I own mylastname.net for a personal website + personalized email for myself and my kids. It is handy.
I’ve have used 1and1.com as the host service for about a decade. The website gets very little traffic (only occasionally if somebody clicks through from my LinkedIn page).
I have custom email address forwarding rules setup at 1and1 (if *.mylastname.net —> go to my gmail account). No messages sit in an inbox at the host, they just drive through.
I want to move to new, cheaper host. Moving the website files doesn’t worry me at all... but I don’t want to lose any email during the changeover. I’m thinking that the new host company will take/re-assign the DNS info for the domain name, and redirect everything immediately. If I configure the email forwarding rules noted above during my setup process... is that all there is to it?
A lot of this depends on the hosting company, not all of them offer email forwarding or other email services.
Assuming you have full control over the domain name, you might be able to set it up directly with GMail, although IIRC that's an option that costs money. That's usually be cleanest way if you don't want to deal with doing things like running your own mail server.
I have no specific experience with 1&1, but if the domain name is registered via your current hoster, make sure that you have the ability to move it to a different registrar and make sure that you know how much they're going to lighten your wallet for that service. Some of the big ones make this exceedingly expensive or complicated.
The domain name is registered by godaddy. It has always been weird paying them to register the name and somebody else to host. I didn’t realize that some hosts don’t do email forwarding - I will have to look into that. thanks. I definitely have zero interest in setting up mailboxes or a mail server.
Look at the most important factors:
The quality of the service including speed and reliability.
The quality of the customer service including response times and comprehension.
The price of the service.
[how good they are at paddling canoes]
If you know what you want (dedicated IP, SSL ete.) then you should be able to find a hosting solution that works for you.
