I originally sent this as a PM to Stuart thinking it a bit too limited to my situation; but he suggested that I post it on the forum for everyone to see; so, here it is.
Do you mind if I pick your brain a bit?
Your suggestion to use an email service provider separate from my ISP makes a great deal of sense. In fact, I've used gmail but have trust issues about how google uses customer data. I looked online at other mail service providers without much ability to discriminate among the good, the bad, and the ugly. It occurred to me that owning my own domain name might also be useful. Do you have any advice on best email service providers, how to choose among them, etc.?
What about the idea of owning my own domain name? I have no plans at present to host a web site, but with my own domain name I would have complete control over naming irrespective of what ISP I use. I know that Thunderbird - my preferred email client - allows me to set up mail accounts without any constraint other than that domain names used must exist when it validates them during account setup. I prefer not to use webmail for a variety of other reasons and because I have become accustomed to using browser and email client separately. As an old dog I don't learn new tricks easily.
If I do obtain my own domain name and use it in email addresses, will I have to set up accounts at my ISP for mail routing or will my DNS server take care of routing? Would I have to run mail servers if I use my own domain name? Are there other issues I should consider?
Thank you for the good advice. I hope this query is not too much of an imposition.
If I've chosen the wrong board, I apologize to the admins for making extra work for them.
Bob's yer Uncle
(1/2)(1+√5)
Dell Intel Core i5 Laptop, 3570K,1.60 GHz, 8 GB RAM, Windows 11 64-bit, LibreOffice,and other bits and bobs
What about the idea of owning my own domain name? ... If I do obtain my own domain name and use it in email addresses, will I have to set up accounts at my ISP for mail routing or will my DNS server take care of routing? Would I have to run mail servers if I use my own domain name? Are there other issues I should consider?
I own two domain names. On the first I used to download my emails with a separate package, and slapped spam all by myself.
When I retired I switched to GMail. My website host had the mail servers and other stuff.
Thunderbird downloads email from the web-based Gmail seamlessly.
On a more general note, I'd suggest that if you have a hint of a suspicion of an idea for a web site, register the domain name. For those of us on a pension, registration is relatively cheap, and if your desire drops, well, just stop paying and the registration lapses.
Cheers, Chris
There's nothing heavier than an empty water bottle
Recently I've experienced difficulties with email. I have not idea what caused this to happen but it suddenly happened with one email addy then spread to others. The only common element in the equation is the operator head space; so I think I might have caused it but don't have a clue how.
I ran into problems with my ISP's customer service. I can't wait for fiber optic service to be available at my door so I can change ISP yet again. I also ran into conflicts between Thunderbird and gmail that had to do with password validation; so I take issue with your 'seamless' adjective. Perhaps your arrangements 'knit' together better than mine, eh! I was only able to resolve these issues over about a week or 10 days by deleting all my passwords in Thunderbird for both ISP and gmail accounts and setting up new ones at both ends. I wrote about this in other posts.
It was this experience that got me thinking about alternatives. Stuart generously suggested using an independent email service provider. Because email depends on domain names (IP addresses) for routing, it occurred to me that independence (after all it is the 4th of July, eh!) in email account naming can only be achieved if one owns his own domain name.
Falling ever farther down the rabbit hole, I was contemplating whether I might have to run mail servers if I own my use my own domain routing. I haven't sussed this out yet. I'm hopeful that facilities in Thunderbird will suffice.
Bob's yer Uncle
(1/2)(1+√5)
Dell Intel Core i5 Laptop, 3570K,1.60 GHz, 8 GB RAM, Windows 11 64-bit, LibreOffice,and other bits and bobs
And here is the other advice I offered in my reply...
If you use a provider like fastmail.com then they can also host your domain name. I use names.co.uk, but I chose them many years ago and I think there are better options now.
I've signed up for the 30-day trial at fastmail.com. I've found no customer service interface yet. I also discovered that Thunderbird cannot validate a new account added with the @fastmail.com domain name. These were operator head space problems, not fastmail problems.
I noticed you didn't address the question of using one's own domain name . . .
Bob's yer Uncle
(1/2)(1+√5)
Dell Intel Core i5 Laptop, 3570K,1.60 GHz, 8 GB RAM, Windows 11 64-bit, LibreOffice,and other bits and bobs
fastmail.com is my current preferred option. I've been using them as an email archive for a few years, but I can't transfer my domain name there as I have other services on that domain too
