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Crafty
05-31-2006, 00:06
So I'm selling the house in preperation for my hike and getting rid of my cable internet service soon. What is recommended for a free email service (Yahoo, Hotmail, Juno, etc.) with the least amount of spam, advertising, and other "strings" attached?

orangebug
05-31-2006, 00:19
I have Yahoo, Excite and Google (Gmail). Excite was slow. Yahoo occasionally seems to choke on email from other family members, but is very convenient to use to check other POP servers for email (my main Attglobal.NET account, for instance). The threading on GMAIL is very convenient and easy to follow, but there is an issue of how Google moniters email content to direct ads your way. If Google does it, I'd assume any of the free services do also.

JUNO is my fiance's email server, and is slow, but she is happy with it.

Fahrenheit
05-31-2006, 00:44
I've had my yahoo account since '96. At that time it had 5mgs of storage now its a gig which I can't imagine every filling. I love it and haven't had any problems with it. I get some spam but they have a pretty good bulk mail filter that takes care of it. Some of my friends have gmail and really like that as well. I think hotmail is the one I've heard the most complaints about but I don't have any personal experience with it.

Amigi'sLastStand
05-31-2006, 00:49
Yahoo since, oh, 99 I think. I love it. No to hotmail. Google, havent used it, but have heard its more spam friendly than Yahoo, but dont know for sure.

greentick
05-31-2006, 02:17
Been using at least one account with Juno since 96. Like it. For 9.95 per year you get extra storage, etc.

Seeker
05-31-2006, 04:25
love hotmail. user since maybe 1998? hear good things about gmail and yahoo from friends. i set my email filter for 'exclusive'. if it's not in my address book, it gets dumped in junk mail and i don't have to deal with it. once in awhile it seems like their server is slow, but it's rare. i think i get 20 megs of space. i can't imagine filling it, but i don't keep much in my hold box. might be different if i sent and received a lot of pix.

Amigi'sLastStand
05-31-2006, 05:43
love hotmail. user since maybe 1998? hear good things about gmail and yahoo from friends. i set my email filter for 'exclusive'. if it's not in my address book, it gets dumped in junk mail and i don't have to deal with it. once in awhile it seems like their server is slow, but it's rare. i think i get 20 megs of space. i can't imagine filling it, but i don't keep much in my hold box. might be different if i sent and received a lot of pix.

What's up, Seeker. That's one prob with hotmail. I get 1Gb of space at yahoo, great spam filter, and now yahoo accepts paypal for all services. I have yahoo personal radio ( best 29.00 I ever spent ), yahoo finances ( not that I need it anymore ), and yahoo travel. That has probably saved me 2000 on plane tickets over that last 5 years. Get a Yahoo account and reroute your hotmail to yahoo. You'll be happy. Peace bro.

Amigi'sLastStand
05-31-2006, 05:45
Oh yeah. Yahoo's 1Gb of storage. I have a second account that I dont use for email. I use it as free online backup for my important stuff. Just .zip up your important stuff and email to yourself. I filled my first one and now need a second. I know it sounds obvious, but many ppl dont seem to have thought of that.

titanium_hiker
05-31-2006, 07:07
gmail rocks! HUGE capacity, spam is nill, etc.

However it does have issues with emailing some kinds of attachments (something to do with virus security) - regular files (jpg, doc etc) are fine.

if you need an invite, pm me. (do they still do the invite thing?)

titanium_geek

Kerosene
05-31-2006, 07:07
I use free e-mail from Google (gmail), Yahoo, Microsoft (Hotmail), and mail.com and would probably prioritize them that way.

Newb
05-31-2006, 07:19
I prefer owning my own domain/s and handling my own mx servers. For dialup access on the road I use Allvantage. http://www.allvantage.com/

hikerjohnd
05-31-2006, 07:55
Spam, at least in my experience, is subject to the times your email address is shared. I practically live online and get maybe 5-8 spam emails a week - I still get more junk mail in my snail mailbox! If you are careful about giving out your email address, then span should not be an issue. I have a backpacker.com address that is used for any online transaction where I think spam may be an issue. Having said that - Hotmail is my choice. I know Bill Gates is getting richer by the minute, but his products are easy to use. I pay the $20 a year for 2GB storage and a few other bells and whistles - the most important of which is the ability to add my parents account to the same deal. Now when mom calls with problems, I log in to her account and fix or deal with what needs it.

MacGyver2005
05-31-2006, 08:06
Gmail.

Regards,
-MacGyver
GA-->ME

Skidsteer
05-31-2006, 08:12
So I'm selling the house in preperation for my hike and getting rid of my cable internet service soon. What is recommended for a free email service (Yahoo, Hotmail, Juno, etc.) with the least amount of spam, advertising, and other "strings" attached?

If your cable internet provider has a way to check for mail on the web, you might be able to keep your current address(for free) in spite of canceling your service. Might be worth it to ask them.

QHShowoman
05-31-2006, 08:52
Gmail rocks. I've had a gmail account for a couple of years now and love it.

Doctari
05-31-2006, 09:18
Backpacker mag has "free for life" e-mail. I use it, seems good to me, have had the same addy for at least 4 years. Can send pics & "everything". I think mine stores 3000k I'm currently using 68% & I have over 100 messages stored. Some of them fairly large.

And It's kind of cool having "backpacker" in the e-mail addy.


FWIW


Doctari.

Whistler
05-31-2006, 10:35
Another vote for Gmail. 2.7gigs of space. I hardly notice the text ads on the sidebar. Good message display functions, good spam filters, nice customization for incoming mail labels/folders, integrated chat feature. Easy to use, a lot to like.
-Mark

bigcranky
05-31-2006, 10:55
I like Gmail, too. It's easy to ignore the ads (and those google ads seem to be on every web page out there anyway). I rarely have any spam get through the filter, and I like the idea of never having to delete any email -- it just gets archived. I wish the chat feature supported Safari, but I suppose it will eventually.

Crafty
05-31-2006, 11:45
Thanks for all of the input. I think I'll give gmail a look see or Yahoo if that doesn't work out. See y'all on the trail!

orangebug
05-31-2006, 21:27
let any of the gmail users know if you need an "invite" to get onto it.

hammock engineer
06-01-2006, 10:50
I like hotmail. Without starting a cell phone debate, a side note about yahoo, hotmail, and aol. If you have a verizon cell phone and have internet access on it, you can check and send emails for free on your cell phone.

I am taking the LG VX9800 with me. I will be able to talk and send emails. This will take the place of a seperate cell phone and maybe pocketmail. The only drawback is that you cannot compose emails if you do not get service.

fivefour
06-01-2006, 17:05
i have used hotmail for years ... never had a problem with it. i also have a gmail account and a yahoo account but rarely use those.

Fiddler
06-01-2006, 17:25
I've had yahoo over 10 years, never any problems. Lots of storage if you want to save all mail, and very good spam filters. Never used any of the other freebies much.
You may want to get an account with several different ones and send yourself a few messages to and from them all to see which one looks the best to you.

View
06-01-2006, 21:10
www.bluebottle.com (http://www.bluebottle.com)

doobe01
06-10-2006, 20:09
Another vote for Gmail. PM me for an invite.