New email account

Sorry, Thunderbird is for handling your email accounts, it isn't an email A/C itself. Should have read all the posts first.

I have found Thunderbird very good.

The only problem with Yahoo is it doesn't work very well with Apple products.

If you have an old Orange email account such as Freeserve, Wanadoo, fsmail, orange etc, EE have emailed everyone using those accounts to say they will no longer work (at the end of May I think). They also provide instructions on how to set up an "Out of Office" email so that anyone emailing you via your old Orange account will automatically get a reply that you set up. I've said something like - "This email server is being closed down and I will no longer be able to be contacted via my orange.co.uk address. Please make a note of my new email address which is :- ........." Anyone using your old email before it is closed will get your message automatically. Most email providers will allow you to set up "Out of Office" emails so the OP can do this too.

There are a couple of problems with changing your email provider though. Your email address (together with your password) often constitute your online identity on websites. You will need to change your email address in all your online accounts. Also, many people just hit reply to your emails and never bother to check that they are replying to your new address. You computer tries to be helpful and stores all addresses from the past, including discontinued ones and doesn't warn you, although you should get a delivery failure message afterwards.

It does give you the opportunity to quietly 'drop' some unwanted connections though

We've just had a letter from orange saying our emails will not work after the end of May . It was aFreeserve address. I have gmail hotmail and yahoo and DH now has gmail. It's a faff letting everyone know.

Yes BT email is only free to it's broadband customers. If you move away from them, you will need to set up a new email account unless you are prepared to pay for it. I think you will find this is the same for most broadband providers. The only downside with the free email providers is that they have limited support.

I've been using Yahoo for about 17 years now with no problems at all. DH uses gmail, also with no problems.

Now you say it was Bt I think I remember them saying I would have to pay if I wanted to keep the email address when I switched from them last year. Told them I didn't need it enough to pay for it, that's when I switched to using Yahoo. Then I can just keep using that even if I change providers. Only one site had my Plusnet email.

Sadly, I afraid I am nina. It wasn't unreasonable of them to ring to ask if there was anything they could do that would persuade me not to leave and maybe the poor man had had a bad day but perhaps they just know that when you have gone to someone else and the process is in action very few people change their minds.

Thank you Juliet - that is worth knowing.

The phone call does sound a bit suspicious as normally you get concessions and a lowered price with the "sorry you are leaving calls".
We don't pay for our email address either - the suggestions above are good ones though.
I don't have to log in either as I click on mail and it is just there. I do with my work email but that is only at work.

Our son pays a small monthy amount to keep access to his BT email as he changed internet providers a few years back but wanted to keep his BT email account going. So it could all be legit if not necessarily something you would want to do. We're in the throes of settingup new email accounts as we have always accessed via our internet provider but realise now this is so restrictive. Having said that we had an NTL (now Virgin) internet provision and accessed our email for free for years after we left them. BT seem to be the only ones who charge from the beginning.

Most email providers seem to be about the same, mainly reliable etc. BUT if you use other parts of the internet more widely, it is worth choosing more carefully. For example, hotmail doesn't work so smoothly with some Windows applications, and I have found gmail better for this. I don't understand the technical stuff behind this, but it seems to be to do with the major providers trying to make it difficult for their customers to use applications from rival companies. So if you use the applications that come from one provider, they tend to work more smoothly together. You can make them all work together with extra effort, but it can be a bit if a fiddle.

Are you sure the call was really from BT GracesGran

I was trying to protect them by not naming them - but why! It was BT and I definitely got the message that their "sorry you are leaving" phone call was rather on the threatening side, e.g., "you will have to pay to keep your email" (and therefore your email address and "you owe us £..." when in fact they had a couple of hundred (yes, honestly) pounds more than I would 'owe' them by the time I left and 'you will not be able to have the speed of broadband - we keep that for our customers'. I have seen no noticeable difference.

I cannot imagine me going back to them unless a great deal changes with their attitude to customers

Thank you everyone for all your help - you could teach BT a thing or two

Have never paid for an email account. Happy with gmail and both daughters equally happy with hotmail. The outlook takeover didn't mean a change to long- established addresses.

Outlook, thunderbird & gmail x

I've never heard of paying for an email account.
I use Yahoo as my main email, also have a plusnet one as they are my BB provider.

I have both outlook and hotmail

I have Hotmail for over 16 years no problem .you might like to look at www.gmx.com free and very good .I've had my account for a number of years .it keeps junk and spam from my main account.

I use Outlook, no problems at all. I have never paid for an email account. Very easy to set up.

FYI, you cannot create a new Hotmail account (existing ones continue to work fine) Hotmail was taken over by Microsoft and is now branded as "Outlook", it is still free.

Both "Outlook" and "Gmail" are excellent free email options.

I had an email when we were with the previous provider , they seemed to want payment , but I ignored the messages , nothing happened to my email , it is still working , but I have a Hotmail one too , one for buying on line

consensus - sorry!

I must admit I thought the charging cheeky - it hasn't started yet as I got 30 days free when I err ... remonstrated with them. It is a recent change in their T & C's. If they thought it would stop me changing broadband supplier they really couldn't be more wrong as it is just very annoying.

Thanks for the suggestions; they were the ones that had came to mind - but you never know - and especially for the link Marydoll. I will wait until tomorrow to see if there is a bit of a concensus and then set a new one up and slowly begin the transfer.

I use hotmail.

Just Google for the web site of whichever provider you wish to use and create a new account. Use your old account to advise your contacts of you new email address. And you're off