Outlook.com -> Office 365

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nzkiwiman

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#150123 11-Jul-2014 17:52

Since November I have been using a custom domain via Outlook.com (trebloc.co.nz)
I purchased the domain, have all new emails going to my trebloc email address (via Office 2013, Outlook.com and Outlook Mobile App on Android) and I also pull into my Clear, Orcon and Snap emails into a folder and it has worked very very well

Going through some of my other Microsoft accounts today, I see I had received an email in June on my master email account for my custom domain that Outlook.com was loosing the ability to use custom domains from early April and from the end of July I can't manage the 2 accounts I have any more.

What they have of course suggested is Office 365 and included a free trial, which my availability to access expired early in the week. With the countdown on before my custom domain account become a standard Outlook.com account I have a few options

1) stick with free and hope nothing I currently need disappears
2) upgrade to Exchange Online ($5.10 a month per user, so just over $10 a month for the 2 accounts)
3) upgrade to Office 365 basic plan ($76 per year per user)
4) upgrade to a more expensive Office 365 plan that includes Office 2013

If I upgrade, I don't need to upgrade to the more expensive plan as I already have a full copy of Office 2010 and a Home Use Copy of Office 2013 via my employer.

What I am trying to figure out is if I upgrade to a paid plan, what version and what do I exactly get that I currently don't get from the free version. And are there any free version features I use that I don't get if I don't upgrade correctly

Thoughts?
Comments?

Cheers

billgates

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#1087381 11-Jul-2014 18:04

Current domains and accounts stay as it is on outlook.com with custom domain name. They will not stop working. You cannot add any more custom domains or new email accounts. That's what that email was all about.

If SLA is important to you then there is the Office 365 Kiosk plan which is NZ$2.40/month/user and includes custom domain name support.

Do whatever you want to do man.

Technofreak

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#1087456 11-Jul-2014 19:44

Microsoft have done a Google. Offered a "free service" get people hooked in then start charging. Was too good to be true I guess, but still a bit of a con if you ask me.

It would have been different if they said right at the start "this service is free for the time being" which they didn't do

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nathan

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#1087513 11-Jul-2014 21:12

The service is still free. It still keeps working. No new users can sign up, no changes to existing accounts can be made.

"A bit of a con", is a bit harsh IMHO. no one is forced to pay anything. You can readily switch to another service of you wish.

Technofreak

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#1087534 11-Jul-2014 21:43

nathan: The service is still free. It still keeps working. No new users can sign up, no changes to existing accounts can be made.

"A bit of a con", is a bit harsh IMHO. no one is forced to pay anything. You can readily switch to another service of you wish.

Nathan I think you are being a bit "cute' with your answer.

Yes, it's still free and it still works BUT is severely crippled for many users as there can be no changes made to existing accounts. It's the no changes to an existing account that really bugs me. It makes it useless for what we use it for. That's a major change to the terms and conditions.

Why did they not just have a cut off for for new users and leave existing customers alone. That to me would have been a better way to make changes without annoying existing customers. It seems that it's not the Microsoft way. From experience of what Microsoft has done elsewhere, they seem to think they can corral customers to other product/services by forcing customers down a certain path. It doesn't work.

In my books the changes are a con, you feel you've been sucked in with the promise of a service, only to find after you've got yourself set up, the rules change. You might think that's an harsh statement never the less that's how I feel as a customer. Does Microsoft actually care what their customers think? I'm beginning to think they don't

No one wants to be switching to other services all the time.

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nathan

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#1087535 11-Jul-2014 21:48

fair enough for your comments. Personally I think MS is listening and responding to customers more than ever. I have never seen the Ts&Cs for that service, but it was "free" so I'm not sure what the SLA is/was

I guess the crux of the problem is the hassle and changing? and the fact no one else offers this as a free service?

nzkiwiman

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#1088303 14-Jul-2014 08:14

billgates: Current domains and accounts stay as it is on outlook.com with custom domain name. They will not stop working. You cannot add any more custom domains or new email accounts. That's what that email was all about.

If SLA is important to you then there is the Office 365 Kiosk plan which is NZ$2.40/month/user and includes custom domain name support.

Didn't know about the Kiosk plan, but looking at the details the 2GB mailbox limit isn't going to be enough.
In 7 months I am already past that I don't want to start using 'offline PST' files

dacraka

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#1088744 14-Jul-2014 16:22

Office 365 Small Business which includes 1TB of OneDrive as well for $6.40 per user per month?