Switching hosts without email downtime

I just started reselling hosting and still have some stuff to learn.
I have a client wanting to switch hosting to me. He uses his POP3 email account frequently so it can't have any downtime. I don't know a whole lot about POP3 email, so I'm not sure how to get this transition to go as smoothly as possible email-wise.

The simplest way to do this is simply to setup your clients website on your servers before you change the nameservers, then have the client continue to check their old webmail as well as the new webmail during the transition. During the 24-48 hours while the nameservers propagate they will receive their e-mail as usual, either from their old account or the new account with you.

hope this helps,

Thanks, but I still don't quite understand. So they would technically just have two accounts with the same email address? I don't understand how the client could set that up (on Outlook or something) if they would be exactly the same.

Hi,

Hope this will answer your question in detail.

Most web hosts provide some form of email access to their customers. If your previous web host allowed you to receive email addressed to a user at your domain (such as
abc@my.domain or xyz@my.domain) and your new web host also offers this service, you will need to create an email account on your new web host for each of the email accounts on
your old web host.

For example, if you received email to the addresses abc123@my.domain and xy12@my.domain with your old web host, you should arrange to have email accounts named “abc123” and “xy12” created with your new web host. Your new web host can advise you on how to go about this.

The reason for doing this is because within a short period of time after you have transferred your domain, email will stop being directed to your old web host, and will instead get
directed to your new web host. If your new web host is not configured to accept mail at the same addresses as your old web host, the email may not be able to be delivered, and will
be returned to the sender. Configuring your new email accounts in advance of transferring your domain name allows you to avoid this situation, and ensures that no mail is lost.

If your site makes use of any mail autoresponders, forwarders or aliases, it is a good idea to set these up on your new account now. This ensures that when your domain is transferred,
your email will continue to function as normal. If you are unsure of how to go about doing this, your new web host should be able to provide you with more information.

After transferring your domain, it is advisable to check email accounts at both your old web host and your new web host for at least the next twenty-four hours.

Your old and new web hosts will be able to provide you with IP addresses you can use to check your mail while your domain is being transferred.

Thank you very much! I think I've got it now
So if they go and set up their email accounts in the control panel, then set them up in Outlook in addition to their old ones, mail will never fail to be received during the nameserver changing process? It just might be on the old account until the nameservers have changed, then the mail will be stored on my server.