Domain Names/Hosting Services

[Tosh McCaber]

I want to set up a permanent email address, not dependant on an ISP address, since I may be changing ISPs. Can anyone point me to a site , or give advice, as to how to do this. I get confused with Domain Names, Hosting Services, etc.

What is the most cost effective way of obtaining this? I may make up a website in future, but this is presently just to get an independant email address.

Thanks,

Tosh

[Duckbutt]

As mentioned on an adjacent thread, suggest you have a look at http://www.freenetname.co.uk/ (http://www.freenetname.co.uk/)who will give you a connection and host a domain name for around £18 per month (5 gb per month allowance). They currently give me a 2 mb service and have said this will be upgraded to whatever my line can take up to 8 mb in the near future.

If you don't want to use them as your ISP their 'Justmail' service will do want you want for £20 pa - I use this for my company e-mails, it was easy to set up and looks professional. Their customer service seems OK, not that I've had any problems, they seem to be small enough to make a reasonably rapid, personalised response to any queries

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

http://order.1and1.co.uk/oneandone_uk/img/wh5header/logo.gif http://www.oneandone.co.uk

My personal choice, which I can recommend. ...Spend some time thinking about a domain name that you can live with forever. ...You can secure it for as little as £1.99 a year (see below) and do nothing for a while, as I did. ...Later I added the e-mail account; this runs via your Outlook/Outlook Express to the 1&1 servers, bypassing your ISP (although they obviously provide the link). ...Once set up, you can change ISP's as many times as you like, you are independant, e-mail/domain-wise. ...Like you, I may do a website one day, but haven't got around to it yet. ...This third 'bolt on' option is available, as and when.

Prices.....

toshmccaber.co.uk (as an example - and assuming nobody else has got it, if you really want it): £1.99 per year (or £8.99 per year if you prefer the global anonymity of .net rather than .co.uk)

An e-mail account to use on the above, e.g., [email protected]: £0.69p per month; 1Gb limit and various extras, inc. Symantec antivirus scan, etc. ...Four similar additional e-mail accounts available if required for your 69p., i.e., five in total ([email protected], mrstosh@..., etc., etc.).

Website: host a basic 'Instant' website on your domain name for £1.99 per month, or a more comprehensive 'Home' website account (probably more suitable once you get into it) for £4.99 per month (special offer on at the moment: £3.99). ...More involved 'Business', 'Business Pro' and 'Professional' accounts available if you get really carried away. ...All prices here +vat.

Hope that simplifies it a bit. ...The '1&1' website (above) explains the whole process very well, stage by stage. ...Just run along the tabs at the top of the Homepage. ...But in short, the yearly cost of [email protected] (i.e., toshmccaber.co.uk + e-mail account) averages out at 86p +vat per month.

[airborne_artist]

I use a clara.net email address, with free webmail and POP3 (ie use with Outlook, Outlook express etc) and it's free, totally free. Log in using the PC when at home, log in at an internet cafe/friends PC etc when travelling.

Go to http://www.uk.clara.net/homeaccess/ and click on free trial on the right.

You will be able to set your own address eg [email protected], and you'll get 10mb of webspace. Easy to upgrade later. I've used it with several ISPs over the last three years.

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

tosh.....

Further to previous, if you are looking for a once in a lifetime e-mail address, to last a lifetime, then you need to be looking at '1&1' - or similar - who will be registering a standard '.co.uk' address for you with Nominet (http://www.nominet.org.uk/), the UK equivalent of the DVLC for UK domain names, or likewise ICANN (http://www.icann.org/) for international '.net/.com'. ...Any alternative name that is somehow ISP related within the name (e.g. above), however detatched or allegedly free from their standard ISP service, will only be around as long as they are; and of course some wont, be it 5 years, 10 or 20. ...That said, some ISP's do act as agents, like '1&1', to register you a standard address with Nominet/ICANN.

So you might say what happens if '1&1' - or similar - go down the pan. ...It doesn't matter, they are merely agents; you are registered with the .uk (or international) domain name authority.

[Guern]

www.123reg.co.uk works well for me. you can set up 100 email addreses at your domain name an it is cheap, with easy online user panel. Also no limits on amount of mail.

[asuweb]

If you are just looking for an email address independant from an ISP, then why not use a Hotmail, Yahoo, or Google Mail?

The main advantage - it's free.

I can personally recommend Google Mail, I've been using it for over a year now, and it is by far the best email service I have ever used, including email services provided with my domains.

Google Mail has full support for POP3 so you can also use it with an email client.

As Google Mail is not publically avaliable, feel free to PM me and I can send you an invite.

[Tosh McCaber]

Thanks for the postings . I think that the 123 site seems to be what I'm looking for- the others don't fill the bill the same.

Thanks for all the replies.

Tosh