Today marks the kick off of the .tel launch with the first period, Sunrise, commencing at 15:00 GMT/UTC. Only trademark holders should apply at this stage, but Pre-Orders can also be placed for the first two public stages of Landrush and General Availability.

Outstripping the Pre-Order levels of all major launches this year within just the first 48 hours of us taking orders, .tel is uniquely different. It requires no web skills at all; it's simply a unique contact page on the web that you can update easily and as frequently as you want, in turn updating your friends and colleagues!

It functions using the web's DNS system, so cuts out an entire layer of delay when you would normally need to additionally talk to a web server. There are already numerous .tel address book applications which, when used as an alternative to your mobile address book, provide a real-time view as your friends and colleagues update! See what the New York Times had to say about it.

The .tel launch is entirely first-come-first-served (No auctions) so Pre-Order now to secure your choices. We are taking only ONE Pre-Order per domain and will only take payment if we succeed, so you really have nothing to lose. We won over 90% of our launch applications for .asia and .me this year.

Whilst writing, you may note that "Change Password" has now been replaced with "Account Security" in your Members Area (you will find this in the Manage Your Account pane of the right-hand navigation). There's been quite a few incidents recently of account security being compromised at Domain Registrars, Judges in Kentucky trying to seize domains or Registry operators simply deleting domains "by mistake".

We want to let you know you're secure with us! We've significantly bolstered our actual "sign-on" security to make sure you're protected at the front-end, and also beefed up our back-end and the options you can configure, ensuring your account can never be compromised.

Take a look at the new "Account Security" option where you can configure options such as IP Address restrictions so only your network can ever log in or set a telephone passphrase so we can further authenticate you when you call. Furthermore, you can turn off "Quick Links" so our renewal reminders won't log you in to your account directly, or simply change your password using the new "Strength Indicator" to be as secure as possible.

The Domainmonster.com Team