Any suggestions for a new e-mail service?

[Mike Abberton]

Hey guys,

Does anyone have a suggestion for a good e-mail service for gaming?

My requirements (in somewhat order of importance):

Reliability - Files, particularly ones with attachments, should get through 99.9999% of the time. I seem to be having a lot of dropped e-mails lately with no alert messages, and I suspect it is more on my end than on my opponent's.

Attachment size - I play CS/CM/UV pretty regularly, and my attachment file sizes (even zipped) can easily top 2 MB.

SPAM filter - I had a hotmail account once, and it was a little annoying filtering through the mortgage/porn/drug/etc. spams to look for turns. I'd like a service that would have good built-in filtering service that either lets most PBEM turns through or has simple controls to put addresses on a "trusted" list.

Outlook Express compatibility - I use Outlook Express for my e-mail at home, and I would like to be able to continue that. So ideally, I'll be able to access my home e-mail and my gaming e-mail at the same time with one hit of the send/receive button. I'd consider making a change in e-mail program if that would allow one click send/receive.

Cost - Free would be nice, but I'd be willing to pay a small monthly fee, if it was a world-class e-mail service.

So any suggestions out there?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[Hawk Kriegsman]

Hello Mike,

Try Google Mail. Free and it works nice. I have not tried sending a 2MB file from though. I think you can do it however.

And its free!

Thanx!

Erik

[Reddog]

I don't have a lot of computer tech skills but it looks like some of what you are asking for is included in MS Outlook 2003. When it comes to spam and/or junk mail filters it has a good one and you make your own adjustments. Relying on your email server to filter out that stuff will give you nothing but headaches. That also might the reason for bad email performance and lost emails because of their filters.

You can purchase MS Outlook 2003 in what I think is called a "Student Package" at a reasonable price. At least it's cheaper than buying the entire MS Office Software package.

When it comes to Internet Providers mine has Spam & Junk email filters that you can adjust or turn off all together. I'm showing my ignorance here but doesn't your Internet provider also have an email service? Up here in the "Great White North" when you purchase an Internet connection you also receive an email account with up to 5 different addresses and 100 megs of email space. Just my $.02 but hope it helps? :smoke:

[Mike Abberton]

Reddog,

My ISP is my current e-mail provider, but it seems to be giving me a lot of problems lately with turn files. It may very well be the ISP's SPAM filters that are causing some of the problem. They switched from what I thought was a pretty good one (postini) to some "new, improved" service that pretty much blows (and not in the good way). ;)

So, I'd like to get a new secondary e-mail that I can use solely for PBEM. Hopefully that will cut down on the SPAM somewhat right off the bat. I think I'll try Gmail first. Thanks for the suggestions though.

Mike