Cancellation - Email Question

[bigviv]

i'm going to move away from f2s but would like to keep my email addresses, is there any way to keep these after i migrate?

thanks

[kmount]

To keep the email addresses you need to have a 'paid for' service on your account, perhaps a domain name?

[bigviv]

is that the cheapest option?

just register any domain name, keep it with f2s, and voila...keep all the email addresses i have?

sounds like a deal

[Howlingwolf]

The simplest and cheapest solution is a personal domain name with a third party supplier which provides email forwarding. It doesn't cost much and gives you a (semi-) permanent email address which you just forward to your current isp email address.

For example:- somename@somedomain.me.uk --> accountname@ispname.net

I personally use Easily (http://easily.co.uk/), a .org.uk costs me £8.99 for two years.

As an aside, I've just looked up my last invoice to check what I paid for my last renewal and discovered that I've had the same domain name (and email addresses) with them for over five years. During that time the cost has gone up from £8.50 to £8.99. Now THAT is good service, when it works so well you don't even notice it.

Naturally there are other domain registrars out there but you should avoid the ones giving 'special' offers such as £1.99 for a .co.uk etc. Most of them are scams of some kind while others have hidden charges, ie. all you get is the domain name and everything else, such as email forwarding, cost extra. 1to1 and GoDaddy used to be the worst offenders for the latter but they may have cleaned up their act.


EDIT: I've just checked the F2S website and they don't provide email forwarding. They do provide free @f2s.com email addresses but email hosting on your domain name will cost you an additional £24.00 per year!!!

[John]

I use easyspace for my domains, and I advise many people to do that so you can move ISP without loosing email. Works well, I am still on an old package from before they merged, bought out etc so pay £10 for 2 years and that includes e-mail.

[aos101]

If it's just @f2s.com addresses you definitely can keep them by buying a domain because you get free @f2s.com email addresses with a domain as it says on their site. To keep username.f2s.com addresses working you need a paid for service on the account like Chaz says, but F2S don't advertise this so it's not really part of any products.

Since I left F2S last year I've had one domain on my account and the VoIP service which I never use (and can't now they blocked off network use), and all my @f2s.com and @username.f2s.com email accounts are still working, so just buying a domain would seem to work.

[Howlingwolf]

Easyspace used to be one of the good ones, I used them for company domains, but I hear they've rather gone downhill since iomart got their greedy paws on them. They've certainly gotten more expensive.

Of course I must admit to possibly having a slight bias against iomart. My predecessor purchased a website package from iomart Internet, as it was then, and it took me nearly two years to sort out the mess.

I used to have a framed copy of a court order instructing iomart Internet Ltd. to return all domain names, company property etc. Reimbuse all monies paid to iomart, pay our costs in bringing the case and, "Cease and Desist from all Harassment" of the company and it's employees.

There is a certain satisfaction in hearing a judge describe your opponent's behaviour as "throughly reprehensible". Almost as much as in hearing him give you everything you asked for.

[bigviv]

thanks for all that, best option then is to register some domain or just bite the bullet and get my own domain with email forwarding, and tell everyone i know my email's changed!

can't be too hard...!!

[John]

EEK! Must admit I have had issues since Iomart got hold of them, but theres nothing that the .uk domain rules that I can pull via Nominet cannot cure

[Howlingwolf]

@bigviv

Yes, those are your best options. In the long term getting your own domain name with email forwarding is probably better but I guess you would have to weigh that against the inconvenience of changing your email address.


@John
EEK! wasn't what I said when I discovered precisely what I had inherited (and how much we had paid for it)

[mickus]

Once you've migrated to another ISP - how long does your current mail address remain active? Or is it terminated immediately?

[Howlingwolf]

To be honest I don't know, but it is probably not a good idea to rely on it still being active and/or accessible after migration.

I intend to redirect all my email forwarding as soon as my new account becomes active, before the migration actually takes place just in case I cannot access my F2S email accounts after the fact.

[trevorsm]

Another very good domain registrar for top level domains is Joker based in Switzerland:
http://www.joker.com/