Which email provider to switch to?

[Temporary Saint]

I've always used my ISP's email address as my primary email. I will be moving at the end of the summer, outside my ISP's coverage area, so I will lose that address. I've been using Hotmail for years as a secondary address, but the rest of my family will need new addresses, and I'm not sure I want to stay with Hotmail. There are well-documented attachment loss issues, low attachment size limits, and over-aggressive spam filtering. I don't want to go to Gmail. I just don't have a good feeling using Google products. Call me paranoid if you like. How about Yahoo mail? Fastmail? Any others?

Steve

[viking777]

Well two things. When you move, you will presumably be using another isp, so they will presumably give you another email account, so can't you just use that?

Secondly most providers allow you to create and use more than one email address, so if you feel 'safe' with Hotmail then just create other accounts for your other family members.

The distinction between Hotmail and Gmail is like the saying "I feel safer with a murdering psycopath than with a psycopathic murderer". They are all out to fleece you so what is to choose between them? In my opinion the only thing to choose it that Google's services are vastly superior to anyone else's so why not enjoy it while they rip you off, cause you are going to get ripped off either way.

[Temporary Saint]

Well, I never thought of it that way! But like I mentioned before, there is an attachment loss issue with Hotmail. I've gotten several messages, even from other Hotmail users, with missing attachments, although I haven't had that problem in a while so maybe they are getting better.

The reason I don't want to use an ISP's email is that I don't want to be tied down to a provider based on geography. I've already switched ISP's without moving due to their trying to strong-arm subscribers into paying for services they didn't want.

Anyway, that's one vote for Gmail so far..

Steve

[AlbertP]

About Yahoo, they used to blacklist certain browsers or show unsupported/untested warnings on Linux, for example with Google Chrome, leaving you with the Classic e-mail instead of the normal one. But that's probably changed. It's a year ago that I installed Linux at a Yahoo user.

You can send/receive huge attachments (25MB) at yahoo, but you have to pay if you want to use an e-mail program instead of webmail.

[tdockery97]

I've used both GMail and Yahoo! Mail for over six years and never had a problem with either one. As far as preference, I use GMail the most.

[sunewbie]

I prefer to use Gmail. It has both POP3 and IMAP. So incase you want to sync, it can be done. I have my own domain name (company email id), which I had shifted through Gmail

So I have to open gmail.com and type info@mycompanyname.com and enter password. I can access my email online. I also have set up POP3 access. In order to sync, use IMAP so that you can download it to mutiple locations

[davy51]

A few providers i have used and all are great

I have no connection to these other than personal use
All have been in operation for a long time and do work

Bluebottle
http://is.gd/ypptEp

GMAIL

http://is.gd/8clDZF

EUMX

http://is.gd/GSEBbK

Lavabit

http://is.gd/8W0KMI

[/dev/urandom]

Freemailers always have some major issues. The better the offer seems to be, the more problems you will get. Best example is Google Mail which reads your private mail and sells its contents to advertisers.

Set up your own mail server.
Best way to go.