Email services provider

[Tar_Ni]

I am looking for a new email provider, free of course and I am open to your suggestions.

There are many out there such as:

GMail
Outlook
Yahoo
Mail
GMX
Mailoo

I've read mitigated review for all these services, except perhaps Gmail which seems to be praised by all of it's users.

[lisati]

If you have a spare machine lurking around, why not take a look at setting up an email server?

[Tar_Ni]

I am not sure it's the best option for me. I need a service easily accessible online and free. There is plenty of choice but not so easy to decide.

[CharlesA]

If you have a spare machine lurking around, why not take a look at setting up an email server?

That's what I do, well, I host my email on a VPS I rent(?).


I am not sure it's the best option for me. I need a service easily accessible online and free. There is plenty of choice but not so easy to decide.

If you host it yourself, you can install a web mail client like Roundcube or Horde or something. The only downside is that hosting it yourself usually costs money.

[Dragonbite]

I am looking for a new email provider, free of course and I am open to your suggestions.

There are many out there such as:

GMail
Outlook
Yahoo
Mail
GMX
Mailoo

I've read mitigated review for all these services, except perhaps Gmail which seems to be praised by all of it's users.

Are you planning on using a mail client (Thunderbird, Evolution, KMail, Geary) or the web interface?

I use Gmail (for personal), Outlook (for professional and organizations) and Yahoo! (a long, long time ago). I generally use their web interfaces (via Chrome/Chromium) because they are consistent on any machine I access it from; work's computer (thin client), laptop (Win/Lin) or desktops (Win)(Lin).

If you are planning on using Geary, I believe they only support Gmail at this time.
If you want a lot of aliases (x@outlook.com, y@outlook.com, xy@outlook.com, etc.) then Outlook is a pretty good option.

Are you looking at using any other features such as Google Docs and SkyDrive, calendar or contacts?

Even if you cannot use a client sync tool (in the case of Google Drive and SkyDrive on Linux) you can still manually upload and download. They both provide a web-based office program that are not bad (and Outlook.com can default to saving files in open document formats too).

Do you use a Windows computer? Naturally Outlook is more integrated with a Windows computer than Linux but if you don't use Windows then that 'advantage' is moot.

[oldos2er]

It would really help if you list what features you're looking for.

After the death of lavabit.com, I went to GMX mainly because I was unsure where else to go. I mostly use my GMX email for mailing list subscriptions and similar stuff. I also have a gmail account that I've used for years. If you're interested in privacy, don't use gmail.

[Tar_Ni]

Thanks for your replies.

Gmail is interesting, I actually already have a Google account for Youtube purpose but what I dislike is that in order to use Gmail you are bundled with Youtube, Google +, ect. I am not interested by having a social media account and Youtube linked to my personal email adress. Simply a inbox and a cloud will do.

Yahoo has been ruled out since it requires as an obligation to provide a valid mobile phone number in order to subscribe. Frist off, I do not have a mobile phone and will in any case not provide this personal information.

GMX I consider seriously, but it does not have SSL (https) secure connection on the website. That's kind of worrisome especially in public Wifi...

Outlook is a real contender here also.. Simple with a cloud and a calendar, not bundled with all kind of service I don't need. But it's Microsoft... Not sure I trust it entirely.

[t0p]

I use Gmail for non-sensitive stuff, it's a great free service with loads of storage space etc but you got to remember that Google goes through your mail so it can target advertisements at you. Of course, this is done by automated process, they don't have people sitting there actually reading your stuff. But they could look for key-words in a NSA list... in fact I think they do, especially if you're not American...

For more sensitive stuff I use email accounts that are connected to shell accounts such as sdf.lonestar.org (http://sdf.lonestar.org). These shell accounts are cheap, even free, but you don't have anything approaching the storage space you get with Gmail. But it is a teeny bit more secure.

However, you need to remember that email isn't a particularly private way to communicate. I read it like this once: if you wouldn't feel comfortable writing the message on a postcard sent via snail mail, you shouldn't put it in an email. Of course you could use encryption; but it's quite possible that the NSA or whoever could trawl for encrypted mail, so your email would be flagged because you tried to keep it private. Like "the Man" looking at you because you send your physical mail in sealed envelopes...

[Dragonbite]

I use Gmail's 2-step authentication which has been successful in stopping what I believe are attempts at getting into my account. Namely, I have received an authorization code when I was not trying to log into my Google account. I since changed the password and haven't received any more unauthorized confirmation codes.

[buzzingrobot]

I'd rather have a root canal than run my own personal mail server. I've experienced both. The root canal pain ends. The mail server pain doesn't. *You* get to worry about spam. And more spam. And security. And more spam.

How needs that unless you'er an admin doing it for a living?

And, if you rent a VPS to host it, I think you're better off spending the money on a paid mail provider.

Free Providers: They aren't charities so they will monetize *you*, one way or another.

If security and snooping and such are issues, remember that even the most privacy-oriented governments don't care a snoot about the privacy of people in other countries. Balance your own risk against the hassle and expensive of trying to be secret and private on an open and public internet.

[CharlesA]

I'd rather have a root canal than run my own personal mail server. I've experienced both. The root canal pain ends. The mail server pain doesn't. *You* get to worry about spam. And more spam. And security. And more spam.

How needs that unless you'er an admin doing it for a living?

And, if you rent a VPS to host it, I think you're better off spending the money on a paid mail provider.

True. I use gmail for my "normal" email and self host for email for my website. So far spam has been minimal (thankfully).

[oldos2er]

GMX I consider seriously, but it does not have SSL (https) secure connection on the website. That's kind of worrisome especially in public Wifi...

I don't use their website, I use Thunderbird to connect an IMAP account which does have SSL/TLS.

[Tar_Ni]

Just want to say that I've made my decision. I choose Outlook. Seems like a very good an reliable service with a cloud of 8gig and a calendar which is all I need.

At the end it was beetween Outlook and GMail. I decided not to go with Gmail because I did not want Google+ and Youtube to be tied with my email. Anyway, I already have a Google account that I use for Youtube. Microsoft's Outlook, despite some skepticism at first, is very smooth and convenient so it was a logical choice for me.

Thanks a lot for your insights.