for an organization, especially if the organization is multinational.

Over to you

The fact is, we can blog and write about the pros and cons of .tel as much as we like, it does not affect its implementation. Over 100 registrars have signed up to start offering .tel TLDs, expect it coming to your favorite registrar soon. What are your views about the introduction of .tel as a global contact directory? Feel free to comment below

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