#148 - Email observations

I believe I have covered this topic before but I have discussed email options with several customers recently. Never hurts to cover a topic twice!

Email comes in several flavors - the most used is the POP3 ( Post Office Protocol 3) model. In this email method e-mail is received and held for you by your Internet server. Periodically, you check your mail-box on the server and download any mail. This standard protocol is built into most popular e-mail products, such as Outlook, Thunderbird and Outlook Express.

POP3 is designed to delete mail on the server as soon as the user has downloaded it. However, some implementations allow users or an administrator to specify that mail be saved for some period of time. POP can be thought of as a "store-and-forward" service.

I'm not a big fan of POP3 type emails (nTelos, TDS, Verizon). Why? - Because you download ALL the email to your PC. Good, Bad and Ugly. It clogs up your PC and if your hard drive crashes and you haven't backed up your email (not an easy thing to do) your email is GONE!

The other type of Email is web based. AOL, Yahoo and Gmail are of this type, though quite different. In web based emails, the emails are stored at the hosts server site. It can be brought to your PC, but that isn't the standard option.

In AOL's case, it stores your emails on its servers until read and then for up to a week. If you want to store the email on your PC, you can save it there. You can also set up AOL to save all your email on your PC. In Gmail's case, it store emails forever on its servers.

You can set Gmail up to act like a POP3 and bring the email to your PC if you desire. Yahoo mail works much like Gmail. Both Gmail and Yahoo mail let you store just about unlimited email on their servers. AOL has limits as to the amount you can save on their servers. AOL has wonderful group and a great personal file cabinet to organize your emails. Gmail and Yahoo are plainer with less email organization features.

Which one is right for you? I don't know. Email is generally free so its a matter of personal preference. I have a Verizon, ntelos, Gmail, vt and AOL accounts. I mainly use the AOL and Gmail accounts. Set a new one up and see how you like it. If you do just email everyone in your contacts or address book and move to the better email! (just let nick know so he can keep you on the newsletter list!)