Master of you own Domain

Our family has had Earthlink DSL service for several years now and for the most part it works fine. However, occasionally it seems to get really flaky and goes down for several hours, or even the better part of a day. Furthermore, I’m still paying the same $50/month that I paid a couple years ago which I think is too much. So the other day I asked myself, “what would happen if I finally got fed up with Earthlink and decided to go with another online service instead?”

The answer to my question is something I'd rather avoid, which my internet service is counting on. My whole family and I would have to get new e-mail addresses and notify hundreds and hundreds of people and accounts of the change. Big problem, and getting worse as each day goes by!! Naturally I started to wonder if there is any way to fix this problem now before it gets even more painful?

Here is what I came up with, and recommend to others:

I hunted around and found a good hosting service, picked an inexpensive hosting package and registered my own domain name. Sounds complicated but it took me all of about 30 minutes to make the decision and get set up. I tried several different domain names until I found one that I liked and thought I would be able to live with for a long time. The package I chose (through www.1and1.com) includes three domain names, but they have a slightly cheaper package that includes one name for only $7/month. It also includes 200 e-mail addresses, lots of free software to help you design and publish a simple web site, and a whole bunch of other things like free virus checking, Webmail, etc. My feeling here is that before you know it, everyone will have their own personal website, so why not reserve a good name now?

If you are not interested or ready to set up your own website, then go with just the domain name registration and your own personal e-mail account. At my same hosting service the domain registration only costs $6/year and you can get your own personal e-mail account for $1/month. At this point you may be asking why would I want to do all this if I already get a free account from Yahoo?

Here is why: For the cost of one cup of regular Starbucks coffee per month ($1.50), you can have your own domain name, like decembersunshine.com and 5 e-mail addresses with more space then you will ever need. With that comes free virus and spam filtering and free Webmail when you’re traveling. You can use Outlook at home or their Webmail connection at home or while traveling.

Now you can switch internet services whenever you choose without having to change your e-mail address. Cool! What’s more, you have total control over the prefix part of the e-mail address (the part that comes before the @), since you now own the domain name (the part following the @). Call yourself bubba@decembersunshine.com or whatever you want and change it if you need to. You can even set it up so that mail addressed to any prefix before the @ goes to a special mailbox.

The point here is that your e-mail address is going to take on an increasingly important role in your life as each year passes, so why not take control over it now before all the interesting domain names are gone?

I have to admit that I have an ulterior motive in trying to get people to separate themselves from their ISP e-mail service. Who knows, maybe if this happens to a significant degree, then people may be more inclined to shop around for a cheaper internet service (as I am getting ready to do) and put the pressure on them all to lower their prices.

Craft your own personalized e-mail address and become the master of your own domain for just a few bucks a month !!!