Keep BT email address when leaving?

Hi

I was wondering if it's possible to keep pop3 access to my BT email address if I change to a different provider? I've had a myriad of problems with BT; BUT it's critical for my work that I can still access my current BT email using outlook, so i can't take the risk of it shutting down...

Thanks!

Yes.

You can downgrade to a dialup for free but have to dial in at least once every 90 days I think to keep it alive, though routine POP3 access can be done through your new ISP connection.

Better is the paid-for service at £2-£3 per month. Contact Customer Services.

Long-term you should get your own domain (.co.uk or .me.uk) and an email service to go with it. Mine costs £1.14pm. (See the links in my sig). Then that is yours for ever and you migrate without changing anything to do with your email.

You could get that now and swap over yourself for receiving and sending, notify everyone, and also receive on the BT ones for as long as you choose.

When you are happy it is safe to drop the BT email then drop it.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

You can downgrade to a dialup for free but have to dial in at least once every 90 days I think to keep it alive

It is possible that even if you don't dial in (as Roberto says) to it as your ISP, you may be able to re-activate it on their Web site. That's how Orange and others do it.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Long-term you should get your own domain (.co.uk or .me.uk) and an email service to go with it. Mine costs £1.14pm. (See the links in my sig). Then that is yours for ever and you migrate without changing anything to do with your email.

That is by far the cheapest and best way to do it. Takes a little faffing to set up for the first time, but from then on it's brilliant. (the ability to add your own email addresses for particular tasks is great. Sign up to a website using a specific address, then bin the email address when they start sending endless junk.)

I went for a basic domain and email forwarding package from 1and1, which is very cheap. Ignore the more expensive "hosting" deals, you simply don't need them for this job.

http://order.1and1.co.uk/xml/order/Instant;jsessioni...

(No commercial link, just a customer.)

I've now started using the domain forwarding, so "photos.domain.co.uk" points towards my flickr account, and so on.

Edited by deleted (Thu 21-May-09 17:27:46)

In reply to a post by thedrudger:

Hi

I was wondering if it's possible to keep pop3 access to my BT email address if I change to a different provider? I've had a myriad of problems with BT; BUT it's critical for my work that I can still access my current BT email using outlook, so i can't take the risk of it shutting down...

Thanks!

Below are the instructions BT emailed an ex-customer in January 2009 who had not accessed their BT email for a while after leaving BT.

Dear

We have noticed that you're registered as a BT Yahoo! Pay-as-you-go dial-up customer, but you haven't accessed your account using the BT Yahoo! Pay-as-you-go1 dialler for at least 30 days.

You need to connect to the internet using this dial-up number at least every 90 days as stated on your Terms & Conditions.

If you still wish to use your BT Yahoo! Pay-as-you-go account, all you need to do is dial up using the BT Yahoo! Pay-as-you-go icon on your desktop, within the next 60 days. If you no longer have this icon, you can easily download it here. However if you do not dial in within 60 days your account will be ceased.

If you are using a BT Broadband or BT Total Broadband account
You haven't yet registered your original BT Yahoo! Pay-as-you-go email address as a broadband email address.

To keep your email address, click here and enter your details. You will be asked "Do you already have a BT email address?". Please tick "Yes".

If you have changed your broadband provider or want to continue using this email address
If you've changed your Broadband provider but want to keep your BT Openworld or BT Internet email address, consider our Premium Mail package. For just £1.47 a month2, you can get:

* Unlimited storage
* Protection against viruses, spam and other online threats
* Easy to use BT Yahoo! webmail
* Technical support when you need it Up to 5 email addresses for you and your family

Keeping your current email address also means you won't miss any important emails sent to your current address.

Big of a farce you have to pay, considering AOL customers can have it free!

In reply to a post by krazykizza:

Big of a farce you have to pay, considering AOL customers can have it free!

Agreed. But the OP requires his email for business so it is money well spent. However, as others above has said, you can have your own domain plus a few email addresses for a little over £1 a month including VAT- and that really is the best option for a business.

Edited by cozumel (Thu 21-May-09 21:29:54)