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Email Forwarders

The situation has become common: you have a new ISP, your email address has changed, and now you must notify all your email contacts of your new email address. This is a real hassle. Add to this the fact that most ISPs have non-intuitive email addresses (e.g., yourname@ispchannel.net or lck2345@Aol.Com). The solution: email forwarders.

Email forwarding is a service where you get an email address that is "public" and all mail sent to that address is automatically forwarded to your "private" email account. For example, I recently switched to Verizon DSL as my ISP. They assigned me an email account with a name that I do not like and will not use. Instead I notified my email forwarder of what my new email address was. Within a few hours, all my email was being forwarded to me at my public address. I did not have to tell anyone else what my new address was because it did not change as far as the public was concerned.

The following companies provide email forwarding with a variety of domain names (e.g., @FreeThinkers.Org, @BeatlesFan.Com):

• Internet Infidels
• MyOwn Email
• NetForward
• More providers can be found here.

Many organizations offer free or low cost email addresses with forwarding for their members or alumni. Check out your church, lodge, civic association, cultural club, et cetera. For example, www.StAndrewsSociety.Org will give you an address ("YourName @ StAndrewsSociety.Org") with forwarding for a onetime fee of $10 (it is free to members).

Another approach is to have the ultimate email address: "anything@YourName.Com". By this I mean that you get your own domain name or URL. It only costs $15 per year and you get a web address to boot! To be more accurate, when you get a domain name you have a web address (the URL) and email addresses are automatic. Here is the process:

1. Determine the availability of the desired domain name using www.WhoIs.Org. Remember to use variations (i.e., Jeff-Kelso, JeffreyKelso, JEKelso, etc.) or subjects close to your heart (i.e., ScottishFolds, ReadMore, DelKayak, etc).
2. Register the domain name. I use DirectNIC (yeah, I just might get a commission if you click through on that link) to register domain names. They charge $15 per year.
3. Assuming you used DirectNIC:
1. logon to your account
2. take the "Modify Domains" option
3. select the domain (I currently have 13, you may have only the one) to modify by clicking on the "edit" icon
4. take the "Email Forwarding" option
5. take the "Add Forwarding Rule" or "Modify Forwarding Rule" as appropriate
6. if you want all the mail to "*.YourName.Com" sent to one address then leave the asterisk in the "Email To" box, put your private email address in the "Forward To" box, and then click the "Add Rule" button
7. if you want to have multiple addresses then you can continue to add new rules

4. Assistance For friends and family I will be willing (and glad!) to help set up your email forwarding using DirectNIC. Just let me know what you want.

5. It will take 24-72 hours for the new domain name to propagate through the Internet
6. Send yourself emails to your new "public" every couple of hours or days until you get a posiitive result (i.e., the mail isn't returned and you get it at your "private" address).
7. You've got mail! Now when you change ISPs for whatever reason, you don't have to notify the entire world … just your email forwarder.

If you set up with DirectNIC, then you can have a free web site at DirectNIC albeit with ads. I will be having an article soon on setting up free (or very cheap) web sites. Stay tuned.