.tel = .fail

[Rick823]

According to the Telnic Acceptable Use Policy, all domains (even those names that are TradeMarked) are available to be registered at this moment... Does this policy agreement negate (or lessen) the threat of trademark infringement proceedings?


Edit: Btw, I do see the value in .tel domains. Simply put, it's the first system being put in place to create a webpage standard. Even if it's only text, it'll be the only standard out there for now. The fact that it's updatable information means countless products and applications can be created to take advantage of it.

 

[katherine]

1. What makes you think such a standard is actually needed or wanted in the first place ? By whom ?
2. How is that standard supposed to go mainstream without industry backing ?
Example of failed standards include wap, betamax etc and it was not for lack of industry support.

Maybe you feel .tel is so much different, well it is. But for non-domainers it's yet another extension. Most Internet-savvy persons are aware of .com/.net/.org, their own ccTLD, maybe .us .biz and a handful of other extensions but everything else is terra incognita to them.
The registries are telling us we need a separate site on .mobi for mobile visitors, then a .tel to store contact information, and while you are so doing why not grab a .jobs for your company. Are you going to carry on fragmenting your online presence across an ever-growing myriad of junk TLDs. We need to draw the line somewhere.

 

[Theo]

I propose .frag as a new TLD for players of Quake Arena !

 

[cee]

...

 

[burningspleen]

My bad . . . my early posts championed .tel. I'm glad I skipped this dog. .tel is a fraud.

 

[Theo]

EpicFail.tel still available

 

[burningspleen]

Here are my findings. Unrelated means the .tel site does not correspond with the .com site. Real means site .tel site matches the .com site. I added some to the list out of curiosity. .tel is a bust.

Coca-Cola.tel - DNS error - cannot find server
BMW.tel - squatter
ESPN.tel - squatter
Heineken.tel - real
Fox.tel - real
Marriott.tel - DNS error - cannot find server
DHL.tel - DNS error - cannot find server
Disney.tel - real
Time.tel - DNS error - cannot find server
Ferrari.tel - real
DolceGabbana.tel - real
BofA.tel (Bank of America) - - DNS error - cannot find server
bankofamerica.tel - - DNS error - cannot find server
UniversalPictures.tel - - DNS error - cannot find server
Cisco.tel - real
Iberia.tel- DNS error - cannot find server
ING.tel - DNS error - cannot find server
Hertz.tel- DNS error - cannot find server
NBA.tel- DNS error - cannot find server
Maxim.tel - found, unrelated
Purina.tel - real
VolvoCars.tel - DNS error - cannot find server
Xbox.tel- DNS error - cannot find server
Fidelity.tel- DNS error - cannot find server
FoxNews.tel (24h banner on TV!!!!) - real
Lufthansa.tel - real
Zagat.tel- DNS error - cannot find server
Barclays.tel-real
Castrol.tel-real?
WWF.tel- DNS error - cannot find server
yahoo.tel - real, unrelated
AXA.tel - real
Polo.tel- DNS error - cannot find server
BusinessWeek.tel- DNS error - cannot find server
linkedin.tel - real, unrelated
nestle.tel - real
amazon.tel - real
google.tel -real
paypal.tel - real
microsoft.tel - DNS error - cannot find server
tigerwoods.tel - real, unrelated
oracle.tel- DNS error - cannot find server
sony.tell- DNS error - cannot find server
dell.tel -- DNS error - cannot find server

 

[DomainsInc]

FoxNews.tel (24h banner on TV!!!!) - real

I think you mean foxnews.mobi...

 

[ftaylor]

Wow. I actually just had a look at a .tel page for the first time. How hideous. Can you not turn off the huge .tel logo in the top right hand corner?

Further:

Just looked at a few more. It seems to me that every .tel page has a link to a non .tel domain name. If .tel is the be all and end all, why do they all link away from .tel?

 

[burningspleen]

milk it if you can. myspace is pushing .tel to its members for ~$20. maybe if enough suckers get a .tel we'll end this recession sooner!

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/telnic-limited-offer-tel-domains-myspace/

 

[Theo]

Wow. I actually just had a look at a .tel page for the first time. How hideous. Can you not turn off the huge .tel logo in the top right hand corner?

Nope. And you can't add your own.

 

[katherine]

milk it if you can. myspace is pushing .tel to its members for ~$20. maybe if enough suckers get a .tel we'll end this recession sooner!

Social-networking sites hardly make any money so they have to rely on affiliate schemes like this one

 

[ftaylor]

No, just myspace lagged behind everyone else, and they're now desperately jumping on the .tel boat to try and scrape some money together.

 

[Seraphim]

It's a great sign that some of the behemoth cooperate TM holders are rejecting this extension. What would be even better is if instead of extorting money out companies protecting their brands, all of the registries (especially with new TLDs) could create the simple option of excluding a TM domain from the extension altogether (typos included). There should be an application process for that even with .com.

 

[Theo]

I'd rather see a coalition of corporations form a single front and sue the registries.

 

[ftaylor]

What would be good is if the registries had refused to sell .tel in the first place.

 

[Seraphim]

Imagine my last name, cox.tel... Try shaking gay phone sex off of that thing.