Email provider filing bankruptcy

Briar Rabbit

Briar Rabbit

Line Up and Wait
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Mar 22, 2017
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Albion, Nebraska
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Rob
Just found out that our email provider is filing for bankruptcy, Frontier. I am wondering if they might be purchased or could reorganize? Should we wait to change providers to see what the outcome might be or immediately make a switch?

I dread changing email addresses. It seems like not all friends or customers get the message or some neglect to update their files. Should we change immediately so there is an overlap in service?

What alternatives should be evaluated? My son is on Yahoo.com but it is more limiting regarding some emails - size of files, sometimes service is slow. I have some friends that are on Gmail.com which may be a better long term solution with less chance of future email address changes required. We have a cable service that could give us a new address but that could be changed down the road too. I am not familiar with how to set up my own company email .com - maybe someone could provide some suggestions and cost estimates?

Thanks!
 
Wait and see. It may well be like when Verizon sold their e-mail service to AOL and all that changed was the backend. My mail works as it always has.
 
But first - is the ISP going into bankruptcy or just the email company? If it's the ISP, then you need to find a new ISP. If it's the email company, then no biggie - create a gmail account and alias your current email to the gmail account.

I'd recommend creating the gmail account ASAP so that if anything goes TU, you've still got service. Assuming your ISP is still in business.

Stay away from Yahoo - too many problems over the past few years and getting worse.
 
OP doesn’t have his own domain...don’t be like OP ;)
 
WAG that if they file it will be a Chapter 11 reorganization. That's the way most of these go because it allows them to continue to be in business while things get worked out. That means the possibility of staying in business or having something to sell to a possible purchaser.

Whether gmail, some other provider, or a personal domain, I agree completely with @murphey about "untiying" ones email address from one's ISP (I think the last time I had one was when I was with Earthlink aout a million years ago). That doesn't matter if it is a strong company or a weak one. Point is, using your ISP's email address means a huge PITA even if you simply want to take advantage of a better, stronger Internet deal.
 
murphey said:
Stay away from Yahoo - too many problems over the past few years and getting worse.
Click to expand...

Yahoo is run by evil communists (ABC/Disney, same thing).

I was one of the very first Yahoo mail customers in 1995, before they acquired Alta Vista. There were not many choices for online email accounts back then...

They slowly went to $4!7 and everyone who was on Yahoo! Groups has bailed to Groups.io.

I concur with the recommendation to alias your email, unless there is some kind of IP problem with the domain name.
 
ISP and email examples....My ISP (the company that provides access to the internet) is CenturyLink. However, I don't use it for email. Or anything else. Of course this annoys them no end. I have two different companies for email - one is gmail and the other is my backup ISP. Most of my email (I have 5 email addresses due to business, school and other activities) and 4 are aliased to my gmail address. In the event I lose CenturyLink as my ISP, it will take a day or so to get another ISP but my email will not be a problem because I'll just re-alias the other 7 to my backup ISP - takes about 15 minutes to log in and change the destination.
 
Yep. I have the same setup. Gmail plus a local ISP/mail provider, as well as my own domain and a backup online mail provider with lots of aliases. Ten or so email addresses in all.

Spectrum is my cable connection, but neither they nor CenturyLink (landline) have any services I use...
 
I use fastmail, per a suggestion from PoA if I recall. I have my own domain, which can be registered with any of the domain registrars , of which godaddy is one. Fastmail has tutorials on how to set this up. Another advantage to Fastmail is that it is a paid service, so its not the Yahoo/Gmail/etc model of "we give you an email account for 'free', we scan all of your email to market to you / sell your data to 3rd parties". They also allow unlimited email aliases, so each major provider gets their own email. For example, verizon@mydomain.com, amazon@mydomain.com.

I highly recommend getting your own domain, so you can theoretically move to another provider and not have to change any of your addresses. Of course I have a .org domain and ownership for managing .org domains was recently sold to a private equity company, so I expect my registration fees to skyrocket. So I might end up having to migrate to new email addresses again anyway.
 
atbroome said:
I use fastmail, per a suggestion from PoA if I recall. I have my own domain, which can be registered with any of the domain registrars , of which godaddy is one. Fastmail has tutorials on how to set this up. Another advantage to Fastmail is that it is a paid service, so its not the Yahoo/Gmail/etc model of "we give you an email account for 'free', we scan all of your email to market to you / sell your data to 3rd parties". They also allow unlimited email aliases, so each major provider gets their own email. For example, verizon@mydomain.com, amazon@mydomain.com.

I highly recommend getting your own domain, so you can theoretically move to another provider and not have to change any of your addresses. Of course I have a .org domain and ownership for managing .org domains was recently sold to a private equity company, so I expect my registration fees to skyrocket. So I might end up having to migrate to new email addresses again anyway.
Click to expand...
I'm waiting for all the universities and non-profits to start legal action about the .org domains. Take the top 10 universities, total up the endowment funds, and I'll bet the result is considerably larger than the assets of the equity company.

More important, why, how and by whom was an entire domain sold? Just baffles me.
 
IK04 said:
Yahoo is run by evil communists (ABC/Disney, same thing).

I was one of the very first Yahoo mail customers in 1995, before they acquired Alta Vista. There were not many choices for online email accounts back then...

They slowly went to $4!7 and everyone who was on Yahoo! Groups has bailed to Groups.io.

I concur with the recommendation to alias your email, unless there is some kind of IP problem with the domain name.
Click to expand...
I believe that Yahoo was acquired by Verizon. Along with AOL, Huffpost, Engadget, and TechCrunch.
 
Fastmail is a good provider. You can either get a Fastmail address or get your own domain. IIRC, they can set you up with the domain, too.

Another option is ProtonMail. With a paid account you can use your own domain there. They also offer (extra cost) a VPN service. ProtonMail is a fully encrypted system.
 
James331 said:
OP doesn’t have his own domain...don’t be like OP ;)
Click to expand...

With your own domain, the number of email addresses you can give out is limitless.

It also helps to figure out who is selling your information if you use a "catch-all" address.

For example, if XYZ Company needs an email address for whatever reason, you can give them xyz@mydomain.com and have your catch-all (catchall@mydomain.com, for example) catch anything that does not have an address assigned. When you start getting unsolicited email directed to xyz@mydomin.com, you have a pretty good idea from where it came.

Granted, there are spambots that use random strings or dictionary words to try to guess email addresses, but if you use a little creativity in coming up with the addresses you hand out (xyz_email@mydomain.com for example) you can easily distinguish between those that have been autogenerated and those that have been given out to thirdd parties.
 
smv said:
With your own domain, the number of email addresses you can give out is limitless.

It also helps to figure out who is selling your information if you use a "catch-all" address.

For example, if XYZ Company needs an email address for whatever reason, you can give them xyz@mydomain.com and have your catch-all (catchall@mydomain.com, for example) catch anything that does not have an address assigned. When you start getting unsolicited email directed to xyz@mydomin.com, you have a pretty good idea from where it came.

Granted, there are spambots that use random strings or dictionary words to try to guess email addresses, but if you use a little creativity in coming up with the addresses you hand out (xyz_email@mydomain.com for example) you can easily distinguish between those that have been autogenerated and those that have been given out to thirdd parties.
Click to expand...

Also looks much better professionally having your own domain
 
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Frontier Telecom, as in the upstate NY phone company? Or someone else?

If the remnant of the RBOC, I doubt they’re going anywhere. Too much copper. Just a bankrupt car wash.

They were once involved in an ownership hopping scheme that included Detroit’s Allnet who had just bought a tiny little company I worked for, and then after they sliced and diced it, part of them became a division of Global Crossing. I had a few months of paychecks marked Frontier back in the day.

Old school east coast telecom shenanigans and people. If it’s them, I seriously doubt you have much to worry about.
 
denverpilot said:
Frontier Telecom, as in the upstate NY phone company? Or someone else?

If the remnant of the RBOC, I doubt they’re going anywhere. Too much copper. Just a bankrupt car wash.

They were once involved in an ownership hopping scheme that included Detroit’s Allnet who had just bought a tiny little company I worked for, and then after they sliced and diced it, part of them became a division of Global Crossing. I had a few months of paychecks marked Frontier back in the day.

Old school east coast telecom shenanigans and people. If it’s them, I seriously doubt you have much to worry about.
Click to expand...
https://www.fiercetelecom.com/telecom/frontier-spins-towards-a-mid-march-bankruptcy-filing-report
 
I have no inside knowledge just speculating but Frontier likely isn't going anywhere. They are a utility in many places. My guess is this is just a move to restructure their 17 Billion in debt. Having said that they may sell of some of the their divisions. I would wait and see.
 
DFH65 said:
I have no inside knowledge just speculating but Frontier likely isn't going anywhere. They are a utility in many places. My guess is this is just a move to restructure their 17 Billion in debt. Having said that they may sell of some of the their divisions. I would wait and see.
Click to expand...
But it doesn’t hurt to have a backup.
 
I’ve paid for web hosting for the last 15 or so years. $9/mo. Unlimited storage and hosting services. Unlimited email addresses (I have at least 50). You can control the forwarding etc. Even if Dreamhost goes out of business I can switch over to another provider.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
As it turns out my company’s websites use Godaddy’s services. There is an info@ e-mail address on each website. We can add additional email addresses to our already established domain name for $5/month for each address.

https://www.prometservices.com/
 
Last edited:
YooperMooney said:
I’ve paid for web hosting for the last 15 or so years. $9/mo. Unlimited storage and hosting services. Unlimited email addresses (I have at least 50). You can control the forwarding etc. Even if Dreamhost goes out of business I can switch over to another provider.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Wow, I used to use Dreamhost back in the early/mid 90s. I didn't know they were still around.
 
Briar Rabbit said:
As it turns out my company’s websites use Godaddy’s services. There is an info@ e-mail address on each website. We can add additional email addresses to our already established domain name for $5/month for each address.

https://www.prometservices.com/
Click to expand...

I have a love hate relationship with GoDaddy. We are somewhat stuck with them for some things at work. They’re annoying as hell but consistently mediocre along with consistently charging more than necessary. $5/mo per email is in the high end pricing wise, just so you’re aware.

GSuite is around that price with bulk discounts and offers WAY more — but Google... and questionable data uses. Even if they say they don’t with GSuite customers...
 
murphey said:
But it doesn’t hurt to have a backup.
Click to expand...

Do people these days really not have multiple emails? If not you NEED(at least):

Work email - this is what you have for work and just use it for work
Personal email - This is for personal email and official personal business
Junk mail - This is the account you use for signing up for things or purchasing things online. Anyplace you think they might sell it or send you junk mail.
 
Yes, have 7 email addresses. Four of them are from the same Frontier ISP (wife's, personal, two for my business), the fifth from an old ISP that is really slow for questionable information where I do not want to provide a normal email address and a sixth one for overseas correspondence only on Yahoo. China email correspondence is almost required to be on a disposable email, they can flood you with spam and render your email address useless. The seventh is for information requests from two business web sites via Go Daddy. So I have four ISP providers but the one that we use multiple times a day and is the one filing bankruptcy. They also provide our landline telephone service and tied to our FAX machine. The Go Daddy info request email is sent to one of the Frontier email addresses so I had forgotten about it being set up with them. Setting up additional email addresses on Go Daddy with my already established domain name will likely be my go to for work if Frontier goes TU. Maybe GMAIL for personal?
 
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