Transferring emails as I am moving house to a Non Virgin area

[JohnEdwards]

I find this situation both amazing and intolerable.

It has long been accepted that customers own the right to their landline and mobile telephone numbers and providers are legally obliged to provide a slick system to transfer numbers to a new provider on request. This ensures that customers have no artificial discouragement from changing service provider, and so encourage competition between providers.

Why on earth doesn't the same law apply to email addresses - arguably MORE important to most people that phone numbers?

As it stands, Which? estimates that millions of users are refraining from changing broadband provider for fear of losing their email address, which they may have been using for 20-30 years!

At least BT and Sky allow continued use of addresses for a monthly fee - why won't Virgin Media do that?

This case highlights that there are other circumstances where users may be forced to suffer from this policy - beyond their control!

Ofcom needs to address this barrier to competition.

[newapollo]

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@JohnEdwards wrote:

I find this situation both amazing and intolerable.

As it stands, Which? estimates that millions of users are refraining from changing broadband provider for fear of losing their email address, which they may have been using for 20-30 years!

This case highlights that there are other circumstances where users may be forced to suffer from this policy - beyond their control!

Ofcom needs to address this barrier to competition.

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The Ofcom response is already on their wesbite.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/why-broadband-providers-charge-for-email 

If you switch to another company for your internet service, but want to keep using the email address you were given by your old provider, they will still be providing you with a service. Some companies charge for this.....

Our research found that, for around 1% of people who considered switching but didn’t, the main factor was not wanting to lose the email address they had with their current provider.

But there are many alternative free email services available, often quick and easy to set up, which can help you transfer information from your existing email account – such as your contacts and the messages you already have. You can also set up these accounts on the ‘Mail’ app on your smartphone or tablet, so you can easily access your emails without having to log in via an internet browser.

This means your email address doesn’t have to tie you down to your broadband provider. In fact, if your inbox is full of unwanted marketing mail, changing your email address is a great opportunity to start from scratch and make sure you only get the emails you want.

[JohnEdwards]

Thanks Dave - I had searched Ofcom without success.

I think they have unrealistically limited their observation to those whose MAIN deterrent was loss of email address - I feel sure that it would figure strongly (among other reasons) for a much larger group of dissatisfied users.

I'm amazed that Ofcom should have highlighted that Virgin Media are the ONLY major ISP not offering ANY continuation option (beyond 90-days grace), without requiring them to do so (despite imposing corrections on disclosure to others). Why did they not do so? Why do Virgin think they are exceptional?

I understand the points they make in defence of the practice, but they are really aimed at newcomers, by warning against signing up to their ISP's email service. I also believe that many people (especially younger ones?) see email accounts as transitory. But for those of us who were 'early adopters', there was little email service alternative - no cloud services, and any others were chargeable.

I have been a customer of VM (and its several predecessors) since the cable first appeared in our street some 25 years ago and an ardent supporter (and advocate) of the full fibre approach for most of that period - despite the inevitable service issues from time to time. In fact, although I've been aware of the problems Virgin impose on termination (which also includes the loss of access to recorded TV content - some of which includes our own appearances!) I had not concerned myself as I couldn't imagine wanting to leave.

However, VM's latest invidious changes to pricing and contract terms (as well as a new Smart TV) have brought me to the point of realising that I need to give the recently competitive offerings from other providers a chance, and bite the bullet of change.

I had already read the Which? advice on changing email address (running to 4 fairly dense pages), before seeing the relatively brief summary included in the Ofcom document. It was the scale of that task (I have 2,500 email address book contacts) which drove my concern and objection. [Fortunately I don't have to concern myself with the content history as I keep it on the Thunderbird client on my PC.]

Time to call Virgin to see whether they are prepared to offer enough by way of concessions to overcome my objections!

[Graham_A]

It is probably worth adding into the mix here that since May 2022 Virgin Media no longer offer a free email service to new customers and existing customers cannot create any new email addresses with them.

BT no longer supply broadband customers with a free email addresses either.

[jem101 · Accepted solution]

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@JohnEdwards wrote:

....Snip

I'm amazed that Ofcom should have highlighted that Virgin Media are the ONLY major ISP not offering ANY continuation option (beyond 90-days grace), without requiring them to do so (despite imposing corrections on disclosure to others). Why did they not do so? Why do Virgin think they are exceptional?

Snip....

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OFCOM don't have any powers to compel a company to provide a service if they don't want to - all they require is that customers are given clear and accurate information. BT and TalkTalk weren't being clear enough as to what options there were. In VM's case there really is no ambiguity, and it's in the Ts & Cs up front that any email provision will be closed down after 90 days of leaving.

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@JohnEdwards wrote:

Snip...

Time to call Virgin to see whether they are prepared to offer enough by way of concessions to overcome my objections!

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I'm not 100% sure what concessions they could possibly offer, if you are definitely moving to a location which VM don't service, then I'm afraid that's really the end of the matter.

Unlike phone numbers it actually just isn't technically possible to 'transfer' a single email address to a different supplier - email addresses all 'belong' to whoever owns the domain name (the bit after the @ sign) - it's completely irrelevant what any 'law' or OFCOM might mandate, it's just not the way that the global email system works at a fundamental level, it won't happen.

Yes, some suppliers do have a mechanism that allows for ex-customers to retain their email addresses for a monthly fee, VM have chosen not to do this and simply don't have the back-end processes, billing arrangements etc. to allow it. Indeed as Graham mentions above, early last year, VM stopped anyone from creating a new VM-branded email address and new customers aren't offered any email addresses or provision at all - BT followed suit a little later. Now this may or may not be a hint that these companies don't see any long term future in providing any email service at all.

It really wouldn't surprise me in the least if sometime in the next 18 months, VM announce that they are closing down their email provision and all customers have; six months say; to find an alternative supplier, setup a new address and migrate their mailboxes across.

[jpeg1]

The sensible plan now for any user of email addresses provided by an ISP such as Virginmedia, is to create a new address with a non ISP service, and set up an auto forward on all incoming messages.

The best option is to set up a private domain and associated email address/es. The cost is quite modest. 

[JohnEdwards]

Thanks for your thoughts Jen.

As far as I'm aware, Ofcom have a responsibility to encourage customer choice and take action to eliminate barriers to competition - there are plenty of examples in their rulings. Also, I'm sure that the telecoms companies also said that it was technically impossible to provide number porting when it was first proposed - it's amazing what software engineers can achieve when they are faced with the law! I could imagine a service which 'intercepts' emails aimed at a particular address BEFORE it reaches the domain named and diverts it to the registered receiving domain - but I'm no engineer!

Apologies if the title (applied by an original poster, before my post was moved to its own thread) misled you - I'm NOT moving house (but the problem equally affects such users). So concessions (if generous enough) ARE a possible solution.....

From what you say, the future of ISP-hosted email is under serious threat, so it may well be a the right time to grasp the nettle and initiate change in my own time - even if I were persuaded to stay with VM's broadband.

[JohnEdwards]

Thanks jpeg - see my reply to jen.

Do you have any useful thoughts on a private domain - it's a matter I know nothing about?

[jpeg1]

The advantage of a private domain, the part of the address after the @, is that once you have registered it you own it for as long as you pay the registration fees. That costs about £20 a year.

You then need to pay for email hosting, which costs from a few pounds more. I have a contract that allows up to 20 email addresses, which gives me separate addresses for business and personal use, and everyone in the family has their own address. 

There are many hosting companies. I have used this one for many years and find them very reliable and helpful. 

https://www.ionos.co.uk/

[JohnEdwards]

Thanks for the insight jpeg.