return path works pretty well, I have used it for about seven years now. Catches things monthly from old accounts.
Check with your current ISP, you might be able to buy a month or year, for very cheap. We did that a few years ago, for 25$ a year, they kept the email alive and active. Worked fine and still does

that reminds me, I need to shut off that old email!

On that subject, does anyone know when gmail will finally permit the "delete from server when deleted from trash" option for POP access? I do route most of my private and business mail through gmail, but no newsletters for that very reason - I get a lot of things that I filter straight to archive for further use in Eudora. With gmail, I would either have to go back and manually delete or else risk my gmail inbox becoming hopelessly cluttered.

It works, when I use OE or outlook, just not 100% of the time. I would say about 97% of the time, the update from OE or Outlook properly sends the delete. POP is prone with this issue, same is true for my yahoo pop access. It isn't 100%.

but, gmail does offer this and it works.

I have a personal domain that I host through DreamHost - $8/mo gives me an obscene amount of bandwidth/storage space (I think something like 250GB storage and 2TB transfers, and it grows kind of like your GMail storage). They include a free domain registration in that, too.

However, I have my mail service hosted through GMail's service - see http://google.com/a/ for details on this. Basically, I go to gmail.mydomain.org, and I get the GMail interface for up to 50 addresses, each with 2GB storage. All free - they offer a paid version that lets you get rid of all the ads.

Similar to the pobox.com option, Yahoo Mail offers a "plus" option that gives you extra storage (10GB), forwarding ability, etc.

Personally, I like having the vanity domain setup - it's nice to have a simple e-mail like ben (at) ben-johnson {dot} org

Agreed on this. I use the domain+GoogleApps method. Teh domain cost me $7.99 to resgister and the GoogleApps, nothing.

Bigfoot is a simple solution
 

I have a couple of my own domains now, but a few years ago I signed up with Bigfoot.com. Unlimited use costa about $20/year.

Basically, you choose your email addres ([email protected]) then you just give people your bigfoot address.

Bigfoot will forward your email to whatever email address you want. So you can change your regular email address whenever you want, and just tell Bigfoot what your new address is. The people who are sending you email will just continue sending it to Bigfoot, and they never need your new address. It's really simple.

A few years ago, when I left AT&Ts ISP, they also offered a few months of forwarding.

Cromely.

Bigfoot = spam
 

I don't trust Bigfoot.

I signed up with them many years ago, when spam was only a relatively small problem and before spammers started to resort to planting address-harvesting viruses on people's machines (in other words, back in the days when addresses were harvested either manually or by web crawler, and when you were deemed to be safe from spammers unless you put your email address on a web site).

When I signed up with Bigfoot I set up a forwarding address of bigfoot@mydomain.

Within days that address - which had only EVER been given to Bigfoot - started to receive spam.

What's more, all the spam came from the Philippines - where Bigfoot have their head office.

There cannot be the slightest doubt that those spammers obtained my address from Bigfoot, or perhaps a corrupt Bigfoot employee. I complained to Bigfoot but only got boiler plate replies so I gave up on them as a bad job.

Another idea: many/most colleges and universities in the United States these days offer a permanent forwarding address for alumni. E.g., you get something like [email protected] and you set it up to forward to your real email address, and can change the forward as needed.

I also use bigfoot as my email address.

I find it very useful. My ISP changed many times as I changed locations, jobs and careers. My email stayed the same I just changed the forwarding address to what ever my current ISP was. I even forwarded it for a time to my gmail, hotmail accounts.

As for spam, I find I get just as much spam with my hotmail account as with my bigfoot email address. Spam filters catch almost everything.

It wasn't my Bigfoot address that was getting spammed, it was the address to which my Bigfoot address was forwarding. Nobody except Bigfoot had this address as it was a unique address.

My point was about the untrustworthiness of Bigfoot or their staff - i.e., there can be no doubt that they passed the address to the spammers as they were the only people who had this particular address.

Just get your own domain, then you keep your e-mail address forever, and if you don't like what your provider is charging you, you take your address and move it to a different service.

Never rely on an ISP (comcast, time warner, AOL, etc.) to let you keep your address. They have no incentive to do so.

You can get a domain for under $10/year from just about any domain registrar. I use namesecure.com, but there are a million others out there.

Then you just need an e-mail provider. I use fastmail.fm because it's reliable, has great support and has an amazingly powerful interface that does everything I want. The downsides are that it's not the cheapest and it's geeky.

If you want cheap and simple, try the free Google Apps service for your domain. Their basic free service gives you a customized version of gmail (and their calendar, docs, and other services) that runs on your own domain. You can give free addresses to other people, too. For example, if you register the domain name "wharveyfamily.com" you can give out "[email protected]" to Mom, "[email protected]" to Dad, etc.

It does require a little technical knowledge to set up, since you have to set the MX records in your DNS settings to point to gmail's servers. If that sounds like gibberish to you, get a tech-savvy friend to help you get set up. It'll take 10 minutes, and then you're good to go.

And once it's set up, using Google Apps for your domain is just like using gmail, google calendar, etc., except it's your own address, so if Google's service ever goes downhill (or they start charging more than you want to pay) you can take your address elsewhere.

I had exactly the same problem you mentioned. They are evil. I shifted to using gmail addresses with nil problems.

MisterNice

correct. has been working fine for me as well.

PM me if you need help setting your own domain and email address

I have 4 different emails, all pointing to my gmail account. I lost some contacts when I used ATT and I couldn't forward my emails then.

I have my last name as a domain. in com,net,biz, and a couple more.
bought them from godaddy which is now easy to work with.

have them hosted on fastmail.net, which is very inexpensive(like free for basic service) at the premium service rate of $40/year. provides up to minute virus service, and a sophisticated spam sorter and a lot of web host bandwith. also hosts virtual domains.