Fastmail is kind of a weird service. If you stop paying they release your email for someone else to take over. Pretty unacceptable this day and age.

The trick is in never ever touching the username@paid-main-provider.tld to give out to anyone. It's just for logging in.

My mailbox.org username is literally three random short Engish dict words concatnated by underscores (e.g jet_sit_gill@mailbox.org) just to ensure I'd never share that email with anyone. I only use my domain's email addresses. This way there's ZERO lock, zero fear of them giving my email to someone else and staying with the domain provider for a day longer than I have to.

For email addresses on others' domains here

- icloud.com came with the devices (I honestly have not thought about what happens to these if I have zero Apple device at one point in future :D)

- tutanota(barely ever used; just to support them I paid until they removed the 12/year plan)

- protonmail, and sdf.org (ARPA)

All of these at least let me hold on to the email address even with little resources when I stop paying or have an unpaid a/c. So little risk of email goign to someone else. And I never use these for anything important anyway.

For temp emails - duck.com, HideMyEmail (stopped using this one for new accounts though).

I use Fastmail with my own domain. I am not sure of the logic that says paying $60/year for email is fine, but $8/year for a domain is a bridge too far.

Do that, it's a non-issue, though I do agree with you that it shouldn't be a thing (or at least have like a multiple year embargo on the address).

This does not appear correct. I lost my original account in 2013 and the handle is extremely unique, and I just tried to reregister it, and it won't allow it. ("Sorry, [redacted]@fastmail.fm has already been taken.")

Are you sure you didn't confuse domains? My original handle is on fastmail.fm, but it will let me register that on fastmail.com.

I really wish all mail providers made it easy and seamless to bring your own domain (or register and manage one in the background for you, without you having to care for the details). Obviously giving a service-tied email domain to users is a great lock-in strategy. But it's worrying that so many people have a big part of their online identity tied to Google.

(You can even sign up for a Google Account without GMail, using a third-party domain. And this is distinct from Google Workspace, or whatever they're calling it today. You get a normal, regular, personal Google Account, just without GMail and using your own non-gmail.com address.)

Domain names work the same way -- once you stop paying for it, someone else can buy and use it.

Do you have the same problem with domain names? If so, how would you propose to fix it?

This would be easily solved for customers who care about it by allowing you to pay a one-off fee to reserve the name for ~100 years.

Or they could just absorb that.

Any idea why it works that way? Have they offered an explanation?

I'm a Fastmail customer but I've never noticed this because I use my own domain.

I don't think that's true. Some years ago I did a free trial with them (did not pay anything). More recently I decided to actually sign up (for a paid account) and the email address I used for the free trial years ago was not available. I eventually got that username only after contacting support and giving them the date on which I started that free trial, to prove it was me.

When you move to a new house the old address becomes available for mail eventually.

With Fastmail, creating an email alias is free, and quick -- I have dozens myself. There's good reason FM would not want these to be tied up forever.

Could the above report have lost the distinction between original, paid-for Fastmail address, and user-created free aliases to it?

It is easier to change MX records for your personal domain.

How's that different from any other provider?

Definitely not acceptable, sounds like not good thinking. Consumer protections might exist in the US for this.

At one point in the late 90s the U.S. Post Office was going to host email. Sadly, it didn’t happen.

That is 100% unacceptable.

not if you use your own domain they don't.

So does mailbox do from OP. Just after some time, depending on which package you had. Eg after your light package expired, the address is free for reregistration after 90 days.

I find it "meh" as well.