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)
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)