So after many years with Orange/freeserve they have said they are closing my email account. This seems a bit of a nightmare as most of my online life is based around this email account . So what is the best way forward ?
Cheers Si

Gmail.

Gmail or get your own domain and email address.

Or Apple account.

Just seems like a lot of work to sort all my accounts that are linked to this email.

Buy freeserve domain off them, setup own email server, sell peoples own emails to them, profit!!!!

Just seems like a lot of work to sort all my accounts that are linked to this email.

Well if it’s being closed that’s inevitable, you can’t set up forwarding on it.

How much notice did they give you

The Mrs had an old Orange email account but was told about 18mths ago that the service would be taken away, that and Orange Broadband. She had the opportunity to transfer to EE, which she did. Most of the stuff coming into the Orange email account was spam, the occasional old friend forgetting to use the new email address that sort of thing.
Wasn’t painless, unless you have all your important current live stuff going into it.. just open a gmail account and mail all your important contacts.

Gmail, move the stuff that matters and forgot the rest.

News to me. My two Orange emails date from the freeserve days. Would be a complete pain to lose them, partly because newer set ups give me a bloody complicated address and password and partly because they are so unfriendly to use. Gmail being the perfect example.
All my web stuff goes to one and I have about 200 contacts in another that would need to be informed, mostly individually. grrrrrrr

Gmail being the perfect example.

\

Yes, a perfect example of an email system that is painless and works well.

Maybe but the pages are so bloody complicated, give all sorts of unwanted crap and insist on long winded names and passwords.
Any Orange user has stuck there for a reason. It works and is simple.
Many of us loath sodding graphic instead of words, all sorts of defaults and notifications. If I want it to link to something else I’ll bloody well ask it to.
Grrrrr again.

Eh?

My gmail username is 8 characters (and only because “Cougar” was taken).
My password is 7 (I should change that really, I’ll go do it now).
Long passwords are a Good Thing.

Really?
I find gmail one of the simplest PC tools i use in my day to day life.

This is one thing Apple Keychain is very good at. All your accout names / passwords securely stored so if an email changes and is used as a login name you have a record of everything. OP do you use somethung similar in say Chrome ?

As above gmail is great

I have a freeserve account – not aware anything is changing.
To the OP do you subscribe to any service from Orange/EE – mobile or broadband ?

If you can get past the fact that gmail reads everything then it’s great. The apps work well, you can switch between multiple accounts, the password requirements aren’t onerous and you can have the protection of two factor authentication that is only required once for trusted devices. Hardly a PITA.

I’ve been with freeserve since almost day one. I’d forgotten I even had an orange email account. I’ve just checked it and it still works and there are no emails to say its being closed.

A quick google brings this up:

Thank you for coming to the Community.

The addresses affected by the closure are:

Orange.net
Orangehome.co.uk
Wanadoo.co.uk
Freeserve.co.uk
Fsbusiness.co.uk
Fslife.co.uk
Fsmail.net
Fsworld.co.uk
Fsnet.co.uk

and this

http://ee.co.uk/help/mobile-and-home-connections/broadband-gallery-mobile-broadband/email/email-closure

Thanks for the details – as they have not bothered to inform a customer like me – using freeserve and Orange/EE broadband since they started yep 20 years + – its hello to another service provider once I have migrated my email.

Is Whatsapp also down?

Try Gmail before you commit to it, you might just hate it (i do) but many seem to like it.

For simplicity, Outlook / Hotmail is straight forward (once you turn off threaded conversations on the app).

Gmail is great IMO.

This thread just highlights why ISP-provided email addresses are a bad idea. Use a public webmail, or better yet register your own domain name so you can point it where you like, the hosting goes pop you simply redirect it somewhere else.

You can use Gmail with IMAP, so you can use a proper email client if you want. You don’t have to use the web interface.

Or Fastmail is good, but costs a few quid. They have a few domains to choose from, so more chance of getting a short email address.

I already use hotmail as well – quite fond of it really – but I realise that i need to find an email that is not likely to change due to marketing or takeover .

https://tutanota.com/

Orange haven’t notified me either..

I saw the limitations of that kind of email account many years ago and set up a Hotmail account instead which I’m more than happy with.

I’ve had an email saying it’s closing down. Must have had my freeserve email about 20 years.

As a fully subscribe apple fanboi, gmail and all its services are absolutely brilliant. I suspect I’ll slowly migrate that way over time.

Have you used inbox for Gmail, or the old gmail user interface. Inbox is fantastic once you get used to pinning, bundling and sweeping. the old interface is a bit poor.

GMail takes a while to get your head around but works really well once you get used to it.

If you want an ‘old skool’ e-mail account, Yahoo is pretty good these days. You get quite a few ads, but the interface either through a browser or through their app is decent.
Their app particularly has got massively better over the years.

I’m still on AOL. 😳

Me too. Just works, no need to change.

So’s the wife, but she front ends it with Outlook (I’m a Chrome-boi so still use the AOL webmail front end)

I had an O2 email account, which was my only account as I had no computer at home, but O2 shut that down some years ago; fortunately I had broadband at home by that time, and a lot of my email goes through my btinternet account, but I’m slowly migrating across to gmail, with some on my .me account to avoid spam.
One issue with the O2 account was that I used it as the emergency address for my Apple account, so if I need an emergency mail sent to me it goes to the zombie account, and I’m not sure how to change it.

I have an fsmail.net email address. I use it a lot, but havnt been informed of this closure. When does it happen?

Get your own domain so you never have to go through this again. Even if you like GMail today, who’s to say they won’t change it in a way that you don’t like in the future? Get an address that you actually own so that you’re not tied to a single provider.

and how would one go about getting ones own email domain?
without paying of course.

and how would one go about getting ones own email domain?
without paying of course.

You’ll need to pay for it but it’s nominal. Mine’s something like £2/year.

Just looked at 123-reg. Their cheapest is [whatever].online at 99p/year.

I already use hotmail as well – quite fond of it really – but I realise that i need to find an email that is not likely to change due to marketing or takeover .

I wouldn’t worry, I’ve had my hotmail.com account for about 17 years now and in that time hotmail.co.uk, outlook, live and finally outlook (again) have came and went.

I sometimes think of registering my own domain but then realise it’s about the same as private plates on cars. Sometimes it’s nice to be anonymous.

Note -.online is 96% off, usually £25 a year!

and how would one go about getting ones own email domain?
without paying of course.

Well IME you usually get what you pay for.

If you get a ‘free’ address with your broadband provider then it’s a ballache if you ever want to move (as we see in this thread) or when it’s down and customer services don’t GAF.

Custom domain is the best option if you don’t want to be tied to one of the big names. It’s not in the least bit like vanity car plates. It will require a little more effort but it’s yours for as long as you renew the domain (£8 for 2 years for .co.uk).

Gmail is as good as it gets for a free setup – IMAP/POP, loads of useful options, clear interface and top notch spam-trapping. Outlook.com isn’t as slick but works fairly well… unless you’re used to Gmail.

I’d avoid Yahoo, the interface is sh*t (and has been for ages), they have had too many security breaches and caused no end of issues for BT/Yahoo accounts. It is up for sale, and how do you think the buyer will make their money?

I very much doubt Google or Microsoft are going anywhere. Apple too for that matter. Yahoo on the other hand…

I have email accounts on all three (and several other places accrued over the years besides), and the only ones I use on a regular basis are Hotmail and Gmail.

I also have a couple of throwaway addresses on mail.com – one is used to download software that demands an email address to send you a download link, the other is an anonymous account unlinked to any personal details that I use to send emails in response to STW queries. And TBH, with the advent of PMs that can probably be abandoned now.