Khashayar Mahdavi the CEO of Telnic Ltd put out a letter announcing that .Tel will be doing with their previous restrictions on March 13,2017.

Here is an article from The Guardian back in 2008, the article considered .Tel to be the most significant innovation in domains since .com.

Dear valued .tel community member,

As we move into 2017, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and being part of the .tel community. It is with great pleasure that we are also able to share with you some exciting news for 2017 which we believe will provide you with a new and enhanced product experience, greater flexibility and choice with respect to the application and use of your .tel domains and facilitate innovation in our namespace.

Before we begin, we wanted to share the very important timelines you need to be aware of. Please make note of these important dates and watch for more information as it will be imperative that you take action.

What is happening and when?

• From the 13th February 2017, Telnic will issue you (by email) with account details to the new Telhosting platform. Once you receive your new details, you can access your new account and start adding content.
• From 13^th March 2017, any content that you have added to the new platform will be published to the internet from the new platform. From this date, content on the current platform will stop being published to the internet.
• It is important to note that Telnic will not be performing any Data Migration from the current to new platform. Your new account will be empty and it will be your responsibility to populate your domain on the new platform before 13^th March 2017.
• From 13^th March 2017, all usage restrictions will be lifted from .tel and you get to choose how you use your .tel domain.

Here are some frequently asked questions:

FAQ

1. When will the restrictions be lifted from .tel and what will be my options then be for using my domain?

All restrictions will be lifted from .tel on 13^th March 2017. From this date, and subject to your registrar or reseller support, you will be able to use your .tel domain as a normal website, continue to take advantage of our free, new Telhosting platform or opt for a paid for Telhosting service which incorporates sub domains with a 3^rd party hosting provider.

 

2. When will I be able access my new Telhosting account?

From 13^th February 2017, Telnic will issue (by email) new Telhosting account details to all .tel owners. From this date, .tel owners will be able to log in and manage content on the new platform. Please note that this content will not display on the internet until the current Telhosting platform is retired on 13^th March 2017.

 

3. What happens if I do not receive my new account details by end of February 2017?

If you have not received account details for your new Telhosting account by the end of February 2017, you should contact Telnic by sending an email to cservice@telnic.org confirming the domain name(s) in question. We will be using the email address that you have stored in your old Telhosting account profile for your new TelHosting account. Additionally we will use the email address that is associated with the domain registrant in our WHOIS to contact you. To ensure that you receive our communications, you are advised to ensure that these email addresses are current and accurate.

 

4. When will the current Telhosting platform be retired?

The current Telhosting platform will be retired and taken offline on 13^th March 2017. You can continue to use the current Telhosting platform up to 12^th March 2017 but not after this date.

 

5. What happens to my data on the current Telhosting platform after 13^th March 2017?

.tel domain owner data that resides on the current Telhosting system will not be accessible after 13th March 2017. Any .tel domain owner that wishes to extract a copy of their data from the current system should run the BACKUP function from their current Telhosting account before 13th March 2017. This will produce an XML file containing all of their data which can be used either as a reference for populating their new account or as a data source for populating an independent and separate 3rd party hosting solution.

 

6. What happens if I do not make a copy of my data before the 13^th March 2017?

If you do not make a copy of your data before 13^th March 2017, the data will be deleted and not recoverable as the current Telhosting platform is being retired.

 

7. Why is Telnic not migrating my data from the current Telhosting platform to the new?

The current Telhosting platform is being retired and the new platform is not designed as a like for like replacement in terms of functionality or data structure. As such, there is no direct data migration path from old to new so you will need to log in and republish your contact records in order to take advantage of new functionality that does not exist in the curent platform. The vast majority of .tel owners only publish a single page of contacts and content and re-publishing will be a very quick exercise.

 

8. What if I wish to continue to host my .tel domain on a platform that supports sub domains?

The current Telhosting platform will be shutdown on 13^th March 2017. If you would like to continue to host your .tel domain on a similar Telhosting platform that supports sub domains please contact cservice@telnic.org and we will help you to review hosting options

 

9. What happens to any new .tel domains that I register before 13^th March 2017?

Up to 13^th March 2017, you will continue to manage your .tel for live internet publishing purposes on the current platform.

 

10. What happens to any new .tel domains that I buy after 13^th March 2017?

After 13^th March 2017, you will receive information from your registrar and Telnic informing you of the process to claim your free hosting account for your new .tel domain. Telnic’s web site (www.telnic.org) will have a page dedicated to Telhosting management. On this page, .tel owners will be able to set up a new telhosting account, add .tel domains to an existing account as well as manage their domain(s) and request support.

Alternatively, you may opt to use your .tel for a purpose of your own choosing.

 

11. What happens if I do not access my new Telhosting account and add some contacts or content?

The content from your current Telhosting account will disappear on 13^th March 2017. If you have not populated your new Telhosting account with any data by this date, your .tel domain will show a standard template page. Any content that you add after 13^th March will automatically be published.

 

12. What happens if I take no action before 13^th March 2017?

If you do not take any action before 13^th March 2017, an account will be automatically created for you and your domains on the new Telhosting platform and we will send you the access details by email. Your new account and domains will remain empty and inactive until you login and add content. Your account and data on the current Telhosting system will not be accessible after 12^th March 2017 so it is important that you backup any data you wish to keep before this date.

 

13. Is there a smartphone app to help manage my .tel domain content on the new Telhosting platform?

Yes. Telnic will have a new iOS and Android app that will enable .tel owners using Telhosting to fully manage their domain content using their smartphone. Free downloads will be available from our web site or from the Apple and Google Play stores. These apps will be available for download in March 2017.

 

14. What are the functional differences between the current and new Telhosting platforms?

The new Telhosting platform will be a single page product.  You can see an example of the new product in use at:  http://telpage.tel. It provides a more modern interface that allows the user to:

• Publish contact and content records
• Add PDF documents
• Add Promotional product/service offers
• Add Images and Video
• Sell Products and services via a PayPal interface
• Add custom design
• Add an image advert

The new platform does not support a number of features from the current platform detailed in the list below. The decision to exclude these features was based on customer feedback and usage statistics.

• Multiple pages or sub-domains
• Telfriends and private data support
• .tel search functionality
• Multiple profile support
• Telhosting product language support for Arabic, Czech, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Russian.
• SOAP API access for registrars and domain owners
• Google Ad sense integration

 

15. How will Telnic support the new Telhosting platform?

From 13^th March 2017, all support requests from domain owners that use the new Telhosting platform should be sent to cservice@telnic.org . Telnic will handle these requests directly.

 

16. If I am not using the Telhosting platform, who do I contact for .tel domain support?

Starting 13^th March 2017, if you have questions about your domain name and are not using the Telhosting platform, you should contact your registrar or reseller for support or the 3^rd party hosting provider if you have opted to use this service.

 

17. Will domain owners be charged for the new Telhosting platform?

No. Telnic will continue to provide a free and optional Telhosting service to all .tel community members.

 

18. Will my domain registration and ownership status be affected by the Telhosting changes?

No. You will continue to be the owner of your .tel domain and there is no change to the contractual relationship you have with your registrar or reseller with respect to domain renewal and other domain specific activities such as transfers and WHOIS updates. Your registrar will still be your point of contact with respect to these key domain lifecycle activities.