Can you use TalkTalk email address after closing broadband account?

jollyfred

We switched broadband from TalkTalk to Sky in November 2020 but have kept using the TalkTalk email address. Today we got on the chat line to ask about syncing the computer and the phone, and they said they couldn't find the email address we're using, and we don't have an account number to give them. We gave up and Googled the issue, and it said TalkTalk allows the email address to be used for 12 months after an account is closed, then deletes the email address. It's been nearly 18 months since the account was closed, so can this be right - will we lose the TalkTalk email address and access to the webmail at some point?

Many thanks.

flaneurs_lobster

I think you should assume that you will lose the TalkTalk email address at some point. Get yourself a free non-ISP email account (like Gmail or Outlook) and look to change any online accounts you have registered w/ the TT address changed to the new one. 

Neil_Jones

jollyfred said:

We switched broadband from TalkTalk to Sky in November 2020 but have kept using the TalkTalk email address. Today we got on the chat line to ask about syncing the computer and the phone, and they said they couldn't find the email address we're using, and we don't have an account number to give them. We gave up and Googled the issue, and it said TalkTalk allows the email address to be used for 12 months after an account is closed, then deletes the email address. It's been nearly 18 months since the account was closed, so can this be right - will we lose the TalkTalk email address and access to the webmail at some point?

Many thanks.

If you're not paying TalkTalk anything (they normally charge IIRC £5 a month for the email) and you're not an active customer then I would treat it as liable to vanish at any time without warning

Get yourself a Yahoo/Gmail/Outlook.com email address, use the ability to view email from other providers and then copy off anything important.  While you still can.

jollyfred

Thanks for the quick answers. Another friend says they had a Tiscali email address before TalkTalk bought them out, and that they still use this without any sub to TalkTalk. Is this a different thing to having a TalkTalk email address that came with a broadband sub?

glennevis

Send an email from another email service provider to the talktalk email address. If the address is no longer valid you will get a delivery failure report almost instantly. Don't send the email from a (possibly invalid) talktalk address or you won't know whether it was never even sent.

jollyfred

The email address is working fine - it's the one we use all the time. The question is whether it's going to be shut down without any notice.

newatc

I haven't had a TalkTalk account (well it was Onetel and they were taken over by TT)  for 15 or more years but still use the email address (albeit to give out on sites which demand one and I don't want to use my main one ). 

Neil_Jones

jollyfred said:

Thanks for the quick answers. Another friend says they had a Tiscali email address before TalkTalk bought them out, and that they still use this without any sub to TalkTalk. Is this a different thing to having a TalkTalk email address that came with a broadband sub?

Tiscali is a legacy brand; TalkTalk owe it nothing and its their good faith that it remains.  However the fact TalkTalk have said many times over the years that this, that and the other legacy wise are going to close and they never did, in fact all Tiscali mail was meant to all vanish three years ago:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6281087/old-tiscali-talktalk-email-account-closing

jollyfred

Thanks for all the help and comment. We're very grateful to you all.

The_Fat_Controller

@jollyfred please read this

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Email/How-long-is-talktalk-email-address-valid-for-after-leaving/td-p/2633210#:~:text=If you choose not to,access via an Internet browser.

J_B

newatc said:

I haven't had a TalkTalk account (well it was Onetel and they were taken over by TT)  for 15 or more years but still use the email address (albeit to give out on sites which demand one and I don't want to use my main one ). 

I still have a Onetel email address for a similar thing - was just thinking it must be 15 years