What's the best free e-mail option? (formerly the "is yahoo mail down" thread)

[Hammer]

I thought that yahoo mail was down but it is now working. That being said...which internet mail provider do y'all use? Which, in the Harvard-level opinions that we have here, is the best free option?

[ryne100]

Gmail is probably the best. I don't even think it's that close it's so amazing.

[fondybrewfan]

I only have a yahoo account to participate in fantasy sports. I use hotmail and have no complaints. I don't use it that often because my work email is my primary address.

[1992casey]

I've been paying $20 annually for Yahoo! Mail Plus for several years. It gets me easy pop access (others offer pop for free). What I really like, though, is the availability of 500 disposable addresses that share the same account. Having those takes the fear out of giving out my e-mail address.

 

I checked out gmail recently when I was helping a friend choose a mail provider. While it seemed nice, it was way too slow on dialup.

[BrewCrewForever]

Gmail, not even close. I have had mine for about 3 years now.

[temke]

ive had yahoo for at about 10 years now. dont want to switch

[Katuluu]

Gmail logs and reads your email so they can advertise to you. That said, I lurvs it.

[ewizabeff]

i've had gmail for over 4 years, and i love it. Not having to delete anything, ever, without maintaining folders is fantastic

[cwolf2012]

I have to agree with the gmail people. I like the gchat function as well. I don't have to have AIM or any other instant messaging service installed on my comp. All I need is a web browser.

 

Plus, gmail is very customizable. I haven't really done anything with it, since I'm happy with the main set up, but you can install and mess around with a lot of addins. It's kinda like firefox in that sense.

[bullox]

What I really like, though, is the availability of 500 disposable addresses that share the same account.

That is easily set up through gmail as well. I have my main gmail account pull POP from my other email accounts, and it comes in as if it was sent straight to my main account. Gmail also has free POP and IMAP service so you can use external software if you really want.

[JimH5]

Hotmail is fine. I've used it for several years. They recently introduced a newer interface, which I guess is fine.

 

The way people are gushing on about gmail, I suppose I should take a look, but for now I'm with Hotmail.

[Menotti80]

ive had hotmail, yahoo and gmail. it's gmail hands down.

[homer]

I use Hotmail. What's so special about GMail? I've heard others say it's the bees knees......what makes it so great? I've never seen/used it.

[Patrick425]

I use Hotmail. What's so special about GMail? I've heard others say it's the bees knees......what makes it so great? I've never seen/used it.

Yeah, I use Hotmail as well and I am curious about why gmail is so great too. I guess I don't get it. Maybe I'm not using my email the way others do. I use it to send and receive messages. It's not that complicated. How can one service be that much better than another, especially if they are both free.

[1992casey]

The big thing about gmail is the web interface. Everyone I've talked to who uses it tells me that it's the best hands down. I was disappointed that I couldn't get it to download into external software faster on dialup. If you e-mail more than just a little bit, the use of external software is absolutely imperative on dialup. With a web interface, you waste too much time on click-throughs.

 

Had it not been for the speed issue, my friend would be on gmail right now. I decided to recommend that he set up an address through his provider. The web interface is extremely simple, making it fast enough for dialup. The fact that it's the "shortest distance between two points" has to help with speed, too.

 

The downside to relying on one's provider, of course, is that switching providers means switching e-mail addresses. But this person doesn't really e-mail all that much. And switching providers isn't likely for him.

 

Since I played with gmail a couple months ago, broadband has arrived in our area. That may offset the dialup speed issues. I don't like the fact that they log and read mail--I did notice that before Katuluu mentioned it here. But I like the fact that it can pull POP from other accounts and bring it in seamlessly. I think it's worth another look.

[brewerfan82]

I've been using Gmail for over four years now and I love it! Once you get use to the "conversation"-based interface, you'll never go back. Plus, I've got over 7 gigs of space available to me in it!

 

All Hail Gmail!

[homer]

So I could pull my hotmail accounts into a Gmail account? Meaning I really wouldn't have to cancel my hotmail and tell everyone I have a new email address right?

[tristarscoop]

I've had Gmail forever and I love it. I was using one of Google's other products, so I was "invited" to try Gmail before they went live with it and I've never, ever had a complaint with it.

[bullox]

So I could pull my hotmail accounts into a Gmail account? Meaning I really wouldn't have to cancel my hotmail and tell everyone I have a new email address right?

As long as you can do POP access with Hotmail, yes.

[logan82]

I have 3 E-mail accounts I use. I have an account at work that gets used only for work stuff.(E-mailing HR and IT) I have 2 hotmail accounts which I have had for almost 10 years. One for E-mailing friends and family and one for all my online stuff.(guess which gets all the junk) I would look into Gmail, but I don't want to go through the hassle of changing E-mail accounts. I always find it to be a hassle when my friends change their accounts as well. Some people change accounts to whatever the ISP is whenever they move.

 

The one thing I hate about hotmail is they change their look every other year. It is really annoying to adjust to using it every time they change. Other than that, I really have little complaints about it.

[ewizabeff]

The conversation view in gmail is great - if a bunch of people are replying to an email with the same subject line, all the messages are nested under one subject. Also, you only "archive" in gmail, never delete, and the search function is fantastic - i can easily find an email I sent three years ago. As others have said, the integrated IM is also great - I use that at work so I don't have other programs open. You can also use the search function to search through old chats.

 

I read my email in both the web format and through Mail on my MacBook. Both work well.

[rm121978]

While not free, I always recommend people get their own domain, get a cheap hosting plan and do it all yourself. You can have POP/IMAP/webmail, push for your smartphone, etc... Plus it just looks more professional than using hotmail and the rest.

 

Plus with your own domain, you can do things like set up aliases to stop spam. so you use amazon@yourdomain.com when you buy from amazon, brewerfan@yourdomain.com for this site. Then when you get spam addressed to brewerfan@yourdomain.com, you know where they stole/bought/otherwise obtained your address from and can block it at the server level.

[T B0NE 10]

I have yahoo and I'm pretty happy with it

[bullox]

While not free, I always recommend people get their own domain, get a cheap hosting plan and do it all yourself. You can have POP/IMAP/webmail, push for your smartphone, etc... Plus it just looks more professional than using hotmail and the rest.

Believe it or not I did actually purchase a domain and I have Google Apps set up for it, so rather than having an @gmail address, it is my own domain yet still gmail.

[Invader3K]

I use both hotmail and gmail. I would give the edge to gmail...the web interface isn't fancy, but it's nice and quick, and I like the conversation trees. By comparison, Hotmail is slow (sometimes) and kind of clunky.