As per post a wee while ago im thinking of some biz ideas at present. In line with ive thought of a trading name so considering setting up some email addresses and mobile numbers etc.

What i would like to know is how can i get an address such as darren@companyname.co.uk?

Can i do it for free and access from any computer? or am i better off getting something like a gmail account and using that?


Cheers,
Darren.

Darren - You need to register your new domain (your new company name you want to use) and see if you can get free email forwarding with it too. It'd cost very little but if you wanted them to host (give you some space on their server) for your website it'd cost more.

I use UKREG but there's loads out there.

Find out if your name is free first - if it isn't you could try .co.uk, .com, .net, uk.com...etc.

I'd personally settle for co.uk or .com but that's just me! Makes a company seem more professional to me..

Oh - and mobile phone numbers - how easy is it to get a number that is easy to remember for free on a low rate account?

eg 07777 123456 etc

To add...With a free forwarding address you could set up a catchall address.

That is....anythingyoulike@darrensdomain.com.

ANY mail sent to @darrensdomain.com would then be forwarded onto an existing address you own (hotmail, gmail etc..)

This way you could pick up the mail anywhere and customers would just email the one address. sales@darrensdomain.com and info@darrensdomain.com would forward to the same existing mail address.

Does that make any sense?

Quite expensive to get a decent number for a mobile. You'd be better off buying a local rate number 08457 123456 and having that forward to your mobile. That's MUCH cheaper but then your customer may not like 08457 numbers and also you'd be charged for each call you receive and have forwarded onto your mobile.

A IP telephone number might be the may to go. Much cheaper and can also forward to any number.

Thanks for the replies.

Telephone number not too important. the email example you give makes sense - a bit like redirecting phone numbers.

So in short i would need to register a domain then.

Other option may be to use a gmail account i guess. Something like darren.companyname@gmail.co.uk

What is so special about a gmail account? Do i need an invite (or 2 as i want my wife to have same format account too).

Hi Darren

I use 1 & 1

they seem ok to me.

Cheers

Mark

I can send you a gmail invite if you want one

I've used Godaddy for a few years now

They've a nice interface for ordering domains, adding email addresses etc.

You used to need invites for gmail but anyone can sign up now. What's special is that you get several gigabytes of storage!

A .co.uk address will cost you £2.79 a year from the people I use: http://www.123-reg.co.uk/ - this includes email forwarding.

I then have a gmail account to which my email is forwarded.

Yes registering a domain is the way to go.
A lot of the more desirable .co.uk domain names are registered ie either in use or are being squatted on by speculators.

One way to get round this is to put a hyphen in the name so get something lile myname-joiners.co.uk or anything-you-like-cars.co.uk
As already said loads of companies will register a domain for you at very low cost I found LCN are pretty good for registering cheaply.
http://www.lowcostnames.co.uk/

Although I recently fell out with them over a minor renewal problem I have found Complia's starter domain package pretty good

http://www.compila.com/pages/hosting/linuxindex.html

It offers the usual mail re-derection but unlike parking only packages and also gives you web space, outgoing and incoming mail server, email verification for your outgoing mail and fully configurable spam filters and also web mail for £12.00 + vat per year.



[Edited on 16/3/08 by britishtrident]

[Edited on 16/3/08 by britishtrident]

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What i would like to know is how can i get an address such as darren@companyname.co.uk?

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Nice one Scotty!!!

Looks like there are many ways to skin this cat. Thanks all for the replies. Ill do some investigations with your recommendations. I have a couple of good U2U leads to follow up on too.

Im a Project Manager by trade so thinking of doing some freelance project management. The name i was fancying has been taken up but as BT says - by adding NE (North East) or a hyphen then its very doable.

I quite like doing houses up but hate dealing with finance houses and having huge sums of cash tied up is crap too. I did think about doing jobs for other people but it will never make me rich. I do however have a lot of lean manufacturing and automotive experience so it makes sense to major on this area instead. This is why im thinking of setting up basic communications lines first.

I foolishly let my current company take my mobile number over a while back. Its been great for 3 yrs or so as ive had o phone bills but the number everyone knows me by is no longer mine. Ill have to get a personal mobile in near future so i can switch all my friends and contacts over. I wonder if i can get a good deal from Vodafone for a N95 with decent number??