Evening all..

I’m in the process of setting up my own limited company and I’d like to have a business specific email address.

Putting “domain name email address” into google throws up all kinds of unsavoury looking websites. Anyone got any recommendations?

I use fasthosts.

Despite their poor reputation from some years ago theyve never screwed up my stuff. I still feel Im overpaying by giving them £6 a month to host a holding page but Ive not got around to changing things – frankly Im scared of the sorting out the mail server stuff for my google mail if I did move the hosting.

EDIT – my hosting service bill is obviously different to paying them for registration.

I like Domain Monster.

123reg

Never pain them anything except the few pounds to register the name.

Argh, looking at those sites has thrown up so many things to think about. I’m not sure where to start!

+ for 123.reg
Cheap and allow you absolute control.

1and1

123reg – I work in ‘web’ and I’m often having to try and deal with people’s domains on their behalf. 123reg is by far the easiest and most pain free to deal with that I’ve come across, and gives you proper control.

I’m using Bytemark, mainly as I can set up a virtual machine host along with the domain name, so I can have multiple domain names each with a site and email server/forwarding just how I want.

Do I need email forwarding or can I just pick one that gives me an email address (for me to use on Outlook on my laptop) and access to Microsoft Webmail (which I know and like) to use on my phone?

123reg looks good but it only seems to offer use of their own webmail app, which I can’t see, and therefore I don’t know if it’s any good or not.

NB – I should state that I’m not looking to set up a website at this stage, I just want the email address.

I use 1and1 for my business. The webmail is pretty good on it I find. Pretty easy to link up your iPhone/smart phone to it too with the IMAP settings.

Avoid 1and1 if you want to use Google apps for email, it doesn’t work (unless they’ve changed things recently).

Bump for daytime crew dem. Any more advice?

+x for 123reg. Used ’em for years. Dirt cheap and you get full control over your DNS. The control panel is badly laid out, but works well once you suss out where everything is.

http://internetbs.net/

You’re talking about two different things there Jen, domain registrar is the equivalent of the phone book and having an email address on the name is the equivalent of an answer machine.

So you need to register the name (use 123reg like suggested above) and then another company (or even them) to provide you with an actual host/email storage.

Or just pester Gary on email…..

If it’s just email, I’d go 123reg to buy just the domain, and then follow their guide to pointing the MX record (the emaily bit of the domain) to google and running your email out of google apps…

I tend to buy domains through 123reg, put my email through google, and host websites on media temple’s grid server hosting. The only thing 123reg invoices me for is the domain renewal itself.

Sam and Gary. Thanks guys, I love it when you help me but you lost me at “phone book”.

Why can I not use 123reg for email as well? (Edit – just seen you said I could use them). Or am missing something? Is google mail really that much better? I was hoping to use outlook.

Sorry, a bit OT but with mention of Google Apps – have they changed the way they handle domains? I set mine up a month or two back and it was receiving email fine, but now it’s bouncing mail and appears to need setting up again?

I am almost as clueless as you OP but I have three domains registered with 123-reg and would recommend them. There is more to getting email in place from simply forwarding email to an existing email service you have to getting your email hosted so your emails arrive with your new domain name as the sender.

One simple solution for you would be to register your domain with 123-reg (maybe £12 every two years for a .co.uk) then also pay them for a mailbox which is about £12 a year. There are almost endless options though so the choice is yours.

Sorry, a bit OT but with mention of Google Apps

I have two Google Apps free accounts and my email is working fine on PCs, an iPhone and an Android phone. Domains are both registered with 123-reg. The only recent change I am aware of at Google Apps is that they no longer offer free accounts.

don’t spammers celebrate christmas?

Not the cheapest but great support http://www.virtualnames.co.uk/