Ask Our Expert

What happens to my email address when I switch provider?

Our Broadband Expert says...

Most big broadband providers offer a number of free email addresses when you sign-up - something that many people take advantage of when they get their first broadband connection, but which can tie you in if you're not careful.

But if you're looking to switch broadband provider, you could end up losing access to your emails when you cancel. As well as not being able to send or receive any more emails from that address, it could mean that you also lose access to old emails and even contacts saved in your address book.

Will I lose access to my email?

Whether or not you'll lose access to your email address will depend on which broadband provider you're currently with.

Some suppliers let you keep access to your emails, while others will cancel your email address if you cancel your account with them. To be sure that you don’t lose any important information, documents or messages, you should double check what your provider’s policy is, but still consider forward everything on to a second address before your switch date.

Premium email service

Some broadband providers offer a paid email service that will allow you to keep your account active. While this might only cost a couple of pounds a month, it does all add up - and switching your emails to a new, free account is not as difficult as you might think.

Use the table below to see whether or not you'll be able to keep access to your emails.

*Orange email customers can log into the Orange members’ area between day 220 and day 259 to extend their access for a further 260 days.

Save your emails

If you're worried that you're going to lose access to your email account when you switch, follow these steps to make sure that everything you need is safe before you get your MAC code.

Create a new, free email address from a web-based supplier like Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo!

• Forward all important emails from your existing account to your new email address. If you use Outlook to access your emails you’ll be able to select large numbers of messages and forward them all at once to save time
• Export your contacts. You will need to talk to your provider about how to do this with your specific account, but you should be able to export a full list of your contacts as one CSV document
• Import your contacts. You can then import your contact list into your new email account. Again, exactly how you do this will depend on the supplier you use.

According to Google, which supplies the free Gmail service, “these CSV files work with Outlook, Outlook Express, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, Eudora, and some other email providers”.

Once you have switched you should stick with your new web-based email address. The service offered by your new broadband provider won’t be any better, and you won’t have to go through this whole process again the next time you switch supplier.

NB Best buy tables are always current.

Examples in the text of the article are correct at time of publication.

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