Have you heard of .tel domains? I think they will become very popular in a few years.
They are a “new” kind of domainname for storing contact information and a bit more.
The launched a year ago, the information is stored directly in the dns system instead of on an webserver.
This means its very quick to access the information from an mobile phone and you can call a phone number on a .tel domain by clicking on it from your mobil phone.
Since they are quite new there are still some good ones available.
So why is this interesting?
Since the info is stored in the dns and not on a server, you dont pay for a website. Instead you get a controlpanel in which you can enter information, this is then published directly on the internet in the dns.
You will be able to use them as an replacement for phonenumbers and business card for contact info.
Instead of adding phonenumbers to a phonebook you can add a .tel. This means that if you change phonenumber on the .tel you dont need to tell anyone about it, since when they call your .tel it will call the number
you entered on the domain.
You can also setup an email account for free with google. So you can have your name like darin@music-composer.tel
Not really my idea of publishing my phone number, i’ld rather give it personally.
It is also another way for the commercial sector to make unsollicited calls for selling you stuff and i’m definately not waiting for these phonecalls.
The more I think about it, this idea really sucks imho… I’m paranoid enough when my contact info is on a regular domain name… why on earth would I publish it all for spammers and identity thieves to so easily get ahold of? That plainly makes NO sense. The fact that they had to promote it with an ad about a dude trying to pick up some chick just goes to show how useless it’ll really be.
If they added something that would make it impossible or illegal for services to contact you without actual knowing prior consent, I think this might be able to work.
It would be kind of nice if phones were similar to computer security in this respect, and only allow outgoing connections, unless you allowed the connection, by adding their number or address.
Adding security would defeat the purpose of the service, which is of course to give people easy access to your contact info based on a domain name… it ceases to be easy access when they have to have some sort of credentials to view it.
Yes it would, but imho a necessary evil…
I’ld rather have a vince.tel/376257 code (a code that randomly changes after each submission) that has to be submitted then that folks can get this info too easily.
If they don’t have this code they could then easily request it through the front-page (like one could request to add your msn account to their contactlist) and then it’s my decision to give approval or not. If it was a spammer after all, i’m at least a little better protected by the fact the code supplied was random generated so it can’t be used a second time (and your link + code can be sold).
Well it sounds like a good idea but… there’s other things that does what it does better = more of my friends/people I know use it. This just sounds like another money scam to me.
No, I was saying the phone system in general, could or should be more secure.
The part about .tel topic, was about making it impossible or illegal for services to connect/contact you, like a global nuisance, pest & Fonejacker clause.
So much technology is built and established openly, then people spend tons of time trying to fix these things while it’s establishing itself as a standard, that it become broken and antiquated through litigation as a result.
I would put my phone number on business cards. A business-card is a perfect example where not to put your xxxx.tel info.
A business-card is a thing you give to someone you trust.
I consider to give an xxxx.tel site as a last resort, to give something that someone can remember easily.
But imho there are more reasons not to use a .tel site than there are benefits.
Is it really a problem if you only publish your phone number, it’s the same as if you were using the yellow pages. The problems I see is the small amount of domain names that will be available after the sharks has been shopping, and it’s just a ludicrous expense if it’s not for business purposes.
Well who said you have your name on the domain?
You can have domain musician.tel then just add your phone-number and give it out to people you meet and know, they will never forget your phone number and contact info and when you change it, you just update it on the site and they will still be able to contact you.
You can also have password protected info, visible only to “friends” so you can the rest of your adress on it.
So as I see it, its the worlds first domainname for everyone
Well, i could perhaps display my 0900-VERY-EXPENSIVE sex hotline number, at least i get some dime out of prank calls or marketing stalkers.
But other than that:no i’m not really eager to publish my personal phone number. I don’t have my own number listed on the yellow-pages either for the very same reasons.
