Change ISP - will email address go also?

searchlight123

Just a quick question please.
If I change my tv and broadband from Sky to Virgin will I lose my @sky.com email address?
I have had this address for over 15 years so i'm hoping not but if someone has taken the leap recently maybe they could allay my fears.
Many thanks.

victor2

Almost certainly.
What you can do is set up a new non ISP specific email address (such as a gmail one) and put a forwarder on your current sky address to the new one, just before you leave Sky. Many organisations leave such forwarders in place when you leave, so even though you can no longer access that email account, any mail sent to it gets forwarded. There is absolutely no guarantee how long the forwarder will stay in place and I don't know what Sky's policy is, but that's how it used to work with other ISPs...

John_Gray

Why should Sky (or any other ISP) keep your email address going after you have left them? Your only hope is that they charge you a small amount to keep it going, but I wouldn't be too hopeful.

And don't get a Virgin Media email address for general correspondence, because if you leave them I believe your account will get deleted after 30 days...

Your best bet is probably to get a free email address which is not managed by your own ISP, perhaps Gmail.com, Outlook.com, GMX mail, Zoho mail, etc.

DigForVictory

+1 for switch to a webmail account & set up forwarding.
No idea how you'd shift a 15 year mail archive, but suggest copying treasured images to external hard disk *before* you call sky...

John_Gray

If you have any faith in PC Advisor , have a look at The best free email services 2016.

An alternative is to buy your own domain and get your email hosted (without a website) by an ISP like Heart Internet. But I suspect that would be too much hassle for most people.

JJ_Egan

Do Sky allow you to pay for an email service ??
Shutdown varies from days to years .
Could lose it within a few days or it works until they chop a load of redundant users email boxes .

hans_2

Sky

Sky is one of the few providers that won’t charge you to keep your email account active. However, you will need to regularly log in to your account, as Sky may shut down accounts remain inactive for six months. However, we can't rule out the possibility of Sky changing this policy in the future, so it’s worth backing up any emails if you are leaving Sky.

https://www.cable.co.uk/guides/can-i-keep-my-email-address-if-i-change-provider/

S0litaire

Depends on the ISP's policy (and if they act on it!)

I've a @Virgin.net email account that i got when Virgin first started as a dial-up ISP and I left them before ADSL was common place.

I just have to login to it every 90 days or so to keep it active. The fact that my Gmail account logs in via pop3 to pick up mail once every few days means it's been kept alive ever since!

Not sure about SKY's policy! think it might be much stricter move all your emails to a ISP independent account like Outlook.com or Gmail and let everyone know the new address.

nickcc

hans_2 wrote: »

https://www.cable.co.uk/guides/can-i-keep-my-email-address-if-i-change-provider/

Sky also advise closure of unused email accounts even when you're still a Sky customer. I'm on Sky BB and landline but still use my BT email account, Daughter is on BT so I'm linked to her account, but I have to use my Sky email accounts every few months.

insert_random_name_here

I still have an AOL email (not used much t.b.h. but still active) 4 years after leaving them.

frank777

Can I keep my email address when I leave Sky

http://helpforum.sky.com/

''You can continue to use Sky email address once you leave, if you are going to use it regularly then you will not have any issues as to keep it active you need to login to it at least once a month''