Personal e-mail with own domain name

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I’d like to set up a .com domain name so I can have a personalised email address. It only needs to be one catch-all address so anything before the domain name is passed to the mail client.

What do I need and who’s best to supply it? What are the advantages or otherwise of mail forwarding compared to email hosting?

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Hello – You can check on your domain name availability here….
Whois Search

A list of Registrars and other domain info is here…..
InterNIC—Public Information Regarding Internet Domain Name Registration Services

If you choose “List By Location”, there are several Registrars in the UK.

HTH

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Being from the UK you surely don’t want a .COM address? Why not something like .ME.UK?

Maybe have a look at NamesCo / SimplyNames and Heart Internet (other fine companies of this type are available, and quite a few rubbish ones…)

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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I’d like to set up a .com domain name so I can have a personalised email address. It only needs to be one catch-all address so anything before the domain name is passed to the mail client.

What do I need and who’s best to supply it? What are the advantages or otherwise of mail forwarding compared to email hosting?

Most domain name registrars offer some level of email services, either for free or for a small additional fee. However, their webmail clients tend to lag the most popular sites (e.g., Yahoo, Hotmail, GMail), so if you plan to use a webmail interface, forwarding might give you a better experience. Before settling on one webmail client, make sure it lets you specify your new address as the sending address.

Being from the UK you surely don’t want a .COM address?

That’s an interesting question: I know a lot of UK businesses use .com domains because they are more familiar to North American customers.

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That’s an interesting question: I know a lot of UK businesses use .com domains because they are more familiar to North American customers.

This may be the case, but the OP wants to set up a personalised email address! There’s rather less chance of his getting JoeBloggs.com rather than (say) JoeBloggs.me.uk, or even JoeBloggs.org.uk. And it emphasises his UK-ness…!

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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My criteria for finding a domain name were
* keep it short and simple [easy to spell out on the telephone and saves zillions of key strokes over a lifetime]
* make it generic so my wife and children can continue to use it after I have gone virtual [this rules out my surname as my children are all girls].
Given that filter, I quickly found that 3 and 4 letter names are mostly reserved, sold out or priced at a premium
I eventually found the domain .cc and created a nominal three letter prefix based on the initials of family members. So my domain is xyz.cc and family users can identify themselves in the email prefix, eg myname@xyz.cc mywife@xyz.cc mydaughter@xyz.cc
I have been using it for 3 years with a great sense of satisfaction every time I getam asked to enter my email address and then enter it again …..
PS. .cc is a top level domain Cocos islands in the Indian Ocean, administered by Australia.

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There are numerous web hosts that offer reasonable rates for registering a web site and offer an email account as well. One that *I* prefer is 1and1.com. I have two domains with them — a .name and a .us domain — and they cost about $10 US each per year. They support both POP3 and IMAP email. If you want to set up your own mail server, I might suggest you take a look at SurgeMail. I dabble with Linux Mint, and have a Window Home Server system as well, so have been looking at several different mail server programs. So far, SurgeMail looks the most promising for a newbie like me.

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I tried to select a .com name, only because it seems more mainstream and professional. Unfortunately, the name I wanted, geefamily.com, was already taken, but I was able to get geefamily.net, a good alternative.

As jscher2000 mentioned, the webmail interface for most registrar’s is clunky and outdated. I set up autoforwarding e-mail addresses for all of my family members so that ron@geefamily.net, for example, automatically forwards to my GMail account. I can give everyone my geefamily e-mail address, and if I happen to switch to another e-mail service in the future, all I have to do is change where the address autoforwards to. What’s nice about GMail (and this may be possible with other e-mail services) is that I can compose an e-mail such that it “looks like” it’s coming from my geefamily e-mail address (the “From:” line will have ron@geefamily.net instead of my GMail address).

As far as registrars go, I can’t really recommend any, but I’d look for the cheapest one; most would probably include unlimited e-mail forwarding accounts. I’ve had mine through GoDaddy, but only because I also host my web site through them. I’m sure there are many less expensive registrars out there.

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As jscher2000 mentioned, the webmail interface for most registrar’s is clunky and outdated. I set up autoforwarding e-mail addresses for all of my family members so that ron@geefamily.net, for example, automatically forwards to my GMail account. I can give everyone my geefamily e-mail address, and if I happen to switch to another e-mail service in the future, all I have to do is change where the address autoforwards to. What’s nice about GMail (and this may be possible with other e-mail services) is that I can compose an e-mail such that it “looks like” it’s coming from my geefamily e-mail address (the “From:” line will have ron@geefamily.net instead of my GMail address).

There is a better way to do this. Google will do all of your email processing. All you have to do is sign up and change some DNS entries. See http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html

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There is a better way to do this. Google will do all of your email processing. All you have to do is sign up and change some DNS entries. See http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html

I can’t say enough good things about the free google apps. email, website, unified calendaring, contacts, docs, texting. It’s great to manage the family internet presence. You still have to find and register your domain, but once you make google your Mx record, you’re set.

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I have been using 1and1 for many years and have been very happy with their service.

The only thing to be aware of is that a lot of these cheaper sites will OWN the Domain name as you will be only renting it. I set mine up when there was only one agency that did the registering and parked it there for a while. Then then found a host site later and moved to 1and 1.
True I pay extra for the registering and is a separate bill, but I own it.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Fastmail do a nice cheap version if you want total control and no ads.
http://www.fastmail.fm/

cheers, Paul

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