Lifetime Email Addresses

Lifetime email addresses are a great idea just like lifetime phone numbers.

Unfortunately the definition of a lifetime varies! Usually if you no longer subscribe to the particular service your lifetime email address comes to the end of its life!

My idea of a lifetime email address is an address that stays with me until I cease to exist and not the email provider!

So how do you get a lifetime email address? and what methods are used to provide them.

Purchase an Email Account Separate from your ISP

 There are many companies offering email accounts that you purchase and can keep and use for a Lifetime form anywhere in the world. Many offer a variety of domain names to chose from and various email service like email forwarding web mail etc.

The problem with this type of arrangement all hinge around the fact that you don't control the email address and therefore must continue to maintain an account with them, if not your lifetime email address is over! So why wouldn't you continue to maintain an account with them? There a many reasons for wanting to change, such as:

• Price increases
• Service is not of sufficient standard

In effect they are little different from ISP email accounts, except that they are non-geographic.

Email Forwarding

This is a popular technique for providing "lifetime email addresses". The email provider never re-allocates your email address and forwards all mail addressed to this address to another address (your current address) which you provide.

This is commonly provided by universities and colleges for students.

The problem with this type of arrangement all hinge around the fact that you don't control the email address. There are things that could happen that would mean you don't receive email from this address; such as:

• The email provider changes its policy and decides stop the service or charge for the service.
• The email provider ceases to exists and hence doesn't renew its domain name.
• You change your email provider and forget to inform the other email provider to forward to the new address.

Register your own Domain Name

This is the only way to guarantee that you truly have a lifetime email address. Because you  register your own domain name you have complete control.

The advantages are:

• Complete control of the domain name- you choose it and it's registered to you not to an email provider.
• Complete control of the email addresses
• Unlimited email addresses.
• Can be cheaper if you need lots of email addresses.
• You could have a domain name for all the family.
• You can use it for your website as well.

The disadvantages are

• More complex as you have to a) register the name and b) find an email provider.- Most domain name providers will also provide mailbox space and forwarding services..
• Can be more costly.
• Need to renew the domain name each year or you will loose it.

This is my preferred method and so if you are Interested in registering your own domain name and using it for email then continue to Part 2 Lifetime email address

Related Articles:

• Email Forwarding
• Lifetime email address: Part2