ADSL on Cable?

fluffymuffy

We've just moved to a cabled house and have signed up for Virgin's internet/TV/phone package. I also want to keep my old internet provider as all my business stuff has my zen email address on it.

I find I can use the internet through zen on the wireless thingy - it's really fast, also I can receive emails - but I can't send emails.

I've tried plugging it into the phone socket with the "fish" thingy (Alcatel Speedtouch) but that doesn't work at all. Has anyone any ideas other than to have a BT line put in?

fwor

No, ADSL and cable use two incompatible technologies.

You may still be able to use your Zen email address by changing the outgoing server in your email program to Virgin's server but, if you aren't paying Zen anything, I wouldn't assume that the email address there will stay forever.

Personally I wouldn't think about having to pay 2 ISPs for broadband (one via cable, one via ADSL) just so that you can access an old email account. Register your own domain and create an email address that isn't dependent on an ISP and tell your business associates that your email address has changed. That way you can change ISPs in future and not worry about your email address having to change.

U've_been_framed

I think that if you use cable then you are limited to Virgin as an ISP.
Your Alcatel Speedtouch will only work with a standard BT type phone socket.
However, you want to retain your old zen email address. I would contact zen, explain the situation to them and see if they can offer any solution. They may offer an email hosting service that you can access from anywhere.

Alternatively, you can register your own domain e.g. fluffymuffy.com. Find a webhost and use that for your email e.g. [EMAIL="fluffy@fluffymuffy.com"]fluffy@fluffymuffy.com[/EMAIL]. That way you can change your ISP but keep your email address.

fluffymuffy

Thanks - I've asked Zen if they can do anything. I want to keep a separate internet account for business - it makes it an expense on my tax return.

fluffymuffy

Update...

It is indeed possible to use my zen account through the cable network!!

Zen sent me a how to configure Outlook Express instruction email and it worked, although it did somehow change our user name on the server to our full email address (this was discovered after a long phone call to zen).

The instructions for anyone else who needs to do this are here...

Go to Outlook Express, and click Tools at the top. Then click accounts, select your e-mail account with zen, and click properties.
Go to the Advanced Tab, and Select both boxes which state "This server requires a secure connection"

Go to the Servers Tab, and click "My server requires authentication" underneath Outgoing mail server. and then in the settings tab, set it to use the same settings as the incoming mail server.