Free email accounts moved to subscription model

Account holders will have to pay a subscription to keep their email accounts from 21 January

People who use a free email service have been told by their telecoms provider they are going to have to pay a subscription in future or lose access to their accounts.

Manx Telecom (MT) said its Manx.net email service was being fully transferred to specialist provider Junara, which will charge £65 a year, or £6.50 a month from 21 January, to maintain accounts.

Under the changes the firm, which has been providing the technical platform for the service for several years, would "assume full ownership and customer support responsibilities".

MT said the move "protects customers and the service itself for the long term" while the it concentrated on its "core" offerings.

The transition applies to @manx.net, @isleofman.com, and @isleofman.org email addresses, but the total number of users affected has not been revealed.

MT said while thousands of @manx.net accounts existed, many were dormant or inactive, so the number of active accounts was "significantly lower".

'Be vigilant'

Users have until 20 January to register with Junara, with subscription fees charged from 21 January.

Unregistered accounts will initially be suspended for a "grace period" until 20 April before being permanently deleted the following day.

The telecoms provider said email technology and security requirements had "evolved significantly" since the service was launched more than 25 years ago, which required "increasingly specialised expertise and infrastructure investment".

Users of the service have been urged to "remain vigilant against online scams that may appear to relate to these changes".

Director of the island's Cyber Security Centre Mike Haywood said: "Major service transitions are moments when scammers try to exploit uncertainty.

"We're urging everyone to be vigilant — Manx Telecom will never send clickable links about this change.

"Always go directly to www.manx.net by typing it yourself into your browser."