1. People shouldn’t have an email address from their inte...

[rstra]

@proud-boomer 

1. People shouldn’t have an email address from their internet provider.
2. See 1 😀😀👆

[proud-boomer]

Easy to say in hindsight. Before the internet/web existed as anything viable, the only way to have a reliable email service was through companies like AOL, and several of their competitors unless you were a student and your university had its own network/domain. When I went to university, there was no such thing as the internet, we used mainframes on time sharing and acoustic coupler modems at about 12 baud. When I started with Shaw, email was one of the main services people used it for, the internet was mainly text. When I created my first email account with Shaw (you could only have one back then) it was the main purpose for having Shaw. I still have that email address, in fact, it is to this day my main email address. Over time Shaw offered access to more email addresses and charged more for their services, as broadband speeds increased. Non-internet provider email services came and went like the seasons, so using your ISP made the best sense, as a pay service to make sure your email addresses would be retained as long as you maintained your account with that company. Besides my Shaw email accounts, I've had dozens of other via freenet, rocketmail, Telus, Yahoo, half a dozen different Microsoft domains, as they kept changing their domain names, etc. There are still people who have attempted to contact me via my freenet address, and its been decades since I used it. The ones that have remained consistent are my Shaw accounts. At that point, they were pretty entrenched. That is why many of the people still using the Shaw domain are seniors.

I don't disagree that there are advantages to having email services separate from ones ISP. For one thing, it makes it easy to change providers. Shaw has "kept me hostage" as a result of my emails accounts. Quite honestly, Telus, on numerous occasions, has offered me much better services at much lower costs, even just recently, and the only thing that kept me with Shaw was my email accounts. However, there was a time when it appeared that even the larger free email providers (like Microsoft or Google/Alphabet) would eventually start charging or they would cancel the services, just as Yahoo did with Yahoo groups. Gmail is a personal information vacuum cleaner, so while I have numerous gmail accounts, I only use them for my several Android devices so I can access the Play store.

It's easy to say "People shouldn't have an email address from their internet providers" in recent years, because there are stable email services now that aren't likely to disappear (like Outlook, etc) but my email addresses were decades old by the time I felt I could trust Microsoft not to pull the plug. Also, I prefer using my own email client rather than their navigation and layout. BTW, have you ever had to deal with an issue with your email account with a free email provider like Microsoft or Google, good luck, pretty frustrating when things get scrambled.

So, while today I don't disagree with your sentiment, by the time many of us had access to a reasonable reliable (and free) email option, we were heavily invested in what our ISPs included in their packages. As others have stated here, I also have a good 1000 places and individuals who use my email addresses to connect with me, many of whom I honestly don't even remember who has been given them. Also, some of my email addresses are on websites I don't control, which I gave them permission to do, because I offer free tech support in specific areas. Lastly, I have some very clever email addresses on the Shaw domain which I could never get these days on any public domain, they'd be long gone. Believe me, I've tried.

I'd like to see the same features which cell service now has, of portable phone numbers, so regardless of the carrier you use, your cell number can go with you. That change only occurred ??5-10 years ago?? Before that, your mobile provider owned your phone number and if you left them for another, you needed to get a new cell number. A similar system could be developed to transfer email addresses, or at least to maintain servers which allowed for email to be diverted and forwarded seamlessly for the outside world.

[rstra]

@proud-boomer  I remember the day when we had to change land line phone numbers if we moved a mile a away, and had to send cards to everyone to give them our new street address. For most people, email address changing probably isn’t a big deal. It seems like you have/had several, maybe it is time that you start hosting your own domain and mail server.

[proud-boomer]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've considered it many times in the past, but especially today, the last thing I want or need is having to manage a domain's security. I realize a couple people domain isn't a great target, but with the amount of time I spend doing IT "stuff" on my own systems, plus a few other elderly people who cannot fully grasp computers (and are older than I am) is more time than I would like to. I remember when they said computers were going to save us a lot of time, and remove the need for paper/hard copies. Research shows that computers have caused a massive explosion of paper use and waste (it may be shrinking a bit from those highs now, as a result of more younger people rejecting paper copies of much of anything). As to the time savings... it's a bit like widening roadways, they reduce traffic tie-ups for a few months, until everyone starts using the new roads because they are supposed to allow for more favourable travel and then everyone is using them, and back to the rush hour crawl.

Sure, I do a lot more with my time as a result of computers, but also a lot more is expected of me since I have a computer. I'll say this, I used to spend almost every weekend "under the hood" of my car tuning this, replacing that. My last car is a 2003 Japanese cra, (when they were actually made in Japan) which I bought used, and have owned for about 10 years. Hardly have to do anything for that vehicle these days... it just starts and goes. In the 10 years I've owned it, other than regular maintenance, like oil changes, I've possibly spent $150-200 on parts (the main one was a new car battery, which took $125 of that). I changed the spark plugs once. My bluetooth OBD reader (cost $5 on ebay) sends the info to a cell phone app, points me to the problem, and I correct it, and that's a 20 plus year old technology. I wish my computer could effectively diagnosis itself (correctly, that is). Heck, I wish I could still be using a 23 year old computer and it would be of any value.

Anyway, I blame having lost most of the hair on my head directly to my computer devices, which have me pulling it out from frustration. 😉 My own domain email server... no, I don't think so.

[mdk]

Rogers has updated the registry for the "shaw.ca", to add one year:

Registered On: 2000-10-30

Updated On: 2024-04-18

Expires On: 2025-03-28

Similarly, the "sjrb.ca" (SJR.B was their ID on the Toronto Stock Exchange) was  updated, on the same date:

Registered On: 2000-12-27

Updated On: 2024-04-18

Expires On: 2024-12-27

But, it did not "extend" the expiry-date.

The "shawbusiness.ca" domain-name expires somewhat soon:

Registered On: 2009-07-31

Updated On: 2024-01-27

Expires On: 2024-07-31

I expect that Rogers will soon pay their Registrar to extend.

Finally, "shaw-business.ca" has been extended:

Registered On: 2013-02-01

Updated On: 2024-02-06

Expires On:   2025-02-01

Note that it seems that the domain seems to have "expired" on Feb. 1, and Rogers reinstated the domain-name 5 days later.  Oops!

[verdonna]

on my desk top Windows 11, my outlook is gone and they are asking I sign up to other accounts - Gmail,  yahoo, iCloud, IMap and pop

[mdk]

@verdonna -- in Windows 11, there now is a "New Outlook" app, that is free (not part of Microsoft 365), but it does show advertisements.  The next monthly update to Windows 11 will be Tuesday, November 12, 2024, after 10 AM Pacific.  At that time, if not earlier, "New Outlook" will be available to you.

>> acoustic coupler modems at about 12 baud. 

Historically, such devices were either 300 baud or 1200 baud.

Dial-up modems eventually achieved 56000 bits/second for download (over a "clean" telephone line) and 28800 bits/second for uploading. My first Shaw cable-modem service was 5 Megabits/second. Now, I get up to 930 Megabits/second for downloading, and Rogers is offering 1.5 Gigabits/second into my cable-modem (if I wanted to pay more per month).

[Dorothy_363]

I am still not accepting the merger, even though we didn't have a choice.  As evidenced by the news lately Rogers CEO is under scrutiny.  I put a complaint in August to CCTS when my 2nd TV box from Shaw that is 5 years old got an increase.  Someone from Corporate called in 2 days and renegotiated my 2 year contract 3 months early.  I didn't want the new TV package as it was more expensive, so they gave me the existing one I had the Pick 5 Small Package as an "out of market" deal.  I also got the box to keep without charge even though I was still in a contract at the time.

Also, a confusing issue for Seniors that had the free McAfee (as well as myself) when Rogers cancelled it.  A box comes up and wants you to renew and use a credit card... unfortunately for older people this was confusing.  The program needs to be uninstalled.

The most concerning issue is I have had 3 @shaw.ca emails for 30 years... that's a 6 month or more job to notify all my businesses and friends, etc.  The suggestions of forwarding from webmail.shaw.ca is one idea but don't think it will work after @shaw.ca is no more.  Many seniors have no idea how to do this, let alone create another email with Microsoft or Gmail.

Very disappointed... I'm sure there is more to come from them as well.