How to Transfer both email hosting and domain registration away from PlusNet??

[#1]

I've had my custom ( .net ) domain registered and primary email mailboxes for four family members hosted with PlusNet for >15 years, but the lack of any credible security on email and recent performance problems have forced me to look elsewhere. As PlusNet also don't seem to offer a way to edit SPF and TXT DNS records through their portal, plus very uncompetitive annual domain registration costs, it looks like I will also move my domain registration hosting as well. My question is what is the best way to do this with:

a) reliable transfer of existing emails and folders for each mailbox (via IMAP import to the new email host I assume)?

and

b) with minimal email downtime?

At present, after looking at alternatives such as Zoho (free, but suspect you get what you pay for), Fastmail (looks quite professional, but quite limited mailbox size and more costly) I am, with some reluctance, veering towards Microsoft Exchange Online for £2.50 / month / user with 50GB mailbox size per user. Looks quite complex to administer, but also very capable with very good Contacts / Calendar support etc.

Has anyone else done this migration, what order did they do things in (eg domain first, with MX initially pointing back at PN (what mail server address??) followed by email move and then repoint MX / SPF etc.?? or Mail first??) and what issues am I likely to hit?

Brgds Phil

[#2 · Accepted solution]

I recently moved everything to AAISP.

I first had them set up the domain ready on their system and then I created all the mailboxes and aliases. Then I created new accounts in the mail client on my PCs for the new accounts.

Then the tricky bit, getting Plusnet to transfer the domain tags across - the button on the Plusnet domain control doesn't work - you need to raise a ticket. As soon as Plusnet did the necessary I had the email up and running on AAISP within about 20 minutes.

As both the old and new IMAP mailboxes were now available in the email client I could copy all the emails across.

[#3]

Many thanks - since posting the question I've been reading the various tales of woe in the "Other Issues" Forum about Domain Transfer Out so will definitely get the domain registration and mail accounts set up before attempting the transfer.  Overall it's a bit sad that PlusNet seem to be having big problems with anything beyond basic ISP bandwidth - I've been pretty happy with them overall for the 15+ years I've been with them, but the refusal to sort out basic email security has finally driven me over the edge.