For me the only 2 real viable options are either free email services which you can be confident will be around for a while, and that is the big 3.

gmail
hotmail/outlook
yahoo

Otherwise buy your domain, and find somewhere to host it, this is far cheaper than what BT want, and the domain is yours, you would never be reliant on any one provider.

Thanks for the advice panda. I'm sure it reflects the reality of the situation. I'd still however like to make a complaint to BT even if just to air my frustration at their actions. What's the alternative? Pay their £5 ransom without questioning it or leave quietly? Even if they lost well over half of their BT Premium Mail customers as a result of this massive price hike they would still be making more money from it.

I have some original @btinternet.com addresses from many years back - well before they differentiated between business and consumer. I have always used BT as my ISP and have used BT Business for many years whilst keeping the @btinternet,com addresses for the occasional emails.

Two years back they informed Business service users that they would start to be charged for keeping the addresses - I raised a complaint that had an impact - they paused charging for 12 months until mid 2015 before implementing the £1.60.month fee. At present they have not informed me of the rise - will it stay as before or increase? I'll wait and see.

Just received a letter today informing me of the price hike�£5 per month is a lot.

Anybody know if it is possible to keep the account without the premium or is everything lost?

I got the same email. I could cope with the £1.60 monthly charge but £5 is such a leap and almost the same as Netflix. I kept it on out of laziness as I didn't want to have to change my email address which was used for many sign ups over the 10+ years, but now this is just taking the pee. Also what do I get that Gmail and Hotmail and the others can't give ? I also get adverts shown on the mailbox. The service is powered by Yahoo but don't they offer a free service of the same ? What is so premium of what I get ?

I am contacting BT as we talk, apparently BT can associate your email with your broadband account�?

I seem to remember Business broadband had to pay for emails�? And standard was free�?

Today apparently if you have, according to a rep/or who ever answered took my call. If you have BT Business broadband then the email is free�REALLY?

So I was patched through and BT Business team closes at 6pm�! Its recommended I call back again 0800 800 152 and talk to customer options team and they will tell you what you are entitled to..!

They can associate any old BT email with a BT Broadband account ... and yes it is free for Residential/Consumer packages. Business is chargeable.

If you get a different answer, I would lie to hear it and have a reference for it.

Wrong number�.OK

I agree with all the comments here regarding BT's latest ripoff. I did not see this thread before starting my own here
All's well that ends well after 45+ years as a BT customer ...

I moved out of the UK 5 years ago but kept my main btinternet.com address as my primary email. At 1.60 it was not cheap but acceptable. This increase to 5 pounds a month is just not realistic.

Plus I am unable to call them from abroad.

Any suggestions?