Email addresses

[necigrad]

It's looking like I might be changing ISPs (YAY no more Cox!) which means I'll need to change emails again. Does anyone have any ideas on a good, long term email? I'm sure everyone is going to say gmail, and that's fine, but what about if/when Google goes under? Is it possible/practical to buy my own domain (aren't they like $5/year?) then use that domain name for whatever@myispname.com through gmail or some other provider? The bottom line is I want to change emails one more time in my life, and that's it.

[Troylee]

um google is never go under lol.... either will yahoo.... 2 biggest names in the industry....;)

[Narazbad]

I still use the same Hotmail account I've had since I got online 10 years ago.

[tbone74]

Google will last for ever. Top 3 visited websites in the world:
1. Google
2. Yahoo
3. Youtube

I wouldn't worry about gmail.

[tomgl]

There have been a few offers for the sale of Yahoo. Google is solid. Using your own domain name for email is a nice way to insure there is not going to be a name change. Lord knows Cox has changed it on me one time to many. I have had lvcm.com, lvcablemodem.com and lvcoxmail.com. I got tired of it and signed up for apples mobileme service. I love it and rumor mill says it me become free. I do have my own domain name but the charges for setting it up as a hosted email was equal to mobileme and I would get less service. I could setup my own email server but when I get done at work the last thing I want to do is go home to the same thing.

[necigrad]

Can I get a domain name from like godaddy.com or something, then run it through gmail? Would gmail charge for that?

[lvsuckerfish]

I had my own email server for a long time then got tired of maintaining it. I have or had no telling where it is at now server I think 2000 or 2003 can't remember I learned the hard way to work that one I did this all because I started a gaming server instead of buying one. that was a mistake better rates when you have fiberoptic lines going into a buildingand just 10mbs to a home lol but Tom is the one that is the pro on this subject as he does this for his job.

[lvsuckerfish]

yahoo or hotmail even though AOL was bought out still stayed the same name.

[tomgl]

Can I get a domain name from like godaddy.com or something, then run it through gmail? Would gmail charge for that? Yes you get your domain name and one mailbox that is a gig in size with godaddy. If you want to add more boxes it gets pricey. I have one of our remote companies on godaddy email (boss would not let me get them an exchange box) and it's around $400 a year. I was going to setup our family domain with email and for 5 mailboxes was way more than I wanted to spend. I'll post instructions on if you want to do the Gmail route.

[tomgl]

This used to work and I make not guarantee it will work in the future.

At Godaddy
To Forward Email Messages to Another Account
Log in to your Account Manager.
In the My Products section, click Email.
Next to the account you want to use, click Manage Account.
If you have unused email plans, and have not previously disabled the pop-in message that displays, click View All to view your complete list of email plans.
On the left, click Forwarding Plans to use a forwarding plan you have already set up, or click Unused Forwarding, under the Unused Plans folder to use a new plan.
Click Add next to the Email Forwarding account you want to use.
Click Add for the forwarding account to which you want to add a forwarding address.
In the Add Forward field, enter the first part of the email address, ie. the user name.
In the Forward Mail To field, enter the email address that you want to forward messages to.
To make the mailbox a catch-all account, select Yes. A catch-all account receives all messages sent to non-existent email addresses at your domain. For example, unknown@mydomain.com.
To set an automatic response for this account, select Auto-Responder, and then type the message in the Auto-responder message text box. You can also specify a date and time for the auto response to start and end.An auto-response allows you to automatically send a reply message to people who send you email messages.
Click OK.

Log on to Gmail.
Click on Settings (you’ll find the link in the top right corner).
Click on Accounts and Import.
Click on Send mail from another address.
Add your new, branded address: tom@tomsgreat.com
Click on the Next Steps button.
Click on the Send through your domain name SMTP. Add the smtp server info (smtpout.secureserver.net for godaddy) username (email address) and password.Gmail will now send you a message with a confirmation code that you must ad to the verification window. Since in step 2 you have already forwarded your branded address to your Gmail address, the verification email will be automatically forwarded to your regular Gmail address.

[tomgl]

Also another way to get the email from godaddy to gmail is to CC it in the godaddy control panel under advanced.

[necigrad]

It sounds like I'd need an email server, not just the domain name, and then have that passed through gmail (or something else), is that correct? This probably isn't going to be worth it...

[tomgl]

It's not as bad as it sounds. I just did it with my website domain name in under 10 minutes. Works too.

[bigronbo]

go ahead, drop cox, you'll be sorry!!! hope your not crazy enough to go to clear. My friend at work did and he was sorry. went back to cox crying. DSL blows and direct/dish are nuts. Now if you have some magic jennie service i'd love to hear about it.

[tomgl]

If you live in the right area Century Links new fiber optic is good. Key is you have to be in a newer area of town.

[TheGreatAukSociety]

I got my AOL.com e-mail back in the early 90's. It's free now. I also have an e-mail at my web page, costs $8 bucks a month at OneWebHosting. I used to have a web page in the early 2000's I just use it to put pictures of my tank online.

http://greatauksociety.com/aquarium/aquarium.jpg

I guess that's another bonus, you can host your own pictures, have your own e-mails.

[necigrad]

go ahead, drop cox, you'll be sorry!!! hope your not crazy enough to go to clear. My friend at work did and he was sorry. went back to cox crying. DSL blows and direct/dish are nuts. Now if you have some magic jennie service i'd love to hear about it.

Well, I've had nothing but bad service from Cox and had good service from Sprint DSL and DirecTV, so my personal experiences are in direct contradiction to yours. I did look at Clear, I want 10MBPS, so it's not an option, though many at work have it and love it.

[tomgl]

My brother is using Clear and has not had to pay for the last four months. The tower in his area is down and his download speed is slow. You don't see dedication to the user like that too often. A buddy of mine has it and is very happy and just signed up for there phone service. I have a friend at Century Link and he told me Century Tele is sinking tons of money into the infrastructure in the valley and they were embarrassed that rural areas had better service than a major metro. They are rolling out a 50Mbps service soon. If they had FO in my street I would drop Cox in a heart beat.

[necigrad]

My brother is using Clear and has not had to pay for the last four months. The tower in his area is down and his download speed is slow. You don't see dedication to the user like that too often. A buddy of mine has it and is very happy and just signed up for there phone service. I have a friend at Century Link and he told me Century Tele is sinking tons of money into the infrastructure in the valley and they were embarrassed that rural areas had better service than a major metro. They are rolling out a 50Mbps service soon. If they had FO in my street I would drop Cox in a heart beat.

Your stories are very relevant to me. When I bought here in '04 Sprint said no DSL here, the Association (apartment conversion) had to buy some mondo equipment. When Sprint merged with Embarq it was the same. Now that Cox 'upset' me I discovered that DSL is now available, at the same speed and slightly cheaper. My most recent issue with Cox has to do with their fee. They charge me $56.99/month. Their website lists a $29.99/month for three months, then $46.99/month thereafter. They refuse to give me $46.99/month, even though I've been a customer for five years. I hate Cox so much I don't have TV. I have A TV, but no cable and satellite is not permitted here... yet. The day I can get DirecTV is the day I get it.