My university also suddenly closed my email account after my MS course got over, there was no forwarding facility,

Oh yeah, forgot about the universities. Our university actually gives you several months after you graduate to convert over to a new email address. So that’s actually kind of nice.

If someone is running their own business, they should get their own domain name, and an ISP terminating their services is not a problem like for the Mortenson lady, because then they always have the same email address.

I think most people just assume that it is really hard to setup their own domain name with an email address.

I do believe that it is really important for companies (and even bloggers) to have an email address at their own domain. It gives the site a better sense of credibility, which is important if you’re looking for advertisers.

Most hosting packages come with at least a few email addresses, but it’s a matter of people realizing that they can use them. I think most individuals just overlook the fact that they can setup an email address which can easily be forwarded anywhere that you want.

However if the e-mail is no longer valid they are stuck. The next step would be for them to request in writing (with a digital photo or copy of their ID) to have the e-mail address associated with their domain name changed.

However there are some people who not only used an ISP e-mail (which is no longer valid) but then registered the domain under their business/organization (even though they don’t have a business license or Tax ID info). These people are out of luck and need to go through the process of obtaining a business license or other required paperwork proving they are who they claim they are. Or just have to wait for the domain to expire and try to grab it when it is released back to the registry about 90 days later.

This is almost daily. Had a lady Monday night call with this situation. Luckily she still had access to her old work e-mail for that evening. But she was being rather nasty with me about the process since she had to go through 200+ messages to get to my e-mails. I spent an hour with her and in the end I was able to get her into her two accounts, have her update all the contact info on her four domains and on the account, plus get the two accounts combined. Didn’t get a sale out of it, but in the future I am sure she will continue to do business with us (renew the domains or buy more). She did apologize and thank me at the end.

I have everyone I know use web-based e-mail services for that very reason.

I also believe that it is alarming when I see a business owner that has an @aol.com or @gmail.com e-mail address instead of using their domain. It just looks unprofessional, and like mentioned above, if you use your domain you won’t need to worry about forwarding. I don’t think its as big of a deal for bloggers, but businesses should use their domains.