Starting today, a new service allowing anyone to store their contact information directly into the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) has become available to consumers.

Telnic, a London-based registry operator, is opening up its service, .Tel, a domain name for contact info, to the public today in a phase it is calling "Landrush."

The service was previously in its "Sunrise" phase, giving trademark holders the opportunity to purchase their .Tels first. Today, it opens up to consumers for a starting price of $300 per name for three years.

With a .Tel domain (e.g., www.nicoleismyhero.tel), a person can host whatever contact and real-time location information he/she likes and can be contacted directly via the Web or a mobile device. Essentially, it's like an online, interactive, updatable business card. People trying to get in touch with you won't have to slog through personal Website data or wait to log into email to reach you.

"Certainly we feel this is the biggest innovation to hit domain names in 20 years since the World Wide Web was developed, and certainly it's the first time domain names were used for something different since .com," said a very certain Justin Hayward, communications director at Telnic, in an interview with Internet Evolution yesterday.

Hayward wouldn't project how many people Telnic expects will register today, but, according to a release from ICANN-accredited registrar Domainmonster.com, pre-orders for .Tel domains are up 400 percent on any previous Global Top Level Domain Name (gTLD) launch.

Asked if he believes people will buy up popular .Tel addresses in hopes of selling them for a higher price, Hayward drooled: "I would love to say yes."

"What's going to happen is a rush for great names tomorrow," says Hayward of today's launch. "It could be NewYork.tel; nobody's registered New York. You can buy that and turn around a month later and sell it for a lot more than $300."

The Landrush period will last until March 23rd, and on the 24th domain prices will drop to around $10 per year, depending on the registrar.

For the average Internet user, however, a simple profile on Facebook, LinkedIn, or the free social networking spot of the future would seem to suffice as somewhere to host contact information -- particularly when the hot domains are available for something like $300 for three years.

But according to Hayward, while they might not buy them during the Landrush period -- "unless they're desperate or want to buy a present for the girlfriend who has everything" (err... I'd likely opt for a nice bag) -- consumers will feel more comfortable keeping their contact info on .Tel rather than a site like Facebook for privacy reasons.

"There's a reason why Facebook is free," says Hayward. "It's because you give your contact information over to Facebook. Yes, they have advertisements on their Website, but the reason why they have that advertising is because they understand exactly who you are, where you go, how you can be contacted.

"All of these organizations make money from knowing who you are and what your contact information is. Nine out of 10 people aren't using Facebook, and that's probably because they feel uncomfortable about putting contact information on there."

— Nicole Ferraro, Site Editor, Internet Evolution