# Should I change email providers? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 19, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375 "2013-03-19T17:52:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/1 "2013-03-19T17:52:44Z")
And if so, which should I choose as my new one? I’ve used Hotmail for over a decade, all my friends and family know about my main email address. However, Hotmail has changed to Outlook. I do have a placeholder Yahoo email, but I never check it. It’s handy to give out if I need to, but Yahoo email gets hacked a little too often for my liking. Google doesn’t seem to respect its users’ privacy. So, what are my other options? I need an email address that’s fairly simple to use, is fairly secure, and won’t go through my email looking for ways of targeting me for advertising. It’s also got to be unconnected to my ISP. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/2 "2013-03-19T17:59:27Z")
Yahoo is crap. When I did hardware support, I got really tired of the constant outages causing our phones to light up. People blaming our hardware when everything else EXCEPT their yahoo account worked just fine. Then of course they’d be angry and demand that we fix it, because we had a phone number and yahoo didn’t. :rolleyes: Plus yeah, all the times they get hacked. I don’t know that you’re going to find a free email account that is both secure and private. There are trade-offs to those kinds of things and they have to make their money somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/3 "2013-03-19T19:49:47Z")
Why don’t people just use the email address they created when they signed up for the ISP they’re with? ([earthlink.net](http://earthlink.net), [att.net](http://att.net), [comcast.net](http://comcast.net), etc.) You get 5 names per account these days. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/4 "2013-03-19T21:19:55Z")
What you should do is buy your own domain - e.g. [noparse][bodoni.org](http://bodoni.org)[/noparse] - then you give out your address as [noparse]lynn@bodoni.org[/noparse] and set your email client to send as that address. On your host provider you set up Catch-All Forwarding to your real email address on Yahoo, Gmail, Outlook, or whoever. This means that you can change ISPs without anyone knowing - your address stays exactly the same. ---
**Author:** ![jacobsta811](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jacobsta811/32/2893_2.png) [@jacobsta811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacobsta811)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/5 "2013-03-19T23:01:18Z")
If you’re willing to pay for it, buy your own domain but _don’t_ forward it to another account (that won’t work 100%, as when you send or reply to email it will not come from the right address and people will add the wrong address to their address books). Instead, buy your own domain and then pay for proper email for that domain. If you do it through the same site you register your domain, they make the setup painless. For example, [namezero.com](http://namezero.com) (now dotster it looks like), you can buy a domain for \<$10/yr and add email for $1/mo. ie, [.net Domain Registration | .net TLD - Dotster.com](https://www.dotster.com/domains/tlds/net.bml) [https://www.dotster.com/dotster/email/](https://www.dotster.com/dotster/email/) That is the only true way to get ad-free, privacy respecting email - if you aren’t paying for it, you are the product, so they have to make money somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/6 "2013-03-19T23:06:54Z")
I recommend buying your own domain. [NamesCheap.com](http://NamesCheap.com) has one pager website w/email 3.33/mo + cost of domain name (probably around $10/yr) [https://www.namecheap.com/websites/onepager.aspx](https://www.namecheap.com/websites/onepager.aspx) Straight personal email hosting $2.99/yr [https://www.namecheap.com/email/email-hosting.aspx](https://www.namecheap.com/email/email-hosting.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/7 "2013-03-19T23:18:06Z")
Sister Vigilante: the problem with using your ISP is what happens when you change ISPs? You have to contact dozens of people telling them about the change–and some of them will forget and send email to the old address. With a Hotmail or Google address you simply have to change a few settings. Why do you have a problem with the change from Hotmail to Outlook? One source says: “Does this mean my Hotmail address will just go away?” No. It just means that when you go to [hotmail.com](http://hotmail.com), you will be re-routed to [Outlook.com](http://Outlook.com), and when you log in on the Web, you will get the [Outlook.com](http://Outlook.com) experience. You can keep your @hotmail.com email address forever" But why do you ever need to go to [Outlook.com](http://Outlook.com)? Doesn’t it offer pop addresses? So you can use something like Thunderbird to read your email and go to the website once in a blue moon to change a setting? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/8 "2013-03-19T23:28:27Z")
[https://beta.runbox.com/signup.ttml](https://beta.runbox.com/signup.ttml) / Great service, great spam filters. I get NO spam in my email client on my computer. NONE. ZERO. You can also set your own filters. Lots of storage. Not free, but worth every penny. I think they’re based in Finland. I’ve been with them well over 10 years and have never had one problem. I love them. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/9 "2013-03-20T04:06:20Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > Why don’t people just use the email address they created when they signed up for the ISP they’re with? ([earthlink.net](http://earthlink.net), [att.net](http://att.net), [comcast.net](http://comcast.net), etc.) You get 5 names per account these days. I still use the e-mail address I got with my ISP in the mid 90s. It was bellsouth, and now AT&T. But guess what..they’ve outsourced their e-mail to Yahoo. So I get my bellsouth mail from [mail.yahoo.com](http://mail.yahoo.com). I still use it because it has a nice reading pane feature. I haven’t found another e-mail service I like with that. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/10 "2013-03-20T13:39:45Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > What you should do is buy your own domain - e.g. [noparse][bodoni.org](http://bodoni.org)[/noparse] - then you give out your address as [noparse]lynn@bodoni.org[/noparse] and set your email client to send as that address. On your host provider you set up Catch-All Forwarding to your real email address on Yahoo, Gmail, Outlook, or whoever. > > This means that you can change ISPs without anyone knowing - your address stays exactly the same. Seconded. I gave up on third-party addresses decades ago, after the second or third ISP failure/acquisition/name change screwed everything up yet again. I maintain addresses with my ISP as base contact, but have… well, a lot of domains these days. It’s cheap and you never again lose control of how your email is handled. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/11 "2013-03-20T16:50:40Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Seconded. I gave up on third-party addresses decades ago, after the second or third ISP failure/acquisition/name change screwed everything up yet again. I maintain addresses with my ISP as base contact, but have… well, a lot of domains these days. It’s cheap and you never again lose control of how your email is handled. And the next problem with those ISP supplied email accounts is that most of them are POP3, and when you upgrade to Windows 8 Microsoft thumbs their nose at you and says they no longer support POP3 email accounts. So you will eventually have to change to a web based email account and these old POP accounts will probably be abandoned in a few years. I just posted about this in another thread here. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=16115382#post16115382](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=16115382#post16115382) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/12 "2013-03-20T16:58:46Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > And the next problem with those ISP supplied email accounts is that most of them are POP3, and when you upgrade to Windows 8 Microsoft thumbs their nose at you and says they no longer support POP3 email accounts. What, specifically, no longer supports POP accounts? ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/13 "2013-03-20T17:56:32Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > What, specifically, no longer supports POP accounts? Windows 8, generally. There are work-arounds, but the average user who upgrades from a previous version of Windows and tries to set up their email account gets a terse statement that POP3 is no longer supported. > **[Windows help and learning](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows)** > > Find help and how-to articles for Windows operating systems. Get support for Windows and learn about installation, updates, privacy, security and more. > **[How do I get POP email in Windows 8?](https://www.pcworld.com/article/456160/how-do-i-get-pop-email-in-windows-8.html)** > > Richard Howell replaced an old computer with a Windows 8 laptop. His mail provider only supports the POP email protocol, which Windows 8's email program doesn't support. What's he to do? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/14 "2013-03-20T18:13:44Z")
Right now I think Gmail is the best option. It’s fast, flexible, available on all my devices, and I see almost no spam. Maybe 1 a week. ISP-supplied e-mail varies widely in quality and spam filtering, and is gone after you switch ISPs. And people do switch ISPs a lot, whether they get a better deal or move or dozens of other reasons. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/15 "2013-03-20T19:29:29Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > Why don’t people just use the email address they created when they signed up for the ISP they’re with? ([earthlink.net](http://earthlink.net), [att.net](http://att.net), [comcast.net](http://comcast.net), etc.) You get 5 names per account these days. I personally don’t do this because it means I will need to get a new email address if I switch ISPs. It is nice to have them separated. So I can choose a different ISP without notifying all my contacts. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/16 "2013-03-20T19:35:57Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Windows 8, generally. There are work-arounds, but the average user who upgrades from a previous version of Windows and tries to set up their email account gets a terse statement that POP3 is no longer supported.[URL=“[How do I get POP email in Windows 8? | PCWorld](http://www.pcworld.com/article/2023005/answer-line-how-do-i-get-pop-email-in-windows-8.html)”] What email account, under what app or tool? Is it that Windows Mail no longer exists or supports POP3? Or Outlook? or that even apps like Thunderbird can no longer access it on a Win8 platform? Windows Mail is at a level of functionality and value with Notepad,and Outlook is a tool I’ve used only at gunpoint or when an employer insisted. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/17 "2013-03-20T19:38:26Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Right now I think Gmail is the best option. It’s fast, flexible, available on all my devices, and I see almost no spam. GMail is fine if you don’t mind feeding the Google info-maw with all your traffic. I prefer not to be a self-delivered commodity. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/18 "2013-03-20T19:38:52Z")
For the last year or so I switched to the venerable [mail.com](http://mail.com). My domain mail is handled by Gmail, thanks to Dreamhost ( my host ), to lighten any load on my host — other than that I wouldn’t trust Google Gmail at all — and my [mail.com](http://mail.com) routes my domain mail through their account. Yahoo crapped up long ago; and whilst I still have a paid Vfemail account I rarely check it, since I think every now and then one should change emails for a break: but I would recommend Vfemail still. I only use POP, never IMAP, since I when I delete an email I want it gone forever. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/19 "2013-03-21T15:34:57Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > Why don’t people just use the email address they created when they signed up for the ISP they’re with? ([earthlink.net](http://earthlink.net), [att.net](http://att.net), [comcast.net](http://comcast.net), etc.) You get 5 names per account these days. As others have said, it’s because I want a PERMANENT email address. I’ve used various online/internet providers since the 80s, starting with Quantumlink. I do happen to have a Charter email addy right now, but if I change to another provider, then that addy is not available to me any more. I want an address that I can still access if I change ISPs. > [@NitroPress](#): > > GMail is fine if you don’t mind feeding the Google info-maw with all your traffic. I prefer not to be a self-delivered commodity. This is also my preference. At first I thought that I’d just go to Gmail, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to puke. Looks like my choices are either staying with Hotmail/Outlook or hosting my own domain. I’ll think about it some more. Don’t be too surprised if my next thread is asking about the pros and cons of buying a domain, and how much tech knowledge I’d need to run one. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375/20 "2013-03-21T15:35:41Z")
Thanks for all the replies, by the way. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-change-email-providers/653375.md?page=2)