What to do with old dial-up e-mail accounts?

I'm sure this is an issue that many users have encountered. I have been for
many years running on BT's dial-up service, with btconnect.com e-mail
addresses.

As I have several addresses for different jobs and it's impractical to
change my e-mail addresses, is it possible in the longer term to do what I'm
doing at present - that is to say, continuing to use BT e-mail POP accounts?

I understand there's a period of time of inactivity after which the e-mail
accounts become obsolete. Does anyone know this period of time?

On 20 Nov 2005 13:30, "Steve" wrote:

> it's impractical to change my e-mail addresses, ...

Is it really a case of you not wanting to change e-mail addresses? I had an
account with my first ISP for 8 years, they were taken over and their e-mail
addresses initially worked but subsequently the new parent closed them down.

While BT isn't likely to be taken over, there may well come some time in the
future that the e-mail addresses will undergo change. Getting a domain name
registered and slowly moving those mail addresses, letting existing contacts
know the new mail address(es) would guarantee you 'make the change' in some
timely manner, rather than in a rush if there was some change announced at
short notice (eg Virgin Mobile deciding with under 6 weeks notice they'd
no longer support their customer e-mail addresses, at all). "Hanging on"
is fine, but one day will be some problem and getting it done sooner than
later is free advice I'd give anyone in your situation. Peter M.

[ You can get a .info domain registered for a couple of pounds. ]

--

UK ADSL <http://tinyurl.com/dghgq> - Happy to save cash with Plus.Net!

Unsuitable for heavy downloaders, but fine for video/audio streaming.

In message <(E-Mail Removed)>, Steve
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>I'm sure this is an issue that many users have encountered. I have been for
>many years running on BT's dial-up service, with btconnect.com e-mail
>addresses.
>
>As I have several addresses for different jobs and it's impractical to
>change my e-mail addresses, is it possible in the longer term to do what I'm
>doing at present - that is to say, continuing to use BT e-mail POP accounts?

I think you can change the account to a PAYG type, but I'm not certain.

I suspect that asking in one of the bt.internet.* groups would get you a
more definitive reply.

>I understand there's a period of time of inactivity after which the e-mail
>accounts become obsolete. Does anyone know this period of time?

90 days I think, but I've seen reports that they don't always deactivate
them when they say they will. They're supposed to email you in advance
of doing so.
--
Ian Cummings

Steve wrote

> I'm sure this is an issue that many users have encountered. I have been for
> many years running on BT's dial-up service, with btconnect.com e-mail
> addresses.
>
> As I have several addresses for different jobs and it's impractical to
> change my e-mail addresses, is it possible in the longer term to do what I'm
> doing at present - that is to say, continuing to use BT e-mail POP accounts?
>
> I understand there's a period of time of inactivity after which the e-mail
> accounts become obsolete. Does anyone know this period of time?
>

FFS would you be reluctant to move home for the same reason? Get new
email addys and let your contacts know you've moved on.

Steve wrote:
> I'm sure this is an issue that many users have encountered. I have been for
> many years running on BT's dial-up service, with btconnect.com e-mail
> addresses.
>
> As I have several addresses for different jobs and it's impractical to
> change my e-mail addresses, is it possible in the longer term to do what I'm
> doing at present - that is to say, continuing to use BT e-mail POP accounts?
>
> I understand there's a period of time of inactivity after which the e-mail
> accounts become obsolete. Does anyone know this period of time?
>
>

That's a good reason for registering your own domain this time. I have
changed ISP a number of times but since I still own the domain, my
e-mail address stays the same through all of them

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

Meanwhile, you can pay btinternet £1.50 a month for what they call Premium
Mail (pretty much what you've had till now without the, er, internet
access.. minus a few bells and whistles, but still including spam trap, pop3
or web access, multiple accounts etc). That said, though, I don't know
whether this encompasses bt*connect* email addresses.

If you were tempted to get your own domain as others have suggested, but
were worried about stuff going missing when BT was cut off, this might give
you some cover.