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Changing Broadband Suppliers & Keeping E-mail Address

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Hi,

I'm hoping someone on here may know about this.

I am with Tiscali broadband and now wish to change ISP, not due to service issues but just beacuse they are not competetive thesedays.

I have got several Tiscali e-mail address which I need to keep. I'm not sure whether they wil allow this when I transfer my broadband.

Can I keep the e-mail addresses, even if they are set as dial up? I can then download as I do now into Outlook and manage them all from there but surf using a faster more competetive service.

Thanks in advance.
:rotfl: It's better to live 1 year as a tiger than a lifetime as a worm...but then, whoever heard of a wormskin rug!!!:rotfl:
«13

Comments

  • I think you will have to ask them.

    My take on it that u will probaly not be able to keep them, having said that my old BT email address still works, and I left BT about 2 years ago to a more competative ISP.

    For the future I would suggest geting a domain name, they are very cheap these day's you can get one for £5.00 for 2 years, and if for example you used 1 and 1 to register the domain name (there are loads of other suppliers) you can set up an email address and point it to your ISP email address.

    Then you can change ISP's as much as you like and u will always have the same email address.

    Thats what I have done
  • superscaper
    superscaper Posts: 13,369 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    As spire128 suggests, using an ISP's email address as your main one is shooting yourself in the foot. As for Tiscali I don't know what their specific rules are but the point is that no matter how restrictive they are you have to abide by what they say and go with whatever changes they may make in the future. Some ISPs will charge you for having an email address with them which to me is pointless if you're already paying for a new ISP. Some require frequent dial ups with an old modem but as Orange demonstrated recently they can change the rules so they don't warn you before your account is cancelled for not dialling up frequently enough and also what if the ISP get's bought or decides to rebrand and get rid of the old "Tiscali" name?

    If you've got more than one address then you'd have to dial up for every single address or pay individually for each address. Long term you're better off getting an ISP independant address such as Gmail, hotmail etc or buying a domain which would actually be cheaper than what ISPs charge to keep a single address. Your own domain gives you more control, theoretically almost infinite number of addresses and looks more professional if you're giving it out for work related contacts, and easier for other people to remember etc.
    "She is quite the oddball. Did you notice how she didn't even get excited when she saw this original ZX-81?"
    Moss
  • nickj_2
    nickj_2 Posts: 7,052 Forumite
    i would agree with superscaper , i've been using gmail for a few months now , very pleased with it , as yet i've not received a single piece of spam
  • We were with Tiscali until earlier this month, the email accounts stopped on the day we switched - luckily we only used them for shopping, not as our main accounts!
    I'm mad!!!! :rotfl::jand celebrating everyday every year!!!
  • PaulK_3
    PaulK_3 Posts: 1,146 Forumite
    Swiching ISPs normally leads to the ISP email account closing at some point. No point risking that when you can get a free Gmail account to use without any fuss.
  • Terrylw1
    Terrylw1 Posts: 7,038 Forumite
    Thanks to everyone who has replied.

    The same happened when I upgraded from dial up with them. I maintained the old account as my main one and set up a few broadband addresses.

    I will be dialing up to get the mails to download but I suspect unless I keep a dial up acount open, they will do away with me.

    I'll get one based on my own domain since I was hoping to set up website anyway in the new future. Be sorted then.

    I've noticed I can only get 3meg anyway which is 1meg quicker than what I have got, but I am hoping to switch just to get the cost down since Tiscali are a bit pricey for 2meg in my opinion.

    Regards
    :rotfl: It's better to live 1 year as a tiger than a lifetime as a worm...but then, whoever heard of a wormskin rug!!!:rotfl:
  • Each company seems to do what it likes
    Freeserve cancelled my email accounts the same day I left them but LineOne.net carry on my account even though I left them years ago!
  • PaulK_3
    PaulK_3 Posts: 1,146 Forumite
    Some ISPs will keep the account live if you switch to their per minute dial up system instead. Dial in every X days and it stays live. Don't know if Tiscali offer the same.
  • As spire128 suggests, using an ISP's email address as your main one is shooting yourself in the foot. As for Tiscali I don't know what their specific rules are but the point is that no matter how restrictive they are you have to abide by what they say and go with whatever changes they may make in the future. Some ISPs will charge you for having an email address with them which to me is pointless if you're already paying for a new ISP. Some require frequent dial ups with an old modem but as Orange demonstrated recently they can change the rules so they don't warn you before your account is cancelled for not dialling up frequently enough and also what if the ISP get's bought or decides to rebrand and get rid of the old "Tiscali" name?

    If you've got more than one address then you'd have to dial up for every single address or pay individually for each address. Long term you're better off getting an ISP independent address such as G mail, Hotmail etc. or buying a domain which would actually be cheaper than what ISP charge to keep a single address. Your own domain gives you more control, theoretically almost infinite number of addresses and looks more professional if you're giving it out for work related contacts, and easier for other people to remember etc.

    I find it strange that you recommend an On-line mail program when you don't know anyone who uses one ?

    As everyone else has pretty much stated having an ISP mail address is not the greatest idea as it encourages you to stay with an ISP even if your not happy as you don't want to lose your email address which you know all your friends and contacts have. I had this problem myself when i left Blueyonder & then Pipex. I usually advise an on-line mail program such as Yahoo, Hotmail & G mail which can also add extra security as it's scanned on-line by the host and uses less resources on your PC. Personally i have my own domain & a Yahoo account too. Owning your own domain is quite in-expensive these days as little as £1.99 a month i think and allows you total control over your email + you can set up emails for your whole family Etc with your domain name so it has a lot more functionality
  • superscaper
    superscaper Posts: 13,369 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I find it strange that you recommend an On-line mail program when you don't know anyone who uses one ?

    ?????? When have I ever said that? I remember saying I personally only know one person that uses only webmail services. I use several gmail addresses myself (in addition to pop3 client for my other addressess). I suggest you read my posts properly before making false statements about me on other threads.
    "She is quite the oddball. Did you notice how she didn't even get excited when she saw this original ZX-81?"
    Moss
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