The Messaging Company Charges

[spammuck]

"TMC is an Australian-based company" ... that uses Amazon Web Services.

So good to have a thin australian veneer over Big Brother in the USA.

[pablos]

Hello Angeli 

The issue is the uncertainty this has raised and the time it takes to move to a new email address. I have had the same email address for 25 years ad I consider an "email address" a key component of having an Internet account. It is required for TPG to notify its customers of changes, as well as being a core feature for your loyal customers. This does not mean there needs to be large email servers storing email data, but the address and forward is a key selling point of staying with TPG..

As a 25yr customer (since the early days of iiNet), I have 2 issues with what is happening. 

1) The first is that it costs virtually nothing to maintain the domain name(s) and have a email redirect. If the desire is to not run an email server, then this is a perfectly valid option with minimal cost and overhead maintained by TPG.

2) The second is that the announcement fails to provide clarity as to the costs that will be incurred by the change. Yes TPG will maintain the fees for 1 year (noted and appreciated) but then what?  Neither you nor the The Messaging Company are keen to provided any information about what the ongoing costs will be. And you will know, as you will have done the business case.

At the momnet this is feeling a lot like a marketting ploy (TPG sells client email base for money), gets people to move, then people keep paying The Messaging Company (I assume they bought the email name with expectation of retaining clients) as they cant be bothered moving again. 

I have already voiced my opinoin directly regarding this change and the company decision. The loyalty of your longer term customers is integrally linked to those internal email addresses/domain names. Removing that removes the need to be loyal to TPG as an ISP. I would question that's a good idea at time when there is plenty of competition out there, all running onthe same NBN network.

Without clarity re ongoiing email costs through the Messaging Company soon I will be looking at alternatives to TPG as an ISP 

Paul Lenghaus 

Ex iiNet employee and 25yr customer  

[Simon-R-Potter]

The fact that this is a monopoly situation where you only get to migrate to TMC as they are saying use us or loose you email name forever.....No option to take your email address to another provider?
Red flags as far as they won't even give us a price?

What if we are not happy with their cost or performance.....Do we then forfit our email address anyway as they may not let you migrate it out of their custody?

[Simon-R-Potter]

Is IINET going to reduce our monthly bills as they are reducing their service?

[matzo70]

I hope TPG reduces the monthly plan now that they are getting rid of the emails. If not im gone too.

I have my own domain email so it wont affect me at all, however I do expect TPG to adjust my monthly plan accordingly as they have reduced their service to me. So I am ready to switch, have done the homework. Its up to TPG now.

[RobH]

TPG please advise how much reduction in price will be occurring immediately from everyone's Internet monthly fees (that include email) now that we havev been forced to move elsewhere?

[cchrist0]

We should never have been put in this position by TPG. TPG's approach is only for their short term gain and sadly will harm them in the long term when their customers desert them. It is not to late for TPG to realise that they are doing the wrong thing by their customers and reverse this terrible decision.

[Umack]

TMC may be part of the ATMail group, though that isn't at all clear.

But it does highlight one very simple question. Atmail make the reasonable claim that companies can save money and provide better service by outsourcing their email services to Atmail.

SO IF TPG WANTED TO SAVE MONEY AND OUTSOURCE, WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST DO THAT INSTEAD OF SCREWING THEIR LONG TERM CUSTOMERS WITH THE TMC MIGRATION?

[FrankieK]

Angeli,

How much has TPG paid TMC per user?  This would give at least us an indicative view.

[FrankieK]

Well this is getting better by the minute.

I have used the 4 of the 5 email addresses for my family as included by my Internode NBN subscription.  Internode support have just confirmed that each of these email mailboxes must be individually migrated separately and will be charged as individual mail boxes by TMC.

That now means my costs aren't going to be for one email address, rather x4 email addresses.

How can this be legal.  It feels like blackmail forcing people from an included service onto a paid service and saying in your t&cs that you can even lose your paid service if you don't maintain an active service with Internode / TPG group?