Few messages cause more panic than an email from your provider announcing that your email service is closing. Years of correspondence, contacts and calendar entries suddenly feel at risk and there’s a deadline attached.
It happens more often than you’d think. Australian internet providers have progressively wound back bundled email and hosted mail products: iiNet and Westnet closed their Hosted Microsoft Exchange service back in 2023, and similar shutdowns have followed elsewhere in the market. If you’ve received one of these notices, the good news is that migrating is very manageable as long as you act before the cut-off date.
Here’s exactly what to do.
Why these shutdowns keep happening
Running an email platform is expensive and security-intensive. Many internet service providers originally offered mailboxes as a bundled extra, and over time have chosen to exit that business and focus on connectivity instead.
This exposes a risk that catches a lot of people out: if your email address is tied to your internet provider, you don’t really control it. Switch ISPs, or have them discontinue the product, and you can lose the address entirely, along with everything linked to it.
The most reliable long-term fix is email at your own domain name (you@yourbusiness.com.au). Because you control the domain, you can change email providers whenever you like and simply point the domain at the new service. Your address stays the same forever.
Your migration checklist
Work through these stages and nothing gets lost:
| When | What to do |
| As soon as you’re notified | Note the exact shutdown date. Everything must be complete before it. |
| Before you migrate | Back up or export your existing mail, contacts and calendars locally. |
| Choose a provider | Pick a replacement that suits your needs and budget (see below). |
| Set up | Create your new mailboxes and recreate any aliases, groups or forwarders. |
| Migrate | Copy across your mail, contacts and calendar data to the new service. |
| Switch over | Update your domain’s MX records to point mail to the new provider. |
| Reconnect devices | Update settings in Outlook, your phone and any other mail apps. |
| After the switch | Update your address anywhere it’s used, and keep the backup for a while. |
The single most important item is the backup. Once a service is decommissioned, that data is usually gone for good, so export it well before the deadline rather than in the final week.
Choosing your replacement
Not every mailbox needs the same thing. Use this to narrow it down quickly:
| If you… | The right fit is… |
| Want professional email at your domain, simply and affordably | Titan Mail |
| Also want Word, Excel, Teams and OneDrive included | Microsoft 365 |
| Are a larger team needing the full Office suite and enterprise features | Office 365 |
Titan Mail covers what most small businesses and sole traders actually need: a branded inbox, calendar, contacts, strong spam filtering and mobile access without paying for a full productivity suite.
Microsoft 365 and Office 365 make sense if you’re already working in Microsoft’s ecosystem, or if you want cloud storage and collaboration tools bundled with your mail. If you’re coming from a hosted Exchange service in particular, Microsoft 365 will feel immediately familiar, since Outlook and the underlying Exchange experience carry over.
Don’t forget your MX records
The step people most often overlook is the MX record. These are the DNS records that tell the rest of the internet which server should receive mail for your domain. Until you update them, messages will keep being delivered to your old provider.
Timing matters here. Change the MX records too early and mail arrives at a mailbox that isn’t ready; too late and you risk messages bouncing after the old service is switched off. It’s worth having your new provider guide you through this so the changeover is seamless.
While you’re updating DNS, it’s also the ideal moment to set up your SPF record with the new provider’s details, so your emails authenticate correctly and don’t land in recipients’ spam folders.
Don’t forget what’s linked to your old address
Your email address is rarely just an address: it’s the recovery method and login for dozens of other services. Before the old mailbox disappears, work through anything tied to it: banking and accounting logins, your domain and hosting accounts, social media profiles, software subscriptions, and any two-factor recovery settings.
If a password reset for one of these would be sent to an address that no longer exists, you could find yourself locked out of an important account long after the migration is finished. Updating them takes an hour or two, and saves a great deal of frustration later.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose my old emails when the service shuts down? Not if you export them first. Back up your mail, contacts and calendars before the cut-off, then import them into your new service.
Can I keep the same email address? If it’s at your own domain, yes, just point the domain at your new provider. If it’s an ISP address (like @iinet.net.au), you’ll need a new address, which is exactly why a custom domain is worth having.
How long does an email migration take? Small mailboxes can be moved in a matter of hours; larger accounts with years of archives take longer. Start early rather than close to the deadline.
Will my email go down during the switch? It shouldn’t. Done in the right order: set up first, migrate, then change MX records, the changeover is seamless.
We can handle the move for you
Migrating email doesn’t have to be stressful. Our Australian-based team can recommend the right replacement, migrate your mail, contacts and calendars, and manage the DNS changeover so nothing goes missing. We also offer a paid migration service if you’d rather hand the whole job over.
Facing a shutdown deadline? Get in touch or submit a support ticket from your Client Area, and we’ll get you sorted well before the cut-off.
