Recently, I had a nice chat with a woman in the store and we started to talk about email. Like a lot of people who use Telus or Shaw (or whomever) for Internet access, she started using the email address they gave her. If memory serves, she started on Telus then switched to Shaw. The problem was that all her friends had her Telus address and now not only did she have a Shaw email address, but she couldn’t access her old Telus address because she wasn’t using Telus any longer. Ouch. Talk about potential for disaster! What if she forgot an important password, but the password reset email was set to go to her Telus address? Where would she be then (hooped is the easy answer there)?
As we continued talking, I found out that she had set up a Gmail address to use while traveling because she had learned the other downside of a Telus or Shaw email address—It can be really hard to send email from that address when you’re not at home. She asked me if she should stop using her Gmail address and I said, not at all. In fact I told her she should switch to use Gmail as her primary email address, and here are the:
5 reasons why not to use your ISP email address and use Gmail instead
- You might change ISPs and then you lose that email address.
Sure, I know that people don’t change their ISP (Internet Service Provider, like Shaw or Telus) often, but unlike your phone number, you can’t just port your telus.net or shaw.ca email address from one company to another. When you switch, you lose that email. Then you not only have to tell all your friends and family you have a new address, but think of all they services (like iTunes) where you have to sign in with an email address (like Facebook). It just got a lot more complicated, didn’t it?
- It’s hard—sometimes impossible—to send email from a Shaw or Telus email address when you’re away from home.
The way most ISPs work is that you can’t send email from a (for example) Shaw.ca email address if you’re not connected to the Shaw network. The reasons for why go back a long, long time (almost 15 years now), but the effect is pretty clear. You set up your Telus.net email address on your iPhone and are at Starbucks or Blenz or Waves having a cuppa-o-joe connected to their WiFi, but you just can’t send any emails! Argh! This sometimes isn’t just frustrating, but can also put a crimp in any work you’re trying to get done too.
- One email address forever.
I’ve had the same gmail address since Gmail started in 2004 and I don’t have to think about ever switching. I use my Gmail address for a lot of services because I know that it isn’t going away—ever.
- Gmail works anywhere and everywhere.
Unlike your ISP email address, you can use a Gmail address everywhere. Google uses a different method than ISPs to ensure only their customers can send email through them. This means I can send and receive email on my laptop, iPhone, or iPad regardless of how I’m connected to the Internet.
- Gmail is easy to set up on all your devices.
iMac, MacBook, iPhone, iPad, even iPod Touch, it doesn’t matter setting up Gmail on your device is a piece of cake. Probably easier than setting up your Shaw or Telus email.
- Bonus tip 1: Gmail looks great on mobile devices.
If you need to get to Gmail in a browser, even on an iPhone or other mobile device, it still looks great and is easy to use. You can’t always say that for your ISPs email.
- Bonus tip 2: You get more with Gmail, you get the rest of Google services too
Gmail is just the beginning. Your Gmail account is really a Google account that connects you with all the services Google offers like Calendar, Tasks, Google Docs, YouTube, Google Chat, and Google+. Essentially you’re getting an entire productivity suite with an email address.
How Simply.ca can help
If you want to make the switch to Gmail from your Telus or Shaw email address we can help you:
- Set up a Gmail account
- Set up Gmail on all your devices
- Import your contacts to Gmail
- Connect iCal to Google Calendar
- Set up forwarding from your Shaw, Telus, or other email account to your new Gmail account so you don’t miss a message!
- Help you tell your friends you have a new Gmail address
How confident are you that you’ll like Gmail? Not only do I use Gmail personally (and have for years), we use Google for our email here at Simply. Yep, we put our money where our mouth is at Simply. We only recommend things that we’d use ourselves.
That’s the best advice. That’s what Simply.ca is here for—you.
Any idea how to delete ALL of the 17,000 emails that have accumulated in my inbox? I want to start anew but seem to only be able to delete 50 at a time, which would take forever.
Thanks
For Gmail, you might be able to use a filter to send all the messages from the inbox to the trash or archive. Just remember to turn it off!
I want to get a g mail account to put on my new business cards. I would need to transfer my contact lists to g-mail without any possability of losing them. I would also want to keep some old e-mail messages without losing them, so I cannot get rid of old e-mails I need to save.
How can you help me set this up?
Also I need to hook up g mail to my i phone, i tunes etc.
Please advise.
Thanks,
Sandra Matty
How many e-mails can I send in a batch with g mail?
Are you saying to keep Shaw as an ISP and forward all mail to Gmail?
Yes, Shaw provides you with Internet service at home, so you need to still keep them. Just switch to GMail as your email service provider. When friends ask you for your email address, start giving them your GMail address, and not your Shaw email address.
Thanks
I have been using my me.com email address to do the same thing for years…and don’t have to deal with all the advertising on the gmail interface.
This post is a little deceiving. You can most certainly connect to and send email from shaw or telus when you are away from your home. By using their webmail login interface you can get access to and send email from your shaw/telus account at any time.
The biggest reason I would use gmail or hotmail or any other decent free service is the amount of space you get with the account. Telus is INSANELY small, to the point of not even being worth having an smtp/pop3 service. Shaw is a bit better, but you cannot beat the storage of gmail when you compare them.
I just thought I would give me 2 cents, as it is not difficult at all to access/send email from your shaw/telus accounts abroad.
Oh and to any businesses out there that are thinking about which service to use… USE YOUR OWN DOMAIN! It looks more professional, it publicizes your site AND its far easier to remember for your clients.
Thanks for your comments, Joe. You’re correct that it is certainly possible to connect to webmail; however, the webmail client provided by many providers are not optimized for small screens, like the iPhone, which is a usability issue. Moreover, some webmail clients will just not render at all on mobile browsers. For these reasons, we recommend an email provider that supports the IMAP protocol, which allows greater flexibility in the choice of email client, and can take advantage of client-specific features, like push notifications.
Apple Authorized in FutureShop Retail Store told me.
Shaw and Telus Network Modem make Apple iOS devices and Apple Mac OS slow connect.
To avoid is set up Exchange Server Mail. That pretty fast delets and unread message inbox.
AppleAir Port id slow connect to Shaw Modem Network. It does not solve the problem.
Still use exchange server for better on network like what I say.
Reason is Shaw and telus want everythings info on google search record. That Nose against Apple important private needs.
Hi,
Just set your outgoing mail to a proxy server instead of the local telus or shaw server then your phone works on wifi or 3g…… works for me.
Another plus for GMail is that the attachment sizes can be larger…although I think Shaw recently increased that as well. I remember times watching attachments load and load and then, finally….sorry…file too large error. Switch over to GMail with no issues.
Gmail is a good functional mail program. That said you should be focusing on Apple’s mail program.
You have a new Mac that’s been upgraded or has mountain lion and a few Apple devices like iPhone or iPad you should be using Apple’s mail program.
If you do have a Gmail account you can set it up on your Mac and iPhone and iPad and get your Gmail account set up on mail as well. Apples iCloud services provides one of the best web-based mail programs on the market.
How do I forward all my telus emails through gmail? I’d like to eventually change completely over to gmail but I run a business so I have to give clients time and would like to change all my advertising to say my new gmail email but have the telus one still connected for a while but receive them through gmail somehow. is this possible?
The chief problem with allowing google to store your life is the patriot act, which ensures that U.S. law enforcement agencies can trump up any excuse any time to dig into your records without subpoena or notification. You might as well have all your email routed to your facebook wall and just get it over with. I store all my email on my own hardware.
“I store all my email on my own hardware.” Not completely true, the server has a copy until you remove it. The server backup files have a copy and so on.. If a law enforcement agencies needs to read your emails then they have a number of ways to get it. Unless you are running your own in house server your always going to have your incoming mail open to anyone to read. One other point, unless you have your mail encrypted it can be read by anyone that has the right equipment.
What about privacy issues? Once your mail is in Google, it’s out there forever. I’m not sure what Shaw’s policy is though.
BTW “advice” not “advise” in your opening blurb.