IDNet email options

[Zirynx]

Hi folks,

I'm wondering if someone would very kindly verify/clarify my understanding of the various email options available from IDNet. Also, I have a couple of related questions to which I haven't been able to find direct answers on the main IDNet website.

On this forum site, I've seen mention of:

@ident.co.uk
@idnet.com
@identfreemail.co.uk

I thought that option 1 was a paid for, filtered service, and that option 2 was a free, unfiltered service. I don't really know where option 3 fits into all this, other than that it also appears to be free! Is this correct?!

On the IDNet website, I've seen mention of a service called IDMail, which costs £12 per year; but it appears to use the option 2 domain format, which I thought was free! Confused!!

Further, assuming an email address in the form

username@idnet.com

does IDNet support variations on that address, in the form:

variable@username.idnet.com ?


Thanks!

[Rik]

Hi and welcome to the forum, have a karma.  

The basic, free, address takes the form of user@idnet.com, and you can have as many of these as you want, each mailbox can hold 100MB with the maximum attachment size being 10MB. The mailboxes do have spam filtering, which you can control, plus the ability to create rule, do forwarding etc.

The idnetfreemail.co.uk was the predecessor to idnet.com and is no longer available. Some of us still have those addresses though.

The idnet.co.uk addresses are the managed ones, but I'm not sure of the charge - I thought it was £4pm for some reason.

The variant you are looking for is not supported, as you can simply create the variants yourself, though not quite in the form you may want, ie it would have to be variable.username@idnet.com.

HTH.

[Zirynx]

Hi Rik, thanks for your help! Have a karma back! 

(On that note, I'm not sure I went about it the right way - I gave karma via the side bar profile details, and then just added the above image by copying the image address from your post. Is there an easier, consolidated method?!)

Anyway, back to email! Thanks for clearing up the existence, but non-availability of idnetfreemail.co.uk. It wouldn't have been my first choice anyway due to the mouthful it was!

Here is the IDNet email info page which states that the idnet.com domain is £12 per year.

variable.username@idnet.com would be acceptable, and achieves the same purpose, for very simple email management. However, what would happen if the base email address was:

user.name@idnet.com?

Presumably...

variable.user.name@ident.com

...would not be allowed?

Thanks.

[Rik]

Hi Zirynx

You gave karma the right way (thanks. ), the karmic smiley is available from the [more] link on a posting/reply box.

I've just read the email info page, I think that's if you're not an IDNet broadband customer. If you look at the package info for broadband, they all say:

# Unlimited POP3 mail-boxes (@idnet.com)
# Anti-virus e-mail protection
# Anti-spam e-mail filtering
# Web-mail - access your email from any web browser

I've not tried a 'two-dot' address, but if you give them a call on 0800 0267237, or drop them an email at support@idnet.net, they'll tell you for sure if it can be done.

Alternatively, give me a few minutes and I'll try myself...

[Rik]

Yup, I can create a 'two dot' username.

[Inactive]

Hi Zyrynx, I note that you been here as long as me, anyway, have a karma as a sort of visiting karma.

Nice to see you here.

[Zirynx]

Hi Zyrynx, I note that you been here as long as me

Yes, but you've been so much busier since the join date! I'm a very very occasional lurker, looking after my mum's IDNet connection and interests. I've been threatening to join up myself for the last 12 months!!

Anyway, back to email once more. I've logged into my mum's account and created an email address for her, and this appears to be working fine. However, I can't seem to find any mention of the alias function which, if I understand it correctly, links other IDNet email addresses to the main one, thereby consolidating all email into a single inbox. Or am I talking complete b0110x?!?!

[Inactive]

Do as your Mother tells you then..

Mum knows best.. 

[Zirynx]

LOL! The irony is that it was me that suggested to her that she sign up for IDNet because, as my research and forum reading at the time suggested, "she wasn't going to find a better ISP!".

I was going to follow but, truth be told, we did have some major problems with her connection after she moved into the house, which went on for quite a while (now all resolved, thankfully!) and so I ended up staying with my virtually error free ISP (you just wouldn't believe who it is!), and so lost the momentum to migrate.

[Rik]

Anyway, back to email once more. I've logged into my mum's account and created an email address for her, and this appears to be working fine. However, I can't seem to find any mention of the alias function which, if I understand it correctly, links other IDNet email addresses to the main one, thereby consolidating all email into a single inbox. Or am I talking complete b0110x?!?!

Do you mean the alias function mentioned in the Mail packages page? I don't think that applies to mailboxes within the broadband package, certainly I can't see any options in my setup. Best check with support to be sure, though.

[Zirynx]

Ok, just had a conversation with IDNet support and, the response I received was, that the alias function is available on IDNet.com addresses, but effectively, on a special order basis, rather than through any online interface! Seems that there's one person there who can deal with it, and he is away 'til Monday, so I'll pick this up again then.

Meantime, thanks for all the help & advice

[Rik]

That would be Martin you need...

[Zirynx]

It was indeed Martin's name that was mentioned!

[Rik]

He set me up a 'special' just before he went.

[Simon]

Of course, an alternative option might be to set up any number of username@idnet.com addresses (all free), and use the Forwarding setting on each account to forward all emails into one 'default' mailbox. 

[Zirynx]

Thanks Simon. Yes, I agree that that is the most readily available solution to the 'problem' but ironically, it's also what I'm trying to get away from! Crucially, the context here is that I'm trying to establish a method of protecting my mum's primary IDNet email address, in a manner which is very simple (to her) and can be adopted and adapted 'on the fly', without any pre-configuration.

At the moment, she is still using her BT Yahoo email address, as a hang over (!) from her previous ISP. They have a function called 'Address Guard' which, in principle was a good idea. Although I got my mum to understand the syntax of the virtual address, she was always 'using' the address before she'd set it up with BT Yahoo, so effectively, it failed.

When she wishes to sign up for newsletters etc. (shopping sites, review sites, even game sites!) I would prefer her to use an individual alias address for each, so that if one starts to get spammed, she can just delete it without it affecting her primary address. But, and this is important, I'm looking for a mechanism where she can just make something up on the spot, and it will just work.

For example, my own email address is:
username@ISP.co.uk

but, on the fly, I can also use:
variable@username.ISP.co.uk

where variable can be anything I make up there and then, and it will still come through to my main email Inbox. I agree it's not very sophisticated, but it is a very easy way of tracking who is leaking your email address, and then, a filter can be applied to take all email associated with that precise email address string, straight off to the trash. No pre-configuration required.

My gmail address is similar, in that, with a base name of:
username@googlemail.com

I can also use:
username+variable@googlemail.com

As stated, neither of these mechanisms is sophisticated and the base email address can be determined quite easily. But it does provide a simple method of email tracking and spam management for auto-distributed email address.

The BT Yahoo 'Address Guard' function is more elaborate (effectively hiding the base email address altogether) but it does require pre-configuration before use, which has been it's failing with my non-tech-savvy mum!!

Hopefully this explains a little better, and if anyone else has any suggestions, I'd be grateful for them.

Thanks.

[Simon]

I think the best thing is to talk to Martin on Monday. 

[colirv]

Hopefully this explains a little better, and if anyone else has any suggestions, I'd be grateful for them.

Apologies if I've misunderstood what you're after, but could you not set your mum up with her own hosted domain and a catch-all email address?

[Dopamine]

The simplest way would probably be to buy your own domain name. Many are available with 500+ email addresses and can usually be configured so that you have a "catch-all" function on the email. ie, you may only have set up a few addresses; a@yourdomain.com; b@yourdomain.com; c@yourdomain.com, but should someone send you an email addressed to xfd@yourdomain.com it will be forwarded to whichever address you've specified as your "catch-all" address.

That way your mother only need remember the @yourdomain.com part of the address, adding whatever prefix she chooses at the time she signs up for her newsletter etc. If the address is not one that she's specifically set up, mail to it will be forwarded to her "catch-all" address, where spam management can be easily applied.

I buy my domains through GoDaddy.com. Cheap, 100% reliable, and their 24hr US customer helpline puts UK customer services to shame. For the price of a call to the USA, you get answered immediately by knowledgeable staff, who on the odd occasion when they can't help you immediately will always call you back.

Using this method makes tracking email simple. Enter me1@yourdomain.com on one site, me2@yourdomain.com on another, and so on. It soon becomes apparent who are the organisations that resell email address, despite their promises not to.

[Dopamine]

Sorry Colirv. Was typing my reply as you posted yours!

[Rik]

The more opinions/experiences the better - that's the strength of a forum.

[Zirynx]

Apologies if I've misunderstood what you're after, but could you not set your mum up with her own hosted domain and a catch-all email address?

Colirv, Dopamine: Thanks for each of your suggestions. Had thought about that but, my concern with a 'catch-all' address is that it is even more susceptible to spam, with only the base domain info required for any and all email to be received. Much prefer the idea that knowledge of a base username is also required. Yes, spam management could help but, I'd much prefer to achieve spam avoidance rather than spam management. Feel free to let me know if I'm misunderstanding this mechanism though!

Thanks.

[Gary]

I have the yahoo account set up the same way, but I understand its not for everyone (i know someone who failed to set up a yahoo address completely) using different IDNet.com addresses each has its own separate password and I use these in a similar way so as to avoid spam in my main email inbox, so far (cross fingers) I have not had any and if I did I would simply delete that account and set up another with a new password which thus far works extremely well along side IDNets spam filtering. With Orange you could set up multiple adresses but each was on your main account using the same password so eventually all of them got spammed, IDNets idea is a little different and seems to work very well.

[colirv]

Feel free to let me know if I'm misunderstanding this mechanism though!

No, you have the mechanism right. What you're after is in effect a catch-all address that only works providing a particular word is in the address.

It's time for my tea, so instead of thinking this through I'll simply ask - would a sub-domain do it?

[Zirynx]

No, you have the mechanism right. What you're after is in effect a catch-all address that only works providing a particular word is in the address.

Yes, in effect, that's exactly it!

It's time for my tea, so instead of thinking this through I'll simply ask - would a sub-domain do it?

Truthfully? I have to say I'm a little out of my depth now. I don't have too much experience with this particular area. Think I need to go off and do some reading!

Thanks for the pointer