Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

I'm thinking about replacing Hotmail with another free web-based email service. Hotmail has too many "We're sorry, try back later"-type problems for my taste.

Has anyone used anything else? How reliable do you find it?

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Jeff

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: In the heart of Sillicon Valley
Posts: 24

quote:

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Originally posted by PDAENVY
I'm thinking about replacing Hotmail with another free web-based email service. Hotmail has too many "We're sorry, try back later"-type problems for my taste.

Has anyone used anything else? How reliable do you find it?

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Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 13

Yahoo Mail

I have been on Yahoo mail for about 2 years now. In that time I have only been down about 10 times, only one of those was over a day. I am happy with them.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

Re: Yahoo Mail

quote:

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Originally posted by pda4you
I have been on Yahoo mail for about 2 years now. In that time I have only been down about 10 times, only one of those was over a day. I am happy with them.

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I have to say that by my own personal standard, that's not exactly a glowing review of reliability.

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Jeff

Registered: May 2000
Location: St. Paul, MN
Posts: 1429

I like Yahoo. I've only had a downtime once in the last 4 years, and IT was gone in 3 minutes. I am worried though abotu yahoo going bankrupt. They are a staple of the web, If they go, what will be left? VC of course!

I did just set up my mom with yahoo, so I would recommend that, and besides yahoo has become good again, they've liscened google, use BSD, and they have this awesome thing of being to call for your e-mail from all around the country for free! (It will read your e-mail to you!)

-miradu2000

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Them Twin Cities
Posts: 1758

I also use Yahoo. I like the toolbar they let me dl for IE5. Shows a little bell when I have new email.

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Registered: Dec 2000
Location: East Coast, USA
Posts: 134

i still use hotmail, not too bad

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all around good guy

brandon
drop me a line

Registered: May 2000
Location:
Posts: 209

quote:

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I have to say that by my own personal standard, that's not exactly a glowing review of reliability.

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Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

quote:

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Originally posted by ProjectZero


Why not tell us what you're looking for in a free service? It looks like that your personal standards needs defining here.

( BTW, a listing of free E-Mail providers, web based and forwards, can be found at www.fpeg.net. There's also a message board there to get further feedback. And a review section. )

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Jeff

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: London, UK
Posts: 118

perhaps we need to clarify your demand, not your criteria.

I personally would accept 5 times per year as exceptional performance. I check 4 times per weekday (once on arrival at work, once at lunch, once before I leave and once at home) and twice daily at weekends. ie a total of c.1250 times a year (2*2*52 + 5*4*52).

5 times a year equates around a 0.4% failure rate

Registered: Nov 2000
Location:
Posts: 714

In the last year I've had Yahoo its maybe gone down a couple of times, never for long amounts of time though. There was a period of about a week where my POP3 access was screwed up, but even then I could check it over the web.

quote:

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Originally posted by miradu2000
I like Yahoo. I've only had a downtime once in the last 4 years, and IT was gone in 3 minutes. I am worried though abotu yahoo going bankrupt. They are a staple of the web, If they go, what will be left?

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Matt Nichols
[email protected]

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 62

I have used NetAddress for three years without any problems. Their free service was taken over by Amexmail.com at one point, and they started charging for their premium features such as forwarding. But another service called email.com came up and used the netaddress engine for all the same services for free.

I find the forwarding feature the distinguishing feature that makes this service the best.

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Jeff Schaffer
[email protected]

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 268

YAHOO!

I have a Yahoo account, a Hotmail Account, a Mail.com Account, and a Netaddress (usa.net) Account.

Yahoo is by far the fastest and easiest to use. Plus the 6MB space it gives you is so much better than Hotmail's 2MB. I check e-mail 50 times a day (well, my Outlook checks it for me every 10 minutes, plus I check on the web also). Yahoo's been down about 10 times in the past year, which is significantly less than Hotmail (more than 20 times). I check Mail.com and Netaddress only about once or twice a week, and percentage-wise, they're down much more than Yahoo or Hotmail.