Can you take email address with you?

davidscot

Called Tiscali to ask for my MAC code, they asked why I was leaving etc.
In the end up they gave me 3 months at a rate of £4.99 for my current connection then onto £9.99 thereafter, saving on what I currently pay so just decided to stay with them and avoid the hassle of moving etc
:j

Pound

You should probably avoid using an ISP provided email address because
a) you usually lose it once you move away from them.

b) once you do use it it goes back into the "pool" of available email addresses and it becomes easy for someone to take that email address and take control of any accounts on websites where you've registered with that address.

JanetG

I've had a similar call from BT. I've been reluctant to change my ISP from Virgin because I would have to change our email addresses, but this guy from BT said that we would be able to keep our [EMAIL="'@virgin.net'"]'@virgin.net'[/EMAIL] addresses. I've done a quick search online and cannot find anything to confirm this. Does anyone know whether it is actually true or just a sales pitch?

macman

JanetG wrote: »

I've had a similar call from BT. I've been reluctant to change my ISP from Virgin because I would have to change our email addresses, but this guy from BT said that we would be able to keep our '@virgin.net' addresses. I've done a quick search online and cannot find anything to confirm this. Does anyone know whether it is actually true or just a sales pitch?

Open a gmail acount, as a a previous post says it takes all of 5 mins, then you can swap ISP's every year if you want, and no worries about losing your address.
After you migrate you can usually receive from the old address anyway for quite a while, you just can't send-but why would you want to?

mrJ_5

macman wrote: »

you just can't send

You can send, you just need to change the SMTP address to that of your new broadband ISP....

Armengar

I think what macman was saying was that you cant configure BT to send TISCALI emails (using the tiscali email address) as the SMTP of tiscali wont accept BT internet routing. But a GMAIL address can be sent from all and sundry.

mrJ_5

Ok... but you can send email from a Tiscali email address (or any other ISP based email address) via a BT broadband (or the ISP your migrate to) connection by changing the SMTP to that of BT's (or the ISP you migrate to). Belongs as the email account is active, you can still use it.

So if you were with tiscali, the SMTP address for [EMAIL="your.name@tiscali.co.uk"]your.name@tiscali.co.uk[/EMAIL] may be smtp.tiscali.co.uk - but you can just change this to smtp.btinternet.com (for example) after you migrate and it will send successfully.

syko29793

If moving to a BT email address from another isp then you need to use BT Yahoo true switch. Its free for a month when moving to BT broadband and diverts all your emails to a new BT email address.
keeping your email after you cancel is up to the isp and they may charge you.

mrJ_5

Why divert when you can still pick them up directly via an email client yourself?

I have no idea how BT Yahoo true switch works, but to me sounds like you'd be giving them the username and password - why would you trust someone else with your details? More so when you can still access them anyway yourself. I could probably set up a diverting email service... not exactly difficult, but please give me all of your details... If BT screw up and leak your details - woops... If their system starts forwarding to someone else... woops... If they pull the plug and don't tell you (you blame the former ISP)... woops... If you still want access after the free month, need to pay, but why when you can still access them directly?

After you have successfully migrated, you request that your former broadband account be downgraded to pay as you go - thus possibly keeping your email address active (you may need to dial in every now and again to keep it active), or pay a small charge to your former ISP to keep it active