I guess only time will .tel (see what I did there? LOL), but my prediction is this domain will be a damp squib and ultimately will enjoy limited uptake.

Well, I don’t see anything wrong on IANA/ICANN part. Company pays for this domain (which is fine under concept of sponsored TLD) to be used for specific community use (hosting contact information of clients).

Who knows how many strings were pulled behind the scenes, but in the end it is all within the rules.

Yes, I agree, it was probably a poor choice of words to call it a “scam”. However, it is IMHO not good that ICANN can give this domain to a company who dictates people cannot host elsewhere and cannot control their domain.

Yes, it is not “hidden” as such, but equally it is not really fair. In the UK if the domain had been given to British Telecom there would likely be criticism that it is anti competitive. So I guess the correct term is scandal (albeit small in the great scheme of things) rather than scam.

You’re right about the marketing though, a good percentage of marketing is equally dodgy

There is some technical bs, but I think it’s probably because of ignorance rather than malice.

Yes, their product sucks and is aimed at idiots. But I don’t think this is definition of scam.

Some top brands get away with much bigger lies than this and people merely call it marketing.