I'm trying my best to be understanding under the circumstances, but I've been bleating on about this happening for more than three years now and have spent much of that time trying to get people to switch to some other mail service.
There must come a time when, no matter how much you are attached to the nostalgia and familiarity of a thing, it is time to let go. Even that old car gets sent to scrap when your feet are rubbing on the ground as you drive along. All things must pass.
Rubbish
My fondness for the manx.net email platform is very different from that of anyone else. I earn so much from helping people to keep it working that I'll actually be sorry to see it go. Well, I'll be sorry to see the income from it go, at least.
Frankly, for the last ten years or so, the service from MT for this part of their business has been abysmal. It's not just bad, it's bloody awful. In an ill-advised push to get everyone to use a web-based interface, they have neglected the support for POP3 and IMAP users on home computers and basically disowned them. Indeed, they probably only keep IMAP working for their thousands of mobile-phone users.
The Offer
So, for basically £80 per year, they will allow you to keep your email address and continue to use it with the same service provider - something new called Jumara that appears to have been created specifically to be a new brand. The backbone is provided by ATMAIL who are apparently respected in the field of providing email services to entities like MT. Sadly, they don't seem to be highly rated - https://au.trustpilot.com/review/www.atmail.com.
Some of the reviews hit home hard. Servers randomly down for indeterminate periods sounds eerily familiar.
Perhaps the oddest thing about all of this is that they are starting to sell this new service as a step forward at a point where the POP3 and IMAP servers are actually down for many people. They would apparently have been better to have taken manx.net out the back and quietly despatched it!
The Alternatives?
Well, whatever you do, don't go with their ridiculous offer. There are countless alternatives and options out there. Changing your email isn't as bad as you might think and it can be a good chance to get rid of all that stuff that you're subscribed to but never read.
If you already have a GMAIL, HOTMAIL/LIVE/OUTLOOK, ICLOUD or YAHOO address, then perhaps just keep on using that. If you don't, then these are good options for switching.
Slightly less well-known are providers like PROTON or MAIL.COM. Do a search for "FREE EMAIL PROVIDERS" and take a look at the many options out there.
Finally - and not as complex as you might think - is the creation of your own email accounts on a domain of your choosing. Almost any website hosting company will offer unlimited email addresses and massive amounts of storage when you buy a domain name. They can offer full functionality for a fraction of the cost. I pay less than £40 per year for my david@dkinrade.com address with FREEOLA.
The Bottom Line
Don't get caught by the trap.
YOU HAVE TIME TO THINK ABOUT THIS
You do not have to stick with manx.net just because it is familiar. They are too expensive and far too unreliable to be worth hanging on to.
Explore the alternatives - this is what searching the internet is for.
Shout if you need help. There are always options and I'm happy to chat. I'll even try and avoid all the jargon and keep it in English!