While you get a lot with a free email account, like the ones from Gmail or Microsoft, you’re riddled with ads and have fewer options about your email name. A better way is to register your own domain name and then add an email package to it. This gives you a completely personalized email address and allows you to expand to add more users or family members as desired. If you’re running a business, it also looks a lot more professional to have a dedicated email address than to use a free one. Here, we’ll walk you through the various options, how to set them up, and what the benefits are over a free service.
Why pay for email?
The Big Benefit , as we said, is that you get your own personalized email address based on the domain you register, like david@mydomainname.com. Also, you can add other email addresses as needed, with @yourdomainname.com for you to use. It means you no longer have to type in usernames endlessly only to find out they’ve already been taken, like you do with free services.
Once you pay for your email, you won’t be flooded with ads anymore . just like you do with Google and Microsoft accounts. That’s a better overall user experience and makes sending and receiving email much less invasive.
Next, if you were using the free email that came with your ISP, you can’t switch providers without losing your account. Once you’ve signed up for your own email address, you can change your ISP as many times as you like, keeping the same email address.
What’s the difference in the services?
There are a few different types of email accounts, depending on what you want to do. With an entry-level account, you’ll get a basic webmail interface, a few gigabytes of storage, and the ability to connect mail clients and your mobile devices. Moving up the ladder come the more advanced or commercial accounts. They usually cost a little more and also give you the ability to sync your calendar and contacts with your online account.
At the high end, you’ll get a Microsoft Exchange account. This gives you a much easier-to-use web interface, the option to use full Outlook with your account, plus better calendar sharing and appointment scheduling.
There’s also the option for Google Apps, which is a paid application. for the version of Gmail free services. It gives you more storage and no ads, but we haven’t covered that here since you have to make some pretty complicated changes to your domain to make it work, it’s relatively expensive, and quite difficult to set up. It’s really designed for businesses with one administrator to set everything up.
IMAP or POP3
Before I show you how to set up your accounts, there’s one important configuration consideration: whether you should use IMAP or POP3 ? When you connect to your account via POP3, messages are downloaded from the server and usually deleted from the server. This means that if, for example, you download your mail from your laptop, when you connect from your smartphone you will not receive the same messages.
IMAP is the alternative and leaves messages on the server. More importantly, any changes you make to a device are synced to the server. For example, read an email on your laptop and your smartphone will change to show that the message has been viewed; delete an email on one device or via webmail and it’s gone from everything.
IMAP requires more storage space since you’re not constantly cleaning the server, but it’s a much better option if you have multiple devices in which you want to receive email, plus all your messages are safe in the cloud. Note that Exchange accounts work like IMAP accounts – it’s a slightly different protocol, but the basic setup is the same.
Registering a domain name
You’ll need your own name domain, such as www.expertreviews.co.uk, to get started with your email account. It is easier to register for the domain through the company that will provide the email service, since no additional configuration is required. Domain names start at £2.49 a year, so they’re pretty cheap to buy.
Setting up a basic email account
We’re using email hosting standard 1&1 for this tutorial, although the setup steps are similar with other accounts as well. When you sign in to your account, you must click on the selection to create an email account. You will be able to choose between Basic and Commercial, so select Basic. You will first need to enter a name for the email account and then use the dropdown menu to select the domain name you want to associate it with, such as david@expertreviews.co.uk. Next, just fill in the details and enter a password. You can also choose to enable antispam and antivirus to keep your inbox tidy, and whether the account can be upgraded to a Business account. You may want to leave this option selected so that you can take advantage of additional business features at a later date.
Click OK when finished and the user will be created. You can now log in with your email and password at webmail.1and1.co.uk. The web interface is a bit basic, but you’ll see icons at the top of the screen for email, calendar, contacts, a to-do list, and more. Click Email and you’ll see that the layout looks a lot like a desktop email application. It’s easy to read email and compose new messages from this interface. If you are only going to use the web interface, you can use the calendar and contacts section; if you want to use a desktop client, we don’t recommend it as there is no way to sync them with your computer. Instead, think of this basic account as an email-only account.
Setting up a desktop client, like Windows Live Mail, is simple and straightforward. You just need to enter a new standard mail account and use the information in the table below. Note that some email clients allow you to add the account, but only allow you to set the required port number afterwards, so don’t worry if you initially get an error. Your email address and password are required for authentication.
Incoming ServerPort NumberOutgoing ServerPort NumberConnection Typeimap.1and1.co.uk993auth.smtp.1and1.co.uk587SSL/TLSpop.1and1.co.uk995auth.smtp .1and1.co.uk587SSL /TLS
Setting Up an Advanced (Business) Account
If you want a little more from your email account, including more storage space and the ability to sync contacts and calendars, you should step up to a trading account. We’re using 1&d1’s Business account here, though you’ll get similar features from other people.
First, you need to create an account. The procedure is very similar to creating a basic account, as shown above: select the option to create an account, then choose Business and complete the form to create your account. Once you’re done, you can log into your account via webmail.1&1.co.uk, using the email address and password you created. This time, you’ll notice that the web interface is much cleaner and more modern than with the basic account.
With Business Mail you can also use desktop clients as well as mobile phones. We will show you how to configure both. If you’re using a PC and want to sync your calendar and contacts, you have a couple of options. First, if you have Outlook, you can download the 1&1 MailXChange connector. Outlook can’t communicate directly with the 1&1 servers, but this software does intelligent automatic conversion for you. Full instructions can be found on the 1&1 support site.
If you don’t have Outlook, then you have an alternative way to connect using CalDAV and CardDAV to access your contacts and calendar, while email is delivered . by IMAP. Macs have built-in support for CalDAV and CardDAV. Go to System Preferences, Internet Accounts and click the “+” button. Select Add another account and choose Add a CalDAV account. Select Manual in the following dialog, enter your 1&1 email address and password in the appropriate boxes, then enter https://dav.mailxchange.1and1.co.uk as the server address. Repeat the instructions above exactly, except select Add a CardDAV account to sync your contacts. Now when you launch the Calendar or Contacts apps, you’ll see everything pulled from your Internet account.
If you have a PC, you need a client that can use CalDAV and CardDAV. The best free one we have found is the free eM client. Click Tools, Accounts, and click Add Account. Select Calendar and choose CalDAV and click next. Enter the account address as https://dav.mailxchange.1and1.co.uk, the username as your 1&1 email address, and your password. Click Next to confirm and your calendar account will be added. Contacts are also added automatically.
Since the business account is ActiveSync compatible, getting a mobile device up and running is easy. On Android or iOS, you just have to add a new account to the phone, choosing Exchange as the type. Follow the instructions in the wizard and enter your 1&1 email address and password as normal, but you must use s.mailxchange.1&1.co.uk for the server address. Once complete, your phone will get your email address, calendar, and contacts automatically.
How to set up and use an Exchange account
We’ve used Fasthosts’ Exchange service for this guide, although the setup will be similar for Exchange services from other hosting companies. Once you’re signed in, you’ll need to click the link to create an email account, then you need to choose Exchange 2013. You’ll then be able to choose how many email accounts you want to create (it’s cheaper, per account, more you create) and whether you want to download the latest version of Outlook (additional £1.49 per month). Outlook isn’t required, as the web interface does everything, but it’s a good option if you want the best desktop support. Choose how you’d like to pay (monthly or yearly), then click Continue when you’re ready to go.You will need to select a domain name that you own or purchase one before proceeding.
Once you have your domain name, you can add a mailbox to your account. Click Email, Manage Email Packages, and then click the Email button next to your domain name. Click the Create Mailbox button and fill out the form. You will now have your Exchange email account ready to use.
To access your account via the web, simply point your browser to https://1.exchange2013.livemail.co.uk/ owa and Log in with your username and password. Once you’re inside, you’ll see a web interface that mimics the desktop version of Outlook. There are separate tabs for your Calendar and Contacts (People). Cleverly, any other email accounts you’ve added to your domain will automatically appear in the Global Address List. If you invite them to a meeting or want to send them an email, their addresses will be filled in automatically.
If you prefer to use a desktop client, then you need one that supports Exchange. For PC, eM Client is a good option; if you have a Mac, you can use the built-in mail or get Outlook. Taking Outlook as our example, you need to add a new account and select Exchange. Next, enter your email address, your username (your email address) and your password. Click Add Account and Outlook will be gone, find all the correct server settings and configure itself automatically. Now you can send emails, get all your calendars and manage your contacts through your desktop client.
If you want to add your email account to your smartphone, Android and iOS devices support setup automatic Exchange, which means you just need to add an Exchange account, enter your email address and password, and everything will be extracted automatically. Now, everything you do on one device (desktop, web, or mobile) will be synced across all your devices.
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