Can I keep my email address

This depends on your provider. Some let you keep your email address and provide free access through the web. Others stop you taking it or charge if you want to keep it after moving.

The reason is that an email address is based on a domain. For example, if your email address is name@email.com the part after the @ is the domain, and it is owned by a particular company. So if you move from the company that owns that domain to another one, the first company will either close your account or charge you to access it. 

Think of it like moving house. You can’t keep having your mail delivered to your old address because someone else owns it now. But getting webmail, such as Gmail or Outlook, is like getting a PO box: you can bypass the whole situation (although, unlike a PO box, these email services are free).

We recommend signing up to an email account from a web-based service from a major provider. These email accounts are packed with features; have large, free, storage allowances; and there is no chance your email address will be deleted when you switch broadband provider.

Moving to a web-based, free email address will make you ISP-independent, while also ridding you of lots of junk mail. 

You can sign up for a Gmail or Outlook account by clicking below.

Get a free Gmail account

Get a free Outlook (Microsoft) account

 

Spark or Telecom email address

Spark charges you to keep your email address if you don’t have a Spark connection. This costs roughly $5 a month.
 

Vodafone email addresses

Vodafone has announced it will close its email accounts on 30 November. This includes all email addresses ending in vodafone.co.nz, vodafone.net.nz, ihug.co.nz, paradise.net.nz and clear.net.nz.  Vodafone is encouraging customers to sign up for a Google Gmail or Microsoft Outlook email address and is offering an auto-forwarding service.
 

Other email addresses

Other providers have different policies. We can’t list them all but it is very important to find out exactly what happens and what you should do before your switch goes live with your new broadband provider. We recommend not getting tied into an ISP’s email address – make the change now and get a webmail address.
 

How to move your email address

If you are looking to move ISP/email address and don’t want to be tied to an old email where you have to pay for the service, here’s a simple process to ease the migration. 

1. Set up a new, free, web-based email account. 

2. Set up a forwarding rule on your old paid-for email, and have that account forward all messages to your new email. 

3. Notify your contacts you are changing email addresses. 

4. Remind people who still send messages to your old email account that you are switching (give a clear deadline).

5. Send a final reminder a week before the deadline.

6. Pull the plug on your old email account at the deadline and have a new, clean and clear email life!

 

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