The benefits will outweight the small negatives.

I’ve also noticed people in my town are using .TEL’s in their print advertising which is a sign that maybe the quantity of brainwashed people is multiplying.

1) People don’t want others to see all of their contact information. Sure, there is a way to display your contacts only to the ones you authorize, but then (if you so the .tel commercial with the lady and the train) the whole idea of just giving a stranger your domain.tel fails

>>>With this comment you say that people don’t want others to see their contact information. The truth is some people do and some people don’t. Some people such as myself don’t mind having my telephone number open to the public. The white pages have thousands of peoples telephone numbers exposed next to their real names how is this different? With a .TEL if your telephone number gets spammed by telemarketers you can change your telephone number without having to tell everyone that you have a new number.
>>>You further contradict what your saying in the next sentence when you say that the user has control to protect data by allowing authorization to restricted crowds.

2) .Tel doesn’t offer any type of communication. It’s just data storage. There are free places like Facebook and MySpace that offer not only your personal data online, but also ability to communicate right in the system, send files, music, videos, lins etc. With .TEL you can only see the information (you still require to have a working mail client on the computer you are using to send e-mails, or use Skype)

>>>.COM and every other domain name is also a data storage. You miss the point of .TEL which isn’t to act as a website but rather to act as a fast, userfriendly, structured way to get a hold of services quickly. In your logic above people have to be in front of a computer, log into their sites and then communicate with people using the website. With this same logic I could argue that .TEL offers the ability to communicate using the oldest technology around with the click of a button. Our telephone system.
You really can’t argue that your methods above are a quicker way to communicate.

>>>.TEL has a place where you can list webpages if you wish to get more data. Most of the time however people just want the service. If I want a taxi in Toronto, I don’t want to visit a website and look for the contact information. Pictures and videos on the site are of no use.

>>>What will happen is most companies will have their .TEL tool set up with direct communication methods and links to the main website. On the flip side of things the website will have on the contact page the easy to remember .TEL domain for the benefits this can offer. The author of this arcticle has some very interesting points however he is dead wrong saying that .COM will be replaced. .TEL will work in sequence with websites and telephones etc. There may however be some companies/people that use only .TEL since they don’t need to display additional content (pictures, videos etc.)

3) People are different and they want to customize their pages. To those who want only to show their contact info (and have the ability to display photos as well), get YOURNAME.com and it will work just fine.

>>>You are wrong. I don’t want to show my pictures, videos. Most personal users don’t want a webpage. Webpages are mainly for companies. The reason the pages are not customized is that this system was created with one generic structure for quick usability. When you type in a .TEL you know what you are getting and what you can expect. You don’t have to search a page looking for a ‘Contact Us’ button. If you wanted a customized page you would buy a .com and set up a website that is connected to your .TEL.

>>>The biggest mistake I find is that people mistake the .TEL tool with websites. .TEL is a quick, easy to use directory that can hook up to your personal or business webpage.

For Businesses:

1) .TEL is basically an open ground for bots, to harvest for data (which can be used for commercial purposes).

>>>I’ve heard this arguement many times but it is flawed. First of all any computer expert will tell you that bots can and are already do this by grabbing information from websites and storing them in databases. What is more scarey is the bots that are grabbing in large quantities information from social networking sites and historically saving this data for future selling.

>>>Another thing to keep note of is the fact that when you buy a .COM you must give accurate information for the WHOIS. Most people have purchased a domain at some point in their life and there are sites that have collected this information with bots. I work for a PI firm and pay for this information to get information on people. You’d be surprised at how much information people have online that is being stored in databases for future use. At least .TEL gives you some control of this information and allows you to change this information easily if the data becomes a problem.

>>>With .TEL if I put my telephone number up and a bot takes this number along with other telephone numbers what will happen? I could change my telephone number tomorrow and everyone that has my .TEL will have my new number updated and everyone that does not have my .TEL will have to get a hold of me to find out my new numer. In this scenario I would just direct people that aren’t familiar with my .TEL to my .TEL. They could just use an internet browser to see my new number.

2) With GoogleMaps being on almost all modern cell phones, there is a lot more things you can do with that. My phone can get my geolocation (via AGPS), show me the nearest business of my interest and how i can get there. Google can search not only by address, but by business name and even business category as well (and data you receive as a result can be customized by the business with pictures, info etc). Can .TEL do that? No! .TEL will point you to GoogleMaps for directions, which is basically an extra step, instead of just going to GoogleMaps right away.

>>>When you do that in a few years what will happen is you will see the .TEL domain as the way to contact that business that you have conveniently found close to you. This is another common mistake people are making about .TEL thinking that it is in opposition to .COM or opposition to Google technologies. I believe that Google has a vested interest in making .TEL a success. Google search engine algorithms have already given much weight to .TEL in their search results.

>>>Proof look at a search for ‘henri’ on Google.com. This technology is only months old.

>>>Most searches for services don’t require finding the closest company. If I am in a small town outside of the city and want a high profile lawyer I don’t want my next door rookie neighbour practicing law. Besides local searches are becoming more and more tainted by companies that are pretending to reside in optimal locations but don’t reside in that location.

>>>One final note. If I were to do a local search for a flower shop using Google maps and found a shop with NewYorkFlowers.tel. The next time I am trying to buy flowers I may bypass doing the local search since I can remember the telephone number/communication easily. Not always do people want to view photos. Many people want quick access.

3) Once the .TEL became available, a lot of people registered .tel, like geocities.tel, espn.tel, even though they are not the business owners. Which means that at this moment, the business Contact Information is simply invalid and is populated by speculators. So instead of having a good business directory with all the business contact data we need, we are left with tons of rubbish information that people entered. Therefore the whole purpose of .TEL being a business directory has been destroyed mins after the .TEL registration was made available.

>>>This is similar to other domains, cash parking or pages with nothing. However over time what you see with other domain names is that big companies buy up these domain names and point them to relevant information or domainers point them to something that is relevant. If I own NewYorkFlowers.tel what would be the use in me pointing it to something that isn’t relevant? Why not point it to a flower shop in New York so that I can build a crowd of people that use it on a regular basis. At this point the flower shop I point it to would recognize the importance and would be willing to pay for this.
As with other domains, cash parking is usually the first stage. The second stage is to point a domain to an applicable result/company that will pay you affiliate dollars. The final stage is to develop the domain name into what people are looking for or to sell it to someone that is big enough that deals with this product/service.
Over time all .com’s will show applicable results but in the case of .TEL I expect this to happen quicker because of the time/cost factor in setting these domains up.

>>>Another thing to take note of is Jepaa the first search engine for .TEL. I am amazed at how rapidly these domains are being developed pointing to applicable results. A quick search will show you what I mean.

My own thoughts:
.TEL does NOT let you change anything. The landing pages look terrible and very limited. The .TEL logo is bigger than anything else. Why would i want to advertise my domain registrar on my contact us page? That’s retarded. Also, with .TEL you don’t buy the domain, you buy a name + hosting.. you can’t change DNS.

>>>The landing pages don’t look that terrible. They are a structured familiar way allowing for maximum usability. Your talking as though a .TEL page is a website or competes with websites.

>>> There are many reasons you will put your future .TEL on your websites contact us page as well as hook your website up to your future .TEL.

>>>With the .TEL you do not buy the .TEL domain with hosting. No hosting is needed. This leads to tons of advantages such as no hosting costs as well as quicker access to .TEL pages. Take this example. Say I wanted to cancel my mastercard because it was stolen. From my cell phone I would first have to find the website. Then go to the main website. Since the main website is on hosting I would have to wait while all of the images are downloaded and the site is visible which is also data costly on my phone bill. From here I have to search the page on a small screen for the naviagtion buttons that would direct me to a number I can call to cancel my card. As I’m flipping from page to page I have to wait for each page to load.

>>>Once I have found the number, on many occasions you have to find a pencil and pen to write down the number. Then I can call and cancel my card.

>>>Now try Cancel.TEL and tell me which one is easier and cheaper? In a year from now say you lost your mastercard again. What are the odds of you remembering cancel.TEL over the first scenario website, route to website or telephone number you called to cancel your mastercard?

I have been domaining for over 15 years and have one of the largest collections in the world. I never bought a .me, .biz, .net etc. I always look at usability first and foremost and then the speed to develop comes into play. .TEL has a ton of potential.

Quite possibly the most ridiculous crap I’ve ever seen in regards to .tel…which is saying something considering the garbage that is peddled on the forums.

Redundant to the nth degree, this extension was stillborn from release.

For personal use:

1) People don’t want others to see all of their contact information. Sure, there is a way to display your contacts only to the ones you authorize, but then (if you so the .tel commercial with the lady and the train) the whole idea of just giving a stranger your domain.tel fails

2) .Tel doesn’t offer any type of communication. It’s just data storage. There are free places like Facebook and MySpace that offer not only your personal data online, but also ability to communicate right in the system, send files, music, videos, lins etc. With .TEL you can only see the information (you still require to have a working mail client on the computer you are using to send e-mails, or use Skype)

3) People are different and they want to customize their pages. To those who want only to show their contact info (and have the ability to display photos as well), get YOURNAME.com and it will work just fine.

For Businesses:

1) .TEL is basically an open ground for bots, to harvest for data (which can be used for commercial purposes).

2) With GoogleMaps being on almost all modern cell phones, there is a lot more things you can do with that. My phone can get my geolocation (via AGPS), show me the nearest business of my interest and how i can get there. Google can search not only by address, but by business name and even business category as well (and data you receive as a result can be customized by the business with pictures, info etc). Can .TEL do that? No! .TEL will point you to GoogleMaps for directions, which is basically an extra step, instead of just going to GoogleMaps right away.

3) Once the .TEL became available, a lot of people registered .tel, like geocities.tel, espn.tel, even though they are not the business owners. Which means that at this moment, the business Contact Information is simply invalid and is populated by speculators. So instead of having a good business directory with all the business contact data we need, we are left with tons of rubbish information that people entered. Therefore the whole purpose of .TEL being a business directory has been destroyed mins after the .TEL registration was made available.

My own thoughts:
.TEL does NOT let you change anything. The landing pages look terrible and very limited. The .TEL logo is bigger than anything else. Why would i want to advertise my domain registrar on my contact us page? That’s retarded. Also, with .TEL you don’t buy the domain, you buy a name + hosting.. you can’t change DNS.