{"id":82,"date":"2009-02-25T21:39:27","date_gmt":"2009-02-26T02:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/2009\/02\/25\/fools-gold-the-tel-hype\/"},"modified":"2015-03-05T19:47:27","modified_gmt":"2015-03-06T00:47:27","slug":"fools-gold-the-tel-hype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/fools-gold-the-tel-hype\/","title":{"rendered":"Fool’s gold: The .tel hype"},"content":{"rendered":"

I remember the day I got my first phone number and was listed in the White Pages. Then thirty days later, the bill arrived in the mail and I realized it was not as much fun. In the early 90’s I got an email address and in the mid-90s an ICQ<\/strong><\/a> number. That’s all I needed so that my friends could reach me electronically.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 2009. The .tel TLD is a month away from “general avaialbility”, having gone through the sunrise and landrush periods. To those uneducated souls that spent $200+ for three years of registration fees during landrush, I will say “poor suckers”.<\/p>\n

Do people ever RTFM ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My combined status as a web developer and domainer allows me to speak with twice the authority. I would not touch the .tel with the proverbial 10-foot pole, unless the .tel Registry changed their functionality plan.<\/p>\n

What were they thinking?<\/p>\n

The .tel TLD is not your average new domain TLD. You can’t point it to a web page, you cannot park it. All you can do is enter your contact info into a system database \/ form and it will be displayed as a pretty web page, beautiful icons and all. That’s right. Pay up, “poor sucker” to have a page with 1% the capabilities of a free MySpace page so that you can give that address to friends, family and business contacts.<\/p>\n

Did I forget to mention you can’t add any images to it? You want an mp3 playing in the background? Sorry .tel was designed with Spartans in mind. It’s black soup again for supper, Leonidas.<\/p>\n

The .tel Registry<\/a> plays down on all these “concerns” of ours and plays up various reports and press releases<\/a> from around the world about how .tel is about to change the Internet. Meanwhile, the “poor suckers” that rushed to buy .tel domains en masse now realize that their expensive booty is worthless. It’s all fool’s gold<\/strong> and not a single .tel doubloon can pass the biting test.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I can still type http:\/\/icq.com\/11802590<\/a> and my ICQ contact info comes up. And it’s all free to keep.<\/p>\n

Read more domain news at DNGator.com<\/strong><\/a> – your domain news aggregator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I remember the day I got my first phone number and was listed in the White Pages. Then thirty days later, the bill arrived in the mail and I realized it was not as much fun. In the early 90’s I got an email address and in the mid-90s an ICQ number. 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