Starting May 2024, Spark NZ introduces charges for Xtra Mail email addresses. Buy a NZ Domain instead for your future email needs.
Spark NZ have sent emails to their customers advising that they will soon begin charging for their Xtra Mail service. This means that anyone with an @xtra.co.nz email address will start being charged for the Xtra Mail service from the 16th May 2024. Previously XtraMail was a bundled free service for Broadband Customers. 
If Spark NZ customers don't want to be charged for the Xtra Mail service, and they no longer need their Xtra Mail email addresses, they will need to fill in a form to cancel the service. Spark NZ has explained this in their email to customers and have included a link to the cancellation form. Some of Sparks customers will also need to contact Spark if they want to retain their email account, otherwise they say email accounts will be deactivated. Whatever the case, we suggest you contact Spark directly to find out what the story is with your email account if you still use their service.
This is a good reminder that people should never rely on the free email accounts that some ISPs provide. Not only does it make it very difficult to move to another ISP in the future, but you also have no control over future changes that the email provider makes to the service. This may include them closing down the service, or in Spark NZs case, starting to charge a monthly subscription for the email service.
One of the best long term solutions for email for many people is to purchase their own NZ Domain Name eg yourbusiness.co.nz . This can either be a .co.nz or .nz, or a .com or any other domain extension. This will allow you to setup email addresses such as mike@yourdomain.co.nz. A domain name gives you the freedom to move your email hosting to any provider of your choosing at any time, but still retaining your email address. This not only applies to businesses, but also to personal users, everyone can have their own domain name. It costs less than a cup of coffee a month to register your own domain name.
You can register a NZ Domain Name through our website partner, the Lounge Network NZ Domain Manager at www.domains.loungenetwork.co.nz. You can register a wide range of different domain extensions through the Lounge Network, or simply stick with .nz or .co.nz. Domain registrations can be paid for by credit card and you can register the domain immediately online. Lounge Network are also a 100% New Zealand owned company, unlike a lot of NZ Domain providers these days who are overseas owned and operated. Lounge Network have also been around since 2001 making them one of NZs longest established NZ Domain providers.
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Once you have registered your new domain name, you can then connect the nameservers of the domain to one of many different email hosting providers out there. Or connect it to a free email forwarding service, and forward it to a free Gmail or Outlook address. You can also use the domain name in the future for setting up a website or Ecommerce Store. It is really the best long term solution for your email needs.
If you are still using the free email address that your ISP gave to you, you are relying on that ISP to continue to provide email services forever. However many ISPs have already completely phased out email services, which has caused major inconvenience for many of their users. Especially for those that have printed the ISP based email address on their business cards, or on the side of a vehicle or building. When ISPs close down their email service, many of their users would have ended up having to redo all that marketing material. So we would recommend people register their own domain name sooner rather than later, to avoid these types of hassle in the future.
If you need help setting up services with the domain that you have registered through the Lounge Network Domain Manger, you can contact them at www.loungenetwork.co.nz
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