Warning: if you move from SS to new ISP you cannot actually "keep" your email addresses...

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Warning: if you move from SS to new ISP you cannot actually "keep" your email addresses...

hrafn

19 posts

Geek

#190966 18-Jan-2016 14:57

... what they actually do is cancel your email addresses with your broadband a/c and reopen them a few days later (leaving a few days when your email bounces as the address doesn't exist).

After discovering how much threading-the-needle would be involved in finding a decent router to work with SS Fibre (and the whole no-Gigatown & landline-through-router things), I checked that I could keep my SS email addresses (and the guy responding explicitly described the process as a "transfer"), only to discover that they do it as two completely separate, several-working-days-needed-between, operations.

The take-away is that, if you're transitioning away from SS, you're better off transitioning away your email first (also that their customer service sucks).

Jaxson

8044 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1473874 18-Jan-2016 15:02

I'm sure there are reasons, but I don't think it's safe/sensible to use an internet providers mail for this very reason among others.

Took quite a while to get parents and inlaws to break the habbit, but once done you never have to worry about it again.

mattwnz

20182 posts

Uber Geek

#1473886 18-Jan-2016 15:19

Email with an ISP is essentially a paid email address. Some do charge you for the address when you leave, if you still want the email, some don't have that option. People think email is free, but it is very expensive to support for a relatively small customer base, and email tends to be one of the main things people need support for. So no wonder ISPs are getting out of providing email. Why would a company provide something for free to someone who isn't a cusomter, and they aren't making any money off, yet they still have to pay for supporting that email address and associated infrastructure in hosting it. Free providers like Gmail can do it, because you are selling them a lot of your information for advertising, such as browsing habits via associated search services.

hrafn

19 posts

Geek

#1474286 19-Jan-2016 03:55

Yes, I was already aware it was a paid service, and was perfectly happy with this.

Yes, I had already set up gmail a/cs for all persons involved.

Yes, I had already transferred the vast bulk of my own incoming email to gmail before this.

I do however have a family member who is extremely change-averse and still has an active email a/c with our next-to-last ISP (supported by retaining them for our minimal tolls, which a/c will also be evaporating with our transfer to fibre).

My point was the user-unfriendliness and the shear clunkiness of their email a/c management system, and the lack of clear information prior to the event. The same thing would presumably happen if two people who previously had separate broadband a/cs with them wanted to move in together and have a single broadband a/c with them. I agree that ISP email is an anachronism, but its a recent anachronism, and people tend to no more want to change their email address than their phone number if they can help it.

I would further point out that the chances of a non-current-SS-broadband-customer wanting an email address from Slingshot who was not a previous-customer-who-wanted-to-retain-the-address is pretty remote, and any previous customer would want the service to be continuous. If they're going to offer this service at all, it makes sense that it should be provided in such a way that it meets the customer's needs.

Jaxson

8044 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1474319 19-Jan-2016 08:33

hrafn: any previous customer would want the service to be continuous.

Agreed.

hrafn

19 posts

Geek

#1488105 9-Feb-2016 14:45

Just a quick note to say that, after killing off my broadband a/c within 24 hours, it took Slingshot three weeks to restore our email addresses as email-only a/cs -- by which stage the any transitional benefits was very marginal.

vexxxboy

4246 posts

Uber Geek

#1488129 9-Feb-2016 15:07

i have had my Orcon email account for over 10 years and i havent been a customer for nearly 9 . i use it for dodgy sites etc dont care if it gets shut down or attacked.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

nathan

5695 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1488144 9-Feb-2016 15:24

hrafn:

Just a quick note to say that, after killing off my broadband a/c within 24 hours, it took Slingshot three weeks to restore our email addresses as email-only a/cs -- by which stage the any transitional benefits was very marginal.

in a round about way, sounds like problem solved