Dottel FAQ

About .tel

• When can I start using my .tel domain?.tel domains are now live. For details on when you can start using your .tel, please contact your service provider.
• What are the restrictions for using my .tel?Please consult the Acceptable Use Policy for details on how .tel domains should be used.
• How do I access the .tel zone file?To request access the .tel zone file, complete and sign the .tel Zone File Access Agreement form. You need to return the form to Telnic Limited via post, fax or email zone-file-access-requests@registry.nic.tel.
• Can I run a commercial directory under a .tel domain?Yes. You are allowed to run a commercial directory-style service under your .tel domain under the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP); the restrictions are that you are not allowed to sub-delegate the management of that contact information to a third party.
• Can I put an MX record for an email address (me@mydomain.tel) in a .tel domain?Yes, .tel domains enable using email but don’t come with a ready email solution yet. Please contact with your .tel service provider to check whether an email offering is available and to have the relevant domain settings (i.e. MX records) configured on your behalf. Please note that over the coming months Telnic will also be providing direct support within the TelHosting application for users to connect their own choice of email to .tel domains.
• Are there any restrictions on reselling .tel domains?No. Once you have taken full ownership of your .tel domain you are able to resell the domain whenever you like.
• Can I use your logo on a website if I am intending to re-sell .tel domains that I have purchased?It depends. Please email reseller@telnic.org to find out what resources are available for resellers.
• When can I access the WHOIS database?You can access the WHOIS now.
• What is the refund policy for .tel domains purchased in Landrush?Telnic does not provide refunds for .tel domains in Landrush. Please check whether your registrar has a refund policy.
• Where do I go to edit my .tel?The link, username and password for accessing your .tel control panel have been sent to you by your .tel provider when you purchased your .tel. If you cannot find the link, please contact your .tel provider.
• I cannot log in.Please make sure your username and password are correct. If you cannot remember the correct password, please click “Forgotten your password?” on the login page and type in the email address that you used to register your .tel domain. The system will send you a message with a temporary password.
• I see the wrong .tel.If you have more than one .tel domain, you see the control panel for only one of them when you log in. You can switch between your .tel domains by selecting them in the drop-down menu in the top-right corner of the control panel. If you do not see a domain you own in that list, please contact technical support.
• It says “To share your private data, please Activate TelFriends”.This is not an error. TelFriends is a free service for managing all your Friends in one place. By default, this feature is not active. To share your private data with friends, you will need to activate this feature by signing up to TelFriends.
• A part of the page disappeared.If you do not see a part of the Dashboard page, you might have accidentally clicked the title of one of the panes, such as Text Header or Contact Information. Your .tel control panel allows you to roll up panes that you are not using to optimize space on your Dashboard. To see the hidden pane, click the heading, and it will roll down.

  Text Headers

• There is no delete button. How do I remove text?Simply edit the text header to erase everything and click Save.
• Why doesn’t my text header show in my .tel?The text header you entered may belong to an inactive profile. Make sure that the text you are editing is in the profile with (active) in the name.

  Contact Information

• How many items of contact information can be stored in a .tel domain?Technically, there is no limit to the amount of information that can be stored in a .tel domain. However, depending on the size of the contact info you manage, your service provider may charge more. For further details regarding this, please talk to your service provider.
• I cannot add a contact.To add a contact to your .tel, follow the instructions in The .tel Manual or watch a brief video tutorial. If you enter your contact details but cannot save it, you may have used the wrong format; a red band should appear at the top of the window with instructions on the correct format for labels and the contact information itself.
• How do I add extension numbers?If you need to specify your extension number in addition to the main number, type in the extension in the Label field. Your contact value should follow the international format and contain no letters or spaces. This way, you phone number will always be in the ‘click-to-call’ format.
• How do I preview a contact?Once you save your contact, it gets published to the DNS and is instantly available in your .tel. Type in your .tel name in a new browser window to see how others see your page.
• Where is the delete button?To remove a contact item, tick it and choose Delete from the Actions drop-down box. You can delete any contact item, except for the last item of public contact information in your .tel. You must always have at least one public contact item, such as a website link or phone number.
• How do I delete a link to a folder?When you create a folder, a link to that folder is automatically added to your .tel. Similarly, when you delete the folder, the link is deleted as well.
• My contact does not show in my .tel.If you added a contact item on your Dashboard, but it does not show up on your .tel page when viewed in a browser, the contact item may be private (viewed only by friends who have logged in your .tel), disabled (added to the Dashboard but not published) or inactive (added to a profile that is not currently active). Edit the contact in the Dashboard to ensure that it’s public and in the active profile.
• How do I move a contact?You can re-order contact items by clicking the arrows icon in the list of contacts and moving the contact up or down. You may wish to change the order for a more user-friendly experience for your visitors.

  Keywords

• Only a part of my keywords list is added.Your free text and hobbies keyword categories are limited to 255 bytes; any text beyond this limit is not published. Please consider using other categories and reducing the message. Keywords are not intended for storing long paragraphs.
• I entered several keywords, but only one of them got saved.Please be advised that only keywords entered in the current category are saved. Please make sure you click Save before entering keywords on another tab of the Add Keywords window.
• The address fields are in the wrong order.If you wish to change the way your keywords are displayed, simply drag-and-drop the fields as needed by using the buttons on the side.

  Profiles

• Why are some contacts grey?Contacts are not included into the current profile are greyed out on the Dashboard. To add these contacts to the profile, tick the contact and select Add to profile in the Actions box.
• I do not need profiles, I just want to add a few contacts.Profiles are optional and are included into .tel for your convenience. When you start, you have a “default” profile, where all your contacts get added. If you do not wish to set up any other profiles, you do not need to.

  Location

• My location does not show as my address.The Location record is a combination of longitude and latitude displayed as a map entry. If you want to publish a postal address, use the keywords or the text header.
• How do I make my location private?Your Location is always public in .tel. If you wish to add a private location, you can use other services, such as BrightKite, and add links to those as private contacts.
• What if I want to add more than one address?Normally, you cannot be in more than one place at a time. If you need to enter multiple locations, such as temporary and permanent, consider adding them to the text header in different profiles, and switching between profiles depending on your current location. If you wish to have several locations displayed simultaneously, enter them as keywords and use the Label field to describe each location. Remember that keywords are always public, so don’t put your home address in there if you do not want it to be publicly available.

  Folders

• How do I add a private contact to a sub-folder?All contacts in sub-folders are public and visible to all. If you wish to add private information, please use your main domain folder.
• Can I have direct links to my sub-folders?Yes, folders are sub-domains of your domain, so you can enter their names in a browser – the folder name comes before your domain name. For example, if yourname.tel has a folder social, you can go to that folder directly by entering http://social.yourname.tel in a browser.
• How do I delete a folder?Hover your mouse beside the folder name in the Folders pane on the left; when you see the Delete button, click it.
• Can I move everything to another folder?You can select multiple or all contacts and keywords in a folder and choose move to… in the Actions box to migrate the contacts to another folder. You cannot move/or copy locations, text headers or whole folders.
• How do I rename a folder?Create a folder with the new name and move all contents from the old folder to the new one. Then delete the old empty folder.

  Privacy

• I cannot add new Friends.You need to have an active TelFriends account to add friends that can see your private data. By default this feature is inactive, and you only see the default Friend groups and yourself on the Privacy tab. For more details on Friending, see The .tel Manual.
  If you have an active TelFriends account, you can accept friend requests to allow people to access your private data. You cannot proactively invite people to be friends of your .tel, because they need to have a TelFriends account first.
• I’m in the Privacy tab and cannot add a new contact to the group.To allow friends in the current group see a contact, click Add inside the table Items in Group and select the contact you wish to add from the list of existing public and private contact items. If you wish to add a completely new contact item to this group, follow the instructions in The .tel Manual.

  Friends

• Why do I have to log in again in the control panel?After you activate TelFriends and create an account, you need to log into TelFriends once in your .tel control panel, so that it remembers your login and gets friend messages for you.
• I returned from vacation and do not see any new friend messages.Your friend message box may overflow if you do not act on your messages. If this happens, people will not be able to send you friend requests. To make space for new friend requests, accept or reject existing messages, and they will be deleted to allow new message requests to be sent.