Considering moving web and email hosting

[Kieran]

Hi,

I'm thinking about moving my hosing. Currently I use webmania (http://www.web-mania.com/) for both my web hosting and my pop3 email (only 2 email accounts). Both are under the same domain which I also purchased through webmania. I have been very happy with them for quite a few years now, but I have finally had enough of pop3 as I find myself wanting to access my email from more and more devices.

This leaves me the choice of IMAP or (hosted) exchange. I would love to used hosted exchange as I use outlook for everything (email, calander, notes, etc), and would love for that to be all available remotely. However, if I can't get what I require (for a price I am willing to pay) then IMAP would still be a huge improvement from pop3.

So, first question, does my web hosting and my email hosting have to be from the same provider? I'm guessing that they do as they both use the same domain, so that will only point to a single server?

What would be the deal with updating my domain to point to any new server(s)? I'm guessing I would still pay for my domain through webmania? My hosting and the domain come as seperate invoices so I'm guessing that wouldn't be a problem.

So finally, what email/web hosting services do you guys recomend? Is there an affordable hosted exchange service that people have used and are happy with? If not, how about IMAP email services? Do these services come with web hosting too?

Any other advice?

Thanks in advance,

Kieran

[+BudMan MVC]

"I'm guessing that they do as they both use the same domain, so that will only point to a single server?"

You guessed wrong - there is no reason why you can not host email and websites on different services. Email is a MX record -- you can point this anywhere. Same with web, just a A record that points to say www.yourdomain.tld

So all you need to host your email on another site - is where ever your currently hosting your dns has to allow for you to create your own MX record. If they do not - just move your dns to either to a registrar gives you this type of dns control. Or host your DNS elsewhere - say zonedit - FREE for up to 5 domains, etc.

As far as email -- you could host that on gmail. Provides IMAP access, plus many other services can be tied into your domain - all of their apps, etc. You can point your domain to them for FREE as well. If your webhost does not provide the email services you want.

[Kieran]

Thanks for the ewply BudMan. It's great to know that I can split the two. Im reasonably confident that webmania would allow me to edit the mx record. That is if it is under their control or whether they are just a reseller? I will have to look into that.

gmail could be a good option. Certainly if I can't find affordable hosted exchange, I can't see that there would be a negative side to doing this.

Thanks again! Any other opinions on email hosting solutions?

[+BudMan MVC]

For 2 accounts it seems pretty pointless to pay for special email hosting -- sure if comes as part of your webhosting package and provides the features you want then great. Or just find a webhost that supports IMAP.

I use dreamhost myself -- but if not and your happy with your current webhost for other functions, just move your email to gmail is what I would suggest.

[Kieran]

Looking around, hosted echange seems to be always charged per mailbox, and while I can find it affordable for one, I need two, and that makes it more than I am willing to pay just for my home email.

So, now I am just trying to get straight in my head whether there would be any point using a paid for IMAP email hosting solution rather than gmail?

For instance, this one appears to offer everything I would need at a cheep price, but would I actually be getting anything that I don't get with gmail?

[Kieran]

Sorry BudMan, missed your reply there. I have been looking into Google Apps and it looks fantastic! I now just need to check that I can point my domain to it. Thanks again for the fantastic advice!