Useless Nexus

Don’t Use Your ISP for Email

Last weekend, FairPoint Communications found themselves in a big mess while taking over the email of their customers since they bought the landlines and phone services in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont from Verizon. I can’t say I understand what happened. It sounds like server problems in handling the domain change due to the hand over of account control.

You can read about this at the Concord Monitor website.

This incident highlights something I’ve been telling friends and family for years. Do NOT use the free email from your ISP. It’s tied to the ISP! If they change ownership or you decide to change to a different service provider then you will be forced to change your email address. That’s never a good experience. In fact, I personally find it more of a hassle then changing phone numbers.

Dick Eastman has written a great article entitled, “Why You Need a Second (and Better) E-mail Address“. Hat tip to the Maine Genealogical Society where I first read the Mr. Eastman’s article.

I agree with everything Mr. Eastman says. Gmail is my favorite as well. Free Gmail or Yahoo mail or whatever is an improvement over being stuck to a particular ISP’s email. But I might go even one step further and suggest you take a look at Google Apps Standard Edition. For a very small annual fee you could have Google manage email at your own domain. By owning your domain then you never have to fear it changing. And if Google does not satisfy you then simply move your domain to another host. Your own domain puts you in complete control!

Don’t Use Your ISP for Email!

Tags: domain, email, Fairpoint, free, Google, ISP, problems, service