When Telnic opens .TEL registration to the public, prices will drop to an average of $20 US from the Landrush price of $375. The day before a TLD opens for General Registration is always a busy time for domain investors and participating registrars – and judging by talk on blogs and Twitter, TEL is no exception. Registrars are reporting thousands of last minute pre-registrations.

I was curious to see if there were quality names left, so I did some quick dot-TEL searches on random words and phrases. It appears that tonnes of GREAT names are still available on this last day of Landrush. While this shouldn’t be a big surprise give the price tag for Landrush, it’s exciting because it means those willing to invest in .TEL names at $20 a pop will probably snag some good ones.

Here’s a sample of what I found in 10 minutes of searching:

In other .TEL news, Telnic, the .TEL registry operator recently launched a free, open source iPhone application for .TEL names that has been submitted to the Apple App Store and should be available in the near future.

Register .TEL on March 24 with an official .TEL registrar.

The premium fees that were applied during the public Landrush registration period to dissuade domain squatters from buying .TEL domains for resale purposes will drop by 90% on Tuesday, March 24, 2009. General Registration will see registration fees fall from nearly $400 USD to approximately $20 USD at many participating registrars.

The Sunrise registration period was reserved for Trademark owners and allowed them exclusive rights to protect their trademark names. The first-come, first-served Landrush registration period has been designed to allow anyone to apply early for brand oriented names not protected by a trademark, as well as premium names.

With the floodgates opening on .TEL next Tuesday, businesses and organizations might want to act now to ensure they control important .TEL domains related to their initiatives. While all businesses risk losing important variations of their primary domain names by neglecting to register them, it is typically high-traffic, high profile companies or organizations that are targeted.

Even if trademark laws are on your side, the Landrush registration fee is probably a bargain when compared to costs of legally wresting your domain back from a cybersquatter. The cheapest and easiest method to protecting your trademarks and variants online is to register your domains before someone else does.

Businesses and organizations should also consider registering variations of their trademarks and brands including: common misspellings and/or typos, plurals and singulars.

Register .TEL names during Landrush, or Pre-book .TEL names risk free for General Registration with an official .TEL registrar.

The .TEL WHOIS Lookup is presently available off of Telnic’s website, and that of other official .TEL registrars. A .TEL WhoIs entry varies slightly from other TLD’s and ccTLD’s in the following addition at the end:

By executing this query, in any manner whatsoever, you agree to abide by these terms.
Contact information: Disclosure of contact data is restricted because of UK and EU Data Protection legislation. The contact details for this contact ID may be available by looking up a domain object in the WHOIS system. The information can also be obtained through the Telnic Special Access Service. Visit http://www.sas.nic.tel for more details.

Visit Telnic’s site for more information about .TEL Privacy and how private data is encrypted and stored inside to NAPTR records of type “x-crypto”. A PDF of Telnic’s WhoIs Policy can be found here.

TEL WHOIS example - BMW.tel

Register/Pre-register .TEL domains risk free for Landrush and General Registration with an official .TEL registrar.

Key Highlights:

#3 – The .TEL Story

Telnic has broken a Guinness World Record for…

The longest startup Guinness Book of Records nine years without revenue!

Haha… before you think these guys are crazy, they have US$36 million of funding from serious investors and equally serious technical backup from the likes of Siemens and leading DNS experts.

Nine years without revenue is quite a challenge, but also gives them plenty of time to grow this service, I would guess?

# 6 – Explanation of .TEL’s Directory Advantages

.TEL can even be used for large and complex corporate directories.

.TEL  can be used for implementing complex global directories for large or multinational corporations using hierarchical pages and sub pages.

• Replacing complex IVR solutions for customers (hertz.tel: try to get the phone number of a local rental agency while on the move)

 • Exposing easily and quickly the main address and phone coordinates, usually available on its Web site at the last page of the annual report

• Allowing multilingual key words for each sub page–extend the brand in the communications area

For example, I was shown a demo by Fabien on how it can easily replace a directory like our Singapore government directory SGDI in a flash. Now, if only this service was introduced a couple of years back, I bet our Singapore Government would have saved a lot of money setting up and maintaining SGDI.

Read the full article – 10 things you didn’t know about .tel domains

Register/Pre-register .TEL domains risk free for Landrush and General Registration with an official .TEL registrar.

If, like Latona, you are a domain investor who is “not entirely sure what to think about .TEL names, especially when it concerns the reseller market,” you should read this interview.

Here’s an excerpt:

Latona:                                                                                                                                                                                                                             How can my audience (professional domainers) profit from .TEL names?

Mahdavi:                                                                                                                                                                                                                The .TEL adds several monetization opportunities that investors should appreciate which widen the ability for a domain developer to generate revenue in parallel with traditional website-driven monetization strategies.

The .TEL spreads the risk of investing over multiple methods of generating revenue, such as PPC and premium rate numbers for voting and betting services.  There is also value in owning vanity names, whether business or consumer focused.  It’s also possible to run a commercial directory service under a .TEL domain and, of course, it is possible to provide links to revenue generating e-commerce storefronts.  Additionally, due to the unique content published in a .TEL domain, pairing it with existing investments in .com and other domain names will lead to better SEO – a key goal in revenue generation.

Other questions brought forward by Latona include:

How has your launch gone so far? Have you registered more, less or about what you expected?                                           
Don’t you think that bloggers and individuals would be more likely to get .TEL names if they were less expensive?

Addressing the domaining community, Mahdavi concludes the interview by saying: 

The .TEL is now creating new opportunities for the domainer community, as well as a new ecosystem that includes non-traditional players entering the domain name industry, such as social networking sites, directory service providers and Voice over IP companies. Some have already begun the process of becoming an ICANN Accredited registrar as they see the potential of the .TEL as a communications hub for businesses and individuals. We believe that these non-traditional players will be a driving force of growth for .TEL domains and the domain name industry as a whole and lead to a new value being assigned to domain names.

Read the interview for yourself and let us know if you think Mahdavi’s answers measure up.

Register/Pre-register .TEL domains risk free for Landrush and General Registration with an official .TEL registrar.

The Chief Strategist and CTO of Telnic, Asseily explains “the philosophy behind” .TEL’s Acceptable Use Policy as it pertains to delegation. The basic gist of it is this: .TEL domain registrants are not allowed to sell or provide free sub-delegation to businesses or people outside of the parties outlined in the Acceptable Use Policy ( aka – existing businesses or close family members).

From 4.2, Section B, on Sub-Delegations

The registration and/or use of the Extended Name is free of charge to and is only for the use of subsidiaries, business units or employees of the company or members of the association that is the Domain Name Holder, and is not offered as a service to third parties, or, where the Domain Name Holder is a natural person, the Extended Name is only for the personal use of the Domain Name Holder or the family of the Domain Name Holder, is not offered as a service to third parties, and no fee or other compensation is charged in connection with such sub-delegation.

So how does that impact your plans for directory domination with (for example sake only…) coffeeshop.tel, hairsalons.tel or portland.tel?

You can provide a paid-for directory service on your .TEL domain as long as you retain the rights and responsibilities of the domain and do not sub-delegate.

As explained by Asseily:

Providing a “concierge service” to update contact information is acceptable within the AUP, whether automated through do-it-yourself front-ends, or manual. However, it is assumed that the data published by you is covered by the normal and regional rules and laws for data protection, and you must have the informed consent of the owners of that data (which, as a for-pay service, is the case) unless the data is already freely available from other sources. This would be a legitimate information service that would not be in breach of the AUP.

Now that we’re clear about what’ kosher regarding .TEL sub-domain delegation, let us know if this affects your .TEL plans.

Read More About this Topic
The Rik Notes - .Tel delgation policy: what it means
Telnic’s Acceptable Use Policy

Normally when people talk about the dot TEL, it’s in the context of ‘connecting for life’ or being ‘easier to find’. This is true. A dot TEL allows you to attach all of your contact information to a single name like JohnSmith.tel, so you have one simple name to give to people, from which they can get all your contact information, whether though a web page, cell phone or other internet enabled device. Anytime you update your contact information, the updates are automatically propagated to anyone you’ve given your dot TEL name to, so you never lose contact.

At the same time, you can decide exactly who sees what information, so friends and family may be able to see more personal information than business connections or acquaintances.

Setting the Stage: Depreciation of the Phone Number (and other Contact Details)

When was the last time you visited http://74.125.19.103/? Chances are it was less than 10 minutes ago.  It’s the IP address associated with Google.com (one of many, as Google is so popular).  In the late 80’s and early 90’s it was quite normal to enter IP addresses instead of domain names, especially in academic circles, when people were starting play with the web and put up their own sites.

The DNS (Domain Name System) maps easy to remember names like Google.com to IP addresses like 74.125.19.103; but, ultimately it’s the IP address that identifies the specific host computer to connect to. It’s hard to believe that it took more than two and a half years to register the first 100 .COM names, but now that we’re there, who’d want to go back to remembering numbers?

Just like IP addresses, telephone numbers are the mechanism by which we connect to other parties and just like IP addresses, it’s a good system – but it doesn’t make them easy to remember.

Personally, I don’t care what Google’s IP address is. It’s a detail that doesn’t help me accomplish my goal. Similarly, I don’t care what my daughter’s cell phone number is – I just want to be able to reach her easily. One of the reasons I like the cell phone so much is I can simply “Call Grace Mobile” and I’m done. I’m happy if the underlying mechanism that enables me to achieve my goal stays hidden from me -  whether it be a number, an e-mail address, an Instant Messaging ID, profile URL for a social site or any other mechanism that allows me to connect.

“Call Grace”, “E-mail Grace”, “Message Grace”, “Map Grace” – it makes a lot more sense.

Execution: Escaping the Grid

Chances are that if you’ve had your number or e-mail address for a while, you receive SPAM and marketing calls, despite best efforts of legislation and initiatives like the Do Not Call Registry . Enter dot TEL and all of that could be a thing of the past.

Here’s the plan:

I have lane.tel. It’s easy to remember and I can attach all of my contact information – both business and personal. It’s on my business card for convenience and I can give it to someone in a conversation. My hope is eventually to have it as the only listed item in the White Pages and other directories.

If you were to lookup lane.tel (after February 25th, when .TEL names go live) on your smart phone or browser, you’ll see only the public information I elect to share with everyone – my name, title, business name, business phone (switchboard only) and corporate web site (I don’t want to be completely off the grid).

Anyone wanting more information would need to send me a friending request. This can be done directly off the web page or through the smart phone.  I am notified by e-mail of all requests and can evaluate each one and assign it to a privacy group I’ve set up that determines what information you’ll be able to see. If I receive a request from a business connection, they’ll be able to see my work e-mail, my direct dial number, business profiles (LinkedIn) and additional business information. For friends and family, the information will include my home number, mobile, social media profiles, etc.

All non-public information is protected by 1024 bit encryption. To put this in context, there are teams of security experts out there with the expressed goal of cracking this encryption. According to the security team at Kaspersky, it would take 15 million modern computers, running for about a year to crack. I like to think of this as some hacker with a laptop waiting 15 million years to discover my e-mail address.

So my friends, family and business connections now have my .TEL. They can “Call Matt”, “E-mail Matt”, etc and if I ever move, change my e-mail, lose my cell phone, the specific contact details change, but since they’re automatically propagated, my contacts can simply “Call Matt” and “E-mail Matt” and probably wouldn’t know or care that my numbers have changed.

And that’s the plan. Get a .TEL, attach my contact details, distribute my .TEL and then change any numbers, e-mail accounts, etc that I don’t want known in the public domain. It doesn’t preclude me being contacted and I remain visible through the presence of my .TEL name – but only people I authorise know my details.

I know it’s not a perfect plan. It’s a hassle to change contact details and since my contacts can see my details, it’s relatively easy for the information to get back into the public domain. Spamming and telemarketing also include random and sequential mechanisms that ‘guess’ at addresses and numbers,   but still, it’s a step in the right direction and gives me back control of my own information.

Register/Pre-register .TEL domains risk free for Landrush and General Registration with an official .TEL registrar. Get in early for your best chance to secure premium names!

In an email sent to VIP.tel name holders on January 30, 2009, Telnic states the following:

Thank you for participating in the VIP.tel trial.  We continue to receive a good level of feedback much of which is either being incorporated into the beta trial or which will be available on launch.  Thank you if you have already provided us with your thoughts, and if you have more please do continue to provide it to us.

If for any reason you have not logged in to your domain (we have heard some instances of people not getting a confirmation email), please use the following log in to try your test domain out:

URL: http://demo.vip.tel
Username: XXXXXXX
Password:  If you have forgotten your password please email vip-support@telnic.org

System Update

You may have noticed that the management console was unavailable for a period of time again today.  We have today updated the trial system to include Profiles (which enable you to group, order and select contact information to display, for example, ‘home’, ‘work’, ‘travelling’, ‘vacation’, etc) which brings the functionality of the .tel up to that available in the commercial release.

Updated User Guide

We will shortly be updating the user guide to reflect the changes that have been made in the trial with an explanation of this additional functionality.  This can be found in the same place as before:  http://www.telnic.com/downloads/vipguide.pdf

Please enjoy the renewed control over your contact information that you now have with this release of the trial program and any further comments or questions please email vip-support@telnic.org or join the discussion on the VIP discussion forum at http://dev.telnic.org.

With thanks,

VIP Support

 I am excited to try out the new VIP.tel functionality described above – eg. Profiles – and report back.  Since the recent upgrades are supposed to reflect functionality of the commercial release, I’m interested to know what you think as well.  Test it out and give us your Feedback!

Register/Pre-register .TEL domains risk free for Landrush and General Registration with an official .TEL registrar. Get in early for your best chance to secure premium names! .TEL Landrush begins February 3, 2009.

The .TEL domain has huge potential to make businesses easier to find and contact, as well as help them gain exposure in new global markets.  For around $19.99 US a year,  the potential seems to outweigh the risk by far in my estimation.

Here’s a list of my Top 6 Reasons Why Your  Business Should Register a dot-TEL domain name:

Make your company easier to find, easier to reach, easier to remember
Create your own interactive communications hub under YourBusiness.TEL.  Publish all the ways your business can be contacted: phone, mobile, fax, email, VoIP IM handles and geo-location data. Store additional information such as website URL’s and multi-lingual keywords specific to each of your departments or locations.

Let customers connect directly to the person/department they need
YourBusiness.tel enables you to relay customers to the department or location of their choice using a simple, DNS based  navigation structure

Never lose contact again
YourBusiness.tel is essentially an entry in an online global directory that you have complete access and control over..TEL  allows you to update your contact information in real-time, so it is never inaccurate or out-of-date when customers or prospects want to contact you.

Empower customers with the choice of how to connect
YourBusiness.tel makes your business accessible from any Inertnet device connected to the internet. Customers and prospects need only to type in YourBusiness.tel into a browser, select a method of contact (email, mobile phone,  etc.) and click to initiate communication.

Increase your search engine visibility and drive traffic to your website
YourBusiness.tel can increase your business’ online discoverability in different markets through the publication of multi-lingual keywords for each department and location. These keywords are indexed by leading search engines, improving your overall online visibility.

Gain a web presence – and mobile presence – without hosting or coding
The  .TEL webpage where visitors click to initiate communication also doubles as a mobile website. Because the information contained in .TEL is stored in the DNS, a .TEL page loads incredibly fast compared to traditional website content and html enabling YourBusiness.tel to be accessed quickly by mobile devices.

Register/Pre-register .TEL domains risk free for Landrush and General Registration with an official .TEL registrar. Get in early for your best chance to secure premium names!

With over 123 different local precinct telephone numbers, emergency and non-emergency contact information and crime reduction initiatives, NYPD.tel will provide simplify access to departments and personnel especially from mobile devices.

NYPD.tel exemplifies the enormous potential .TEL has to help public organizations charged with providing diverse services under multiple contact points.

“Clearly, the number one priority for public services and amenities is to provide a clear way for people to get the information they need quickly,” said Khashayar Mahdavi, CEO of Telnic ,”As .TEL domains are focused solely on contact information, they provide the best way for people to gain access to the services they need regardless of the device they are using.”

Municipalities and other public sector and government services that don’t own their trademarks can register their .TEL domains beginning February 3rd 2009 !

Read the press release, New York’s Finest buy NYPD.tel.

Register/Pre-register .TEL domains risk free for Landrush and General Registration with Webnames.ca, an official .TEL registrar.