[kilo_bravo_3]

I'm an idiot. Like, hardcore.

This morning I made breakfast and left for work without eating it.

Even I came to the realization that if you don't pay for something you are a disposable, interchangeable asset to be exploited.

$4.25 per month gets me 25GB at Fastmail.

$1.08 per month gets me a domain name at Namecheap.

$5.33 per month gets me an email address with no ads and no tracking, support when things go wrong, and an email address that is my actual name at a .com address that sounds respectable.

If fastmail goes bad? All of my emails are on my computer. I just switch providers and I can keep the same address.

If namecheap goes bad? I move my domain name to another service.

There are step-by-step easy-to-follow tutorials on how to do what I did that are so simple to implement that even someone who left their bowl of oatmeal on the kitchen counter this morning and is really hungry at work could follow them.

If something isn't worth spending $5.33 per month on, is it really that important?

I don't pay for HN. If they started screwing with their users, or started charging for the service I would move on and certainly wouldn't write articles claiming that YC hooked me then hung me out to dry for cash.

[dontbenebby]

Personally I pay for Gsuite because I worry smaller providers aren't well resourced enough to protect me from attackers.

I trust Google that if I have 2fa enabled and alerts for suspicious activity going out, they'll protect the infrastructure.

[dleslie]

As a non-American, I don't trust the American Government not to compel Google to provide them access to my data.

[yonaguska]

As an American, I also don't trust the American Government to not compel Google to provide them access to my data. Yes, I know I am supposedly protected by due process- but Barr is making it explicitly clear that the 4th amendment does not apply to our digital lives.

[ralusek]

Barr? The last 3 administrations.

[dontbenebby]

And if you put it in, say, Protonmail, they can just hack it, so you're not necessarily gaining security.

[mark_l_watson]

I was paying for G Suite earlier this year with my custom domain and was very happy with it (especially cloud search), except: I have been using GMail since almost 3 years before it became public and there was no way to merge my old persona with the new G Suite account. I had to switch my Google identities back and forth. I decided that this was too much of a hassle.

[junar]

Do you use Chrome? You can do all your personal stuff in one Chrome profile, and all your G Suite stuff in another. You can even use both profiles simultaneously (though in separate windows).

https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2364824?hl=en

You may also want to consider only using your G Suite account for G Suite features. Certain features designed for personal Google accounts don't work properly for G Suite accounts (like Youtube/Google Play Music family plans).

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7507349

[BrandoElFollito]

Unfortunately Gsuite offer is smaller than regular gmail (remindrrs, google home and posdibly others)

They punish their paying customers.

[techntoke]

> If namecheap goes bad? I move my domain name to another service.

Not exactly. Namecheap has notoriously flagged people's accounts for no reason as suspicious. Mine was flagged for simply for updating my password with one that I generated from a password-generator. They wouldn't respond, and when they did they said that my account was flagged do to suspicious activity that they felt was legitimate. It took me over a week to finally unlock my account, but that wasn't until I had to take the issue to social media with screen shots.

[eikenberry]

Who did you switch to?

[techntoke]

Google Domains.

[NicoJuicy]

Custom domains aren't secure though, it's probably the most vulnerable and easiest point of attack

[wwn_se]

Any decent registrar should force 2fa on request. Also long dns ttl and monitoring!

[chenster]

What is that?

[gruez]

Usually social engineering the domain registrar into transferring the domain.

[anoncake]

So Google's approach to customer support is a security feature?

[NicoJuicy]

No, using Hotmail or Gmail prevents dns hijacking.

The answer he gave you was correct. The interpretation wasn't

[anoncake]

No, it prevents social engineering.

[saalweachter]

This is where Google as a domain registrar really shines. :-P

[s_y_n_t_a_x]

You can lock it though.

[kilo_bravo_3]

Mine is. And it's all 2FA'd up. That was a part of the "Take Responsibility for your Own Stuff: For Dummies" guide I followed.

I imagine it would be easier to socially engineer a cellphone store employee and get a SIM to do a SMS-based password reset for a Google/Microsoft/Apple email account than it would be to hijack my domain.

[minifigone]

Do you have a link to the guide you mentioned?

[sachdevap]

I'd like to see this guide too, please.

[supercommand]

I have the exact same service providers and quite frankly, I love them. Haven’t had any issues, setup and payment is a piece of cake. And their app is a proper professional email app.

It sure is interesting sitting back watching your average consumers purchase chromebooks and nexus phones only to have their subsidies be pulled.

Chrome books with the baked in eol, and cloud storage cut in half was a pretty evil moment. Curious to see what the future has for the customers who have become the product.

[random001]

Emphasis on 'evil' here.