eircom.net email goes up to €18.99 a month on 1 November 2026. How to keep your emails if you leave

// THE SHORT ANSWER

What eir has announced

eir’s webmail sign-in page says the monthly price of webmail is increasing to €18.99 from 1 November 2026. That is €227.88 a year to keep an eircom.net address. eir has charged for its email since 2020, when the long-free service first cost €5.99 a month; it went to €9.99 in 2021.

This is a price rise, not a closure: if you keep paying, your email carries on. But read the small print before you cancel. eir says that if you cancel, you will no longer have access to your sent or received emails, its help pages say your address is deleted and mail is not redirected to a new address, and there is no refund when an account is closed. A missed payment suspends the webmail.

So the one thing not to do is cancel first. Copy what you need, move your important accounts to a new address, and only then decide.

Last checked: 11 October 2026. Sources: eir webmail sign-in notice, eir webmail help, eir webmail account help, RTÉ on the 2021 rise.

// THE ORDER THAT LOSES NOTHING

Before you cancel: do these in order

1. Check you can sign in to eir webmail and that your payment is up to date — a suspended account makes everything harder.
2. Set up the new address first and send yourself a test email both ways.
3. Copy your old emails into it (how, below) and check the important ones arrived.
4. Save your contacts. Look in webmail’s Contacts or Preferences for an export option; if there isn’t one, save the addresses you cannot lose.
5. Change your email address on the accounts that matter while the old address still receives their confirmation emails: your bank, Revenue, insurers, utilities, your doctor or pharmacy, Apple, Google or Microsoft accounts, and the shops you use.
6. Tell people your new address, starting with the ones who would never think to ask.
7. Keep an eye on the old inbox for a few weeks for anything you missed.
8. Only then cancel, from the account management page in your eir webmail. Do it near the end of a paid month, since eir gives no refund.

// WORTH KNOWING

Three things that catch people out

Sending from an email program. eir’s outgoing server, mail1.eircom.net, is listed for eir broadband customers only. If your broadband is with someone else, you may be able to receive in Outlook or Thunderbird but not send. Webmail still works.

Nothing forwards afterwards. Once the account closes, mail to your old address does not reach you anywhere. Anything still using it — a password reset, a renewal reminder — simply disappears. That is why changing your address on important accounts comes before cancelling.

Copy before, not after. eir says cancelling ends access to your sent and received emails. Do not count on getting them back once the account has gone.