Yes, BTinternet addresses can be retained when you change ISP and as long as you log-in to the account at least once a month the address stays active at no further cost to you. I know this because BT was my first ISP and I moved from them a few years back. The account still works for me without any problem - apart from the volume of spam increasing over the years, but they have a good spam filter.

After a bit of searching on the BT forums it looks like you can but will have to pay a monthly fee for your e mail accounts. Procedure (taken from a BT forum answer):

1 BT Broadband ceases.

2 Enter 90 day "grace period".

3 After about a fortnight from BB ending up to the end of the grace period you can call 0800 633 5335 and pick option 3. That gets you into setting up a DD for the mail addresses you still want. £1.54 monthly per e-mail address.

Best bet is to move everyone to a gmail (or similar) e mail address and then you'll never have the problem again.

I want to get a cheaper broadband connection BUT but want to retain then same e-mail address. Can I retain the address xxxxxxx@bt.internet.com which has a BT extension without using BT as the broadband provider