What Email serive provider do you use? Any concerns about switching down the road?

Thread Starter

RogueRose

Joined Oct 10, 2014
375
I have email with a number of providers because I have personal account(s) and business accounts & service provider accts. I've watched the progression of email services over the years and as they added features like "cloud file storage" they also often ripped out a lot of functionality of the webmail platforms which make many companies popular in the first place. Frustrating!

I'm a little concerned about using free email due to the TOS that is required for use and their possible cooperation with marketers and gov agencies. The nice thing about these services is that they most likely will remain available unless the company goes bankrupt (& someone would buy it then I would think).

The email accts provided with services like Internet service is nice because it is usually free with your service and you have some protection with a business contract. The thing is that people change services sometimes and then you have to deal with changing addresses (my last provider gave 1 year of forwarding after leaving).

Email from a yearly subscription such as Office seems to be a decent idea. I'm sure there are other companies doing this as well but some times the prices can be a little high considering somethig similar if not the same can be gotten for free (but it had the problems I mentioned).

The last option that I can think of is private email addresses for domains you own. I like these the most for ease of use and flexibility but it comes with a lot of responsibility depending upon the method of hosting. This is a good option until you decide that you don't want the site any more and you are stuck with email addresses that will be dead when you stop paying.


So, has anyone come up with a solution that solves these problems or at least solves your problems? Is there anything in an email service that you would like to see? Tell us what you use (Free, ISP, yearly subscription like Outlook, or self hosted)
 

BReeves

Joined Nov 24, 2012
410
Get your own domain, no need for a web site if you don't care to mess with it, just use the email service. Look at sites like maybe GoDaddy and Hostgator. Search for the least expensive domain you can get. With your own site you have complete control over your email accounts, create and delete as needed.
 

JohnInTX

Joined Jun 26, 2012
4,787
Get your own domain, no need for a web site if you don't care to mess with it, just use the email service. Look at sites like maybe GoDaddy and Hostgator. Search for the least expensive domain you can get. With your own site you have complete control over your email accounts, create and delete as needed.
+1 That's what I do. Even though I don't maintain the website (it says 'Coming Soon' and has for 10 years) I like my local guy and I can call him 24/7 with issues. I also maintain several email accounts including one for shopping (since everyone I've ever spent a buck with wants to send me daily emails), one for technical newsletters that I might want to read, one for actual client-business and one for family.
 

Thread Starter

RogueRose

Joined Oct 10, 2014
375
The problem with domains is you are at the mercy of the hosting company to keep using the same software for webmail or the server back-end. If they switch from Linux to Windows servers or vica-versa, that can be a problem or if they change email software the webmail can be totally different (I've had 3 different webmail front-ends b/c of 3 different sofware changes with one host).

Anyway, thank for the responses!
 

BReeves

Joined Nov 24, 2012
410
The problem with domains is you are at the mercy of the hosting company to keep using the same software for webmail or the server back-end. If they switch from Linux to Windows servers or vica-versa, that can be a problem or if they change email software the webmail can be totally different (I've had 3 different webmail front-ends b/c of 3 different sofware changes with one host).

Anyway, thank for the responses!
That makes no sense to me at all. I have had a domain for 18 years and have switched hosts 3 times without having to jump through too many hoops. Outlook Express and Live Mail have always worked and web mail is just a matter of getting familiar with the interface.
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
I have an ISP account, my own domains (2), a couple of free accounts and a 3rd party cloud account.

The ISP account is for my personal e-mail, the 3rd party is my work email, the free accounts are basically for access to the source's services and my domains are for personal career related (job boards et.al.) e-mail.

I work for an MSP (outsourced IT provider) and we recommend 3rd party E-mail providers for our clients. Intermedia is the provider.

Maintenance is included, e-mail scanning for spam and malware is included and so is encrypted e-mail for those clients who need it. It is the best choice for small to medium businesses.
 

eetech00

Joined Jun 8, 2013
3,859
If you are concerned with privacy and control of your email content, pay for a third party email service.
Do not use a free email service (like gmail or yahoo) where you don't have any control whatsoever (even though they like to make you think you do). I've had my third party email service for about 15 years with no issues.

The ultimate service is running/administering your own email server which allows you complete control over email stored, sent and received.
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
If you are concerned with privacy and control of your email content, pay for a third party email service.
Do not use a free email service (like gmail or yahoo) where you don't have any control whatsoever (even though they like to make you think you do). I've had my third party email service for about 15 years with no issues.

The ultimate service is running/administering your own email server which allows you complete control over email stored, sent and received.
I agree, but with one important caveat. Running your own email server requires specific skills, above and beyond running a typical file and print server. If you are lacking in those skills, you cannot enjoy the benefits. Backing up the mail server is more difficult. Locking out malicious use of the mail server is more difficult. Etc...

That is when using a 3rd party service pays for itself.

dj
 

eetech00

Joined Jun 8, 2013
3,859
I agree, but with one important caveat. Running your own email server requires specific skills, above and beyond running a typical file and print server. If you are lacking in those skills, you cannot enjoy the benefits. Backing up the mail server is more difficult. Locking out malicious use of the mail server is more difficult. Etc...

That is when using a 3rd party service pays for itself.

dj
Agreed. But I didn't say running your own email server was easy.;)

It wouldn't be a problem for me though since I do this sort of stuff for a living.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,846
The email accts provided with services like Internet service is nice because it is usually free with your service and you have some protection with a business contract. The thing is that people change services sometimes and then you have to deal with changing addresses (my last provider gave 1 year of forwarding after leaving).
I've been lucky. My ISP was AT&T in the 90's. When they dropped dial-up service (only option in my rural area), I was able to keep my email address which is now serviced by Yahoo. I've had the same email address for over 20 years and I just need to protect it from spammers and the like.

I have several email addresses I use for public forums and Yahoo lets me generate disposable addresses that I can ignore if they start getting too much SPAM.

I also use Gmail and have a retiree email address from the last company I worked for. I have all of my active email addresses forwarded to my AT&T address.
 

crutschow

Joined Mar 14, 2008
34,285
I started with a dial-up free Juno email as my very first account (well before any internet connection) and have been with them every since.
The send me a little spam occasionally that I can't block, but there spam blocker works well for everything else and otherwise they've served my purpose.
It keeps all my emails in the cloud so I can readily access them from any computer.

I also have an email account through my internet provider (Time-Warner) using Outlook, but I seldom use it since the emails aren't kept in the cloud once I read them.
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
Agreed. But I didn't say running your own email server was easy.;)

It wouldn't be a problem for me though since I do this sort of stuff for a living.
I also "do this sort of stuff" for a living.

I understand and generally agree with everything you have said. I think the only area in which we see things differently is in the definition of "ultimate". Ultimate, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. You may think that an F1 Racer is the ultimate driving machine. Since I can't drive one, I would think of another vehicle, perhaps even an 18-wheeler as the ultimate vehicle. This choice is like running your own e-mail service. If like the two of us, a person can configure the application and the network, run the mail application, protect it from failure, maintain its many components (patch, log file, malware protection, storage, archival, compliance management) and WANT to do all this - then a private e-mail server may be that ultimate. If that person does not have the skills or desire to attend to any component, then it may NOT be the ultimate for him/her.
 

eetech00

Joined Jun 8, 2013
3,859
I also "do this sort of stuff" for a living.

I understand and generally agree with everything you have said. I think the only area in which we see things differently is in the definition of "ultimate". Ultimate, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. You may think that an F1 Racer is the ultimate driving machine. Since I can't drive one, I would think of another vehicle, perhaps even an 18-wheeler as the ultimate vehicle. This choice is like running your own e-mail service. If like the two of us, a person can configure the application and the network, run the mail application, protect it from failure, maintain its many components (patch, log file, malware protection, storage, archival, compliance management) and WANT to do all this - then a private e-mail server may be that ultimate. If that person does not have the skills or desire to attend to any component, then it may NOT be the ultimate for him/her.
I appreciate your comments and agree...but without this becoming a long drawn out thread, I'll clarify.
When I said "ultimate", I mean in terms of privacy and control.
I would not debate that it doesn't take certain skills and resources to run you own email server.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,087
I still have my original freebie UUCP bang path host in a local invite only access domain from 1990 run by what's now http://www.verio.com/ with my own SMTP server with virus, spam scanning interfaced with dovecot for mailboxes.

I agree with most here, register a domain if you want long term email with total control.
 
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