littleoldlady
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Post by littleoldlady on Sept 13, 2021 20:10:06 GMT
I have been with talktalk for going on 20 years and I would like to switch to an ISP with better service, but the problem is that my email address is registered as a user name on countless websites. When I started using email I did not know of facilities like gmail which avoid having to use an address provided by the ISP. Has anyone already cracked this problem? Can you still use an email address as a user name even if the address is no longer valid as an address?
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badersleg
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Post by badersleg on Sept 13, 2021 20:19:31 GMT
Presumably if leaving Talk Talk results in you losing access to your email then you will have to change your email you have registered with the website. In which case you may as well change your username anyway.
Hope this makes sense.
Tim
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agent69
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Post by agent69 on Sept 13, 2021 20:46:24 GMT
I had this problem a few years ago when Virgin stopped email services and tuped me over to TalkTalk.
It's a real pain having to go to every site where you have registered with the old email address and have to change it. No matter how hard you try you never get them all, and 12 months down the line you will remember one that you need access to, but can't remember the password. But don't worry, you can get the password reset by the site sending a reset link to an email address that hasn't existed for a year.
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macq
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Post by macq on Sept 13, 2021 21:13:58 GMT
unless things have changed over the last 18 months - when leaving TT you can keep your email for a year and then its closed (can also be auto deleted if not used for a period of time but can't remember the time limit maybe 3 or 6 months?) But when you leave TT after final payment they close the access to your account in general so you can no longer make changes or manage any part of an account so things like email settings & passwords etc would also be blocked
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scooter
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Post by scooter on Sept 13, 2021 21:57:14 GMT
I have been with talktalk for going on 20 years and I would like to switch to an ISP with better service, but the problem is that my email address is registered as a user name on countless websites. When I started using email I did not know of facilities like gmail which avoid having to use an address provided by the ISP. Has anyone already cracked this problem? Can you still use an email address as a user name even if the address is no longer valid as an address? Baffled how you could be with them for 20 years and only now want a better provider..... They are probably better now than they have ever been in the past. I think they kept my email open for 6 months when I left....but that was a tiscali one. As you say Gmail is a better option. I think there was a way to forward email onwards so you can spend 6 months making sure everything gets changed over. Can't see why usernames would need changing. I went back to TT after a spell with bt and they are much better now...
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littleoldlady
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Post by littleoldlady on Sept 14, 2021 9:09:39 GMT
Baffled how you could be with them for 20 years and only now want a better provider..... They are probably better now than they have ever been in the past. . I have never been that happy with them but they make it hard to leave, with fixed contracts which are often renewed when they bring out a new feature or a new router (I think I'm on my fourth). Yes they have improved but they used to be cheap. I don't like the way the cost of a call goes ballistic if you overrun the 60 mins (there is no warning) or the charge recently introduced for using 1571. My question was: Can you use an invalid email address as a user name? Probably it depends on the site and what it expects of the user name. Some sites that want an email address to be used do so because it's an easy way to check that the applicant is genuine by sending an email with a link during the application process. But it might not matter after that if the address no longer works, assuming that the user does not expect to get emails from the site as part of his normal use of it. So I was hoping to hear from someone who has changed their ISP what their experience was.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2021 10:46:42 GMT
I left talktalk and moved to gmail and outlook (one for family/business and one for my stuff). It is just a slow and painful process but I did it 15 years ago and it took the best part of a day, to do it now would be painful.
If I had to recommend either, go for Gmail. Outlook (part of Microsoft) is relatively hard work and after 15 years I'm still finding new quirks, Gmail is very clean and easy.
At the same time as moving email provider I also set up a phone/laptop based password store. I use Enpass (which you have to pay a tiny lifetime fee) and I understand the Google one is pretty good. I maintain it on laptop and phone and backup to a USB once every 6 months which I keep in a safe. The interface between the phone and laptop is via the google cloud which scared e silly but is fully encrypted (32 digit).
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ptr120
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Post by ptr120 on Sept 14, 2021 11:07:39 GMT
IIRC you can pay 50/year to maintain your email address after you leave. I still have my lineone.net address as I can't be bothered to change my email address and inform all the people that have it, so paying was the best option in my case.
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registerme
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Post by registerme on Sept 14, 2021 19:58:30 GMT
IIRC you can pay 50/year to maintain your email address after you leave. I still have my lineone.net address as I can't be bothered to change my email address and inform all the people that have it, so paying was the best option in my case. It's a bit like dropping your mobile in a puddle. With no backup. An amazing way of clearing out those who are no longer in your life. Would recommend.
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smee
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Post by smee on Sept 15, 2021 7:15:41 GMT
I left talk talk for plusnet and gmail 15 months ago. There was a charge for continuing to use talk talk email which I have never paid. I recall that there was criticism of these types of charges at the time and I assumed that they would officially be banned at some stage. So far they have not. I am still able to log in to and view my talk talk emails and my account debt increases each month, now standing at £80. I have no intention of ever paying this and I don’t know how long I will have access. It would not bother me if I did not receive new emails (all dross) but I feel I should still have the right to search through old, legitimate ones if ever necessary. I did not have much hassle in changing over, I seemed to recall it being pretty straightforward.
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michaelc
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Post by michaelc on Sept 15, 2021 9:45:59 GMT
As others have said as long as you can get access to your email for at least a month (but obvisouly a year or more is better) you should be able to change your registered email on most sites. One point that hasn't been mentioned is don't assume 100% that gmail will be around forever providing email services free of charge. I imagine there'd be some kind of revolution if Google started charging but its definitely possible whatever they say now. One way around that is to get your own domain. e.g. bloggs.co.uk. Then you could have as many email names you like of the form joe@bloggs.co.uk or johannah@bloggs.co.uk . You can still have gmail handling the email so you go to gmail.com as normal but login with username=joe@bloggs.co.uk instead of joe@gmail.com. You can also have a website like www.bloggs.co.uk . If Google starts charging or there is a new kid on the block who you prefer in the future you can point your personal email to that provider. You are then guaranteed to have access to that domain as long as the internet exists. Two main downsides of this approach (I use it) is: a/ You need to be slightly technically curious and b/ you need to pay for it (£2 to £15 per year depending on name you've chosen and your provider which you can change as often as you like)
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Post by bernythedolt on Sept 16, 2021 2:29:53 GMT
On a related matter, be aware that some companies (like Hotmail) will recycle any email address you give up or allow to lapse. After x months of you not logging in, they return it to the mix and if somebody else happens to apply for that address they'll get it.
This happened to me. I applied for an address which turns out to have been previously owned by a Mr H*****. The reason I know that: Paypal has regularly emailed me on this address for years now, despite my never being a customer of theirs, addressing me as Mr H. Mr H, the previous owner of my email address, had recorded this address with Paypal and has never rescinded it. It's permanently on Paypal's records... meaning I have access into his Paypal account! (Just a simple matter of resetting his password and I was in).
In an effort to convince Paypal of the security breach, I "ethically hacked" into his Paypal account in this way, and could read his personal details, home address and account balance... but Paypal simply aren't interested. I even changed his home address to "This account has been hacked" to demonstrate the fact, and told them to look at the record, and they still weren't bothered! They're thick and I can't get through to anyone who understands or cares. They insist I'm their customer "because I own the email address on their records", and I cannot get them to understand the security problem inherent in recycled addresses.
Interestingly, the exact same was true of this chap's linked eBay account, but there I did manage to speak to a techie who was savvy enough to thank me and suspend the account. Emails from that company regularly inviting me to log in to Mr H's account then ceased, but Paypal's continue to this day.
The moral is, if you allow an email address to lapse, first ensure you have deleted it from all your accounts.
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littleoldlady
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Post by littleoldlady on Sept 16, 2021 9:54:43 GMT
Interestingly, the exact same was true of this chap's linked eBay account, but there I did manage to speak to a techie who was savvy enough to thank me and suspend the account. Emails from that company regularly inviting me to log in to Mr H's account then ceased, but Paypal's continue to this day. . Amazing. Aren't ebay and Paypal the same company?
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ilmoro
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Post by ilmoro on Sept 16, 2021 10:03:55 GMT
Interestingly, the exact same was true of this chap's linked eBay account, but there I did manage to speak to a techie who was savvy enough to thank me and suspend the account. Emails from that company regularly inviting me to log in to Mr H's account then ceased, but Paypal's continue to this day. . Amazing. Aren't ebay and Paypal the same company? No, separate companies since 2015 and ebay have recently stopped using paypal as their inbuilt payment system
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ozboy
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Post by ozboy on Sept 16, 2021 16:05:48 GMT
On a related matter, be aware that some companies (like Hotmail) will recycle any email address you give up or allow to lapse. After x months of you not logging in, they return it to the mix and if somebody else happens to apply for that address they'll get it. This happened to me. I applied for an address which turns out to have been previously owned by a Mr H*****. The reason I know that: Paypal has regularly emailed me on this address for years now, despite my never being a customer of theirs, addressing me as Mr H. Mr H, the previous owner of my email address, had recorded this address with Paypal and has never rescinded it. It's permanently on Paypal's records... meaning I have access into his Paypal account! (Just a simple matter of resetting his password and I was in). In an effort to convince Paypal of the security breach, I "ethically hacked" into his Paypal account in this way, and could read his personal details, home address and account balance... but Paypal simply aren't interested. I even changed his home address to "This account has been hacked" to demonstrate the fact, and told them to look at the record, and they still weren't bothered! They're thick and I can't get through to anyone who understands or cares. They insist I'm their customer "because I own the email address on their records", and I cannot get them to understand the security problem inherent in recycled addresses. Interestingly, the exact same was true of this chap's linked eBay account, but there I did manage to speak to a techie who was savvy enough to thank me and suspend the account. Emails from that company regularly inviting me to log in to Mr H's account then ceased, but Paypal's continue to this day. The moral is, if you allow an email address to lapse, first ensure you have deleted it from all your accounts. That story, is ................................................... Gobsmacking.
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