Changing hosting and email

How to minimize email downtime?

[JerryOdom]

I'll be changing the hosting of a domain name and I want to reduce the amount of email down time to as little as possible. Right now the plan is to setup my pop3 settings with both host settings, switch the dns and one should stop working when the other picks up. Has anyone ever done this before and does this sound like the right approach?

[lammert]

Yes, this is the right approach. Many email servers cache MX records much longer than the TTL time that is set in the DNS entries so be prepared to receive email for at least a day or maybe longer on the old POP3 account, even if you had a short TTL lifetime for the MX record. So for a short period of time you have to check both pop3 accounts just to be sure you won't miss a message.