"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote

| reason, I subscribed to E-mail and Web hosting from Sunset.net at
| http://sunset.net/index.html, which does not impose such a limitation.
| (I do still have such an E-mail address with a roadrunner.com domain,
| which I only use as a backup for sending messages on the rare occasion
| when Sunset.net goes down.)
|
| For _incoming_ emails, what is the format of your address - does it end
| in @yourdomain.*? If so, it must come via Sunset. Not your ISP
| (Spectrum).

I think that's what he's saying. It's confusing
because he was calling Sunset an ISP when it's
actually a web host.

I do similar. I have a domain and pay $9/montrh for
very dependable hosting, which includes something
like 100 email addresses if I want them. I use
several. I think it's sad that more people don't
understand how to do that. In the early days you
could host your own server over an Internet connection.
You can still, fairly easily, run your own domain. But
most people now just see the Internet as a service
"out there", rather than something the can take
part in.

There's a big caveat, though: Webhosts vary about
how they handle email and they don't always make it
clear upfront. I once set someone up with NetSol as
a webhost, figuring the extra cost would be justified
by smooth operation. It turned out NetSol didn't even
have domain email service! But they were cagey about
it, so that I didn't understand the deal until after I'd
set it up.
Anyone who gets a webhost needs to make sure
of what they're getting. I doubt you'll get mail through
a budget operation like GoDaddy, for instance. They're
for small businesses with sites that no one visits, who
don't know enough to be embarassed having
written across the back of
their SUV.

At the other end of the spectrum are hosts with
inexplicably high prices - like $80-100/month.

Then there's the new-ish fake hosting. Stuff like Wix,
where you buy a domain, darg-drop a site for yourself
at Wix, then the whole thing is hosted through their
server. It's pure javascript and you have no direct
control over anything. Your own domain url is just
redirected to Wix. I doubt they offer email or even
server access. Again, they're for people who don't know
any better and don't understand that their visitors
may not see the same page they see.

Decent hosting will usually cost around $10/month.
Personally I'd highly recommend futurequest.net,
where I've been hosting for several years. It's a
relatively small company. Personal service. Dependable.
And real webhosting for reasonable prices. A dedicated
PC and dedicated IP for $9/month. I'm sure
there are other good hosts. I just don't have experience
with others that I know enough about to recommend.