The .tel uses the Domain Name System (DNS) in a way that empowers .tel domain owners, whether
businesses or individuals, to control how and where people can communicate with them.
Traditional Top Level Domains (TLDs) use the DNS to return Address records or IP addresses
that are used to reach websites or send email. In the case of a website, when users look up
IBM.com, their device queries the DNS for IBM’s IP address (the Address record). The DNS
returns the IP address associated with IBM.com (129.42.18.103) and the device uses the IP
address to locate and view the IBM website.
All existing Top Level Domains use the DNS in this traditional way. However, the .tel does not
communicate with web content or email — it enables communication with people. It therefore
requires an approach to storing contact information directly in the DNS for which Address
records are inappropriate, since an Address record cannot identify a phone number or a VoIP
service address, such as a Skype or Yahoo! Messenger.
The .tel will allow contact information to be stored directly in the DNS so that when a device
performs a query for a .tel domain (i.e., AdamSmith.tel), the DNS will not respond with an
Address record, rather it will return the contact information directly to the device, which enables
the click-to-communicate functionality. The following demonstrates how a mobile device can
initiate communication using a .tel domain name.
Step 1.
As shown in the diagram to the
right, the user looks up
AdamSmith.tel on his Internet
enabled mobile telephone.
Step 2.
The device uses its local network
(GPRS, 3G, WiFi, Ethernet, etc.)
to query the DNS for
AdamSmith.tel.
Step 3.
The DNS responds with the contact
information Adam Smith chooses
to store within his .tel domain.
This could include a mobile phone
number, an email address, his office phone number and much more.
Step 4.
The user elects to call Adam Smith on his mobile phone from the proposed list and
clicks-to-communicate.
Step 5.
Adam Smith is contacted by the user on the mobile phone number of his choice.
At any time and as often as he wishes, Adam Smith can update his contact information stored
under his .tel domain name, reflecting changes in how he wishes to be contacted. Every change
he makes is immediately visible because it is be published and propagated through the DNS.
Anyone with an Internet connection may access or read any .tel domain, as shown below.
However, a person or a company wishing to publish contact information directly within the DNS
will need to purchase a .tel domain.
The storing of data in the DNS is accomplished through the use of three types of DNS records:
NAPTR, TXT and LOC records.
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