DISQUS

Mobile Industry Review: Jonathan Jensen on Thursday – .tel, the first live global directory service

  • TerenceEden · 1 year ago
    I still don't get it.

    I can set up a page like that - see http://shkspr.mobi/about.php - which has a secret URL / password to show different contact information to each person. Or, even better, you can connect to me at http://zyb.com/terenceeden and instantly know when I change my details.

    Why should I pay .tel for yet another domain when I could make tel.example.com or example.com/tel ?

    And what happens when my neighbour - who is also called Jonathan Jensen - wants a .tel? He either needs a hotmail-esque jon-jensen-1944.tel or chain multiple subdomains - j.onanthan.jen.sen.tel.

    I think the basic idea of a unified contact manager - like zyb.com* - is a good idea. I just don't see why it needs to be attached to a (paid-for) domain.

    T
    *Owned by my corporate overlord, Vodafone.
  • sevendotzero · 1 year ago
    The point here is that .tel is independent of any other service or hosting arrangement. Have a look at http://www.telnic.org/ as there's a lot more detail than I could cover. And yes, if you're technically proficient, there's lots of clever stuff you could do but .tel creates a consistent, simple standard.
  • TerenceEden · 1 year ago
    I'm obviously missing something.

    It's all hosted at telnic. So if they get hit by a DDoS or hacked - everyone's contact details are vulnerable. If they go out of business - the same.

    I could write a scrap of PHP or ASP which anyone could host on their website - where does their business model go? A _facebook_ app could provide the same functionality.

    Don't get me wrong - that it updates via DNS is a nice idea. But given the time it takes for DNS updates to propagate around the world, what's the advantage compared to just sticking the details up on your site?

    Ultimately - what, in a dozen words, makes this better than me sticking a VCARD or hCard on my website?

    T
    (Not having a go - just genuinely confuzzeled)
  • sevendotzero · 1 year ago
    Just come across this video of a presentation about .tel

    http://rikkles.blogspot.com/2008/09/demo-confer...
  • Ricky Chotai · 11 months ago
    I signed up to their trial and have to say I am impressed http://rickychotai.vip.tel/ is my page
  • .tel Domains · 8 months ago
    i have read somewhere that .tel Domain Aims to be 'Phonebook for the Net & that The owners of .tel domains will not be able to upload and maintain web pages, as they can for other top-level domains. they will only be able to store contact details like names, telephone numbers, web and email addresses is that true?