How to upgrade your Hotmail account to 250MB

ElNino · 31-12-2004 5:20am #1

In ten easy steps, which will take only a few minutes, you get 250mb extra storage room!

This worked for me but backup your e-mails and addresses first in case anything goes wrong.

1:
Log in to hotmail and go into ‘Options’

2:
Go to the submenu “my profile’ and choose from the dropdown-menu/fill in the following:
Country: United States
State: Florida
Zipcode: 33332

(make sure the birthdate is set to a date/year which indicates that you are older than 13!!)

3:
Save the information and go back to the ‘Options’ screen

4:
Go to the ‘Language’ submenu

5:
Change the language to ‘English’ and save that information

6:
Click on this link
http://www.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/accountclose

If that didn't work try this
http://by17fd.bay17.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/Accountclose

or this
http://memberservices.passport.net/memberservice.srf?lc%2043

and press ‘Continue’ until you arrive to the ‘Close Accounts’ screen

ATTN Backup your e-mails and/or addresses just to be sure!!

7:
Now press ‘Close Account’ (your account will NOT be lost!! Read the following steps if you don’t believe me )

8:
Now go back to hotmail.com and log in with your old e-mail address and password

9:
Now you will get a message that your ‘Reserved Account’ has been activated.

DONE!

Or not? :mad:

Your ‘Inbox’ is now 25mb instead of the former 2mb or the 250mb I promised you.
If all went right, your e-mails and addresses will all still be there!

But why 25mb you ask?

You get an e-mail from hotmail.com:

You may notice that your storage meter for your e-mail inbox only says 25 MB instead of 250 MB. Please allow us at least 30 days for us to bump up your storage to the complete 250 MB.**** It is important to check your inbox regularly during this time.

This means that you’ll have an account for 25mb (still a lot more that 2, right?!) for about 30 days. Microsoft will bump it up to 250mb after that!

10:

Make sure you’ll keep the language, country, etc. settings as they are now.
After /Microsoft/hotmail bumps the 25mb to 250mb, you can change everything back to as it was (the language you prefer!).

So don’t forget to regularly check your Inbox.
And don’t forget: This does NOT mean you have an unlimited account!!
Your account will still be subject to deactivation after being idle for 30 days!

RobertFoster · 31-12-2004 5:27am

lol, excellent

more room for spam now

iganokage · 31-12-2004 3:19pm

cooooool, ty elnino

was annoyed that my cousin in england was upgraded and id been using hotmail for 4 yrs or somethin... moved to gmail but still get the odd thing to the hotmail inbox

this helps anyways

how did u find out how to do it?

Cabaal · 31-12-2004 4:00pm

Worked for me
Only have 1 mail in the a/c I sent to it before going through the steps
went from 2MB to 25MB

Did'ent loose the mail in the inbox
nice man, thanks
gf will be happy when I sort her A/C later

[EDIT]
Just did it on two accounts, worked perfectly without ANY data loss

Screenshots to prove it

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

feylya · 31-12-2004 4:10pm

Excellent stuff. 25mb

BTW, a handy way to back up all your Hotmail emails is to use Outlook Express. It has built in Hotmail support.

joe. · 31-12-2004 4:13pm

good one

didn't bother to backup emails. they were all still there

^whitey^ · 31-12-2004 4:29pm

Cool I wasnt arsed to back up my emails eithier and it worked.
Cheers ElNino

Skybird · 31-12-2004 4:30pm

Same here, thanks.

skywalker · 31-12-2004 4:36pm

or you could just change your location to northern ireland and the a/c will be upgraded to 250mb in about a week.

radiospan · 31-12-2004 4:37pm

Horay! Thanks for that ElNino.

I didn't lose my emails either.

nessa · 31-12-2004 4:38pm

Worked for me too. That's briliant. Thanks.

seamus · 31-12-2004 4:41pm

^whitey^ wrote:

Cool I wasnt arsed to back up my emails eithier and it worked.
Cheers ElNino

Same here...

n1

halkar · 31-12-2004 4:42pm

Nice xmas pressie ElNino.
Thanks a mil

Tech Overhaul · 31-12-2004 4:46pm

Worked great. Thanks

ElNino · 31-12-2004 5:47pm

iganokage wrote:

cooooool, ty elnino

how did u find out how to do it?

I found this on Filesoup. I didn't quote the source as I am not sure if that was the original source.

skywalker wrote:

or you could just change your location to northern ireland and the a/c will be upgraded to 250mb in about a week

I changed my location to the UK about a month ago and nothing happened. This method is 100% guaranteed to work.

JackKelly · 31-12-2004 6:43pm

lolol, legend. Worked for me also.

Stoopid MSN

Shrimp · 31-12-2004 6:51pm

didn't work for me.. should i be signed into msn messenger while doing this?

hshortt · 31-12-2004 6:53pm

Excellent ;-)

ElNino · 31-12-2004 7:12pm

Shrimp wrote:

didn't work for me.. should i be signed into msn messenger while doing this?

I don't have MSN Messenger on my PC so no.

CJhaughey · 01-01-2005 12:30am

Mucho Gracias ElNino

bbbbb · 01-01-2005 4:59pm

but don't want to mess up my e-mails/contacts. I tried using outlook express to back up (never used before), got:

Could not connect to Hotmail as username@hotmail.com.

Hotmail no longer allows email access via Outlook Express for free email accounts

(see http://www.hotmail.com/oe)

Any other ideas on an easy way to back up contacts and e-mails?

Mr. Fancypants · 01-01-2005 5:12pm

Thanks for that. Worked perfectly. Fed up deleting mail constantly!

bbbbb · 01-01-2005 7:58pm

made a copy of my contacts, took the plunge & looks like it's worked! Now have 25MB and all e-mails still present.

Thanks.

M@lice · 01-01-2005 8:50pm

SWEEEEEET!!! Cheers for that guide. Worked a charm! Didn't bother backing up but didn't lose anything in the end.

Is this yet another example of ireland getting the short end of the stick?

Oh and ofter its upgraded to 250mb can i change my location back to ireland or is it just the language i can change, not that it really matters.

radiospan · 01-01-2005 8:53pm

I did this yesterday and I got 25MB.

I checked again this morning and I've been upgraded to 250MB already!

iMax · 01-01-2005 9:18pm

Excellent ! Did it & it works. Many thanks.

Töpher · 01-01-2005 10:19pm

Brilliant!
Thanking you!

Duffman · 02-01-2005 1:14am

Excellent, do this!

SoBe · 02-01-2005 1:41am

thanks a mill,worked a charm here

ct5amr2ig1nfhp · 02-01-2005 1:51pm

Worked a treat. Thanks very much.

Didn't bother with any backup, didn't loose anything. Its all good.

They're very slow upgrading everyone from 2mb. :rolleyes:

ambrose :cool:

Shrimp · 02-01-2005 1:54pm

Didn't work.. got gmail tho, :rolleyes:

RicardoSmith · 02-01-2005 2:09pm

bbbbb wrote:

but don't want to mess up my e-mails/contacts. I tried using outlook express to back up (never used before), got:

Could not connect to Hotmail as username@hotmail.com.

Hotmail no longer allows email access via Outlook Express for free email accounts

(see http://www.hotmail.com/oe)

Any other ideas on an easy way to back up contacts and e-mails?

Outlook itself from version 2002 allows you to connect to Hotmail. I've been doing this for a while just to keep an eye on my hotmail. Though to be honest Hotmail or any web based mail system is such a pain compared to a proper POP3 account that I rarely use Hotmail anymore. The Outlook <> Hotmail connectivity isn't very good and I often have problems with it. Hotmail is handy as a backup account though.

One advantage of using Outlook is that you can use local PST file to archive all your email and it means you can back it up or read it on another machine. Other than that I hate outlook. Pity theres nothing better. Never liked all the alternatives myself.

Good tip about the hotmail upgrade though! Cheers!

elexes · 02-01-2005 2:22pm

Shrimp wrote:

Didn't work.. got gmail tho, :rolleyes:

did u copy and paist the urls ? try that it didnt work first time for me so i retried and worked first time

garthv · 02-01-2005 2:29pm

only the 3rd link there worked for me but it still worked,nice one:)

Shrimp · 02-01-2005 2:29pm

elexes wrote:

did u copy and paist the urls ? try that it didnt work first time for me so i retried and worked first time

What you mean?

Makaveli · 02-01-2005 5:44pm

Oh dear, make sure you input an age over 13.
I forgot to and the amount of God damn hassle to get it fixed is unreal. They even demand a credit card number to verify you're an adult.
If there wasn't so much stuff tied to the account I'd have just left it.

Dempsey · 02-01-2005 6:09pm

It worked, just got 25Mb, waiting for the 250Mb now...

By any chance is that ZIP code Bill Gates's house or something?

kirn · 02-01-2005 8:37pm

this worked a treat.
too lazy to backup my addresses and e-mails, but they were still there waiting for me!

thanks a lot!

Mimikyu · 02-01-2005 10:38pm

This post has been deleted.

RicardoSmith · 02-01-2005 11:55pm

How do you backup/manage hotmail address'es and email?

galwaydude18 · 03-01-2005 1:27am

Excellent Info! Worked A Treat For Me! Didn't Bother Backin Up Emails And They Are Still There!

Dempsey · 03-01-2005 2:51am

The 25Mb is now standard, and the 250Mb after 30 days is standard now also for new accounts. Closing and reactivating is a loop hole for old accounts.

unklerosco · 03-01-2005 11:30pm

Worked no probs for me...

Nala · 06-01-2005 1:24pm

Didn't work for me. Said I'd have to contact Hotmail if I want to close my account.
I'm still on 2mb.

PowerHouseDan · 06-01-2005 1:49pm

Got topped up with 250mb last night

ArthurG · 06-01-2005 2:20pm

Nala wrote:

Didn't work for me. Said I'd have to contact Hotmail if I want to close my account.
I'm still on 2mb.

Thats correct - you just click on 'Contact Hotmail' or whatever it says, and continue form there. At least thats what I did, and it works fine.

joseph stalin · 11-01-2005 11:48am

Why would you bother with all this when you can just use gmail and get 1GB of space for free?

Chad ghostal · 11-01-2005 12:07pm

joseph stalin wrote:

Why would you bother with all this when you can just use
gmail and get 1GB of space for free?

Because everyone i know uses this email for me..

THanks ElNino

JackieChan · 11-01-2005 5:01pm

Is anyone finding that every second day or so that they log on that they are advised that their account is reserved for them and they have to go through the process of registering the account.
All the emails are still there though.

bdiddy · 11-01-2005 5:51pm

Cheers ElNino....excellent stuff.

voakesy · 11-01-2005 7:42pm

thanx man, worked for me

How to upgrade your Hotmail account to 250MB

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