Custom domains/Email/Web hosting pitfalls/advice

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qaz

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I am contemplating extended traveling. Because I want to continue using my usual email client etc I am thinking of buying a domain name and setting up all the family and business email addresses I will need through this domain. This way I "think" I can then retain these addresses irrespective of the ISP I might choose when i stop traveling. Is this overkill? (Anyone feel free to shoot me down). Will VPN work in this situation?
However, it is a very good idea to use your own domain name for an email address. It will cost you roughly $20 per year to maintain and is fairly easy to set up. I would suggest www.namecheap.com for setting up your own domain and mail. I would always suggest not using the email your ISP provides you as it makes leaving the ISP more difficult later on down the track.

You can always use a service such as gmail and hotmail, but I find owning my own mail is much nicer. I have set up emails for my whole family by doing this, and our emails are [email protected] - very neat!

+1

i started with namecheap but later changed to the cheaper porkbun.com, as well as use Fastmail who are considered (one of) the best and also Australian (coincidentally know the founders from my schooldays)

multiple email addresses are additionally good for privacy/security
 
+1

i started with namecheap but later changed to the cheaper porkbun.com, as well as use Fastmail who are considered (one of) the best and also Australian (coincidentally know the founders from my schooldays)

multiple email addresses are additionally good for privacy/security
Thanks qaz. Still trying to work out if this is what I need in order to have independent emails for the family forever.
Turns out you need a registered company name to have a .com.au moniker, called a TDD domain. Not keen on having something like mydomain.live or mydomain.me etc. as an email address.
Fortunately I have a registered company. Just trying to establish if the domain name needs a name association with the company name.
Also it will not be able to protect address details using Whoisguard from being displayed on any whois because companies details must be visible. Not keen on my name and phone being visible.
 
Thanks qaz. Still trying to work out if this is what I need in order to have independent emails for the family forever.
Turns out you need a registered company name to have a .com.au moniker, called a TDD domain. Not keen on having something like mydomain.live or mydomain.me etc. as an email address.
Fortunately I have a registered company. Just trying to establish if the domain name needs a name association with the company name.
Also it will not be able to protect address details using Whoisguard from being displayed on any whois because companies details must be visible. Not keen on my name and phone being visible.
Hi @prozac,

If you are buying a .com.au the domain will need to have something to do with your business. So if your business is plumbing for example, you can buy domains like plumbing.com.au, plumber.com.au, unblockthepipes.com.au etc.

Why not just get a .com? You can use Whoisguard with it.

Regards,
Peter @ Oeck.
 
Hi @prozac,

If you are buying a .com.au the domain will need to have something to do with your business. So if your business is plumbing for example, you can buy domains like plumbing.com.au, plumber.com.au, unblockthepipes.com.au etc.

Why not just get a .com? You can use Whoisguard with it.

Regards,
Peter @ Oeck.
.com addresses are hens teeth Oeck, none available in the names I'd like. Parked or already in use. Same with .net which is a premium suffix. I'd happily use one without .au in the monicker but .health, .live, .fun, etc leave me cold.
I've found that .com.de works but the missus is not keen on that. lol
 
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Note also that 'forwarding' emails is becoming more difficult in the days of providers cracking down on spam and simply blacklisting nameservers/mail hosts.

I've for many years had hosting with dreamhost.com and had some forwards to Gmail and Bigpond for similar reasons.

Twice this year Bigpond has black listed the mail servers (haven't had the same issue with Gmail).
The webhost is now actually recommending people don't use forwards (due to these blocks) and instead either host mail (which can use up data limits) or use Gmail (or other providers) which can login via POP3 and collect the mail to consolidate.
 
Note also that 'forwarding' emails is becoming more difficult in the days of providers cracking down on spam and simply blacklisting nameservers/mail hosts.

I've for many years had hosting with dreamhost.com and had some forwards to Gmail and Bigpond for similar reasons.

Twice this year Bigpond has black listed the mail servers (haven't had the same issue with Gmail).
The webhost is now actually recommending people don't use forwards (due to these blocks) and instead either host mail (which can use up data limits) or use Gmail (or other providers) which can login via POP3 and collect the mail to consolidate.
I feel I have hijacked Oeck's thread. Maybe we should take this across to a new thread called Web hosting pitfalls or similar?
But before we go, are you indicating that you had domain hosting or email hosting with dreamhost? Excuse my minimal knowledge, still learning about domains and hosting etc.
 
.com addresses are hens teeth Oeck, none available in the names I'd like. Parked or already in use. Same with .net which is a premium suffix. I'd happily use one without .au in the monicker but .health, .live, .fun, etc leave me cold.
I've found that .com.de works but the missus is not keen on that. lol

yes, i'd stick with the more traditional ones, just have to be more creative and lateral, like using non-English names or combining words - e.g. if your wife is zoloft, then perhaps proloft - alternatively consider other countries such as .co

if you end up with .com.au, then for your phone number, use a non-direct/personal one

Note also that 'forwarding' emails is becoming more difficult in the days of providers cracking down on spam and simply blacklisting nameservers/mail hosts.

I've for many years had hosting with dreamhost.com and had some forwards to Gmail and Bigpond for similar reasons.

Twice this year Bigpond has black listed the mail servers (haven't had the same issue with Gmail).
The webhost is now actually recommending people don't use forwards (due to these blocks) and instead either host mail (which can use up data limits) or use Gmail (or other providers) which can login via POP3 and collect the mail to consolidate.

you forward emails and use pop3? i thought that people now have hosts with imap?

 
Thanks qaz. Still trying to work out if this is what I need in order to have independent emails for the family forever.
Turns out you need a registered company name to have a .com.au moniker, called a TDD domain. Not keen on having something like mydomain.live or mydomain.me etc. as an email address.
Fortunately I have a registered company. Just trying to establish if the domain name needs a name association with the company name.
Also it will not be able to protect address details using Whoisguard from being displayed on any whois because companies details must be visible. Not keen on my name and phone being visible.

What about a .id.au domain name, eg prozac.id.au which are specifically for individuals?

As I understand it, you're looking to get away from using your ISP hosted emails. Ie, not have your email dependant on ISP. Simplest solution for that is just get a Gmail (or any other free provider) email address. Eg, [email protected]. Only thing lacking is the vanity domain name, but that's the simplest solution. You can a virtually unlimited number of email aliases (useful for website signups) by simplay adding a plus after your name. Eg, for say signing up at Amazon you can use [email protected] and the mail will turn up in your [email protected] account. Very useful to see who is passing on your email address without consent.
 
forward emails and use pop3? i thought that people now have hosts with imap?

No I forward to an IMAP account at both Gmail and Bigpond.

It's just that some mail providers (like Bigpond) will search for spam messages and block the mail host that's forwarding them, without actually seeing that they were sent from somewhere else.

I've probably got 10 different email addresses going into a single Gmail account.
 
No I forward to an IMAP account at both Gmail and Bigpond.

It's just that some mail providers (like Bigpond) will search for spam messages and block the mail host that's forwarding them, without actually seeing that they were sent from somewhere else.

I've probably got 10 different email addresses going into a single Gmail account.

if you're using imap, then why not just link your email host dreamhost to your gmail/bigpond accounts and have them fetch mail from there, rather than forwarding?


What about a .id.au domain name, eg prozac.id.au which are specifically for individuals?

As I understand it, you're looking to get away from using your ISP hosted emails. Ie, not have your email dependant on ISP. Simplest solution for that is just get a Gmail (or any other free provider) email address. Eg, [email protected]. Only thing lacking is the vanity domain name, but that's the simplest solution. You can a virtually unlimited number of email aliases (useful for website signups) by simplay adding a plus after your name. Eg, for say signing up at Amazon you can use [email protected] and the mail will turn up in your [email protected] account. Very useful to see who is passing on your email address without consent.

besides not being able to create aliases or a different address for each family member, has gmail actually implemented plus addressing properly, such that with your prozac+amazon example, will email sent to that address be automatically directed into the amazon folder if it exists, without needing to use a filtering rule?

 
besides not being able to create aliases or a different address for each family member, has gmail actually implemented plus addressing properly, such that with your prozac+amazon example, will email sent to that address be automatically directed into the amazon folder if it exists, without needing to use a filtering rule?

Each family member would require their own Gmail (or whatever address). Just pointing out that you don't require a domain name to get away from using your ISP.

No, you'd require a filter I believe.
 
I have a .com.au for my business and a .co for personal with other members of the household having their own address under the personal site + a generic [email protected] that anything general goes to that my partner and I both have access to.

Everything run through VentraIP who aren't the cheapest but they are Australian based, their service is excellent and so is their uptime.
 
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I thought I had a mid-level computer experience but this has me bluffed.
I have gmail accounts I use for registrations etc but I don't really like using it for personal mail. I want to continue using an email client, in my case Mozilla Thunderbird. When I travel or need to use different routing I can easily change the outgoing server settings as needed. Yes, I believe one day we might be traveling o/s again.

I have located a domain suffix .cc (or .me, or .ws for instance) that works well with an existing business name and I will use this for all of my email requirements. Less costly and less messing around than a .com.au moniker. I just have to understand what the different companies are offering and why I need certain features and what they are. So I gather I need hosting, then I need to know how many email accounts. Some seem to offer 10 others 100.

Once you purchase a domain name should you sign up for 1 yr, 3, 5, 10yrs? You would not want to buy 10yrs renewals only to find these costs drop, however it is comforting knowing you do not need to think about renewals for an extended timeframe. Do you do this with the company you purchased it from or take it to an aussie company as suggested by nathrek. e.g. Can I purchase 10yr registration with company X and have it hosted on VentraIP?
 
yes, i'd stick with the more traditional ones, just have to be more creative and lateral, like using non-English names or combining words - e.g. if your wife is zoloft, then perhaps proloft - alternatively consider other countries such as .co

if you end up with .com.au, then for your phone number, use a non-direct/personal one.

you forward emails and use pop3? i thought that people now have hosts with imap?
I worked out a non .com.au name that suits qaz., and namecheap for instance uses something called whoisguard which is free and hides your details behind their registration. Not sure what other companies offer something similar.
My current ISP uses pop3 outgoing and smtp incoming.
 
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I thought I had a mid-level computer experience but this has me bluffed.
I have gmail accounts I use for registrations etc but I don't really like using it for personal mail. I want to continue using an email client, in my case Mozilla Thunderbird. When I travel or need to use different routing I can easily change the outgoing server settings as needed. Yes, I believe one day we might be traveling o/s again.

with fastmail as your central email host/manager, it can fetch messages from your other accounts such as gmail, and send messages on their behalf - these two links might help:

email can be accessed from the fastmail website and app, as well as clients including Thunderbird

why would you need to change outgoing server settings, rather than having email sent and received through your host?

I have located a domain suffix .cc (or .me, or .ws for instance) that works well with an existing business name and I will use this for all of my email requirements. Less costly and less messing around than a .com.au moniker. I just have to understand what the different companies are offering and why I need certain features and what they are. So I gather I need hosting, then I need to know how many email accounts. Some seem to offer 10 others 100.

domain name registration is different from email or web hosting - you can, i and most probably do, use different providers for each

Once you purchase a domain name should you sign up for 1 yr, 3, 5, 10yrs? You would not want to buy 10yrs renewals only to find these costs drop, however it is comforting knowing you do not need to think about renewals for an extended timeframe. Do you do this with the company you purchased it from or take it to an aussie company as suggested by nathrek. e.g. Can I purchase 10yr registration with company X and have it hosted on VentraIP?

discounts are available for registering/transfering domains, rarely for renewing, so you could change registrars every year to save money

if i changed from porkbun to an australian registrar, then i'd consider Zuver as a cheaper alternative to VentraIP

I worked out a non .com.au name that suits qaz. namecheap for instance uses something called whoisguard which is free and hides your details behind their registration. Not sure what other companies offer something similar.
My current ISP uses pop3 outgoing and smtp incoming.

all registrars offer whois privacy services, it's just that some domains don't allow it

smtp is for sending/outgoing email, pop3 and imap are receiving/incoming - imap is better than pop3 which is why most if not all have it as the default option - check my earlier post for details
 
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