In which case we should also warn that there is a risk of you getting hit by a lump of space debris when using email. This is a real risk too.

I have a couple of expendable Gmail accounts for forums etc and have quite often been asked to provide a recovery phone number. I don't give this because it's all part of Google's data harvesting. Just like yourself, I have been asked to prove my identity by receiving a code on my phone: no code, no access, so I launch a new one if necessary. Being charitable, Google is trying to protect your security. Friends who also use this system keep an old phone with payg sim which Google can track to its heart's content, assuming Google has a heart

For normal use my email is provided by an independent supplier. Well worth paying a few pounds a year to avoid being shadowed around the internet, the price charged by Google. In fairness, if you don't supply a phone as requested you cannot complain if you lose your email access.

In reply to a post by zelly:

I didn't make the account with a phone number provided

I was worried that if my account was hacked, the hackers would get my number and use it for identity theft

Well if your phone is an android device they probably already have your number, but that aside you should of at least added an authenticator to it.

As to your other posts, I have moved from ISP to ISP and have Gmail since the start and have never lost my account.

Granted I don't use Gmail for much, but I have never lost access to it.
Also the changing of IP Addresses shouldn't cause any issues when logging into Gmail, but using new / different devices could, this is why you should of added an authenticator to it.

There are security measures in place to protect your account that you seem to of neglected to setup and now you are having this issue.

If you follow the steps other people have said you "should" resolve your issue.

Paul

Just mash the mouse buttons above or below the number Gmail wants from you and after some time it�ll ask you to try another way.

Edited by gary333 (Wed 05-Feb-20 22:13:58)

To be fair to Google, they do ask you to link the account to a telephone number or alternative email address. It's a sensible precaution to avoid this sort of situation. Not doing so is a bit like having only one key to your house - lose it and you have a problem.

In reply to a post by zelly:

if people don't read or act on the advice given by their e-mail probvider they're hardly like to read and act on anything posted in a third party guide

It isn't just guides this warning should be on, it should also be on the sales page of every ISP

The Advertising Standards Authority has a CAP code on adverts that applies to broadband websites and their phone number checker, broadband availability pages

https://www.asa.org.uk/type/non_broadcast/code_secti...

CAP 3.3 says
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information

Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product


ISPs should be warning people that if they change ISP, they could loose their email account

All well and good but the IPSs are still giving you perfectly good internet access to attempt to log into your Gmail account. It's not the ISP's fault that Google incorrectly identifies access attempts from the new ISP to your existing Gmail account as potentially fraudulent. The ISPs are not doing anything misleading that would require a warning. Their end works.

Feel free to make a complaint to the ASA. I've made quite a few in the past and it's an excellent service but you're going to find that it won't be upheld because the ISP isn't doing anything misleading. You can still access the login page of Gmail - that's where the ISP's responsibility stops.

The problem is with Google's Gmail and the way it determines whether attempts to access an account are likely to be unauthorized. You have to contact Google.

There's a simple answer: If you want reliable email without this sort of problem the proper way to do it is to register your own domain name and pay for hosting. That way, you are in control - not Google or an ISP. If you're not paying for it, you're not in control. You will also have support available and you can change your ISP and email provider as many times as you like - your email address will stay the same.

At the moment you're using a service which costs nothing and you can now see one of the side effects.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

To be fair to Google, they do ask you to link the account to a telephone number or alternative email address. It's a sensible precaution to avoid this sort of situation. Not doing so is a bit like having only one key to your house - lose it and you have a problem.

Simply set up a 2nd gmail account and link the 2 together.

Bonus is you can use one for real emails. The other you can use for forum signup's .

TBH. Anyone worried about google tracking them, better not be using the internet.

In reply to a post by JohnR:

Simply set up a 2nd gmail account and link the 2 together.

If the theories about why the OP can't access their email is correct (changed IP address) then that wouldn't really help, would it. Two locked-out accounts are no better than one.

Better to have another mail account from a different provider. (Better still - if you're not paranoid about Google having your phone number - is to link the account to your mobile.)

Difficult to link if you can't log in.

It's not rocket science. You link to the mobile before you have problems.

Much like backing up your PC before the hard disk crashes. Or making a duplicate of your house key before you lose it.

Edited by TinyMongomery (Thu 06-Feb-20 15:18:22)