.tel = .fail

[Viator]

Anybody believe that they will change the rules for .tel once sales fall flat? Open it up to custom content?

Not impossible - I remember seeing some veild hints to that in interviews, but still unprecise (e.g. possibility in the future to host a .tel on one's own servers instead of Telnic's servers). But nothing sure, no promise.

However, remember other cases in the past: for instance how .name was first open for third-level only, and later for second-level too (I have always wondered if they shouldn't have kept it for third-level registrations only, since what they did finally created a dual model - however, I assume that all most common names were already blocked due to existing third-level registrations, so it wasn't a big deal after all).

Anyway, just to say this would not be the first case of a reorientation of an original model.

Moreover, one major thing to follow will be how far applications developed for the .tel (Telnic opened to developers last October) might change the face of it over time.

Many open questions. While I share the reluctance of people on this thread and am amazed to see how many people seem to have registered it without understanding the concept or reading properly the material, I would leave a space for more nuanced assessments and keep an open eye for possible developements - at least for very generic names.

[katherine]

Anybody believe that they will change the rules for .tel once sales fall flat? Open it up to custom content?

Even if they did, the extension would lose its only raison d'être which makes it different from other extensions, and it will remain yet another TLD without purpose. RIP .tel DOA

[ftaylor]

.tel = .rip

In both senses of the word.

[SC~]

i wonder how many people still do not realize you cannot have a developed website on .TEL domains.... it is basically the same template for everyone... you are not allowed to modify the DNS settings.

I'm sure a few people who've bought .tels are going to be starting ".tel is a scam i cant even change the site color omgz! rip0ff!" threads in the forums soon.


I'm going to be a bit lazy now, and just copy-paste my .tel opinion from another popular domain forum below...

How ?
It takes development and hard work to make money, even with a decent TLD, which .tel is not. The key is to build traffic, attract visitors and last but not least provide a useful service and a great experience so your visitors will be coming back.
Ask yourself: would you even use a .tel domain when looking for directory information ?

I concur.

I know what .tel is and does.
I'm pretty sure the only times I will ever look at a .tel 'domain' is when I'm reasonably sure I know who owns it i.e. if I wanted to call Joe Bloggs Industries and their number was not to hand, I may remember seeing joebloggsindustries.tel on their contact details and go there for the number.
Say my fictional company, Joe Bloggs Industries, made widgets, I'm not going to go to widgets.tel and wade through a directory (like hotels.tel) to find Joe Bloggs Industries' entry; likewise if I didn't know the company name and was looking for a widget supplier. I'd grab my local phone book or go to yell.com (or similar site) because I know these contain a comprehensive list of companies, whereas it's likely widgets.tel will not.

I suggest everyone who's getting over-excited go back to the telnic site and read again what you can actually do with the sites then ask yourself honestly can I create a big enough directory and spend the amount of money (millions?) required to market this one name to the degree where your average internet user thinks "instead of going to the pizzeria section of my yellow pages, or typing it in to yell.com, I'm going to try that pizzeria.tel site". I'm not saying it can't be done- it can, but it's going to take a hell of a lot of time and money.
With this in mind, I think .tel's best chance is to be marketed as an extension for finding contact info "on the go"- if you've had a look at hotels.tel on your mobile phone it zips along at lightning speed, and most importantly when you've found your result you can download a vCard. (It is brilliant :tu: )

I think anyone planning on buying a generic-y type name, and not planning on sticking a few $£€'s behind it for marketing, is going to be dependent on companies buy their own .tel names, using them and marketing them so that there is greater .tel-awareness amongst users. Even if that happens, I bet a lot still won't go to whatever.tel and stick with the likes of yell.com
(Here's where I can draw a parallel with .mobi, a friend was looking up some results on skysports.com on a mobile phone and it was taking a while to load, I asked "is there a skysports.mobi?", the reply- "what the hell's dot mobey?!" If there had been marketing by anyone of any sort of .mobi name he may have thought to try the .mobi whether or not he knew there was a .mobi site... I'm not picking on .mobi, I'm sure .biz would be met with similar questioning but that's a real-life example)

I can see some of this sounds a bit negative, but I absolutely love the idea behind .tel, and only wish it came around 10+ years ago. If it had, I'm sure it would have become the de facto standard contact system on the internet and mobile devices by now.

To anyone who does try to build a directory, please keep us up-to-date with your progress, and I do wish you all the best.

[emadness]

i got:

epassporte.tel
doubleclick.tel
mozilla.tel
geocities.tel

[mjnels]

heh, you just flushed $1,200+ down the toilet.

how does it feel?

[emadness]

i didnt

[katherine]

i got:

epassporte.tel
doubleclick.tel
mozilla.tel
geocities.tel

Congrats. TM domains are the best, I'm sure you're going to squeeze good money out of these names

[mjnels]

i didnt

you dont realize it now, because you're probably new to this.... but it was really stupid registering the trademark property of companies.

they are not going to buy these from you... if they want them they will take them away from you.

too bad all .tel registrations are final... there is no deletion grace period so you're stuck with them.

[Dimva]

Even worse then .mobi

[WEBecri]

So has anyone actually bought any?

Yep, I bought one. It's a great generic. I also own the .mobi version of that word.

These two make a great pair.

The .com version is an Alexa.com top 1000 website.

No TM issue, cause the word is super generic.

[Acro]

i got:

epassporte.tel
doubleclick.tel
mozilla.tel
geocities.tel

All 4 trademarks.

[katherine]

Finally a DNFer living up to his username

[kukgle]

Finally a DNFer living up to his username

You should go to church, then. LOL

[ftaylor]

Wow, I think those 4 .tm names fail even more than .tel.

I totally agree with SC~:

currently, we are probably the only people in the world that really know anything about .tel or gave it a second thought when we were emailed by the registries. Joe Bloggs business owner who wants to try and register his company name is going to take one look at .tel and be like 'wtf is that so expensive for'.

I bet you if you stopped 100 people on the street and asked them to name as many tld and cctld as they could, the majority would only get .com and their own country ccTLD. The .tel would take YEARS of marketing before there is even a tiny morsel of value in it, and lets be honest, within a years time there will be another junk TLD like .friend or .private getting pushed (but I bet you they won't make the same mistake again with regards to this dumb model).

[Vinnee]

I'm feeling a slight guilt buying a .tel. However, instinct gave in and now I hope for the best...call me crazy. Seriously, call me crazy.

[Carter]

.tel = xxxx
Don't spend your money into this crappy extension.

[Acro]

I'm feeling a slight guilt buying touch.tel. However, instinct gave in and now I hope for the best. As fast as touch phones have flooded the market...call me crazy.

It's irrelevant. All you can put on a .tel domain is a static page that contains specific info.
See the demo here http://www2.telnic.org/business-simulator.html and http://www2.telnic.org/business-discover4.html

So, if you don't have a real reason to use a .tel as an end-user, you don't have a reason at all.

[Banned: theinvestor]

Let me get this straight...you get 3 years for over $300.

After march 24 though it's 19.99$ a year.

I'm afraid that...even $19.99 a year is a rip off.

[Vinnee]

Yep, fully aware of the offering. My hope is the model adjust. If not, then my loss. Eventually, in a perfect world, this wanna-be domain will pay back what I loss.