Computer dinosaur user..email address/isp question.
Discussion
As far as computers go I freely admit to being useless, a dinosaur.
I can do the basics and that is it but being long retired then that's fine. it is all I need.
My question is about email addresses and the isp provider.
From our first computer years ago we used BT, it was the only option. Later our last village had BT super fast installed and we signed up to that, all good.
Six years ago we moved to a village with no super fast, just BT over the phone line, very slow.
Then gigaclear cabled the village in their rural expansion and we have fast broadband from them via the cable BUT we still kept our subscription to BT internet as our email is ******* @btinternet.com
Is this correct ? Do we still have to subscribe to BT to keep our email the same ?
What would happen if we cancelled our BT account ? Can the email address be transferred to Gigaclear or would we lose it?
We really don't want to have to change our email address as it has been used from year one and the thought of what we might lose or the hassle go changing so many accounts/pages/forum/friends etc is daunting.
I don't understand these things all that well so any explanation would be appreciated.
Thanks
Brian.
I can do the basics and that is it but being long retired then that's fine. it is all I need.
My question is about email addresses and the isp provider.
From our first computer years ago we used BT, it was the only option. Later our last village had BT super fast installed and we signed up to that, all good.
Six years ago we moved to a village with no super fast, just BT over the phone line, very slow.
Then gigaclear cabled the village in their rural expansion and we have fast broadband from them via the cable BUT we still kept our subscription to BT internet as our email is ******* @btinternet.com
Is this correct ? Do we still have to subscribe to BT to keep our email the same ?
What would happen if we cancelled our BT account ? Can the email address be transferred to Gigaclear or would we lose it?
We really don't want to have to change our email address as it has been used from year one and the thought of what we might lose or the hassle go changing so many accounts/pages/forum/friends etc is daunting.
I don't understand these things all that well so any explanation would be appreciated.
Thanks
Brian.
These days if you want to keep your BT email address active without using BT Broadband, you have to pay £7.50 per month to keep it active.
That is a ridiculous sum of money for an email address but they are capitalising on people such as yourself who started with BT and too far in to want to consider changing.
Supposedly, if a friend or your family has BT broadband, you can somehow link your email address to their account, and waive the £7.50 fee: https://www.bt.com/help/email/what-happens-to-my-e...
If you don't want to change, then you have no other option. If you stop paying then you lose access to your BT email, and you couldn't use it to redirect to a new email address.
Your post suggests you are still paying the full broadband fee though - if this is correct you need to cancel this, and move onto the £7.50/month subscription instead.
Gigaclear do not offer their own email service and recommend you use one that isn't attached to a particular provider e.g. Gmail. This way the email address is free no matter who your internet is provided by.
That is a ridiculous sum of money for an email address but they are capitalising on people such as yourself who started with BT and too far in to want to consider changing.
Supposedly, if a friend or your family has BT broadband, you can somehow link your email address to their account, and waive the £7.50 fee: https://www.bt.com/help/email/what-happens-to-my-e...
If you don't want to change, then you have no other option. If you stop paying then you lose access to your BT email, and you couldn't use it to redirect to a new email address.
Your post suggests you are still paying the full broadband fee though - if this is correct you need to cancel this, and move onto the £7.50/month subscription instead.
Gigaclear do not offer their own email service and recommend you use one that isn't attached to a particular provider e.g. Gmail. This way the email address is free no matter who your internet is provided by.
Edited by Brainpox on Wednesday 13th July 14:51
Are you saying you are subscribing to both Gigaclear to get intenet connectivity via fibre & BT to get internet via your phone line (& email as well of course)?
In general if you are using an ISPs email service then you lose the eamil if you cancel the broadband contracr - however, it looks like BT will let you keep it:
https://www.bt.com/help/email/what-happens-to-my-e...
I don't know what level of service you have now but it looks like you could cancel your BB & just pay £7.50 a month for the Premium level & keep your email address. Make sure you do things in the right order though.
I understand your reticence to change email addresses as my sister is the same but it's very risky to rely on just one address from an ISP. It would be very wise to look at seeting up a couple of free email accounts, one with Google Gmail & one with Microsoft Hotmail. Then if you find you prefer one or the other you can slowly migrate over & save yourself £90 a year.
In general if you are using an ISPs email service then you lose the eamil if you cancel the broadband contracr - however, it looks like BT will let you keep it:
https://www.bt.com/help/email/what-happens-to-my-e...
I don't know what level of service you have now but it looks like you could cancel your BB & just pay £7.50 a month for the Premium level & keep your email address. Make sure you do things in the right order though.
I understand your reticence to change email addresses as my sister is the same but it's very risky to rely on just one address from an ISP. It would be very wise to look at seeting up a couple of free email accounts, one with Google Gmail & one with Microsoft Hotmail. Then if you find you prefer one or the other you can slowly migrate over & save yourself £90 a year.
Gmail is ideal for this. I'm migrating the F-i-L off another mail provider like this:
1. Set up Gmail to import mail over POP3/IMAP.
2. Set a label on anything from the old address.
Once the labels are no longer appearing as he unsubscribes/changes email addresses, stop paying for the old email address.
The web-based wizard for importing mail is pretty straightforward as long as you have the details of the server addresses and ports (widely available online) and the username and password.
1. Set up Gmail to import mail over POP3/IMAP.
2. Set a label on anything from the old address.
Once the labels are no longer appearing as he unsubscribes/changes email addresses, stop paying for the old email address.
The web-based wizard for importing mail is pretty straightforward as long as you have the details of the server addresses and ports (widely available online) and the username and password.
selwonk said:
Gmail is ideal for this. I'm migrating the F-i-L off another mail provider like this:
1. Set up Gmail to import mail over POP3/IMAP.
2. Set a label on anything from the old address.
Once the labels are no longer appearing as he unsubscribes/changes email addresses, stop paying for the old email address.
The web-based wizard for importing mail is pretty straightforward as long as you have the details of the server addresses and ports (widely available online) and the username and password.
Same for the free Microsoft emails xxxx@outlook.com. Personally I think the stuff you get from Microsoft for email is a bit better integrated than Google, but there's not a lot in it.1. Set up Gmail to import mail over POP3/IMAP.
2. Set a label on anything from the old address.
Once the labels are no longer appearing as he unsubscribes/changes email addresses, stop paying for the old email address.
The web-based wizard for importing mail is pretty straightforward as long as you have the details of the server addresses and ports (widely available online) and the username and password.
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