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Message |
    
algebra2
Supporter
Username: Algebra2
Post Number: 3766
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - 12:08 pm: |     |
what is the best company to use for email? We want to get rid of AOL for email. |
AlleyGater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 838
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - 12:30 pm: | |
Well, you got Google and Yahoo.
Take your pick. Although, I think you need to be invited into Google's Mail network, but just ask for an invite and I promise you LOTS of people will offer you an account. It's free.
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Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 8972
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - 1:00 pm: | |
Best depends, of course, on your criteria. A lot of people like gmail, though. I switched to it a few months ago. I don't use it for all my mail, but I use it a lot. I think it's pretty good.
Whatever you use, don't use an email service tied to an ISP, i.e. the company that gives you connectivity at home, because you're likely to change that, and then you'll have to change your address. So I recommend against comcast and verizon. Verizon's email is also lousy, another reason to stay away.
I sent you a gmail invitation so you can try it.
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Earlster
Supporter
Username: Earlster
Post Number: 1258
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - 2:07 pm: | |
Or register a domain, for example with http://www.1and1.com They have a $0.99 a month e-mail service, which includes a couple of mailboxes and aliases.
algebra2.net is still available as a domain.
That way you can be pretty sure that this is the last time you ever changed your e-mail address. |
Rick B
Citizen
Username: Ruck1977
Post Number: 846
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2005 - 4:26 pm: | |
alegrab2, use gmail...its differnt, but once you get used to it, its pretty good. from my personal experience, they filter out a lot of the spam i get, and do a pretty good job. |
Arsenal
Citizen
Username: Arsenal
Post Number: 17
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 8:08 am: | |
Why do you need to be invited to join gmail? Is this a marketing strategy to make it seem exclusive? |
sac
Supporter
Username: Sac
Post Number: 2502
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 8:51 am: | |
Main downside of gmail is that they do not support distribution lists, so if that is important to you, it probably won't satisfy. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 9005
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 9:36 am: | |
The requirement to invitation might add a little cache, but I think it's mainly so the service rolls out evenly, without millions of people signing up at once. And I think that's working. Invitations used to be scarce. Now I always have 50 to give out. When I use one, they replenish it for me soon.
Gmail gives a good bit of space for storage. They want to show off their searching ability, so they make it hard to delete mail. They want you to keep your mail. Right now, you get 2483 MB, and it's constantly increasing.
Oh, there's hotmail out there, and a lot of people seem to like it, but I was never enthralled.
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TomD
Citizen
Username: Tomd
Post Number: 136
Registered: 5-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 10:33 am: | |
The most flexible option is to use a mail forwarding service (there are some free ones out there and many colleges offer free mail forwarding for alumni), that way you can change your mail provider whenever you want (Yahoo, gmail, hotmail, whatever) and you never have to worry about what email you use because you always have a permanent address, e.g., I generally use my @alum.syraucse.edu email address. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 9010
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 10:41 am: | |
I use one of those, and perhaps I pay too much. I use pobox.com which offers lots of options. Whenever I have a complaint or question, I email them, and they email me back with help. What a concept!
If I could get gmail to let me forge my outgoing address so that mail I send appeared to come from noglider@pobox.com, I'd start using gmail for all of my incoming mail.
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sac
Supporter
Username: Sac
Post Number: 2508
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 11:01 am: | |
The concern I have about mail forwarding is that if the spammers get hold of that address, then you've lost the advantage ... either having to put up with the spam forever or having to change the address again anyway. So, I've never signed up with a forwarding service although I definitely could take advantage of the one available through my alma mater's alumni association and probably others as well. |
sac
Supporter
Username: Sac
Post Number: 2509
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 11:07 am: | |
Re Hotmail and Yahoo ... I have used both and prefer Yahoo, but it is probably a matter of which features matter to you. For example, Hotmail annoys me because you have to explicitly indicate on each message if you want to save the message in sent items. You can't set this up as a default in a configuration option anywhere. Possibly a minor nit for many people, but it drives me batty because I always want my sent mail so that I have a record of what I said. Hotmail also seems to have some strange behavior related to setting up new folders and moving messages into them, although it ultimately works. Finally, Hotmail seems to have capacity issues at times when I just can't get on at all or if I get on, I can't send a message out. I really haven't had any of those kinds of problems with Yahoo, but I'm sure that there are some confirmed Hotmail users around who have similar nits to pick about Yahoo. |
AlleyGater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 863
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 11:45 am: | |
Datapimp does email forwarding for FREE. They have TONS of hilarious(ly offensive) domains to choose from.
That is where I got my username@f**koff.com address. I HIGHLY reccomend that you take a look at the domains you can choose from because they are all extremely imaginative and funny. Did I mention it's free? |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 9015
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 11:49 am: | |
I've seen that. It's a really big list of names I wouldn't want in my email address. I bet it's effective at keeping their customer base small. Then again, lots of people think that if anything goes beyond social norms, it is therefore clever.
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Eric
Citizen
Username: Ericactive
Post Number: 18
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 11:57 am: | |
gmail still requires an invite since it is still in testing (beta) phase. Google is still adding features. When it's out of beta it probably will no longer require an invite. Google doesn't even link to gmail from it's own site.
gmail is great for keep track of threads and sending/receiving large files. I think it's the best web based email service out there. |
AlleyGater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 866
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 3:27 pm: | |
Tom, I'm a bit scared to see what your list of "social norms" is made up of.
I don't know what to tell ya. Datapimp has some funny domains to choose from. Not all of them are as offensive as JesusIsDead-GetOverIt.com, Crack-Whore.net and Kiss-My-Big-Black-•••.com. Some of them are relatively benign like GodlikeButHumble.com, 40-ounce.com and BadGirlsRule.com. Personally a few swear words don't bother me really. I chose mine because I wanted to make a statement. When I give out f*ckoff.com to companies I REALLY MEAN IT. I don't give that email address to anyone else other than spammers really, but I do gladly give it to them. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 9036
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 3:30 pm: | |
It doesn't offend me. I just find it unimaginative. Maybe I'm just hard to amuse. As I think Seinfeld says, if you have to curse, you're probably missing out on an opportunity to express yourself creatively.
Of course, there are creative uses of curse words. They are less common than the usual uses.
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