Changing provider but carry on plusnet email

[#1]

Hi. Would appreciate any help anybody can provide.

My plusnet contract is an old broadband only account and my phone is still with the traditional BT account. I am about to swap over to BT Fibre package but I would like to know if its possible to keep the plusnet account alive for a period of a few months after so that I can make sure all my emails are swapped over? When I apply for the BT package will it automatically close the plusnet account? I would like to think that if I keep paying my monthly bill it will keep my account valid but I know that things don't often work that way.

Thank you for any help that anybody can give.

[#2]

Moderators Note
This topic has been moved from ADSL Broadband to Email.

[#3]

Hi.

Afraid to say that yes, when you transfer over any account or services linked would be closed automatically by default, including email. BT would send notification to plusnet of the transfer which would trigger the close of the account automatically. Failure to close accounts after transfer is the main cause of the billing after transfer issues that happened a few years back (and to this day in some cases).

I'm not sure on the status of this now. It used to be that you could maintain an account on an email only basis for a small monthly charge, but I believe this was stopped in general after the new billing engine was released-the mail only charge wasn't built in and since most people use 3rd party providers these mail only accounts aren't done as pnet would naturally still have costs to maintain the account, without charge it's a financial drain without an end.

Best advice, call the options team who deal with cancellations. They can advise on the situation with this-make sure you do call. Too often people assume when the new provider says they deal with everything they'll sort emails. They won't and if you have specific requirements you need to discuss these with pnet directly, otherwise everything will close when you transfer.

[#4]

Thanks Kdog, much appreciated.

I suspected that the case. I had hoped that the small subscription service for a short time to allow transfer would have still been available but I understand what your saying about it that facility being withdrawn.

I will give them a call and discuss with the team and see if there are any options for a divert.

Thanks again for your help - it is very much appreciated.

[#5]

Depends on the new service provider as to what they can do also-I'd check the technical side with them but it's possible to set up alias and redirects for email. The redirect would be to automatically forward any email recieved to any address specified. This would be the plusnet side, so would depend on whether you can maintain an active email account.

Aliases are the other way, and is essentially a second address applied over the top of a mailbox. Emails sent would be received whether the sender used the real email address or the alias, so for example if your new address is me@newemail.com but you set alias address as your current address-me@username.plus.com I should be able to email either address, and they'll both come through to your new box, but this would depend on whether new new email service provides the facility, and also any limitations placed on alias addresses.

[#6]

Thanks for all your help. I will look into all of this.

[#7 · Accepted solution]

It is possible to keep your emails working at no cost if you move your broadband away, however the process isn’t currently straight-forward. 

We'd need to allow the cancellation to go through before we're able to change the account to email only, as the cancellation will generate the final bill and ensure you’re not billed following that.

You’ll need to first tell us before your account is cancelled that you want to keep your emails afterwards though.

Once the cancellation happens, while your emails will stop working, we'll then need to reactivate your account, you’ll need to re-setup your mailboxes by going to Manage My Mail Here and you should be up and running again.

If not all your mail shows up, we can get your mailboxes restored at the point your account was cancelled but any emails you’re sent in the interim between that and the mailbox being recreated will have bounced back to the sender.

I recommend logging into the Manage My Mail before your account is cancelled to make a note of all the mailboxes and settings you have as it'll be easier to re-setup them up after. 

Feel free to post back once you’ve got a confirmed migration date to your new provider and we’ll raise a task to our NetOps team to reactivate your account after it’s cancelled. Generally you shouldn’t be without your emails for more than one or two working days but if there are any delays or issues, it may be longer. 

I hope this helps. 

[#8]

Thanks very much Anoush, that was very helpful and it sounds like it might be possible to carry on for a bit.

I will reply back when I get a date for the transition and I will take you up on your help on conatcting the NetOps team.

Thanks again for all your help.

[#9]

Thanks for getting back to me @LordSalisbury 

No problem, let us know how it goes.

[#10]

Hi Gandlaf/Anoush

I now have a swap over date of 6th April (as it stands today) to swap over to the new provider. Would it be possible to get the net ops team to arrange the holding of the mail as previously discussed? I have made a note of the accounts so have that to hand.

Thanks gain for all your help - Very much appreciated.

[#11]

Hi @LordSalisbury I've arranged this for you now and I've created a support ticket to monitor Here. I realise this may be a bit late though but is there anything I can do to keep you as a customer? We can offer you fibre ourselves if you move your phone across to us. I'm happy to arrange for a colleague to call you back to discuss the deals we have.

[#12]

Hi @Gandalf 

Thank you for the offer but I have made up my mind for the change now. I might be back in the future though. I have no complaints over plusnet as I have been a customer for some time (15 years I think!).

Thank you for raising a ticket for me. I will take a look at this in due course.

Thank you again for your support. Much appreciated.

[#13]

No problem, all the best with your new provider.

[#14]

Morning @LordSalisbury  We've reactivated your account following cancellation, converting this to a free account for your email service. Thanks for your loyalty over the last 15 years btw and all the best with your new provider, you'd always be welcome back in the future for broadband/phone. Let me know if there's anything else you'd need help with.

[#15]

Good evening @Gandalf @Anoush . Thank you so much for all your help. I have made sure that the email is working properly and everything seems to be working perfectly.

Thank you again for your help and support. 

Best regards to you and all the team.