.tel is now available for registration

.tel is a new sponsored top-level Internet domain approved by ICANN in March 2006. .tel stores and encrypts a variety of contact information directly into the Domain Name System and may evolve to become a sort of online phone book. Launched in December 2008 to business and organization trademark holders, .tel domain names become available to the general public in February 2009.

After the land rush period closes on March 24, 2009, the price of securing a .tel domain name will drop dramatically. Though it stands to reason that the availability of names might not be as favorable as during the .tel land rush, the price per year for the domain name drops from approximately $150 a year to around $20 a year.

Things to Know

How does the .TEL work?

Unlike traditional TLDs that map domain names to IP addresses, the .TEL maps domain names to contact information (personal and corporate) and keywords that are stored directly, making it universally accessible. see sample

Are there restrictions on the structure of my .TEL domain name?

The minimum number of characters in a .TEL domain is 3 and the maximum number is 63, not including the .TEL suffix. Every domain must contain at least one letter from a-z or “A to Z” in standard US ASCII script. No domain can begin or end with a hyphen, nor can a domain have a hyphen in the 3rd or 4th character position. A .TEL domain may not consist purely of digits. The .TEL naming conventions are described in detail in the Acceptable Use Policy.

To try out .tel without registering, click here