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Summary: With a little planning it's possible to have an email address that does not need to change each time you change your internet provider.
Is there a way to keep my email address when I change my ISP?
Cell phone carriers are now required to let you keep your cell phone number if you switch providers but unfortunately no such requirement exists for ISPs. So probably not. But there are definitely a few things you can do this time to make it possible to keep your email when you switch next time.
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If your email address includes the name of your ISP such as @aol.com, @msn.com, comcast, attbi, earthlink and so on, that email address is tied to that ISP forever. The only way you can keep that address is to keep some kind of account with that ISP.
You can however create an email address that is independent of your ISP, and therefore one you can use regardless of which ISP you have or use. There are several approaches.
Webmail: Services such as Hotmail and Yahoo Mail are based on the web and are accessible from just about anywhere. The basic service is also usually free. The downside to web based mail services is that you are tied to their service for all of your email needs. Your storage and other capabilities might be limited and as discussed here you probably won't be able to use your favorite mail program to get your mail. But as I said these services are quick, free, and ubiquitous.
Mail Forwarding Services: Another approach is to sign up with a mail forwarding service. When you sign up you are given a new email address at one of the domains the service supports. You then configure that service to forward all email received on that address to your "real" email address at your current ISP. You never hand out your ISP-based email address, only the one that goes through the forwarding service. Then when you decide to change your ISP you simply reconfigure the service to forward to your new email address. There are many services around including Netforward and Mail.com. A new spam protection service called MailBlocks can also be used in a similar way.
Your Own Domain: If all you want to do is forward email owning your own domain name isn't very complicated at all. Most of the domain registrars include mail forwarding as part of their service when you register with them. In fact the most difficult part might be finding a domain name you like that hasn't already been taken! Once you find that domain name then not only can you typically get email forwarding for one email address, but ANY email address at that domain - even made up ones - can be forwarded to the address you specify. There are several low cost domain registrars out there and right now I'm partial to Simple URL.
Related:
Article C1860 - November 11, 2003
I have tried talking to three individuals from India and am unable to understand their language, nor what their objections are in trying to change my old e-mail address from msn from Embarq. Bad experience all around.
Posted by: Clark Slayman at February 3, 2007 2:54 PMi'm trying to have my email activated but just because my cable company suddently i don't don't access anymore into it, please help me, because i have many info that i've saved which i would like to print out.
Posted by: Bil at April 11, 2007 3:33 PMI typed a long e-mail but when i clicked send a message came up stating my log in time had expired. My e-mail was not sent. Why also is there a way to retrive it?
Posted by: Chuck at May 19, 2007 7:24 PMChuck
I am currently with Tesco.net on a dial up plan but have just signed up to Sky broadband - I am cancelling my tesco account but was wondering if I can keep my tesco email address as I use it for business
Posted by: Angela Crawford at June 12, 2007 5:34 AMI am changing from USCOM to NETZERO ISP..and I am using Outlook express. Can I use both addresses and will Outlook express send out and forward my mail. This is all too confusing.
Any help will be appreciated.
Posted by: Penny Burke at January 8, 2008 9:05 AMi`ve read the article..........does that apply to a secondary email account?
when i move i want to keep my email username, one would think that since it`s not a primary address i shouldn`t have any trouble.
Posted by: tanya at January 23, 2008 2:36 PMI recently changed my IPS from AT&T to Time Warner highspeed. My email address has att.net at the end, however I am able to still us this address with Time Warner. Do I have to change this?
Posted by: Diana at April 3, 2008 7:37 PMI have my email through netidentity.com. They own my last name as a domain name and many many others. They sell you email accounts that are firstname@lastname.com which is really nice, unfortunately thier service rates about a 2 on a 1-10 scale in my book. Is there any way to free my name from them?
Posted by: William at October 8, 2008 8:04 AMJust and expression of thanks to you LEO.
I used the information here and now have my own domain overnight.Will now work towards independence of my email address.
Also for the guidance about SimpleURL. After checking a number of local (Australian) domain providers SimpleURL was certainly the better option . Establishing the domain name was as cheap but none had free email forwarding. You had to subscribe to a plan at additional cost to get this email support.
Posted by: Ian at October 11, 2008 8:41 PMThe only wrinkle now is the exchange rate. If our AUD keeps falling the cost in USD will rise.
I'm in the process of switching to AT&T U-Verse. I was told by the AT&T rep that I could continue to use my Roadrunner email for 2 years even though I was dropping my internet service from the cable company and switching to AT&T. He said it was a new law. Is this correct?
Posted by: Steve at November 3, 2008 3:40 PM