Dot Tel domains (.tel): The pros and cons, and the constructive criticism

First of all, I heartily thank Bill, for his fantastic blog „DOT TEL DOMAINS BLOG“, at http://dottel.blogspot.com/.

I agree with many of his statements, especially, about the .tel domain registry Telnic. And I can hear a lot of disappointment within his comments.

How good is the communication between Telnic and the holders of .tel domains?: The call for a professional webdesigner for the Dot Tel interface and look, had never been realized.

Bill put the question, once again, if one should renew or drop the .tel domains, and he tends to not renew most of them, due to his „uncertain future for .tel“ vision. Bills comments are easy to follow and understand, according to common sense. However, investors should aim a long term strategy of about five years, and then make a decision to drop the .tel domains, or not. If you don't think in long terms, you are not investing. Neither are you investing, if you are not taking financial risks.

Besides all the improvements for the look and the promotion of .Tel that could have been done, but haven't been done, and after ca. two years, since online, .Tel is clearly underestimated, undervalued, and hardly, or not understood. The Dot Tel domain is a Internet landing page for contact and business information, and a lot more. The domain works partly „out of the box“, and can be, on the other part, configured, with a bit of nitty gritty work, to a efficient SEO booster, and a domain that gets found in Internet.

I doubt that any .tel domain with an good name is a waste of money, if used and kept up to date.

Dot Tel domains are here to stay. The key is public education, but which hasn't taken place on a grand scale.

The monitary system is not favorable for long term investments: It depends strongly on short term profits. Every one thinking, they could make short term profits with .tel domains, must give up those expectations. The value of a domain, is not the value in form of money, that you can cash in, at a given time. With time, certain domains get sought after, by a few people, who know what they could do with them. Offer them, where there is competition from other bidders: At an live auction.

If we drop a .tel domain, or sell it under value, we lose in the long term, but save expenses in the short term: So what do you prefer, and what can you afford?

Even Dot Biz and Dot Mobi will become established and accepted by a wider audience. The are late comers, same as Dot Tel.

Now, imagine, you could just buy a domain, without having to renenew it every year...: No droped domains, would be the result.

Now imagine, Dot Tel's would cost only $5 instead of $10 (http://www.name.com/ price): The result would be....: Less droped domains. Both szenarios sound like fair deals.

For a reseller, or for a domainer with a large portfolio, the domain prices are probably too high, for uncertain long term investments: Why don't the domain registries take such a fact into account, with non-established domain creations?

The decisions are always based on financial thoughts and related to current market prices.
Basically, a good domain name and ranking, has nothing to do with money. And money shouldn't spoil the success, potential and fun.

As I once pointet out: The domain extension ".tel", is probably the best of all existing domain extension, by just looking at the extension itself. And no other existing domain name extension suits better for mobile phone computing.

People have never asked, what sense the domain name extension ".com" makes: But ".com" just got accepted and established with time, by the masses. ".com" could either mean "communication", "commerce", "company", "computing", whatever.

With ".tel", I think, people can't easily make the bridge from Internet domain to telephone, respectively, why should a website URL have a extension, that reminds you of "tel-ephone"?

As soon as Internet and the smart phone become a natural related thing, there might be a run after anything, that eases mobile communication. Inclusive "Dot Tel" domains.

If the couple "Internet" and "smart phone" is no no-brainer yet to mainstream, why should the Dot Tel registry Telnic make much effort to educate mainstream about Dot Tel?
Looking at it that way, and in that aspect, you couldn't blame Telnic, for beeing as passive, as it has been, up and till now. Telnic is not bigh enough, to take such a finacial risk, as such promotion would not just cost one million Dollars, but at least five or ten million Dollars.

By just having a lot of "drops" (droped .tel domains), the financial losses, are still kept at the smallest possible. And financial recovery is possible, anytime, within reasonable time.

Therefore, Telnic is far, from "missing the boat". And all chances are fully intact.

Dot Tel, will pick up, with time. And it will be the overall development in the world of mobile communication, that will decide about the success of the Dot Tel domain.

Of course, and nevertheless, Telnic should change a few things now, at present, and not postpone those. You might be able to say, what that should be. But I am not quite sure.

I think the registry, as well as the domain holders, are a bit overextended. And decisions and actions taken, on both sides, are either taken too carefully, or too hastily, but neither appropriate.

So, who is to blame?: I think, the basic problem are high costs for calling and surfing on a smart mobile phone, which hinders mainstream owners of mobile phones, to access the Internet from their mobile phones, or access Internet, more often. Roaming costs, or still far too expensive.
And people don't know, that .Tel pages the sites that can be viewed at the lowest cost.

When mobile Internet gets generally more mainstream, then that is when Telnic should start making some serious efforts with promoting .Tel, and spending some important amount of money for promotion. I assume, that Telnic does have a successful strategy, even if it doesn't really look that way.

All in all, domaining with heavyweight in the mobile telecommunicaion field, and expecting to make some tidy earnings, and some serious money, is nothing more than a poker game.

Dot Tel domains, are usefull, now, but for for getting tidy earnings through advertising or selling, it is far too early. But you should nevertheless learn all about .Tel, and how to improve and populate a .Tel domain. Because when things take off, you should be ready, and even better: Already established with your .Tel's.

Think twice, befor your intend to drop your Dot Tel domain(s). Act fast, to get a Dot Tel name, as long as it is still available.

Don't forget, that the future of Internet, is in mobile computing, mobile Internet, mobile phones, and mobile websites. Desktop PC's are being replaced by mobile laptops with an aditional bigger external monitor, so that they can be used at home, as well as away from home. And soon, you will be able to interact (more) between your stored data on your smart phone, and your laptop. Let us say, you scan info on the go, with your smart phone, and download it to your laptop.

And so, why will you wan't to give up a good mobile Internet address, if things are developing so promissing?


Herer are some useful links:

Create, print or display a .TEL business card
http://www.nametag.me/dot-tel-business-cards.php

Create, print or display a .TEL business card with QR Code.
http://nametag.me/qr-code-dot-tel-business-cards.php

Promote Your Dot Tel Domain: Generate A QR-Code, And Display It, Where It Can Be Scanned.
http://www.qrstuff.com/

Advertise On Dot Tel Domains
http://www.teldomaintel.com/tel-domain-services/tel-domain-advertising/

Hide Your Dot Tel Email Address
http://www.teldomaintel.com/tel-domain-services/hide-your-tel-email-tel2form/index.html

Daily Growing Dot Tel Community / New Registrations
http://www.dottel.net/daily-dot-tel-registrations#regs

Select A Dropped Dot Tel Domain Name For Registering
http://www.dottel.net/daily-dot-tel-drops#drops

Articles About Dot Tel Domains
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Bill_Rutherfurd

Register A Dot Tel Domain Name
http://www.blacknight.com/telnic.html

Share Your Dot Tel Domain
http://tel2social.com/

Sell Or Buy A Dot Tel Name
http://teltheworld.co.uk/teltheworldmarketplace.html

Dot Tel Monthly Meetup Group
Join us to learn the advantages for PR and marketing in the dotTel space: The Vancouver dotTel Meetup Group Monthly Meetup.
http://www.meetup.com/dotTel/

Dot Tel News
http://www.dottelfinder.com/news/

Dot Tel Forum For Naysayers and Supporters
http://www.namepros.com/561820-the-official-tel-discussion-thread-279.html

Dot Tel And QR-Codes
http://qr-code.dot-tel-domain.tel/

Dot Tel Info Center
http://dot-tel-domain.tel/

Dot Tel Self Learning Center And Tutorials
http://tutorials.dot-tel-domain.tel/

Dot Tel Design Support
http://teldesign.tel/

Search Dot Tel Contact Info
http://d0.telpages.com/search.action


Dot Tel Business Services
http://thetabiz-services.dot-tel-domain.tel/

Email Addressbook (Hidden Email)
http://wikiworldbook.tel/

Dot Tel Support
http://aled.tel/