Email migration is the process of changing email providers. If you have or had an account at one provider and what to change your provider to a new one, it isn't always an easy job, especially of you want to keep all of your email from the old provider.

Subscribers to Cox Internet services have recently found that their email has been forcibly migrated. Although Cox informed customers of the change, they have done a poor job of implementing it. Many users are discovering that they are not receiving any new email and in some cases it appears that their email had been deleted.

We have been telling people to get rid of their Cox email for years. Cox does not want to be in the email business. As an internet service provider, it was initially a necessary benefit because for many, it was their first and only mail account. But the handwriting has been on the wall for some time. Why?

• Email is hard to support.
• Email is complicated,
• Cox technical support is not capable of providing knowledgable assistance.
• Email loses money.

Having a basic understanding of how modern email works is helpful in managing your migration. You may have heard someone use the term "Mail Server". It sounds like there is some computer somewhere where all your mail stuff resides. It is a little more complicated.

Below are the basic elements necessary to perform email sending, delivery, storage and retrieval. Having a familiarity with how emails works will help you better understand what the Cox to Yahoo migration is all about.

An SMTP server handles all message transport. When you send an email, you are using SMTP. The SMTP server also handles communications between itself and other SMTP servers. When you send an email to someone, you are sending it to your SMTP server, it it will in turn send your message to your recipients SMTP server.

Note: Your email app will probably refer to this as your Outgoing Server

When your SMTP server receives a message addressed to you, it needs a way to store this so it when be there when you check your email. IMAP takes care of this. Your INBOX and all your other mail folders live on an IMAP server. When you check your email, you are connecting to your IMAP server. IMAP also handles all the normal housekeeping tasks, like deleting, sorting and indexing so you can search for messages.

IMAP also needs a powerful DATABASE to store your messages in. Fortunately you will never need to deal with the database directly as IMAP does all this for you.

Note: Your email app will probably refer to this as your Incoming Server

POP3 is an alternate protocol for receiving your email. Unless you have a specific need to use it, you shouldn't. IMAP is much better at managing your waiting and stored email messages, especially if you use multiple devices to receive email on.

Of course, you want to make sure your emails are secure and cannot be read as they pass through different servers to get from point A to point B. To do this, your mail software and every server involved in the transport process use secure, encrypted protocols to pass information between them.

These secure protocols are named SSL or TLS. SSL is an older technology that contains some security flaws. Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the upgraded version of SSL that fixes existing SSL vulnerabilities. Some older email software packages may mention SSL, but you are generally always using TLS. You don't need to know how this works, but it helps to know what it is when you see it mentioned.

Your SMTP, IMAP and DATABASE may be on the same physical computer, but more than likely they are all completely different systems. They may even be in different areas of the country.

All of these elements work together and are connected by high capacity fibre-optic cables so that you can exchange email messages securely with anyone on the world in just a second or two.

When you move from one house to another you change your address, right? Just think of it in these terms. Cox has moved, and you have to change their address. When you do that, everything you had before should still be there. It is just on new servers.

Your old Cox password will not work on your migrated account. You will need to visit Yahoo FIRST to get your new password set up. Here is how to do that.

1. Visit https://mail.yahoo.com/login
2. Enter your full Cox email address
3. Enter old Cox Password
4. Change the password as directed and write it down!

All that's left to do is configure your apps. As there are many different apps that you might be using, we gan generalize the procedure, but if you have read the informative, you now know more about email than most people.

In your email app, you will want to open your SETTINGS or ACCOUNT INFO sections and find these areas:

1. Incoming Mail
2. Outgoing Mail

These should have your old Cox addresses already there. You will be replacing these with the new addresses and your new password. IMAP and SMTP will both use the same password. There is no need to set up a new account, you are substituting the old addresses with the new addresses. Remember, it is no more complicated than that. You are just changing addresses.

It may take some time for all your email to synchronize again. IMAP servers index messages by using a key so they can be retrieved easily. It may take a couple of days to sync large numbers of emails.

Some email may be marked as new even though you have already read them. Use your email program "mark all as read" function if this occurs.

If you have email saved in folders, the folders may not appear. Don't worry. With some email programs like Thunderbird, you need to "subscribe" to folders. Your email app should have functions to list and subscribe to folders.

If you are in the Santa Barbara area and are completely stuck or just want it done correctly the first time click on the Contact Us button below and let us know. We may be able to help. This isn't our usual business and we normally concentrate on internet servers and networks. We're probably not the cheapest, but we have over 30 years of experience with email and internet systems in general. We've also published email software for both end users and servers.