.tel Story of Christopher Vanderhorst

I'm Christopher R.Vanderhorst and my career has seen and continues to see many facets of technology. I am an Electrical/Electronics Engineer educated to degree level who has worked for years on the hardware and software side of commercial and industrial manufacturing projects, now semi-retired. My first computer was a Commodore 64, and although I thought about better games in the early 1980s, I never could have imagined all we are seeing in the world of information technology today.

My love affair with the internet itself began as a sideline interest in the 1990s, and as the company I worked for expanded, I enjoyed watching and even promoting some of the first domain name purchases, websites, and advantages of this new technology to businesses in the area. I watched closely as the rejection of the new technology first occurred, then the slow realization of its benefits began, and finally the explosion of full acceptance when many finally realized the possibilities and the advantages of this new and exciting technology. The once-restricted .com, .org, and .net extensions began expanding into many TLDs, the search engines began blossoming and wilting one after another with new ideas and new ways to monetize the technology. As you can see even today, this trend continues before our eyes with the technological advances of .tel and TelPages.

"WOW. This is an opportunity that is a second chance to benefit from the internet as if it were starting all over again!" This is all I can remember thinking somewhere around the Sunrise and Landrush periods of .tel availability. This is when I first read of this new .tel TLD, and the more I analyzed it, the more all my instincts proved themselves accurate. Not only does .tel have unique properties far advanced over all previous domains, including .com, .tel also represents the true reality and nature of how all interaction begins.

No two parties are ever able to communicate or share information until they have one thing - contact information. With old technologies one is forced to use address books, telephone books, business cards, notes, etc., which can be an absolute nightmare. Even with the internet, other TLDs still force you to load a website just to get to the contact information. This is simply not practical or useful for many people or their devices and it's much like "having a trailer system just so you can get to a vehicle". With .tel you get to the "vehicle" first, something that is critical to every individual, business, and internet enabled device. The "trailers" are always available after that, of course, as rich-features will always be popular additions. Watching TelPages and .tel domains as they become the single place that all interaction begins will be very exciting for .tel participants.

At the time of writing this, I now have over 400 .tel domains registered, all during the Landrush and General Availability periods. Although I intend to renew, develop, and maintain them all as useful support for individuals and businesses everywhere, reality may dictate the need to look at a variety of options in the future. Should it ever be the case that I have "bitten off more than I can chew", my decision to "let a few go" will certainly leave the door open for many domainers and other business-minded individuals everywhere. TelPages and .tel being the future of all starting points virtually guarantees that .tel has the ability to far surpass all other TLDs in value. If .com is the prize of the "trailers", imagine the prize of the "vehicles" in the very near future! Don't count on me letting go of any of my .tel domains anytime soon though!

As for the TelPages Directory, there is no other TLD exclusive search engine that has all the .tel advantages unto itself. Aside from having no other TLDs to wade through, TelPages has a unique advantage in that the .tel domain itself helps to act as a catalyst for Search Term and Keyword ranking. This represents an organic results advertising advantage like no other. Outside TelPages, .tel domains have SEO advantages because of their DNS-based characteristics and relevance. It is amazing what .tel will do for the visibility of Individuals and Businesses moving forward in a global environment. The applications and reach with .tel into all we do is virtually limitless.

In summary, there are two things that are always guaranteed to be major disadvantages in life, isolation and obsolescence. With TelPages and .tel you can be sure that you won't have these two major strikes against you as you move forward with your personal and business endeavors!

Best wishes, Good Luck to everyone, and a special thanks to Telnic!