The best free webbased e-mail service?

El Koeno · Nov 29, 2008

I was a long time Hotmail user. Not much complaints. But the need IMAP or POP access started to make itself ever more felt. Sure, Thunderbird could access hotmail, but I personally felt Thunderbird was quite slow. But still. I could log into their website to check my mail. That only took a few seconds, no problem. Then Hotmail decided to change their look. And I like the look. Nothing wrong with the look. It's a good thing too that it looks nice, as all I got to see the first few days was the inbox. Wherever I clicked. Nothing happened. This was in Opera. But sometimes even in IE the site was unresponsive. I also noticed that I seemed to mistype my password a lot all of a sudden. I didn't of course, hotmail just decided to ask me for my login twice.

The nice people at Hotmail allow you to forward all your e-mail to another e-mail adress. As long as it isn't at one of their competitors. Fortunately I found a way around this, and I started forwarding all my e-mail to a GMail account I had ready. The IMAP support is nice. But personally I think google is scary. They know how to manage information pretty well. Their search really is the best around. Do I really want to entrust all my information to a company that knows how to get whatever they want to know from that information? I mean I know Google is only interesed in selling ads. They don't intend to use the e-mails I receive from my friends about drunken trips in a plot to gain world domination. But still, it just doesn't feel right.

Well anyway, I found GMX.com. Also a nice service, that offers plenty of storage, IMAP and POP support... And they're German. Ever since I've seen Das Leben der Anderen (missed the ending) I trust Germans. They've learnt their lesson. Am I right that this seems to be one of the best e-mail services around? Or do you you think I should stay with GMail (or even Hotmail, they're going to offer POP support "somewhere in 2009"!)?

aimeeandbeatles · Nov 29, 2008

My choice is Gmail. It's large storage, have IMAP and POP, and it's easy to use. Plus, I prefer "tags" to folders.
I did use Hotmail until the new Windows Live Mail started screwing up everything.
I've never heard of GMX.com, but if you like it, go for it.

Till · Nov 29, 2008

I have been using GMX's services since 1998 without any major technical problems. Their TOS are pretty good. They only may use your address and email for advertising, and you can prohibit them from doing so.

alcal · Nov 30, 2008

I like msn hotmail, simply because i use their messenger programm.

Genocidicbunny · Nov 30, 2008

alcal said:
I like msn hotmail, simply because i use their messenger programm.

You dont need to be using hotmail to be using msn messenger. Ive got a hotmail account that I made solely for msn messenger. Doesnt mean I actually use said email.

El Koeno · Nov 30, 2008

stickciv said:
You dont need to be using hotmail to be using msn messenger. Ive got a hotmail account that I made solely for msn messenger. Doesnt mean I actually use said email.

I think all you need is a .net passport, for which you can use any e-mail adress, not just a @hotmail.com one. I'm not sure about that one though.

Zelig · Nov 30, 2008

El Koeno said:
I think all you need is a .net passport, for which you can use any e-mail adress, not just a @hotmail.com one. I'm not sure about that one though.

That's correct, I've never had a hotmail account for my IM use.

El Koeno · Nov 30, 2008

Been trying GMX.com out for a bit, and here are my experiences:
-No Opera support. You won't even get a crappy version of the site, it will simply not let you login. POP and IMAP support make up for this IMO, you can use Opera M2 to access your mail (it's faster anyway).
-They have a nice feature that lets you import messages from accounts at other e-mail services (like Hotmail). This is nice, but for my Hotmail messages it says "unknown sender" in the "from" field, so that's kind of useless. Again, no biggy: hotmail automatically forwards my e-mail to my GMX acoount, and if I really wanted to have my past e-mails in there I could use a Hotmail popper to download my Hotmail inbox, after which I could upload all messages to GMX. This would require some work though.
-They let you have up to 10 alternative e-mail addresses. Useless (for me), but still fun to add some crazy adresses.
-Apart from your 5Gb mailbox, you get a 1Gb file storage. I haven't tried that one out yey (I use Box.net) but it might be nice for some people.

Some other e-mail serives I've encountered are Lavabit and ZohoMail. Anyone tried one of these?

aimeeandbeatles · Nov 30, 2008

Also, as one forum I'm on bans Gmail (due to spammers), I use Yahoo mail a bit. I don't get thousands of emails from them, so I can forward them manually.

Mise · Nov 30, 2008

I use GMail and my old, old ISP's webmail address, which is based on Yahoo. They're both pretty good in terms of speed, but their usability SUCKS. I'd so much rather use Outlook with POP/IMAP than GMail or Yahoo. They're both rubbish.

I've never used a web-based email service whose usability was up to scratch. If anyone can suggest one, I'd love to try it out!

Zelig · Nov 30, 2008

Mise said:
I use GMail and my old, old ISP's webmail address, which is based on Yahoo. They're both pretty good in terms of speed, but their usability SUCKS. I'd so much rather use Outlook with POP/IMAP than GMail or Yahoo. They're both rubbish.

I've never used a web-based email service whose usability was up to scratch. If anyone can suggest one, I'd love to try it out!

You do know gmail supports pop?

Grisu · Nov 30, 2008

Till said:
I have been using GMX's services since 1998 without any major technical problems. Their TOS are pretty good. They only may use your address and email for advertising, and you can prohibit them from doing so.

same here

the only downside is that it's only in german (though not a issue for me it might be for the OP

)

Genocidicbunny · Nov 30, 2008

Mise said:
I use GMail and my old, old ISP's webmail address, which is based on Yahoo. They're both pretty good in terms of speed, but their usability SUCKS. I'd so much rather use Outlook with POP/IMAP than GMail or Yahoo. They're both rubbish.

I've never used a web-based email service whose usability was up to scratch. If anyone can suggest one, I'd love to try it out!

You gotta be a blind double amputee to not find Gmail usable. Its probably the best out of all the major email services.

El Koeno · Nov 30, 2008

KaeptnOvi said:
same here the only downside is that it's only in german (though not a issue for me it might be for the OP )

I can handle a bit of German, but gmx.com is their relatively new English site, so I won't have to.

I think the features are different from the German version, but I don't know.

Mise said:
I use GMail and my old, old ISP's webmail address, which is based on Yahoo. They're both pretty good in terms of speed, but their usability SUCKS. I'd so much rather use Outlook with POP/IMAP than GMail or Yahoo. They're both rubbish.

I've never used a web-based email service whose usability was up to scratch. If anyone can suggest one, I'd love to try it out!

If you think your webmail lacks features GMX.com might be a good place to look; they've got lots of features. As I only use their IMAP facility I can't really judge their usability though.

I've been reading good stuff about ZohoMail, but I haven't bothered to try them out.

Mise · Dec 1, 2008

Zelig said:
You do know gmail supports pop?

Do you mean I can view my gmail from within Outlook? Or do you mean I can view my ISP's POP-based email from within gmail?

@Stickciv: The "threaded view" is annoying, the layout is useless, "labels" are useless, there's no "preview", no folders, no rules, and it gives me a headache every time I use it. Yahoo is no better, though.

@El_K: I might give gmx and zohomail a shot tonight, see if it's worth the hassle of telling ppl about a new email!

Grisu · Dec 1, 2008

El Koeno said:
I can handle a bit of German, but gmx.com is their relatively new English site, so I won't have to.

I think the features are different from the German version, but I don't know.

ah, didn't know that

though it's funny that they seem to force people coming from de/ch/at into the german version:

El Koeno · Dec 1, 2008

Mise said:
@El_K: I might give gmx and zohomail a shot tonight, see if it's worth the hassle of telling ppl about a new email!

Actually, I haven't told anyone about changing my e-mail. A decent service should allow you to automatically forward your messages. Even hotmail does, but you have to sign up for some mobile service, that you then don't have to use (it's pretty weird, but it works). Supposedly the ZOHO registration is super-easy (like ten seconds), but I'll give it a try if they have IMAP support.

Mise · Dec 1, 2008

Well tbh I get a lot of spam, and I figure starting afresh might be a good idea, just for housekeeping's sake.

Zelig · Dec 1, 2008

Mise said:
Do you mean I can view my gmail from within Outlook? Or do you mean I can view my ISP's POP-based email from within gmail?

You can access your gmail account from Outlook.

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=13287

Mise · Dec 1, 2008

Zelig said:
You can access your gmail account from Outlook.

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=13287

AWESOME! No I did not know that! Thank you!

The best free webbased e-mail service?

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