New tools for .TEL domains

Joe — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:58:00 +0100

Two months after the launch of the .TEL extension (March 24th 2009), the registry Telnic, has announced that over 200,000 .TEL domains have been registered.

Just to remind you, this extension is different from other TLDs in terms of how it is managed and used. This is because it does not allow pointing to an A record. In short this means that it cannot be used for a website! What a strange type of domain name!! No, not really: the registry wants this extension to be a kind of digital directory, where the purpose of the DNS zone is to add contact information, which may or may not be publicly accessible. The .TEL domain would be, in a way, your digital address book on the internet!

For this, the Registry has recently put in place a range of new tools for its users that I will share with you:

.TEL on your BlackBerry
With the wide range of free downloads here (depending on the version of your BB), you will be able to find .TEL domains, send and receive TelFriend invitations, save the profiles of your friends in your directory, manage your .TEL identities (notably personal and professional), and even update your own synchronized data with the Registry.

.TEL on your iPhone
Downloadable directly from the AppleStore, the application provided by Telnic allows you to manage your .TEL domains, to find you via the GPS of your iPhone (for authorized contacts), to choose the status of your profile at any time (available, busy, out to lunch, etc.), to choose the keywords of your .TEL domains, and the information that you would like to publish/hide depending on your contacts, and thus fine tune the management of all the privacy settings.

.TEL plug-in for Outlook
If you are a happy Outlook user (they exist!), you can use a plug-in provided by Telnic that will allow you to search .TEL contact files, add them to your directory, and even manage your own records, update them with the registry and choose your level of privacy depending on your contacts. There is a guide to help you with this here, and the plug-in is available here.

.TEL. on your website as a contact page.
You can also add and integrate your .TEL domain to your existing website as a contact page. This page will be automatically updated if you change your .TEL information (via your iPhone, for example). You may also choose the links that you would like to display, and the way that they will appear so that they will match the look and feel of your website. You can see an example of this here, and the kit for installing this system can be downloaded here.

For those of you that do not have an iPhone or BlackBerry and who prefer to avoid Outlook (they exist too!), you can edit your records on the platform that Gandi makes available to you. Remember that we have changed the URL of the website and now, rather than going to https://telhosting.gandi.net you can go directly to https://www.teladmin.net. Your handles and passwords remain the same. To comment on this article please visit the Gandibar!

Launching of .TEL - Full opening Today at 4 PM (Paris time)

Ryan — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:24:00 +0100

After the Sunrise and Landrush phases (underway until March 23rd), .TEL domains will finally be available to everyone as of March 24th.

Online pre-reservation for this final phase is available at Gandi. Registration will be made on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration requests that failed will be fully refunded. The price for a .TEL domain has been set at 14 euros per year excl. VAT under A rates.

As a reminder, please do not forget that the .TEL extension is unlike other extensions! You will be unable to have a website with an address like example.tel. The purpose of the extension is to store and manage your personal contact information in a format that can be easily handled and accessed by everyone or specific persons via DNS records.

We invite you to discover all of the possibilities that are available to you on the registry's website at http://telnic.org/

In any case, I invite you to read our contract.

Please feel free to contact our customer service department if you have any questions concerning the registration process.

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Click here to search for a .TEL

Gandi IWI Blog - tel

New tools for .TEL domains

Launching of .TEL - Full opening Today at 4 PM (Paris time)