People have long relied on phonebooks to find phone numbers and addresses, but the paper versions get put out just once per year. Sites’ “About Us” pages can be updated anytime, but require that users do some clicking around. So a new top-level domain extension spelled “.tel” is opening with an aim to solve all sorts of contact-related problems like these.
Businesses and individuals are supposed to “store and manage all their contact information and keywords directly in the DNS without the need to build, host or manage a website,” according to Telnic, the company that’s operating the .tel registry.
What companies or people could wind up with is a neat little summary of ways to reach them. Justin Hayward, Telnic’s communication director, created an example at justin.tel. And in case the idea of having all that information just lying out there gives anybody the willies, it’s important to note that privacy restrictions can be set, too.
Yet it’s a sort of auto-update ability that makes the .tel concept extra interesting. Danielle Belopotosky reports, “Because the data is stored in the DNS, rather than on a server, when a person updates a phone number or address using their .tel account, it is automatically updated in the address books of their friends who have their .tel information stored on a smartphone or other mobile device.”
Think fast about how appealing this all sounds, since starting today, sunrise registration begins. Trademark owners can secure an address by forking over around $400 dollars. A landrush period should begin on February 3rd, with prices dropping to about $150, and on March 24th, open registration at Andrew Jackson rates will start.
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