Obscene e-mails and a complaint

[#1]

I've had over 150 emails in an hour 
is going on?
Most are from "Barracuda Spam firewall"
And a 110 in the next hour

[#2]

Yes, creating a new PAYG account does sound easier but as I understand it Plusnet are reluctant to go down this route as it is very labour intensive. If you are a Homephone user then changing username is not an option anyway.
The method that I explained was recommended by Plusnet at the time of the security breach and might sound complicated but actually isn't.  You could telephone CS to discuss the matter further if I haven't explained it very well.
As a 'senior' surfer I am not particularly Internet-savvy but I managed it without too much difficulty. I couldn't hack the alias function until Chris explained it in this forum and I now use it all the time - it is a real boon in the fight against spam.

[#3]

It's not like we can just change a username over in our database. It's a case of a new account needing all the details manually moving onto it. Those details need to be updated in various other systems too, including BTs Broadband systems. All of that takes a long time. Also, we can't (for security reasons) access or move payment details, so we have to collect those again and if you have anything like referrals it makes the process incredibly complicated because they have to be broken and recreated.
Put simply, changing usernames is horrible! If it's just for email and none of the other suggestions work, signing up for a free account and simply using that for email is probably as good an option as any. Also, if anyone genuinelly feels they missed the free domain offer at the time and it would be of use now, feel free to get in touch with myself or one of the comms team and we will see what we can do.
Ian

[#4]

Ian
Thank you for that explanation, now I feel guilty for saying it was not customer friendly process.
The free account set up for email sounds useful, how does that work then?

[#5]

Would it not be possible for Plusnet to introduce a system where customers could be allocated (or choose) a separate username for email purposes only, leaving the account info seperate?
Paul

[#6]

Hi Santiago,
It's as simple as going to our website at http://www.plus.net and signing up for our free PAYG standard dialup account.
http://www.plus.net/products/residential/payg/payg_standard.html
Edit: You'll need to be logged out of the Portal first.

[#7]

Thanks James I think I am going to do that
Regards

[#8]

I've just come to the forums to find out why I've been getting so much spam lately (there was also an intermittent email authentification problem which seems to have sorted itself out), and I've just learned about this offer to change usernames and offer a free domain.
I'm upset to have missed out on the offer to change username, and I know a friend who will likewise be upset. The new domain would be the next best thing. If I take plusnet up on the offer in made in this thread of a free domain, can I create new email addresses linked to that domain?
Also, for the free PAYG account: do you need to connect on dialup to use that?
Thanks,
Darren

[#9]

Quote from: PJ

Quote from: MeMeMe If I take plusnet up on the offer in made in this thread of a free domain, I don't actually work for PlusNet, so don't have the authority to give this to you after the offer period has expired.

That's okay. Ian Wild made the offer in his post above.
For the rest of your reply - cool, thanks for the info.

[#10]

Hi MeMeMe
The spam problem is a mailbox issue and not username issue.
I also wanted to change my username to eliminate the spam as my default address and it's alias's were being heavily spammed, but I now understand from these guys on the forum that managing your mailboxes is the solution.
What  I did was create brand new mailboxes in Manage My Mail
i.e. newname@originalusername.etc, I set up four mailboxes for what I need. I then advised my various contacts of the new email addresses, resubscribed to forums and so on.
I left things to run for while and found these new addesses to be spam free. I then renamed the default mailbox and deleted it's spammed alias's but kept the postmaster alias. I turned off the catchall option and (I hope) my spam problem was solved. I am not going to use the default address, other than for email from Force 9 but just use the four mailboxes I have created. So if in the future I start getting spam to one of them I will dump it and make a new one. The default should not be affected, subject to Plusnet managing their security properly.
I know this involves some work but I believe you will have to go through the same process if you change your username too.
Read through this thread and you have all the details you need to get rid of your spam without changing your username.
I am no expert but this worked for me.
I hope this helps
BTW what is the plural of alias!

[#11]

Aliens?

[#12]

Aliases.