So what's preventing this chap's email address from working after migration to another provider? Will the old provider just scratch his mailbox? Do they block access to their IMAP/POP3/SMTP server from outside their IP blocks? Something else?
I know some providers try to block TCP port 25 (and 465?) to try and force you to use their own SMTP servers but that can't be what's stopping the OP's show.
As for the own domain vs freemail provider discussion, the latter works perfectly well in many cases (incidentally, that's a nearly universal approach in parts of the third world).
Although I have a couple of domains registered, my "real" email address, i.e., the one that I use for serious business and close friends/family is a freemail one I've had since 1997 with a lesser know provider, but one which is highly regarded in the technical community (its core business being the provision of email service), so in a way it gives you a certain "prestige" as it kind of makes you stand out as a connoisseur.
