It’s just been a given that while post offices forward snail mail when you move and ISPs don’t when you switch. Should ISPs? Sounds like a good reason to register your own domain name (and associated email address) which you can move anywhere you want if it’s a concern.
Post Office Forwards. Is E-Mail Next?
The post office forwards letters when a person moves, and telephone companies likewise forward calls. Should Internet companies be required to forward e-mails to customers who switch providers?
There is no mandate governing e-mail forwarding, and industry officials say imposing one would be costly and unnecessary. But federal regulators are looking at the issue more closely following a complaint from a former America Online customer who claims an abrupt termination of service devastated her business.
Gail Mortenson, a Washington-based freelance editor, in July filed a six-page petition with the Federal Communications Commission, which opened a 30-day public comment period that ends Oct. 26, followed by another 30-day period for replies.
Mortenson said in her complaint that she lost potential clients because they couldn’t reach her, and she requested that Internet service providers, such as Time Warner Inc.’s AOL LLC, be required to forward e-mail traffic from a closed account to a new e-mail address designated by customers for at least six months.
“Such a forwarding service would cost the service providers money in network bandwidth, server utilization and operational overhead,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Service providers typically operate with low margins, relying on volume to make acceptable profit.”
The Post Office charges for the privilege of moving your mail. An ISP doesn’t. This asks the ISP to treat e-mail as if it were privileged, which it isn’t.
If you need a safe e-mail address, get your own domain. If you do your business on the cheap, well, ya get what ya pay for.
And who wants all that spam forwarded?
Wouldn’t the GOVERNMENT telling them what they have to do be a slippery slope to other thing?
– J. Hunter Cashdollar
>>The Post Office charges for the privilege of moving your mail.
You must live in a different zip code than me, Not Mr. Mustard. Every time I’ve moved, the post office has forwarded my mail for free.
You’re not one of those guys who gave money to the Nigerian spammers by any chance, are you?
Wouldn’t they want to extend the amount of time that you look at their ads? by forwarding the ads with the email, they would have a last ditch effort to squeeze money out of you. Anyway, I keep about five or six mail accounts open at all times so I can kill a few and still get all my mail. I just tell people when to switch, if I don’t care much then I just let them ask a few months later why I don’t answer their email. Bless those who take the hint and don’t ask. 🙂
#4: It will forward 1st class mail for free. Other things it charges you for.
They may forward the mail for free, however, they also got paid to handle the mail in the first place; the post office was able to sell the stamp.
Once a customer terminates their ISP account, said ISP is no longer making revenue on the handling of that person’s email; the action of forwarding it is a net loss.
As an ISP, I dislike the notion of forcing ISPs to handle mail for ex-customers for two reasons.
First, I don’t like the general idea of the government forcing me to spend money on ex-customers, especially in order to correct for that ex-customer’s lack of foresight.
Secondly, and the real reason, is that I don’t want the government forcing my competition (other ISPs) to be nice to their ex-customers. When a customer decides to terminate their account with me, I quite enjoy offering them the option (for free) to have their mail forwarded for a month or so. The fact that other providers don’t do this gives me cool points and a marketing advantage when that person starts pondering getting yet another provider. I wind up being the niceguy; an advantage I wouldn’t have if everybody were forced to be nice.
But then all my spam would be forwarded. That’s the one nice thing about changing ISPs is a clean inbox.
Some ISPs like Earthlink let you purchase email only accounts at a much reduced rate. I do that for 2 years and let that account be forwarded to my new account. I also have changed my primary address to one independent of ISPs. Google, Yahoo, or .Mac are good examples.
#4, The Mister Mustard,
You must live in a different zip code than me, Not Mr. Mustard. Every time I’ve moved, the post office has forwarded my mail for free.
I hope I live in a different zip code. The Post Office might forward your mail, but someone put a stamp on it first.
You’re not one of those guys who gave money to the Nigerian spammers by any chance, are you?
It isn’t a scam. The princess promised I will be receiving my money sometime next week. I only need to send her some more money to bribe those pesky customs officials. Too bad you’re not me. But when I get my $18 million, I’ll think of you.
I say no. I’ve been paying my old ISP to keep my old email and web pages going. It’s also nice that they’ve gone nationwide in their dial-up numbers, so I can always tap in with a modem if I have to.
I’ve only got a few email subscriptions that I should move over. I own my own domain. So that’s not a problem.
I’d like to keep my old web pages up for posterity, but they are so ancient now, and there’s always the Wayback archive to go to.
And with the proliferation of WiFi, is that really an excuse to try to keep modem access?
Infinet, why can’t I quit you!
I have 3-4-5 email accounts…
1 is from my ISP, the rest are ONLINE…
I can access the online Anyplace, any time, and its permanent… If I move, Its still the same location… ANYONE I really need to keep in contact with has MORE then 1 of my email locations. IF my ISP bounces, as IF I lost my account, they contact me on the OTHER ONLINE account.
so what is the NEED to forward emails?
>>I hope I live in a different zip code. The Post Office might forward
>>your mail, but someone put a stamp on it first.
The stamp pays for the initial delivery. The post office and the internet have different ways of charging for delivery of mail.
What we’re talking about here is FORWARDING THE MAIL. The Post Office doesn’t charge to forward it, so neither should the internet.
That a problem for ya, Negative Man?