Email-only Providers?

Amiralul writes "I feel that having GMail or Yahoo email domains on my business card isn't really a professional touch. Yes, I do have a work-domain email address, but it lacks IMAP and it's rather non-responsive from time to time, so I choose not to depend on it for the time being (the previous mentioned free services are actually more reliable). Besides buying a domain and using Google Apps on it (which isn't actually intended for home users), I was thinking on having a domain of my own and choosing a commercial email provider that should provide just that: email (POP3, SMTP, IMAP, with a decent storage space). I don't need storage for my website, I don't need an ugly web interface (if provided and looks decent, maybe I'll use it, but it's not a must-have). If it's free, it's ok, but it doesn't bother me if it has a decent monthly or annual fee. So, do you Slashdotters know any providers that would satisfy my email-related needs?"

Comments

Yahoo! Mail

[rallymatte]

Yahoo! Mail will be able to do that for you as well for $34.95 /year.
Only problem might be if Microsoft ends up acquiring Yahoo!. You'll end up with a webmail looking like MSN Hotmail.

Re:Yahoo! Mail

[JTorres176]

gmail actually has small business options, my girlfriend's domain is directed to gmail, her mail comes through gmail and leaves through her domain. Her website, email, everything is handled for no charge. My main employment also has gmail handle our mailservers, we're on the paid plan for support, however it's very reliable and still pretty cost effective.

http://www.google.com/apps/

Re:Yahoo! Mail

[anotherone]

Stay away from GoDaddy's hosted email, if you care about actually receiving mail that is sent to you

Re:Yahoo! Mail

[rtb61]

Well I have to be honest with you, having any webmail service provider domain name instantly makes your company look amateurish from a prospective customer point of view, a real fly by night company. Don't be foolish register a domain name, a get your ISP to handle your email routing, most medium sized ISP's do it at very competitive rates and it is well worth the expenditure to create a more professional impression with potential customers.

Re:Yahoo! Mail

[mapsjanhere]

Nothing to do with stuck up. I get about 20 requests for information per week from people "who found our company on the web and want to know more about our xyz technology". If the request comes from a generic mail provider, it gets the generic reply package. If it comes from a @webuybigthings.com address it gets a custom reply, the right attachments and a follow up.
First option, 1 min, second option 10 min. Cost first option, $2, second option $20. Since the split is about 5:1, that's savings of over $100 in my time every week.

Re:Yahoo! Mail

[Xiaran]

Does Lockheed Martin not have a VPN and policies about conducting all company activities through company resources? Most of the large companies I have worked for do. Often for security reasons it is a disciplinary offense to discuss business matters via non company means. I have not worked for Lockheed Martin but have worked for (Australian) security and defense and financial service organisations in the UK and Germany.

Even if you were dealing with someone face to face I suspect you would get a lot more response as a potential client by saying you are representing Lockheed Martin than saying you are electrictroy uid = 912290 from slashdot(if fact you see a similar effect on slashdot... people with lower uids are often seen to be more impressive than higher... I once had a very lower uid but lost it due to neglect and really noticed the differene in mod points).

Fastmail

[Lazar Dobrescu]

http://www.fastmail.fm/ is still around, for a reasonnable 40$/year, and is a very good option which provides pretty much any feature you might want...

Re:Fastmail

[ThinkingInBinary]

I jumped ship from Gmail to Fastmail back when Gmail didn't have IMAP, and I've liked it so far. They're a fairly powerful, old-school mail provider -- they give you SMTP, POP, IMAP, and webmail. The webmail is the old-school bit -- no AJAX, but you can edit Sieve scripts and do lots of other fun stuff from the Options screen. I recommend them.

Re:Fastmail

[BarryJacobsen]

I've been using them for about 3 years now - I started out on the pay once plan and I've since upgraded the cheapest yearly plan (mostly for extra aliases). I've NEVER had unexpected down time, and only once has there been any downtime for me (a scheduled server upgrade that they notified me over a week in advance of; I think it was on a Sunday and only for an hour or two - no incoming mail was lost, I just couldn't access my mailbox). The sieve scripts are wonderful for automatically handling e-mail and the spam filtering has worked a charm (no spam has made it into my inbox as long as I've used them; a few false positives - all mailing lists that could very easily have been flagged by others as spam - but those are easily corrected with a single "mark as not spam"). The bandwidth caps kind of scared me at first (since I had no clue how much bandwidth I was actually using for e-mail) but it turns out I've never even come close to using half of what they've allotted me. Overall I've been very pleased with them.

Re:Fastmail

[howardjeremy]

The webmail is the old-school bit -- no AJAX, but you can edit Sieve scripts and do lots of other fun stuff from the Options screen. I recommend them.

And apparently the owners read Slashdot. Oh wait, that's me! ;) OK, so that makes me a little biased...

But I should add to your comments above that a new interface full of Javascripty goodness is on the way - it should be in beta in the next couple of weeks. You can see a mockup here: http://mockups.neilj.fastmail.fm/revision30/inbox.html (some things like the images on buttons aren't working in the mockup). There's lots of keyboard shortcuts, like '/' to search, and '.' to bring up an action menu. And of course, being FastMail, it downgrades gracefully - so if you don't have Javascript you can still use every feature.

To find out what other folks are saying, see this thread on the (independently run) FastMail forum: http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=1560. It has over 300 comments about the service, written over the last seven years.

use gmail?

[Keruo]

Gmail supports mail for your own domain aswell. See here
It also supports existing domains so you don't have to register new one.

Re:use gmail?

[josath]

Yes, either use gmail for your own apps (Google Apps for domains is fine for home use, there's no restrictions), or just forward your work email address to gmail. You can change the From: address in gmail to be your work email address, so the people you talk to wont even know it's being forwarded

Re:use gmail?

[thebryce]

Here's another good write up on using gmail for your personal domain's email

Re:use gmail?

[Free the Cowards]

Yes, but that was stupid.

Re:use gmail?

[illegalcortex]

Yes, but the OP was also under the wrong impression that Google Apps is not intended for home users.

The thing is that it satisfies every single need the OP has. It's free, as reliable as anything else you'll find, supports IMAP and has a decent webmail interface to boot. The only reason not to go with it is if you have some kind of objection to the company.

Re:use gmail?

[Albanach]

You can change the From: address in gmail to be your work email address, so the people you talk to wont even know it's being forwarded

For folk thinking of doing this, please make sure any SPF records for your domain list google as an authorised sender. Otherwise a lot of mail you send will be going to /dev/null

Re:use gmail?

[billcopc]

You've just described every single Ask Slashdot, ever. It's always "How I can do something any way but the right way ?" with a side of "How can I do something that makes absolutely no sense"

There are obvious solutions to the OP's problem, he/she just doesn't want to follow common sense. Slashdot is not the place to ask this question, when there are many excellent forums that specialize in hosting.

In 2008, failing to Google should be a felony.

Rackspace

[Ironsides]

Check out Rackspace. You can get just email from them or email and server space if you want. http://www.rackspace.com/solutions/mail/index.php

Still Google Apps

[INeededALogin]

besides Google Apps

So ignoring the most obvious free solution is a good idea. Google is popular for a reason. Setting up Google Apps takes about 10 minutes, you don't even need to host your domain(you can do it with just access to DNS) and it never goes down. Enabling POP/IMAP takes only a few minutes and you are done. The only reason not to use google apps is if you are paranoid about people looking at your emails. If that is the case then you should be setting up Postfix or Sendmail.

Just use Google Apps

[mcsqueak]

You are making this far to complicated for a simple email issue. Just use Google Apps. They have a free version for people just like you. The reasoning that Google Apps "isn't actually intended for home users" is silly at best. It's EXACTLY for people like you.

It's incredibly easy to set up and will provide you with a "professional" looking email address. http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/editions.html Just sign up for the standard version.

How should I quench my thirst?

[hobbit]

I'm getting really thirsty, and wondering what to do about it. Besides drinking fluids (which are generally used by professional athletes), what do Slashdot readers think I should do about my problem?

Re:HOTMAIL

[MrNaz]

I recently set up my own mail server. It's easier than you think (well it was easier than I though it was going to be) and you can have your own domain permanently and sure that it'll never be yanked out from under you. I wrote a full guide on setting up the mail server using Debian and the outstanding mail server package Archiveopteryx. You can read it here:

http://www.mrnaz.com/?s=publish-blog&entryid=197

Godaddy Mail's Benefits are Subtle!

[Anonymous Coward]

Godaddy is the most wonderful mail server. You see, their spam filter blocks all my customers' e-mails. So, I don't have to do any work. The only problem is it leaves me with a lot of free time during the hours of 9-5. Fortunately for me, Godaddy's spam filter also let's all those viagra and penis-extension and stock tips come through to my inbox so I can fill those empty hours responding to the offers. So, Godaddy is working out well for me.