.Tel me your thoughts?

[cee]

The .tel TLD is not getting much acceptance in the domain industry and for a good reason... limitation. Its usability is very restricted. However, here are a few of my thoughts.

1) If they decide their original business model is poor, they may "normalize" the TLD and allow us to set our own name servers. In which case, .tel is rather nice.

2) The limitations imposed on this TLD prevent many domainers from investing in it. This leaves us with an opportunity to grab some great names. Which could prove beneficial if (1) occurs.

3) Perhaps (1) does not occur, but rather they extend the current system into a world-wide and more efficient Twitter (or something along these lines).

4) Perhaps one day I can give cjc.tel to a friend and he/she can simply enter it into his/her phone to dial my phone number (default from my contact record).

There are many ways this could prove to be innovative and revolutionary, but I agree with all the skeptics that this TLD will probably be a bust!

With all that said, for $10/pop, I registered some nice names that bring me joy to look at in my browser (even if they are currently useless). My happiness is worth a measly $10 per few domain names.

----- Domains Registered -----
hop.tel
pal.tel
loop.tel
edge.tel
busy.tel
signal.tel
jot.tel
zee.tel
pulse.tel
beam.tel
slash.tel
dark.tel
clien.tel
por.tel

----- Domains Dropped -----
Someone registered the domains below within 1 hour of dropping them
- kit.tel
- rep.tel
- put.tel
- dee.tel
Someone registered the domains below within 5 hours of dropping them
- ton.tel
- age.tel
- are.tel
Someone registered the domains below within 10 hours of dropping them
- hard.tel
- full.tel
- odd.tel
- wee.tel
- hut.tel
Someone registered the domains below within 22 hours of dropping them
- icy.tel
- vee.tel
- jab.tel
Someone registered the domains below within 36 hours of dropping them
- hyper.tel
- round.tel
Someone registered the domains below within several days of dropping them
- visible.tel
- solid.tel

----- Interesting Information/Resources -----
1) Deletion rate for .tel @ Dynadot!
- 2009/03/24: 0.06%
- 2009/03/25: 1.23%
- 2009/03/26: 2.78%
- 2009/03/27: 3.33%
- 2009/03/28: 4.13%
- 2009/03/29: 5.53%
- 2009/03/30: 7.16%
- 2009/03/31: 7.24%
- 2009/04/01: 9.68%
- 2009/04/03: 11.11% (max deletion rate reached!)
2) Domains with .tel extention that are indexed by Google
- 2009/03/24: 670
- 2009/03/25: 1340
- 2009/03/26: 2190
- 2009/03/27: 2010
- 2009/03/28: 2000
- 2009/03/29: 2550
- 2009/03/30: 4110
- 2009/03/31: 4330
- 2009/04/01: 4930
- 2009/04/03: 7230
- 2009/04/18: 45300
- 2009/05/01: 79100
3) Telodex Dot-Tel Directory
4) TEL Launch Results - Top 25 Preorders at Dynadot

----- Common Question -----
Q: Why is my .tel domain returning a "404 Not Found" response?
A: You must login to your Telhost account and set at least one contact record (Web site, phone number, etc.) on the domain. Simply setting a "Text Header" is not enough for Telhost to create a DNS record for your domain. After doing this, it may take up to 5 hours for your DNS record to propagate to your ISP.

** Did you get any neat ones? Feel free to share them here! **

[sdsinc]

Originally Posted by cee

1) If they decide their original business model is poor, they may "normalize" the TLD and allow us to set our own name servers. In which case, .tel is rather nice.

If they did, then .tel would be yet another TLD with no particular raison d'être.
To me the whole concept of storing data in the DNS is okay, the only problem is that they added yet another TLD just for that purpose.

[cee]

Originally Posted by sdsinc

If they did, then .tel would be yet another TLD with no particular raison d'être.
To me the whole concept of storing data in the DNS is okay, the only problem is that they added yet another TLD just for that purpose.

I agree. Personally, I am hoping something really successful comes from this innovative concept. It has the potential, but the model still needs a good bit of work and more acceptance/recognition.

[Sterling]

I got Hoe.tel



Plus a couple others.

[sdsinc]

Telsters, what do you think about this article ?

R.I.P. Dot Com. We barely Knew Ye!

Enter the dot com killer. Welcome simplicity. Welcome Dot-tel.

I predict that within 4-6 years the .com TLD will be usurped from it’s lofty perch and be forever supplanted by .tel or one of its innovative contemporary TLDs.

IMO it's the type of arrogant BS that makes .tel enthusiasts look like ignorant dreamers and domaining wannabes.

[cee]

Sterling, nice! I hadn't thought of that. I just checked moe.tel and mow.tel, both taken.

Kate, you are right. Honestly, I think that is just good marketing (not believed) which consequently causes much attention over controversy and intelligent people writing articles to tell the world how ignorant these statements are (which the statements are and will never become reality).

However, controversial attention is still worthwhile attention. Just asked the rapper 50 cent. Every time he is about to release an album, instead of doing what traditional artists do, he'll simply disrespect as many popular artists as he can to get his name in the media, e.g. "Battle between 50 and Kayne West! Who will win the record sale battle!"

[Sterling]

Originally Posted by sdsinc

Telsters, what do you think about this article ?

IMO it's the type of arrogant BS that makes .tel enthusiasts look like ignorant dreamers and domaining wannabes.

I am not a dreamer. I just registered a couple of names. Hoe.Tel being the only vanity one. I registered my initals and the cities I live in. That is all. I do not think these things will go anywhere as far as price. That is why I didn't invest in several others I found available.

Originally Posted by cee

Sterling, nice! I hadn't thought of that. I just checked moe.tel and mow.tel, both taken.

Thanks!

[cee]

Originally Posted by Sterling

I registered my initals and the cities I live in.

I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't research the TLD enough before making my purchases. I got an e-mail from my registrar informing me that the .tel launch was approaching, and I thought to myself, "Interesting, .tel has great potential." After registering a bunch is when I learned that I should have gone after popular surnames, cities (as you did), and other such terms rather than brandable/neat names (which would have been good if this TLD was "normal"). Nevertheless, it'll be interesting to see what happens in the next couple months.

[Acro]

My thoughts are at my blog, in 4 parts - the 5th and final part will be posted sometime today - acro.net

BTW, none of the .tel domains I registered yesterday resolves.

[Carter]

Originally Posted by Acro

My thoughts are at my blog, in 4 parts - the 5th and final part will be posted sometime today - acro.net

BTW, none of the .tel domains I registered yesterday resolves.

I'm waiting the 5th part!

[cee]

Originally Posted by Acro

BTW, none of the .tel domains I registered yesterday resolves.

From what I've observed with all the ones I registered, which could be completely wrong, is that it takes an initial request to the domain which will return NXDOMAIN (Non-Existent Domain) from your ISP. After that, depending on your ISP, it will take some amount of time for the DNS record to propagate to your ISP. Once the DNS is active, your domain should work regularly.

EDIT: Additionally, I believe you must also at least log-in to your Telhost account (and maybe even add some bit of information, even if it is only a single word in the header textbox).

[woeger]

Acro, the reason they are likely not resolving is that there is about a 12 hour lag from when first registered. Also you need to log into their backend system and enter some data before will likely resolve. Their systems have been overwhelmed. I registered 7 .TELs yesterday once they opened it up. Had to use 3 registrars to try and get the names, as so many people were taking .TEL so fast and there was a delay from 2 of the 3 registrars. Moniker was the only one that could near instantly acquire .TEL names for me once the flood gates were opened up yesterday (albeit at a higher $14.99 price), Dynadot had them for $10.99 but was extremely slow in processing orders by PayPal. DomainDiscount24.com was the worst and was unable to acquire 3 other .TELs I was trying for.

You can see an example of how they resolve by clicking here (I am using the FOLDERS element to do sub menus with sub domains on my .TEL web pages, an example is the "Christian Books" link).

Think of .TELs as a mini web site that comes with free hosting (including in the reg. fee price) that works on both mobile phone (iPhone, etc) and regular browsers. You can do sub menus, web links, polling, etc.

They give examaples of doing polling/voting and running a Gossip type Hollywood site with your .TEL on the telnic.org site.

.TELs are way more useful than I originally heard about or imagined. I am using their back end system to try and be creative with my .TELs (currently which is hard to log in and is likely overloaded due to so many people entering their intial .TEL domain data/text updates).

I acquired many single word prime keywords and a few double word highly searched keywords relating to my web site before I saw that many good .TEL names were gone by last evening. I am a Christian minister and evangelist and distribute free writings and music via the web. I am not into domain monetization, so .TELs might not be good for people trying to maximize money out of .TELs, but for the average web customer that wants his/her information up on the web so people can find their resources and contact them, .TELs seems to fit that segment...

[Acro]

I won't say I didn't register any - I did, probably 7 or 8 .tel domains. But the overall impact is, that .tel is the worst generic TLD released ever, under the aspis of ICANN.

[cee]

Acro, while I mostly agree, I like to leave room for the unpredictable... and I think woeger has a good point about it possibly having more uses than we realize at first glance. I'm sure we will see some creative uses for it come about over time. Heck, people might even find little ways to exploit it so that further content can be displayed. Since afterall, it is still HTML.

[Acro]

cee, are you trying to justify your purchases after the deed is done? I will say this: any TLD that *forces* me to spend $325 per domain during sunrise to protect my trademark is criminal.

[cee]

Originally Posted by Acro

cee, are you trying to justify your purchases after the deed is done? I will say this: any TLD that *forces* me to spend $325 per domain during sunrise to protect my trademark is criminal.

Definitely not. I can grace delete them all for 20c/each right now, if I wanted to. And I plan to grace delete many of them. I am simply keeping an open mind.

Furthermore, I got both my trademarks for $10/yr yesterday. Unless your trademark is incredibly popular, it's your own fault for not being patient.

[Acro]

That's not the point my friend. Like hell I'd pay $325. But it's the first time in TLD history that pricing is different during the sunrise period. The .tel story deserves some really deep scrutiny.

[Albert Tai]

Mine already resolved already....www.cun.tel
Registering www.dun.tel right now

[woeger]

Also make sure to get listed in the free TELODEX link directory, so other people and search engine crawlers can find links to your .TEL name/web info. I just found this directory, and I'm sure many new directories will be popping up to cater to .TEL domains soon.

Many people are doing creative stuff, making link web sites (of a fashion) with their .TEL domains and sub-domains, and some people are now able to receive e-mail with their .TEL domains by adding a .MX record at their registrar or via the SOAP interface to the .TEL data. Search the telsters forum for tips on how to do these creative things.

Click here to see the .TEL sites already indexed in Google.

Pretty creative sites, and more than I had expected...

[Acro]

If you need a directory to list .tel domains, which are essentially contact pages with links on them, then it's crystal clear that the .tel TLD is a sore loser. Not even good as linkfarms.

Search for "pills.tel" in Google, then tell me what is the #1 result