Email account fees

[Ming the Merciless]

work with people who use computers for their job but wouldn't even know how to switch on a PC and open up a browser

Yeah but they are the same people who struggle to operate a TV remote.

 

[Psamathe]

I use gmail for most things
then access it though an email client on my laptop which gives me the control if I need it

Until gmail put in mandatory server based SPAM filtering (and deletion) or some other constraints which you have no control over (like Apple have). And your mail is disrupted and you can't move 'cos you are using a google/gmail domain.

As I said, this has happened on Apple iCloud and it's all before mail gets to any client ie their servers refuse to accept the incoming mail.

It's not under mail client control but about mail server control.

Ian

 

[icowden]

Until gmail put in mandatory server based SPAM filtering (and deletion) or some other constraints which you have no control over (like Apple have). And your mail is disrupted and you can't move 'cos you are using a google/gmail domain.

I can't see any of that happening with Google. It would upset a massive amount of their base.

As I said, this has happened on Apple iCloud and it's all before mail gets to any client ie their servers refuse to accept the incoming mail.

That's Apple. Apple and Google are chalk and cheese. Apple are all about controlling everything and locking things down. Google is all about being open. Open formats, open source. You can adapt Android any way that you want. All Google Office formats are open formats that anyone and any software can use.

It's not under mail client control but about mail server control.

True. I'm firmly in the gmail is great camp though.

I do pay for webhosting and email via FastHosts for my business and I find that email hard to use and full of spam. Unless I decide to implement my own services to filter it (which isn't as easy as it sounds), it fills up with junk. Gmail is far superior to my paid option.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I can't see any of that happening with Google. It would upset a massive amount of their base.

That's Apple. Apple and Google are chalk and cheese. Apple are all about controlling everything and locking things down. Google is all about being open. Open formats, open source. You can adapt Android any way that you want. All Google Office formats are open formats that anyone and any software can use.

True. I'm firmly in the gmail is great camp though.

I do pay for webhosting and email via FastHosts for my business and I find that email hard to use and full of spam. Unless I decide to implement my own services to filter it (which isn't as easy as it sounds), it fills up with junk. Gmail is far superior to my paid option.

I have had people complain about hotmail (etc) and apple and the others
mostly because of expected mail not arriving

but gmail has always just kinda worked OK

so far anyway

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Yeah but they are the same people who struggle to operate a TV remote.

IT support forums are full of tales of people who somehow manage to operate complex heating system and TV and broadband at home
and have advanced academic qualification - possibly in scientific subjects

but somehow are not capable of operating a computer at work that starts up everything they need automatically

Have I mentioned teachers???

 

[icowden]

IT support forums are full of tales of people who somehow manage to operate complex heating system and TV and broadband at home
and have advanced academic qualification - possibly in scientific subjects
but somehow are not capable of operating a computer at work that starts up everything they need automatically

Many years ago we were implementing a new electronic patient record system and I was delivering some of the training (can't remember why). We had a group of very recalcitrant District Nurses who were dead set against it. A colleague of mine (senior nurse) muttered to me "It's amazing, in here they barely know how to turn the computer on, but I've seen them all ordering an online shop or buying stuff from Amazon..."

 

[Psamathe]

I can't see any of that happening with Google. It would upset a massive amount of their base.

Google have certainly completely withdrawn services in the past 9which has upset their user base).

I'm not saying they will, just they might and if they do and it impacts you you have no option to move as the address you've given to everybody is tied to the provider.

Registering your own domain name and doing a mail divert to eg Google/Gmail isn't expensive but does give you protection against whatever commercial for profit companies might do to increase those profits in the future.

Just suggesting way OP/people can protect themselves given that these services they are using are operated by companies seeking to maximise profit and "free" is never free.

Ian

 

[CXRAndy]

That's why I never took up BT, Tiscali and others for their email service. I've got Hotmail 30+ years and Gmail probably 20+ years. I'm running close to full on storage, from time to time I purged the oldest emails, even back then I have one or two important ones

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

That's why I never took up BT, Tiscali and others for their email service. I've got Hotmail 30+ years and Gmail probably 20+ years. I'm running close to full on storage, from time to time I purged the oldest emails, even back then I have one or two important ones

After my problems with Tiscali I have done the same

I use Gmail for most things and I have a hotmail account that I use for anything that I thing might be dodgy - mostly because ti might send loads of spam or something
Actually I started using the hotmail as my main account but it uses underscores
and trying to get people to understand what an underscore is was just too much work so I created the gmail one