ISP Email
So you’ve got the NBN connected via Telstra, Optus, iiNet or anyone of the dozens of ISPs out there and they give you an ISP email address at their ispname.com.au. Whether it’s a bigpond.com, tpg.com.au or whatever – don’t use it for anything important – especially not your business.
ISP email addresses are usually quite limited, relying on old POP3 or IMAP mail protocols but not only that, if you advertise them – you effectively lock yourself into that ISP or face the daunting task of having to let everyone know your email address is changing when you do move ISPs.
And even if you think you and your ISP will be together forever, unless you’ve picked one of the big players you may be let down when the ISP either shuts down, is bought out or just decides it doesn’t want to manage mail services anymore.
So What Do You Recommend for a Business Email Address?
It’s a small annual charge – but register a domain name for your business (even if you think you don’t need a website) and then use a service like Microsoft 365 (Business or Enterprise plans) or a Google Workplace and set up company branded email addresses.
Yes, you could get a free gmail.com, outlook.com or yahoo.com address and that would let you change ISPs without having to change your email address – in fact I recommend that for a personal account. My personal preference is for Gmail.
But for a business, having a generic email address isn’t overly professional looking. Will it work? Yes, yes it will. Does it limit your options for adding additional users? Yes. Does it limit the control you have over that address? Yes. Does it look professional, in my humble opinion? No.
A domain name and Microsoft 365 subscription aren’t a huge expense and it leaves you with room to grow and the security that if an ISP disappears, you can move your domain to a new provider and not have to worry about changing.
It would probably be remiss of me to point out that IT Networks can, of course, help you get you business ready domain and email set-up. It’s just part of what we do.