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According to Telnic, the operator of the Internet TLD .tel, .tel is “the most significant innovation in the domain name system since the advent of .com”. Is this true, or is it really just a novelty?

About .tel

.tel is an ICANN approved sponsored TLD (Top-Level Domain) which was launched on December 3rd, 2008. It is currently only available to trademark owners who have a “national effect”. It will be available on February 3rd, 2009 to anyone who owns a trademark and wants to apply.

It was created as a way for corporations and trademark owners to have websites that people can visit to contact them. According to Telnic, Ltd., the operators of the .tel domain, .tel is “the most significant innovation in the domain name system since the advent of .com”.

So, is .tel the biggest Internet innovation sense .com?

I am going to be straightforward. No, .tel is not the biggest Internet innovation sense the launch of .com. Honestly, I think the Internet may have actually taken a gigantic leap backwards with the launch of .tel. There are approximately 600 .tel domains all ready registered, and from what I have found, they are all EXACTLY the same, including the design and layout.

Basically, all a .tel website displays is the Telnic logo, and the contact information for the company and/or person who owns the domain. According to Telnic, .tel offers businesses a “adaptable and intelligent service that will let customers interact with them in any way they want”. From what I have found, this is completely and totally incorrect. All it does is list generic contact information, such as telephone number, email address and street address. I am not even sure an owner of a .tel domain can use there own hosting or servers.

Businesses have far more ways to interact with there customers with the current domains, such as, .com, .net, .tv, etc. For example: live chat, email forms, forums, etc. The .tel TLD is completely pointless, and is nothing more than a novelty. I predict that .tel won’t last 2 years, and most likely will not be able to compete with the better and larger TLDs.