Can anyone here, based in the UK preferably, have a recommendation for an internet host for email.
The situation is this, my personal domain is hosted by the friend who originally set up and hosts the Talking of Food website. He has retired and is in the process of shutting down his server(s), and will help to move the website, and its associated mailboxes to a hosting company that he works with. The problem is that they will not host a second domain in the deal.
I can move it to our home internet provider (currently BT), but I have been bitten in the past by our provider being bought out and having our provision closed down summarily (I also lost the Website I had been building at the beginning of my time in Xiamen, which had what would now be historic photos; I thought I had a back up, but I hadn’t, unless I can resurrect my Titanium MacBook!). Also, if we move IP provider (always to be considered every year or so for financial reasons!) the whole migration process needs to be done again.
So, if anyone here can recommend a good IP host, any suggestions gratefully received.
Do you have iCloud+ email? Custom email hosting is included in that - although you will need to be able to access the website hosting admin panels to set it up.
If you also need website hosting, I’m told Ionos are good. Fasthosts (which host pigfender.com) are distinctly average and were a bit behind the curve for JavaScript compatibility.
Last time I looked at this, I decided none of it was worth the hassle and deleted my website instead (hence pigfender.com just being a holding page now).
My other site, novelinaday.com, isn’t a hosted website — technically it’s a “free” online photography portfolio through my Adobe Lightroom subscription which I am hideously misusing.
Would you believe, I went into Apple White City to try to talk to someone about doing it, as I understood it was possible. But the young man I spoke to told me firmly, no it wasn’t possible, you could only have an iCloud mailbox, and that I’d have to go and talk to my current host about it!
So I came home and started this thread. But then a friend came round before I’d finished. My next action was going to be checking into iCloud to check, because I was sure I hadn’t made it up.
Your responses came before I had the chance. I’ll be getting onto it in the next few days.
Provided it’s not an extensively heavy graphics site, Stablehost is good for sites and email. Siteground is also good. Also Hostinger. All have low cost offerings that allow multiple sites and unlimited email accounts.
I’m only looking for somewhere for hosting my personal domain, which has three mailboxes, 2 mine, 1 my wife’s. There’s no website involved; the Talking of Food website will be moved, with the mailboxes on that domain to a host recommended by the current host. I do have an iCloud+ account so, as @pigfender pointed out, I can move our personal mailboxes there.
Thanks a lot for your suggestion of Fastmail. As you will have read above, I’m going to explore moving the domain and its email boxes into my iCloud+ account. I need to do some research on that first, but if I need to look elsewhere, I’ll definitely check out Fastmail.
Thank you very much @Tacitus. I have booked a phone call with them today. In fact, they are potentially much cheaper for hosting the website than the host that our current one was going to move us to, and hosting our personal domain and its mailboxes will only cost ÂŁ5/month.
Not having any experience of using iCloud+ for that purpose (and I can foresee one or two snags in setting that up), at that price, I am thinking of going with Clook for that too.
