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Shutdown

@Unison.ie shut down this week and users say they weren't notified

Digiweb who hosted the @unison.ie servers say that previous owners INM informed users as far back as 2007 that the service would eventually end, something which happened this month.

USERS OF EMAIL service @unison.ie are complaining of being left high and dry after the service was discontinued earlier this week.

Users who contacted TheJournal.ie have said that when attempting to access their accounts they received an error message simply saying “server is not responding”.

The @unison.ie email was a free service provided with the Unison set top box from a Chorus/Internet Ireland joint venture in 2000.

Digiweb, who now own Internet Ireland, have confirmed that the servers hosting the service have run to end of life and they will not be repaired.

Digiweb say that this plan was flagged as far back as 2007 when Unison.ie was operated by Indepdendent News & Media. They say that at the time INM advised users that support for the service was being withdrawn and would run until the servers failed but not after.

Digiweb acquired Internet Ireland, and with in the @unison.ie legacy servers, in 2010 and say that the original plan was kept in place until this month when the severs failed.

This has not satisfied some users of the @unison.ie email however, they have complained that no notice was given that the accounts were to about to go.

According to one user, when they contacted Digiweb to find out why the service had been cut without notice they were informed that: “Digiweb emailed everyone six years ago to tell them that Unison.ie would not longer be supported”.

The user says they have asked for an emailed copy of this notification but have not yet received such confirmation. A request was also made to Digiweb to continue the service for another 30 days to allow users to migrate to another account, this was refused according to the user:

As you can imagine, it is a major problem for people like me to have to contact everyone and tell them that their email address no longer works, not to mention the various websites providing membership services where it is the primary contact,Facebook, Meetup.com, Amazon etc.

Other @unison.ie email holders have taken to the discussion forum Boards.ie to search for a remedy, with some suggesting that Digiweb attempt to put a system in place to forward emails onto new accounts.

This would seem highly unlikely however with the server already having failed.

Read: @ireland.com email users slam ‘disgraceful’ decision to end service >

Read: Tourism Ireland buys ‘Ireland.com’ URL from The Irish Times >

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