A guide to setting up an email account

What you can do with email

• Send and receive messages from friends and family 
• Create your own, unique email address, which people can use to contact you
• Receive newsletters and updates from organisations that you choose 
• Sign up to other online services (online services nearly always require you to have an email address)

How to get an email account

If you have the internet at home from an Internet Service Provider (ISP) such as BT Broadband, Sky, Virgin Media or AOL, you will most likely already have an email address that was set up when you first obtained the service; contact them if you are having difficulty remembering your email address details.

If you are looking to get internet access at home, Age UK, in partnership with Simplify Digital, can help you find the best broadband TV or home phone deal without the hassle. We review over 11,000 deals from the top UK providers to find the right one for you. Call us on 0800 090 1302.

You can also view an up-to-date list of ISPs on the Internet Service Providers Association website:

 Internet Service Providers Association 

Whether you have access to the internet at home or not, you can register for a free email account with one of many websites that offer a free email service - for example, Yahoo!, hotmail or google. Once you’ve registered an email address with one of these providers, you will be able to send and receive emails on any computer with internet access. Some of the most popular free email account services are:

 Yahoo!  

 Hotmail (from Microsoft) 

 Gmail (from Google)  

All have similar features, are constantly being developed to make them as easy to use as possible, and have a degree of built-in safety features to filter out any unwanted emails (called spam). Click on one of the links above to have a look at each of the providers if you would like more information on any of them.