What would you think if you had to type that into your browser window to get here. Or what about allyuh.co.tt or allyuh.toofast.tt.

We have all been conditioned to type in the dot com or on occasion the dot net but have not been exposed to the Top Level Domain of dot TT that has been put aside for all things related to Trinidad and Tobago. A conversation recently about a dot TT domain name lead me to look into the process of procuring one.

The administrators of the Top Level Domain for Trinidad and Tobago is the Trinidad and Tobago Network Information Center (TTNIC) who is responsible for the registration and administration of such domains ending with .tt, .co.tt, .org.tt .edu.tt etc.

The registration process is simple and laid out on the site, as well as the registration form. The registration and registration agreement seem pretty straightforward for anyone familiar with domain registration and does not have all the trappings of a registrar enticing you with extras such as GoDaddy.

The fees on the other hand seem to be quite higher than one would pay for a dot com. In fact they offer a different cost for what they deem to be registrants with a local presence receiving a 50% reduction over those with a non-local registrant address.

During an April 2005 interview with the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society and one of the administrators Patrick Hosein addressed the issue of fees and the fact that the government who now controls the .gov.tt subdomain was in discussion with the TTNIC on the issue of the TLD.

A 2006 Guardian article on the same subject alluded to the government planning to take over the the dot TT domain. The article points to the the fact that the only persons that tend to hold dot TT domains are large companies and that ten percent of poll respondents would not take a dot TT if it came free with a box of KFC.

I for one would freely accept both the KFC and the dott TT at its current price but I am wary of the government’s involvement and subsequent authority on my dot TT domain name. To purchase a domain name at its current price however is indeed robbery hence the low penetration rate of dot TT’s on the internet.

Would you purchase a dot TT if the price were more in line with other country specific TLD? Would you purchase a dot TT if the government were your GoDaddy? How does this affect the rate of our small businesses competing online and the country’s overall online competitiveness now that we are seeing connectivity improvements.