.tel = .fail

[BobDiGiTaL]

So you'd rather spend $200 for 3 years instead of $30 and be able to build a web site with a contact page and a form and whatever else....

I've heard of fashion victims but that's the first time I witness TLD victims in action.

All but two of you are all missing what is going on here. I'm not saying registrer everything you can think of dot tel, but 'your name' dot tel may not be a bad idea.
It is way more than a static contact page. Your contact info can change, and so does the info on your dot tel domain.
If you are at home, your contact info would be your home phone. When you are in your car, your contact would be your cell phone, when you get to work, the office phone number would be your contact info. you can set your info by time or even by physical location.
one of the more practical uses is the way your contact info can be updated. Every time you get a new phone number, you do not have to call all 1000 of your friends and have them edit your info, just change or add the number to 'yourname.tel' and its instantly updated.
there is a super secure 1024 bit encryption, and no need to go to a website, all info is gathered via DNS, and since the transfer is less than 1KB, no charge for the download.
dot tel was given their extension in 2006 and in 3 years they have built a very sophisticated platform.
after the 24th, for 20$ a year you get a fully functioning service, not just a URL

 

[Marketing Guru]

Steve, do you have any examples of what else might be created on .tel? What other data are you thinking about, and how could it be organized, stored and used in an unexplored way that would be better than, or offer different potential than the current system?

Thanks.

- MG

It is interesting to me how some people like to describe .tel domains as only holding "contact" information. Yes, this is a big sales point, however, more accurately, .tel domains store "data".

You can very efficiently organize DATA in the DNS of virtually any type. Yes this is true of any other domain, but this is the specialty of .tel.

So no, you can't have a web page, but you can organize and store information in a way previously unexplored.

Will it be successful? That remains to be seen. I have actually written an article about this and other related topics in my blog, but rather than repeat, I will just expand and comment on what's being said here.

It's really easy to say dot-tel will fail because all other TLDs have not lived up to .com and this is just another TLD. But for those who are creative and daring , dot-tel may be the thing.

The other upside is that this TLD offers a level playing field for entry. So for those of us who don't have a one-word or LLL.com filled portfolio, .tel offers some interesting possibilities in a number of areas.

I also understand that the success of a new TLD could negatively affect the value of your other domain holdings. If ***.tel gains the lead in headspace then ***.net isn't so exciting.

But dot-tel isn't meant to compete like that, it's different.
If you don't get it, stick with the other TLDs.
If you do get it, I am looking forward to seeing what you create.

 

[ftaylor]

.tel is NOT a developers dream. Where can I upload my nice php scripts? Where can I add some clever ajax interaction? Where can I add some jquery thickboxes?

What? I can upload data "in ways that have not been imagined before"... Ooooh, that's clever, I'll go and write a better version in php and put it on a real domain.. where I can make it look how I want, and put whatever content I want on it, and whatever interaction I want on it, and whatever clever tracking cookies scripts and advertising I want on it.

A developers dream? What the ****?

 

[katherine]

Really, I am trying hard to understand the business model that is being put forward by the .tel enthusiasts.
I must be missing something.

 

[burningspleen]

.tel sux. get a real .com address and put your contact info there.

 

[Theo]

You have to read through all this perfectly massaged fluff.

Fool's gold - Part 1
Fool's gold - Part 2

 

[FreakySteve]

At this stage in the game, from a development perspective, having the choice of almost any .tel for $300 (for 3 years) or having to sift through .com hopefuls, I would definitely choose the .tel. Even more so for the $20.

No one is denying the fact that you can set up similar services using other TLDs. This is mentioned in many sources, but if you did decide to set up a similar service under a different TLD then you are supporting the concept, just not supporting the domain itself. Awesome, rebuild something that you can register k:

If you need a bunch of fancy interface objects and other widgets and whatnot to spruce-up your content, then dot-tel may not be for you. But it might, you just need to apply some creativity.

With a dot-tel you can easily store any kind of data in the DNS. So you can organize pretty much anything you want at a higher level than you can serving straight web pages. Yes you can store contact information, but there is a lot of potential for working with other types of data. It is "unexplored" because no one has yet tried doing data storage using the DNS like this. Is that useful? We're going to find out very soon.

Can you put ajax, etc. into an RSS feed?
If you are a dot-tel hater and you use Twitter, please raise your hand :?:

 

[Theo]

Did you read my analysis or are you simply preaching to the lemmings?

"Store any kind of data" at the DNS is akin to trusting your house and car keys to your local bar. I don't see why the DNS should be injected with any data e.g. financial info or who would be dumb enough to envision databases compiled from DNS records on the fly.

For $300 you can buy a lot of decent .com, .net, .org etc. domains, or invest in a solid domain with more money. You can also be creative yourself and come up with a brandable name that does not exist.

All of the supposed revolutionary elements that .tel would bring are soap bubbles. Now, if you feel that you *must* have a specific keyword that's already taken in all the other TLD's, just wait for the next available .whatever that at least supports DNS management and thus permits real use. Paying a premium price for a Yellow Pages equivalent is just a method of suckering people into thinking that they're getting gold.

 

[katherine]

Creativity ? I'm afraid you are the one who is going to need a good deal of creativity when you take possession of your worthless domains.
Buying domains a $300 a pop is bad enough (expensive for a vcard) but on top of that you anticipate that people would pay to be listed in the middle of the Mars desert ? You don't even have traffic stats

 

[Theo]

I never thought I'd say I love .mobi
.tel is the ultimate bastard child of the TLD family.

 

[FreakySteve]

Did you read my analysis or are you simply preaching to the lemmings?

By your "analysis" are you referring to your "Fool's Gold Articles"?

I just want to be sure I haven't missed an article somewhere.

 

[Theo]

Yes, that's the executive summary for those that are too lazy to read all 130 posts of this thread.

 

[PRED]

I never thought I'd say I love .mobi
.tel is the ultimate bastard child of the TLD family.

Framed :smilewinkgrin:

:amen:

 

[FreakySteve]

Okay, just wanted to be sure, and yes I did. Congrats k:

Although I am sure that it is all of the information "those that are too lazy to read all 130 posts of this thread" would ever need to assess the value of something like dot-tel, it is nice to know there are alternates that offer a less tainted and/or biased view, although I do enjoy reading both sides.

Some additions to the "Cliff Notes":

http://www.telsters.com/2009/03/dot-tel-articles-for-telsters/
http://www.telsters.com/2009/02/articles-for-telsters-2/

And although I do not carry a 5, 4 or even 3 figure post count at this site, I have written my share of dot-tel commentary and am happy to support this new TLD.

 

[katherine]

The demise of a TLD in 6 acts

Act I
Introducing .tel.
"Many experts believe, that the .tel is perhaps the biggest innovation since the launch of .com".
The .tel TLD is poised to revolutionize the Internet landscape like no other extension before.

Act II
According to the .tel proponents the World needs a standard to organize and distribute structured contact details over the Internet. Definitely there must be a need for it.
The product is so superior that it speaks for itself. Never mind if the registry has the attributes of a lone wolf operation with no industry backing.

Act III
Domainers flock in to register landrush domains at outlandish fees.

Act IV
Tick tock.

Act V
As the years go by, domainers are still sitting on their undeveloped virtual properties. This time you can't blame them – they just couldn't develop.
The defensive registrations are equally dead and unremarkable.
So many extensions out there, it's easy to drown in.

Act VI
Time to drop and cut losses.
Moving forward.
Disillusioned .tel investors eagerly wait for the next TLD launch which hopefully, this time, will reveal itself as the Cornucopia of domaining they have been waiting for.
History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes.

 

[ftaylor]

I'd just like to point out that Dynadot.com home page still says :

TEL Landrush Get in on the ground floor of a brand new TLD, dotTEL! Almost all TEL domains are still available.

As someone commented on Acro's blog, .tel is going to be a data miner's dream come true. Freakysteve, you still haven't given any evidence of an interesting development opportunity.

Sure, you can fill your generic themed DNS stored data slot with textual content, but what then? Change the structure for SEO purposes? Oh, can't do it. Put a nice logo on it? Oh, can't do it. Use an analytics package to monitor your traffic? Bet you can't. Add new and interesting content for Google to index? Add new pages? What? Can't do it?

 

[FreakySteve]

Well, as tempted as I was to post a reply titled "6 steps to writing a 3 act story", I also realized that I would be going completely off-topic.

Instead, what I have noticed is that all dot-tel haters share the same handful of arguments and you are also very fierce to defend those few arguments.

If you do not understand the potential, then fine for you. Especially if you have been in the domain business for a long time. Yes, in fact, please stay away from dot-tel domains.

If you are only able to park domains, or pull PPC revenue, or redirect traffic through web pages, again, feel free to stay away. Dot-tel doesn't need to be filled with more inefficient, unpleasant, redundancies.

Dot-tel has already created a following and the followers of this domain are up for the challenge. Dot-tel developers (or Telsters) will be trying some new things, while drawing from the old, and there will definitely be some innovations coming very soon.

The mindset of telsters versus dot-tel haters should be a strong indicator alone of what is on the horizon.

 

[Theo]

Steve, staying away from .tel is a must for all domainers and developers with a mind focused on one element: to make money.

We develop, resell, monetize domains; .tel is a dead duck even before its launch. We don't hate the extension, we hate its fake usefulness and castrated functionality.

 

[katherine]

Steve, the onus is on the .tel supporters to present convincing business plans.
I have yet to hear of a realistic way of monetizing .tel domains.
I believe it's Rick who once said traffic is the fuel of the Internet... without traffic domains are useless. Ironically you can't even measure traffic to your .tel domains... supposing you get traffic that is. By traffic I of course include DNS queries.

 

[ftaylor]

Admit it. You wasted your money.