Just one thought (I'm not sure it's feasible, but I think it is). If I have no Google Play/other things to buy, why shouldn't I be able to: * setup MX record w

Just one thought (I'm not sure it's feasible, but I think it is). If I have no Google Play/other things to buy, why shouldn't I be able to: * setup MX record with another provider (many domain register offer that as a commodity, e.g. I think Gandi does) * setup mail forwarding to my private @gmail.com account * in my private gmail, setup username@mydomain.com as an alias. Everything should work. It may take a bit of time for the migration... but gmail.com usage with another domain should not be a real issue.