November 10, 2004

Curious, George: Suggestions for email providers? Curious, George Any Suggestions for (paid) email providers?

What with Hotmail diching their POP3/download support next year I need an email provider with POP3 and web mail. I don't mind paying for a decent, reliable service. I've been thinking about going with fastmail.fm. Any monkeys use their paid service? Or can any monkeys suggest alternatives worth considering?

posted by the Gentleman Loser 20 years ago
  • Hmmm, sorry didn't realise the 'title' text repeats in the test of the post.
  • It's okay. It just makes you look double-y curious. Make sure you don't hang out with any cats.
  • I have found that the BEST way to do e/mail (for me, at least) is to establish a domain and find a hosting service that provides unlimited e/mail accounts. This allows ultimate control over the accounts, you can create them and dump them at will, have seperate accounts, give them to friends, whatever.... plus you get online storage you can use for web pages, backup, file transfer, etc. I'm using lunarpages.com....
  • I agree with HuronBob, and recommend Dreamhost. Unlimited email addresses at your domain, and a great webmail client that is also secure (https). However, if you just want a gmail account, email me ;)
  • yeah i thought this gmail was the cat's meow.
  • Gmail does POP now, I think. Haven't tested it myself. And, yes, there are invitations galor.
  • There are POP applications for gmail, yes. I haven't used them either.
  • I agree - the best email provider is your own server. Aside from getting your own domain name and the user name of your choice (as opposed to bob345q093@hotmail.com), the account is completely independent of your physical circumstances. I've gone through dozens of jobs, homes, and ISPs in the last four years, but my email address hasn't changed. It's a little more trouble, but it's like the difference between renting a car and buying one. Sure, I have to deal with taking it in for service if something goes wrong, but it's MINE.
  • Gmail's nice. And if anyone wants an invite, I've got plenty to go round.
  • If there's a sudden influx of g-mail starved people, I also have some invites--send me an e-mail.
  • I use fastmail. They do good work and are worth the money. They block virii and do some spam blocking. It is good. Running your own mail is nice and all, but is a lot of work if you want well done virus prevention and spam blocking and a nice webmail and imap and such.
  • Fastmail suits me.
  • Yes, slashdot.org has a story that gmail is rolling out pop3 support. However, like hotmail, they can always change their mind at a future point.
  • Cheers for the comments so far. The thing is I don't need a domain at the moment, and looking at some of the prices listed I could get 5 years of fastmail for the same as one year of webhosting. Thanks for the fastmail support, good to hear. jccalhoun - that's it exactly, right now gmail is okay (privacy converns aside) but there's nothing to stop google changing how it works in the future, just as hotmail have done. At least if I pay for a service this is less likely to happen. Anything else apart from fastmail I should be considering?
  • You can get a domain for £10 in the UK, and that's with catch-all forwarding as well. Could you cope with a co.uk? If so, try http://www.easily.co.uk
  • Actaully flameproof, I'm in the uk, so that wouldn't be a problem. Prices look pretty good for web hosting as well. Will bear it in mind.