Changes to Qwest Internet

If you use Qwest internet, you have received an email from them recently stating that they were ending their partnership with MSN email and that you needed to make some changes before June 30, 2011.  The email is a bit confusing, so I thought I'd help explain it here.

If your bundled your TV, Phone, and internet with Qwest, then MSN was probably installed in your computer during the setup process.  That's because Qwest had an agreement with MSN where Qwest provided the internet service, and MSN could provide the email service.  Although you never needed to use MSN email if you didn't want to, many folks did because the setup process made it look like you did.

However, now that Qwest and MSN are going their separate ways, folks will have to make some changes to their email in order to ensure they keep getting email after June 30, 2011.  And the changes depend on your current email address.

If you were using MSN for email, your email address is something like "example@msn.com".   If your email address looks like this, then you'll have to make a choice.

1. If you want to keep your existing email address, you'll have to sign up (and pay) for a Premium MSN account.  So you'll not only be paying for Qwest internet, but also MSN email.
2. You could switch to a "example@q.com" email address and use the new Qwest internet system. 
3. You could sign up for a free Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail email account and use it instead (the advantage of doing this is that your email address will stay the same if you ever change your internet provider in the future).

If you  were using Qwest for your email, your email address was something like, "example@q.com".  If your email address looks like this, then you will need to switch to Qwest's new system (MyQwest.com).

For more information about the Qwest changes, click here.

Getting Help With Qwest Internet

This post is intended to provide quick links more than share information. Many of my clients use Qwest for their internet service  and when there's a problem, it can be hard to find the right pages and links to get help.  So I thought I would list them here.

Qwest Quick Care Software

If you ever need to re-install Qwest Quick Care Software, click here.This software is pretty handy for diagnosing internet connection problems.  So if you use Qwest, it's a good idea to download and install it you haven't already. 


Qwest Online Chat Support

Talking to tech support can be a very frustrating experience.  Not only do you have to keep up with all the automated phone redirects, but then you end up talking to somebody in India you can't even understand.   For this reason, I much prefer to chat online with tech support instead of talking to them on the phone.  It's easy and I don't have to try and decipher through anybody's accent.  Another advantage of chat support is that they can see your internet connection and even connect remotely if necessary.

To chat online with Qwest Tech Support, click here.  At the top of the page, you'll see an image of a person with the text "Need Help, click here to chat".

Can't Receive Email from MSN?

Yesterday, many of clients reported that their MSN email accounts weren't working.  Turns out, there was a change at MSN that caused the problem.

You may have seen an email a couple of weeks ago that stated you needed to download software if you used Outlook Express in order to continue receiving email.  And if you're like most people, you weren't sure you could trust the email given today's internet scams.  Making matters worse, when you tried to search the MSN website for more information (in order to determine if the email was legit), you were unable to find anything ... resulting in you being in more hesitant to follow the email instructions.  And now you can't receive or send email from MSN.

Don't feel bad.  You were right to be cautious and hesitant about downloading software based on an email.  However, this email does appear to be legit and if you asked me MSN / Qwest could have done a lot better job of spreading the word about the upcoming changes on their site in order to ease people's fears.

Okay, so here's the scoop.  Over the past year or so Microsoft has been in the process of re-branding themselves from "MSN" to "Widows Live".  So everything is being renamed ... Windows Live Mail (instead of Outlook Express), Windows Live Messenger (instead of MSN Messenger), etc.

Also in the past, MSN did not support POP3 or SMTP (normal email systems) and so you had to use HTTP to receive email through Outlook Epxress (which was designed for POP3 and SMTP).  This created a lot of headaches for people, especially since MSN refused to support the use of their email through Outlook Express.

So now, MSN has decided to help their users out a bit.  Users now have two options in which to receive their MSN email.

The first option is to download Windows Live Mail (which is the new Outlook Express).  If you own a computer running Windows Vista, then you already have Windows Live Mail and don't need to do this.  But if your computer is running Windows XP or an earlier version of Windows, Microsoft is now letting you download and install Windows Live Mail so you can use it instead of Outlook Express.  Personally, I don't like this option.

The other option now available is to configure a POP3 and SMTP account.  The advantage of this option is that you don't have to download or install any software.  You simply create a new MSN account that uses POP3 and SMTP, change the ports, and then delete the old account.  It's simple and only takes about 5 minutes to complete.

For more information about how to configure your email accounts for MSN, click here.

If you need more help with MSN email, click here.  Notice there is a chat link at the top of the page too in case you wish to speak with an MSN agent.