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Which Webmail Service Do You Use?
worm eater asks: "I've been hosting my email with my web site host for some time, although a while back I used commercial services such as Yahoo! and Hotmail. I liked Yahoo!, but was disappointed to hear that they stopped offering free POP3 access. So I'm looking for a good, free webmail host for a friend of mine that supports POP3 -- because sometimes you don't want to have to deal with a web interface, no matter how well designed. And it's nice to be able to store messages indefinitely. What do you recommend?" This was last asked two years ago, but webmail is more prevalent now than it was then, so maybe better options are available. Readers interested in security with their webmail might find this discussion interesting, as well.
fetchyahoo
I've been using it for 2 years now with no hassel, IMAP and POP3 support, 10MB webspace and no adverts. :-)
Great service even if its is used for a test bed for Novels services
"WebTV: bringing the Internet into the shallow end of the gene pool since 1995" - Martin Bishop
One of my websites is hosted via Interland, which offers web-based access to email.
Can't say I recommend them, though - they've been dropping so much mail because of the recent virus attacks that I've had to set up my own mail server and use theirs only as a secondary. Their customer service is awful, too - the representative I talked to resorted to outright lying in order to avoid taking responsibility for the missing email.
Come to think of it, I'd avoid them like the plague.
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I started using GMX about two years ago. They have free POP3 and spam filtering and an assortment of other tools. They seem to be quite stable as well. The only drawback is that the site is all in german. None the less I find the web interface quite useable after I spent a week or so getting used to it. (I use a POP3 client most of the time but if I'm on vacation for example its nice to be able to get e-mail from the web.)
I have been using NetIdentity's Web Mail for a few years now and have had excellent results. They specialize in "family name" and "vanity" addresses. They are stable, the interface is fast, and you can also access via POP3.
My only complaint is that they don't handle spam that well, but overall, they are solid.
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
This is a personal opinion. Pick another host if you like, but pay for one. Much better than free.
With free software out there, it is cake to run a home IMAP or POP3 server and have your own webmail configured exactly how you want. Nothing to it.
I host my own email server on a dsl line. Currently I use phpgroupware for webmail access but its development has gone kind of stagnant lately. What other packages do people use? I'm upgrading the server OS and thought I might check out a few alternatives. I know I can do a freshmeat search but I want to know what is active and popular.
In Republican America phones tap you.
Works great for me ever since Yahoo went to pay only for POP3 service. Open source also. From their website:
Yahoo! Mail disabled free access to its POP3 service in April 2002. This resulted in many people (including myself) to look for alternative free POP3 services. But this exercise can be very difficult because of the fact that your Yahoo! Mail address could be with several people and informing all of them about your new email address could prove to be a nightmare.
And then one day, I stumbled across a Perl script called FetchYahoo, which almost did what I wanted! It downloaded emails from Yahoos website and presented them in a format such that email clients like Netscape and Pine could read them. But, the format in which it saved the emails is not supported by all email clients, including the one that I use. Also, making a layman install Perl and to get a Perl script to work could be a nightmare.
So, YahooPOPs! was born. YahooPOPs! is an open-source initiative to provide free POP3 and SMTP access to your Yahoo! Mail account. YahooPOPs! is available on the Windows and Unix platforms.
YahooPOPs! emulates a POP3/SMTP server and enables popular email clients like Outlook, Netscape, Eudora, Mozilla, IncrediMail, Calypso, etc., to download and send emails from Yahoo! accounts.
How do we do it you ask? Well, this application is more like a gateway. It provides a POP3/SMTP server interface at one end to talk to email clients and an HTTP client (browser) interface at the other which allows it to talk to Yahoo!
Does anyone offer a webmail services that will connect to your POP3 account?
A SourceForge project:
YahooPOPs! is an application which emulates a POP3/SMTP mail server and provides free POP3 and SMTP access to Yahoo! Mail. It does not depend on Yahoo's POP3/SMTP mail server. You can use a mail client of your choice!
http://sourceforge.net/projects/yahoopops/
I don't use it (or yahoo) anymore, so I can't vouch for features or stability, but this may solve your problem.
Software Wars
For those of you who like to do your own thing, but still want the webmail then look no further than Squrrel Mail.
Chock full of features and can be configured to your heart's content with the robust plugin system. I've been using it as my sole email client for over two years now without regret.
Find a cheap domain hosting provider that gives imap access and php support and your set.
I don't really mind double posts on
I use Hotmail myself, but I've used Hushmail in the past.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
I've been using a .Mac address for a while now and I really like it. In addition to the webmail client, my address book and bookmarks are all available to me online thanks to iSync.
Works better than I expected, honestly.
Check any POP mail account from mail2web.com. Free! No registration required! Just enter your e-mail address and POP password. Access your e-mail from the web, and you can keep the messages on the mail server so you can download them later into your e-mail program. It does require trust to submit your POP password, but I've been using it for over a year and have seen no signs of abuse.
To answer the actual question, I use Netscape webmail.
For $6/month at pair.com (less if you pay a year in advance), they'll host a domain with one mailbox (POP3/IMAP). You can set up server-side mail filters, and they let you control Spam Assassin settings (including not using it if you don't like it).
It's nice to be able to store messages indefinitely.
.01% of their bandwidth and system resources to a friend. And unlike many of the services that I know will be mentioned here, that address will actually survive.
If you want to store messages indefinitely, or want a permanent e-mail address, don't rely on free services. When choosing a provider, ask why they will be around in 5 years. Yahoo will be around because they are drawing traffic to their larger site, and selling upgrades. Microsoft will be around because they are trying to leverage control of every aspect of computing to their advantage, and hotmail helps tie people to their passport system. But i-name? deathsdoor.com? Free mail boxes and forwarding services have folded rapidly as small hosting companies have realized that it takes a lot of bandwidth and effort to keep that extra box with 100,000K users up and running, especially with the things people use free mail accounts for (spam boxes and to side-step site registration restrictions).
If you really need a permanent e-mail box, or a permanent e-mail address, consider purchasing one. POBox.com has been around for several years, and charges roughly 15 dollars per year for mail forwarding for life that, unlike many of the other sites out there, might actually be in business that long.
If you are lothe to purchase a permanent address, get friendly with your local college administrator, ISP owner, or Colo guy at bigcompany.com. Most people who own a domain name have no problem giving out
The ______ Agenda
You mean there's another way?
Seriously, I remember somebody making a comment about how he used telnet to log in and check his email, and his teacher freaking out claiming he's a liar and you can only check your mail from hotmail and he must be doing that illegal 'hacking' stuff.
Sounds like a good candidate for a short trip in the candle truck.
But seriously, Yahoo! mail.
Mind you, webmail is a huge barrier to using a PKI to validate mail and prevent spam - the client should do it since servers don't really want to do all the extra crypto, but if the client is a browser there may be no way to do it.
For 5 euros one time payment you get 5 25MB POP3 boxes with various security features, 3 different webmails access. If you pay one time 29 euros, you get unlimited POP3 boxes and mailing lists handling. For 8.9 additional euros per year you get your com/org/net domain with full web DNS configuration and DynHost. They've answered all my stupid questions in less than a day.
Disclaimer: I'm an happy paying customer and switched all my email and DNS to OVH a few weeks ago. No other relation to OVH or OVH people.
All prices excluding VAT, 1 euro ~= 1.17 USD
Laurent
1. Register your own domain ($ 12, approx. for a year)
2. Sign up to a cheap and friendly ISP that has a webmail interface (I use Sevaa.com, $4 a month, but there are other, possibly cheaper ones out there).
3. ???
4. Prophet.
I used to use my ISP's webmail interface until they went $crazy$ with $ads$ $ever$ywher$e, I switched - and I'm happy now.
Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul Ash nazg thrakatuluk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul
My alma mater uses it. It's free, pretty, fast, and has a ton of slap on/plug in modules for adding functionality.
It's a webmail solution, it supports IMAP for remote connectivity, and it filters your spam 100% of the time! It uses a challenge/response solution to prevent unwanted mail from coming in. It supports forwarded mail accounts, and it has a whole host of other features.
:D
It's only $9.95 for 1 year (current promo gives you 3 years at $9.95!) for 12 MB of storage. Sorry it's not free, but it is worth 3 times the amount I paid for it. I love it! It's an awesome web-based mail client and I NEVER have to install or keep track of my mail client ever!
http://www.mailblocks.com
P.S.: I don't work for them, but I am a happy customer
I've been using GMX for four years. I started using it way back when it was a multilingual service, but now it's only in German. It has a really good spam filter setup. When it filters an incoming email into the junk folder it indicates whether it was from a global antispam list, text scan, etc. Sadly though the free accounts don't have things like secure sign in.
I like this combo
Qmail (pick a mirror)
And
Horde/IMP
The Horde site also has calendar modules and other cool stuff as well. (You can use it with Courier IMAP too)
with a one time donation:
100mb webspace
100mb email
100mb storage.
You get email with webmail and also a ssh/telnet account onto a server. Also avalable free but with less space
Go out and find a cheap web account with POP that only charges a few dollars a month. Then install a script-based email client. The end result will have no annoying advertising, and you'll have web space and your own domain to play with to boot.
Totally perl based, and rather thourough.
I use it on a medium end coloc machine, and it runs wonderfully.
Here is the primary mirror site dealie. It has pop3 support, webdisk support, and a calander w/ reminder/notification support.
Been using it since it was Neomail, and I haven't had a single problem.
Yahoo MailPlus gives you POP, 25MB, very good spam filtering.
Yes, I know the question said FREE but really, is $35 USD that much? I use email every day. It was money well spent for me. What else do you get for $35 a year?
Anyway, it's not 1999 anymore. Pay for it.
http://www.imap.cc/ a.k.a. http://www.fastmail.fm/ is my favorite. They have POP3 and SMTP for a small fee. 10M of space is included.
Why not use the MUCH better protocol IMAP, instead? Why do people keep using and expecting POP3?!?!?
I've been using their free POP/SMTP mail for over a year now, and it has worked very nicely. They also offer paid services with larger mail spool and transfer limits, and have a webmail interface if you want to use it.
Witty signature omitted for brevity.
I looked for a good webmail system that also supported IMAP. I finally found it in www.fastmail.fm. It is a pay service but it is very reasonable if you want a reliable email system. I pay $20 a year for: 50 MB storage space 200 MB bw/month IMAP/POP/Web access SMTP for sending email Mail forwarding Virus checker Advanced SPAM filter 3 Aliases They have a FREE service as well as one tier of service lower and one higher than the one I chose. Check it out. I have been very pleased.
If you run your own mail server, I'd recommend installing SquirrelMail. All you basically need is an imap connection to the server that hosts the email, and your web server has to be able to run PHP scripts.
I know it has a funny name, but SquirrelMail is free, open sourced, and fairly easy to install. And it should do everything that you need it to do. (it may not have *all* the bells and whistles, but it gets the job done) And so long as you're running it on your mail server, you can firewall out imap to everyone but localhost.
I use this for my home server since I host my own email too. I use it for those rare times when I can't get an SSH connection to the server so that I can use pine instead. Oh, and the college that I work for went with using this for our web-based email that we use here for the students. While there may be better ones out there, the word "free" was very attractive, plus it did what we needed it to. So we host 4000+ email accounts with using this to access them. (though we changed the logos and graphics and things like that. It's fairly customizeable as well.) I'd say it was worth your time to check it out.
-Through the server, over the router, off the firewall... Nothing but 'Net!
Get a Comcast Cable account. It comes with the best webmail I've ever seen. I mean, who wouldn't want a client that not only opens the mail in a new window without warning you, but mazimizes the "member page" while resizing the mail window to a funky size that doesn't fit on an 1152x864 screen? Add to that timeouts and multiple-sending of messages and you've got one slick client.
If you were asking for the best webmail, then Comcast would be it! Assuming, of course, that by "best" you mean "worst."
How are you going to keep them down on the farm once they've seen Karl Hungus?
I've used Yahoo for years. The automatic spam filter is great: I probably get 50 or so spams a month, and almost all of them end up in Yahoo's spam box without me having to place it there. They have full-feature custom filters available as well.
I also have a couple of junk Hotmail accounts too: but these are not good for much of anything since Hotmail does not have spam filtering. The Hotmail accounts can get 50 spams a day.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
I like Mailinator. It's cool and has a FAQ that's one of the funniest things I've read lately.
Gustavo.
telnet freeshell.org
You can sign up online. The account is nearly
free -- you need to mail a real US dollar. It
has POP3 & other services.
gene
I use and administer squirrelmail on my system. I'm happy. My users are happy...
I like the good ol Qmail Toaster. They are rock solid, support many standard rpm distributions and don't need much fussin to get working.
Quick note about DSL hosted e-mail, be sure to relay your e-mail through your isp's mail server. Sending directly from your DSL doesn't typically work for many big name isp's.
Can I get an eye poke?
Dog House Forum
Others have said it elsewhere in this article. You can drop 20-30 buck for a years worth. (Monthly isn't worth it; 5-6/month becomes 60-72$ per year!)
I've used mail.com for three or four years now with much success. It was great for my Europe trip and other times when I didn't have my laptop with me.
Others have mentioned domain hosts that offer similar services, but then you're also paying nearly as much for the domain. Regarding that issue, you can look to your local community domain. For Los Angeles, I only pay one time fees (8$?) to update the registry database, which is rare after the initial setup. With domains, the biggest bonus is the number of mail boxes you can set up to help filter out unwanted mail.
Anm
I highly recommend SDF. It's an OpenBSD powered, Non-Profit, unix shell account based service. They offer a webmail interface via Squirrelmail (see above posts)
/home disc storage (100MB for each!) 300MB total)
:)
$1 gets you a lifelong membership with 20MB email (inc. web, POP, IMAP spamfiltering) and 20MB webspace (http://yourname.freeshell.org), along with all major unix shells and common typical unix utilities(elm, pine, mailx, rmail, lynx, cgi/php4 etc. etc.)
However, if you want to financially support SDF, for a lifetime membership donation of $35, upgrade to ARPA membership and get additional web, email and
ARPA includes compiler access (GCC, ruby, python, perl, lisp etc) and additional internet access - telnet, ssh, ftp, ytalk, irc, snarf, ICQ etc.
Click here for more information - there's additional services available - MySQL, VPM, SSH-tunnelling, DNS, listservs, virtual hosting etc.
SDF is not a fly-by-night service, it's a thriving community that's been around for over 16 years with hundreds of members and a lively community (bbs)
For us European users, we've got a dedicated server at SDF-EU
Beats every other suggestion here into a cocked hat
I don't use webmail, you insensitive clod.
Oh wait, this isn't this weeks poll?
I've used both hotpop.com & cjb.net for alternative email addresses. both have POP3 and webmail interfaces, and cjb.net allows one to use up to 100 aliases, i think.. it's been a while since I've actually bothered to look in at their homepages because they both just keep working...
quite a bit of spam though, at times..
Works well. One of my corporate clients has an irritatingly restrictive web proxy that won't let people get to most known webmail sites (among many, many other things) but they were unable or neglected to block https://www.mail2web.com so I'm still able to check my personal mail while there.
I haven't seen a computer from which I couldn't access Hotmail from the web. Outlook Express also supports Hotmail accounts directly, so you can easily move and copy emails around between your own machine and Hotmail. I find it works very well.
Also, Hotmail can fetch email from other POP accounts for you, so you can then access your email from all your accounts from everywhere!
fastmail.fm is hands down one of the best. Supports POP and IMAP for free, but paid accounts get more storage and some other nifty features. The free account works well enough for me.
Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
I really like FastMail. They're "the Fastest Email Service on the Planet." Free POP3 access too. Give them a try.
I use it and it works. yahoo like pop with perl help. pipes into procmail :)
Markus
These two services seem further ahead than HotPOP3 for downloading Hotmail Emails.
I personally use Hotwayd on my home linux box. Installation instructions were excellent and run w/o problems every since
Hotwayd: http://hotwayd.sourceforge.net/
Gotmail: http://www.nongnu.org/gotmail/
I've been using MyRealBox for 3+ years now... back when it first became public. It's wonderful and over the years has added more and more features. Since it is a "beta" for Novell's NIMs project(/client?), you get some very great features.
/.! Time zone configurable and many languages supported(I just counted 27).
As said above, POP3, IMAP, 10MB, no ad's. There's a calander which is very helpful and will also email you a message on a certain day/time for a reminder(if you wish). The address book, which most/all services implement, has a nice look, feel, and offers many fields for comments, etc.
The options are fantastic. How many webmail services let you change the color scheme? I'd imagine with some effort you could get it to look like
User Proxy, I have found excellent. You are able to share folders and account with read only acces, or Read/write/delete access to other myrealbox.com users.
I have found the "rules" option very helpful in avoiding SPAM and unwanted emails.
Just my $0.02
www.mail2world.com works great for me, and has for well over a year now. varying mail domains, with mail2 being the only constant among them, great service...although their servers are a bit slow sometimes...but they do always warn of downtime, and I've never had any mail dropped.
Check your Hotmail with any POP3 mail client by installing Hotwayd.
It works a treat, allowing me to access my hotmail account via Evolution.
Amid all these ads I thought I would throw mine up: Softhome
I have been using them for several years now I find them a good provider. The only drag is that they limit the number of times that you can access your mailbox per hour but they have web & stmp access in both free and non-free accounts
They also use greylisting to limit spam which involves only letting email through that makes several attempts. I find it very effective
"Maybe this world is another planet's hell"
Aldous Huxley
My friends and I have been using this one for a while now and we haven't had any problems at all. It's free, reliable, and provides good POP3... unlike that mail15.com farce...
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.
and use squirrelmail. It is very thin and fast.
$5.95 a month. Cotse.Net provides the most extensive set of spam filters found anywhere on the net. They use squirrel mail as the basis, however, it's highly modified and unbelievable in it's functionality. Absolutely no ads. Provides two http proxy servers.. one web based, one transparent... usenet reading/posting, access to remailers, 50 megs of storage space, unlimited aliases, unbelievable configurations...
www.cotse.net is by far the best I've found.
Jerry Fletcher,
Privacy Protection By:
http://www.cotse.net/servicedetails.html
I use FastMail.FM. Frankly speaking, it rocks!
Oddpost. Simply the best web-based email client in existence.
Does that free software come with a free DSL line?
...SoftHome.net
YAY!!
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
I've been using them for about two years now. I have two accounts that are checked from my PDA and one of those is shared with my Mac.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
This question was asked a few times before on slashdot... the usual answer is squirrelmail.
I tried a bunch of things including squirrelmail, a J2EE app, and even building my own webmail thingy (which by the way worked very well short of dealing with the MIME types, but now I've just retreated to using mutt in telnet.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
Are these "41 spams so far in one day" on a Yahoo webmail account?
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
They have excellent customer service & support. $15/year year for 35MB storage, an extra $10 for your own domain if you want it. Web mail interface via Horde/Imp and/or Visual Office, or use POP3/IMAP. SPAM and virus filtering, etc. Highly recommended, I've been a user for over a year.
Reverse.net is a shell provider, but I also use them for my e-mail and web hosting. In my experience, they've never had any downtime and their tech support is top notch (I.E. you actually get someone on the line who knows what he's talking about). Their service is tiered so you can get what you need and what your wallet best accomodates. Their sign-up process is the only downside - they're a bit paranoid about credit card fraud. But, I must say, they're a wonderful service provider, I recommend them totally.
Actually, Yahoo does still offer free POP access, in some of the international versions. I know for a fact that the Australian flavour still enabled creation of accounts with POP access after they made it a pay option for the US one.
Didn't think so, but the topic was webmail, and the item you responded in was about Yahoo, so.....
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
I hope that you all realise the POP3 and IMAP send logins and passwords in cleartext. I know that most people view email as insecure anyway, but sending around your password in the clear repeatedly (your client checks every 10 or 20 minutes I'd imagine) is just asking for trouble. You wouldn't telnet into a server in this modern age, so why do the equivalent with your email?
You can teach any client to speak secure POP3 or IMAP by just using stunnel and a email provider that offers an SSL tunnel for these protocols. This, in my opinion, is one of the biggest reasons why free POP3 services suck.
The best solution to email, IMO, is to buy your own domain ($9 a year from godaddy.com) and then pay for very cheap hosting that includes email. You can get a lot for only $20 - $60/year. And since you control the domain you never have to worry about changing your email address again. If your provider goes out of business or just pisses you off, you get another one and just update your domain's DNS. You'll have no more of those "well, I was using someisp.net for email but now I'm with anotherisp.com, so please update your addressbook" emails. Another plus of actually paying for email hosting is that you often get a lot of options for spam filtering, such as RBLs or SpamAssassin. With yahoo/hotmail you are totally at their mercy as far as spam-detection. And I have found that SpamAssassin is orders of magnitude better than anything yahoo has ever done.