Own domain
If email is important to you, then you should always own your own domain. Then it's under your control, and so long as you keep paying the registration fees every year it won't be taken away.
If you're using someone else's domain not only do you usually end up with a stupid username because everything sensible will already be taken, but you also are subject to the whims of the provider who could at any time decide to shut off the service.
If you own your own domain then its portable between providers, or you can even host your own - a cheap virtual server or a raspberry pi running at home (assuming you have a home internet service with static ip) will be more than adequate for personal email hosting.
Perhaps someone should sell PIs preconfigured for this purpose.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
