BT email after Broadband switch from BT to plusnet

[sharon136]

We switched our broadband from BT to plusnet in June 2015. However we wanted to keep our BT email address so were switched to BT premium at £7.50 per month. However I have just read on uswitch.com that a change to plusnet should mean that you don't have to pay for email! Please could someone clarify? BT are staying this is not correct!

This is the link to the uswitch.com information https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/guides/how-do-I-keep-my-email-address-if-I-change-providers/ 

[iniltous]

Ex BT customers can access basic email for free , from a browser (not an email client ) by logging into your still accessible BT ‘account’  and clicking through to email , obviously this isn’t as convenient as using an email client on your phone , tablet or PC ,  showing you when new emails have arrived etc , to maintain that type of access you need to pay for premium email access once you leave BT , that’s pretty much what the article you link to says .

[imjolly]

@iniltous 

Reading the link about email transfer I read it as if you move from BT to EE or Plusnet you can keep your email address and continue to use it as before  without and charges.  Posts already on the forum confirm moving from BT to EE you maintain your email address and existing access free.  the charge from premium mail is moving outwith BT Group

however not sure what the rules were back in 2015

[gg30340 · Accepted solution]

When you moved to Plusnet in 2015, along with most ISP provided email accounts, BT's policy at that time was that you would lose your BT email address unless you took out a BT Premium email account or linked your BT email account to another BT Broadband account such as a friend or relative's BT Broadband account.

BT stopped providing an email account to new BT Broadband customers in 2022.

There was a change in policy, I think about 2023, that when you moved away from BT Broadband you would be able to keep your email account but it would be "downgraded" to a BTMail Basic account. This account can only be accessed on a web browser and not by using an email client or email app.

If you wished to keep all the facilities of the BTMail "Standard" account such as using it with an email client/app and having up to 11 email addresses you would need to purchase a BT Premium email account. 

When BT and EE merged, BT customers who had a BTMail account and moved their BT Broadband account onto EE were able to keep their BTMail accounts as a "Standard" email account with no charge. They were not required to move to a BT Premium email account.

This offer of being able to keeping the email account was exclusively offered to customer who were moving to EE while a current BTBroadband customer. It was not offered to ex BT Broadband customers who who had previously moved to EE or to any other broadband company who is in the BT Group or indeed to any other broadband company.

If you read the link that you posted, you will, if you move to Plusnet or any other broadband provider today, keep your BTMail account but it will become a BTMail Basic account. You do not need to purchase a BT Premium email account unless you choose to.

This will also be the case if you choose to stop using/paying your BTPremium email service. Your BT Premium email service will be downgraded to BTMail Basic which will not allow you to access your email account using email apps or an email client. You will only be able to keep using it with a web browser and you will not be able to create any new email addresses. Any email addresses that you have already created out of your eleven will also be downgraded to BTMail basic.

See link about the different email products.

https://www.bt.com/help/email/bt-email-products