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Email Service ThoughtsWhen it comes to messaging services, like everything else in life, you get what you pay for. If the email service you subscribe to is "free", then you'll probably have to put up with some unexpected service "features" that can hamper either you ability to do business or just plain waste your time. So, here's what you should think about as you make your messaging decisions. For our analysis of instant messaging providers see - Instant Messaging Ratings and Review.
Email has become a required, "everyday" tool in doing business. Choosing the provider that is right for you is important! If you don't have a site, or are just getting started with email, our review of Messaging Services and Service Providers that follows will help. Otherwise, again, please, reread our review of Web Hosting services and service providers - Web Hosting Review and Ratings. If you'd like more information on electronic messaging in general see: Everything Email. (Note: If you don't recall our rating system: How We Rate 'Em.)
Email Services ReviewMessaging Services and Service Providers* (Rankings - best, 5 symbols, worst, 1 symbol)
* A = Amateur, R = Rookie, P = Pro
Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹ 1&1's Instant Mail and Exchange services are simple to set up and begin to use for your business communications. Cost - $$$$1/2 Instant Mail is priced at $0.99 per month. Pricing for the 1&1 Exchange service is $6.99 per month.
Time Savings - ¹¹¹¹ If you aren't ready for a web site, but want your own domain name at the end of your business email address (a good idea!), this service can get you there and help you communicate with your customers and business partners efficiently. Ease of Use - @@@@ InstantMail is Web-based - very easy to use. Exchange Services work with Microsoft Outlook installed on your PC to deliver true "business class" email.
Web-based mail system - just bring your browser. Exchange is designed for the Windows environment. Support - pppp 1&1 offers a comprehensive FAQ as well as 24/7 phone and email support - "800" number available. 24/7 support is available on all services - from the lowest to the highest in revenue generation. Features - iiii With Instant Mail you get 5 email accounts, 1GB storage and 400 aliases, virus and SPAM protection, as well as a catch-all email address, support for a number of domains (.com, .net, .org, .us, .info, .name, .biz, .cc, .tv, .ws) 5 subdomains, 10 external domains and a control panel to manage your account. Not bad for the price. With Exchange you get 1 account with 1GB storage and support for domains and subdomains as above. Overall Rating - %%%%+ Five accounts for $0.99 per month is a great price and the support strategy is good too. Exchange services offer a way for a single user to get "business class" email without installing a server in your home.
Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹ AT&T's Business eMail and Domain Parking services are for business owners who know they are going to bring up a Web site, and wish to register the domain name (before someone else does!) and send and receive email from that name while the site is under construction. The Email services automatically send "visitors" to a 1 page "business card" Web site while the Domain Parking Service sends them to a free "welcome" Web page. Cost - $$$1/2 AT&T's email services come in two "flavors".
AT&T also offers a secure mail service for doctor's, lawyers and other professionals requiring secure communications at $4.95 per email address. Time Savings - ¹¹¹¹ The services are designed to "get you going" and communicating with your customers while your Web site is under construction. A big help for business owners focusing their attention on the core business - and communicating with customers and partners in the near term - while making sure that they're ready to go with a Web site when the time is right. Ease of Use - @@@@ The AT&T solution is simple and straightforward.
The AT&T services are both POP3 and WebMail - compatible with almost all electronic mail software and providing browser email access as well. Support - pppp AT&T's web site includes the ability for you to manage your account and personal information as well as get access to a variety of technical information that will help you solve many problems with your service and/or system. If you need more help you can email AT&T or call them on their "800" number. Features - iiii AT&T's email services are basic POP3/WebMail messaging services with some nice additions like the Business Card web site, domain pointer and redirect and web-based control panel to manage your account. As noted above, AT&T also offers a secure mail service that encrypts all messages at $4.95 per month per email address. Overall Rating - %%%% The AT&T Email services are sound offerings for home based business owners ready to communicate using electronic mail, but not quite ready to invest in their Web site.
Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹ GoDaddy's email services are simple to set up using your desktop's email software or using GoDaddy's web-based interface. Cost - $$$$ Pricing for GoDaddy's email services is outlined in the table below.
Time Savings - ¹¹¹¹ If you aren't ready for a web site, but want your own domain name at the end of your business email address (a good idea!), this service can get you there and help you communicate with your customers and business partners efficiently. Ease of Use - @@@@ GoDaddy's email services can be used with your existing email client software or using their web-based interface. Works With - YYYYY Web-based mail system - just bring your browser. Support - pppp The tech support area of the GoDaddy web site allows you to sign-in and manage your account as well as access troubleshooting and helpful information for your web site. If you need more help, you can email tech support or call them 24x7 (no "800" number you'll pay toll charges where they apply). Features - iiii GoDaddy's email services all include 256-bit encryption, SMS and Text Messaging integration, fraud protection, spam protection, virus protection, a catch-all address, SMTP support, message preview, drag and drop messages, message highlighting, message filtering and a web-based mail client for not only PCs but for PDA/Handhelds as well. Overall Rating - %%%%+ Solid services at a competitive price.
Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹1/2 Google's Gmail is web based and very easy to use. Cost - $$$$$ Gmail is free. Time Savings - ¹¹¹¹ The "promise" of Gmail is an improved way to organize and find messages. They'll NEVER be deleted (privacy may well be a huge issue here), just archived for later searching and retrieving. Ease of Use - @@@@ Web and "Google-based" - very easy to use. Works With - YYYYY Web-based mail system - just bring your browser.
Google offers an online searchable knowledge base only. Features - iiii+ Gmail delivers 2.5GB of mail storage, a spam filter, and no pop-up ads in addition to the archiving and retrieving capabilities outlined above. It also has rich text support (so you can highlight, capitalize, etc. your text), chat, RSS feeds, virus protection and VoIP integration. You can also add the Google Toolbar to your browser and access Gmail directly from the toolbar/browser and search Gmail messages - even when you're offline. And, the folks at Google have also added - voicemail, reply by chat, sounds, Gmail for mobile phones, vacation auto-responder, contact groups, view mail as HTML, virus scanning, auto-save, customized "from" addresses, contact importing and signature options. Overall Rating -%%%%+ It sounds good, but privacy is the key concern with this service. We all try to keep our personal and business messaging "private", and we think you'll probably give up a lot of privacy with this service. We'll wait and see however....and it IS free.
Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹ Hostway's Park and Email service is for business owners who know they are going to bring up a Web site, and wish to register the domain name (before someone else does!) and send and receive email from that name while the site is under construction. Hostway helps out by automatically sending "visitors" to your not quite ready Web site address to a "professionally designed" "Park" page, letting them know the site is under construction. Cost - $$$$ Hostway provides six plans to help you get started.
Time Savings - ¹¹¹¹ The services are designed to "get you going" and communicating with your customers while your Web site is under construction. A big help for business owners focusing their attention on the core business - and communicating with customers and partners in the near term - while making sure that they're ready to go with a Web site when the time is right. Ease of Use - @@@@ The Hostway solutions are simple and straightforward. Works With - YYYY The Hostway services (with the exception of the Exchange services) - are compatible with almost all electronic mail software and there is a Web-based email interface as well. Support - pppp Hostway has a solid reputation in the industry for reliability and availability (they've won awards for their "professionalism"). Their strong reporting capabilities ensure that you can "keep them honest" as well. The tech support area of the web site includes a number of FAQ's user guides and third party documentation. If you need more help you can email or call technical support on their "800" number (if your plan includes phones support). Features - iiii Hostway's email services provide an easy way to implement electronic messaging for your business. If you'd like you can also choose to utilize the hosted Exchange service and get the full functionality of Microsoft Outlook or choose their hosted Exchange services which allow you to send messages with attachments up to 50MB. Overall Rating - %%%% The Hostway email services are a good bet for home based business owners ready to communicate using electronic mail, but want someone else to host and manage the services for them.
Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹1/2 If you have a Web browser and a connection to the Internet, you can use Hotmail. Simply go to their registration page, register, and you're on your way. Cost - $$$$1/2 Microsoft offers Windows Live Hotmail as a standard "free" service, but also provides a "paid" service upgrade as well as email with their MSN Premium service.
Time Savings - ¹¹¹1/2 Can you spell S-P-A-M? Even though the messages that the Hotmail folks think are junk and automatically send to your "Junk Mail" folder don't count against your 2GB mailbox limit, you'll be surprised and shocked at what "isn't" Junk Mail and rapidly chews into your mailbox quota and time as you constantly delete messages from those folks hoping you'll re-mortgage your house or buy inkjet cartridges from them. You'll also find that 500 blocked address isn't many when you've got a Hotmail address. The newer Office Outlook Live service has a better business orientation and rids your in box of graphical ads. Ease of Use - @@@@
Windows Live
Hotmail is a browser-based WebMail service - very simple and usable. Works With - YYYY Windows Live Hotmail is compatible with most email software (Outlook, etc.) and of course, works with your browser. Support - ppp1/2 Just remember you get what you pay for. If you're like us and tend to work in the evenings as well as during the day, you may experience times where you can't send or receive email due to system outages. If you subscribe to the free service, you won't get much in the way of support, the paid services include access to the MSN support web site with lots of good information available as well as the ability to contact tech support via email or online chat. Support is much better for the "paid" services. Features - iiii Hotmail's upgrade to 2GB of storage for the free service was forced by Yahoo! and GMail. For business however, we recommend the Windows Live Hotmail Plus service upgrade (4GB storage) to the paid service at $19.95 per year. Wireless email (sending mail to your Internet-enabled phone, online calendar and address book and MSN Messenger (Instant Messaging) are nice features for the business traveler. Overall Rating - %%%1/2+ If you need some time while you decide what you're going to do about your Web hosting company or domain name, Hotmail could be a nice alternative. Just remember that once you start sending folks email from your Hotmail address, it's always a struggle to get the to change their email address books to your new one. So if you've decided on Hotmail - purchase the additional Personal Address Space product up front and get them to send the email to your domain name - not you@hotmail.com.
Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹ We know that NetBox is trying to make it easy for folks to just have a place to do email, but the way they've constructed their pricing and packages makes it almost too difficult to bother with. Everything is an "extra" - THIS IS NOT SIMPLE, especially for the "uninitiated". Cost - $$1/2 NetBox offers two basic email services (with lots of add-ons).
Time Savings - ¹¹¹ The service is designed to give you an email address. But, if you don't "configure" your email box correctly from the "get go" (adding in POP3 and extra storage for those attached files!), you'll miss messages and customer contacts you can't afford to do without! Ease of Use - @@@ Although designed for simplicity, the pricing schemes turn it into something much more complex. Works With - YYY Telnet? POP3 as an option? Support - ppp NetBox offers support to registered users. If you need help you can email or call them on their "800" number from Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 6 PM Pacific. Features - iii A very basic email service. Overall Rating - %%% NetBox is competitively priced.
Simple Start-Up - ¹¹¹¹ NTT/Verio's Web Mail service is for business owners who know they are going to bring up a Web site, and wish to register the domain name (before someone else does!) and send and receive email from that name while the site is under construction. NTT/Verio helps out by automatically sending "visitors" to your not quite ready Web site address to a 1 page "business card" Web site. Cost - $$$1/2 NTT/Verio's Web Mail Service comes in one "flavor".
Time Savings - ¹¹¹¹ The service is designed to "get you going" and communicating with your customers while your Web site is under construction. A big help for business owners focusing their attention on the core business - and communicating with customers and partners in the near term - while making sure that they're ready to go with a Web site when the time is right. Ease of Use - @@@@ The NTT/Verio solution is simple and straightforward. Works With - YYYY1/2 The NTT/Verio service is both POP3 and WebMail - compatible with almost all electronic mail software and providing browser email access as well. Support - pppp NTT/Verio has a solid reputation in the industry for reliability and availability. Their strong reporting capabilities ensure that you can "keep them honest". The tech support area on the Verio/NTT web site includes a large searchable knowledge base. If you need more help, you can open an "online ticket", email them or call them on their "800" number. Features - iiii NTT/Verio's Web Mail is a basic POP3/WebMail messaging service, but adds some nice touches like the Business Card Web Site, domain pointers and redirects and a Web-based control panel to manage your account. Overall Rating - %%%% The NTT/Verio Web Mail service is a good bet for home based business owners ready to communicate using electronic mail, but not quite ready to invest in their Web site. The Verio service costs more, but depending upon your need for WebMail access as well as POP3 services, might be worth the extra money.
See AT&T above.
If you have suggestions on other messaging companies for us to review, please send us a note through our Contact Us page.
If you'd like more information on electronic messaging see - Everything Email for more information. |
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