The easiest way to have control of your email is probably to buy a domain name (such as example.com) and then use this on an account from an independent email provider.

If you're ever unhappy with a provider, you can switch to a different one without changing your email address because the domain still belongs to you.

There are lots of independent email providers, all of them let you use your own domain. For example @Tutanota, @fastmail and @protonmail are very popular.

#GrowYourOwn

@homegrown a bonus tip from someone who’s done this: be conscious of your custom domain’s extension. A lot of validation won’t accept newer endings. My .computer gets rejected depressingly often.

@briantific

Good point, thanks!

If a domain works on one email provider, is there a chance it won't work on another provider? Or is it an "all or nothing" situation?

@homegrown oh sorry - I mean using it day to day filling out forms for accounts, stores - stuff like that. No trouble on the provider side (protonmail)!

@briantific

Ahh, gotcha! Okay, so slightly older TLDs might work better as services have had time to notice their existence?

@homegrown sounds reasonably probable but I don’t have any personal experience with anything but .com and .computer