Best long-term free email?
 

I keep experimenting with my search for the perfect email, not being happy with any of the "majors (although I'm mainly with Hotmail).

I was very sorry that my experiments with Ghostmail and Inbox came to an abrupt halt, and wondered if you have preferences for anything that you hope will be around for the long term. One that doesn't require a telephone to sign up.

I have a web.de account for long days, it works just fine.
also Mail.ru/Yandex/Freenet.de work as long as the history of internet.

Best reliable free email is one that will not disappear overnight, which basically means Gmail and Outlook.com IMHO. Other than that, there are many second-tier providers that are probably going to be around for awhile, but they usually have significant drawbacks: limited storage, lousy interface, poor deliverability, poor spam filters, etc. This question is a loaded one since your requirements may be different than mine. Can you start with a list of requirements prioritized? Mine would be something like this:

1. Longevity (they aren't going to disappear overnight)
2. Security (2FA and a good track record)
3. Deliverability (my email gets to my recipients)
4. Spam filter (junk and dangerous email doesn't get to me)
5. Storage (minimum of 5GB of free space, but 15-30GB would be better)
6. Interface
7. Mobile app and works well on mobile
8. Privacy (no email scanning--rare on free email)
9. Short and easy to spell so people don't mess up the address meaning no email

By the way, using anything but a ".com" is likely to result in many missed emails. I have been dictating an email address directly to a person writing it down and they automatically put the ".com" at the end no matter what you say. Use a .com address and save yourself headaches and lost emails.

yandex.com matches all?

Yandex is VERY good indeed, even their customer service for free accounts. I use it since 2013 on a daily bases and it is my main emailer. I just love it. Their translator app on android works like a charm, way better then google especialy for Russian. The only thing tuill now whats missing with yandex mail is the lack of aliasses. But I can live with that.

I left Gmail a long time ago....and i rarely use it. Alas i need an account with them because I use an Android phone. technically they are very good, but I was turned off by their snooping arround in my private emails and their privecy policy. Also I think their webmail interface looks horrible. But that's me. besides that Gmail servers are in USA...something to think about:-(

AOL I would NOT use, not even if they paid me too!! It is just terrible. Yahoo comes just after that. I would only use yahoo for spam cather or something like that..lol.

Mail.ru also is a pretty damn good service imho. What is also worth mentioning is the free email service of Seznam in the Czech Republic. In Poland gazeta.pl also does a great job on the free email front:-)

I would also NOT advise to use German based emailers such as web.de or T-online...
my 2 cents. With web.de being the german AOL here:-( terrible "service".

Dutchie.

Being in the USA I can't see trusting any Russia-based service with anything of importance. Besides, if I read the Yandex terms of service correctly they reserve the right to snoop into your emails to target you with advertising, etc., just like Google and the others. Personally, I trust Google a lot more with my personal data.

Why not T-online? I have an account with them and they're nothing like web.de or AOL which, as you said, are terrible. T-online is reliable, in my experience.

I hope you never have to "experience" T-online customer "service"...LOL

Like I said...it's another AOL. As long as it works it is OK...but IF you have a problem (Any problem) you are done! True technically their email service is not too bad. But so is Gmail, and I do NOT use them.

@Tenfour...being in Germany (still occupied by the US after 72 years..!) I would NOT trust anything were servers are in the US,-) Did you know the NSA tapped Merkels phone??,-) just saying...

D

I have zero confidence that any email is safe from state-level snooping, and I am personally more worried about hackers/criminals getting into my account. I am not doing anything of any interest to any government. As to Merkel's account, I am also 100% certain that every country is doing the same to every other country they possibly can. Not justifying it--just pointing out the reality. You would think that if anything might trigger NSA/FBI spying on you it might be using a Russian email service, especially after we have seen various hacks of our elections and metro systems, etc. http://thehackernews.com/2016/11/tra...em-hacked.html

This old thread has some interesting thoughts on state-level snooping, including these statements: http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=67485

I have for years accounts with BOTH services. Directbox is also good...but..as I stated before has their servers IN germany. Customer service responds swift and acurat..both in German and English.

GMX is another company as the likes of google,Yahoo or Microsoft..now and then their mails do not get to the inbox of the person I want to reach. For me it is unclear WERE servers are...is it USA or Germany? German Police (or BND, that is German Intelligence service) can get to your account in a jiffy..no probs there. I even doubt that they would need a warrant or so..!! Like I said before germany is a POLICESTATE. media is under total control from the Government.That is why i also do NOT use services like Posteo or Tutanota...they remain IN germany...a NO GO for me.IF I had to use another (western-European Email service) I would prefer some company which servers based in the Netherlands,Iceland or Norway.(try Vivaldi)

Again..I KNOW Russia also spies on emails...but for me that is less frightening then when I use a (free) service in the country were I actualy live,-)

Therefor.I recommend Yandex highly. And NO I am NOT getting paid to say this. Rambler or QIP are flunky in Russia, would NOT recommend.

As of late I also more and more start to like QQ mail in China. I tried again today and I saw they use servers in Italy and Czech republic..!!Did a test with

http://www.ip2location.com

very swift delivery, no flunkies. (like AOL or yahoo). Their interface is in English,so no probs for me.

Dutchie.

Other than the Obvious 'big guns" (Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail/Live/Outlook.com) ...


Mail.be here in Belgium has been around for over a decade at least, if not almost 15 years. I am unsure of exact data of foundation, but for sure it was already around 11 or 12 years ago when I first heard (positive) statements of the service.


Other services which have been around over a decade and thus have proven longevity:
GMX.de (Germany)
Walla.co.il (Israel)
Terra.es (Spain)
LaPoste.net (or was it .fr ?? Anyways, French based)
Web.de (Germany)
Seznam.cz (also has email.cz as domain) (Czech Rep.)
Centrum.cz (Czech Rep.)
Atlas.cz (Czech Rep.)
Mail.ru (Russia)
Spray.se (Sweden, although I think Scandinavia in general?)
Safe-mail.net (Israel)


I hereby only list services that have survived the hands of time so far, without making any statement on how good/poor they are.

That said, within their own country or linguistic area, these have a lot of users (for what that's worth): Mail.ru, Seznam.cz, Web.de, GMX.de, Terra.es

Hi,

I believe gmx is now owned by the same people as mail.com

I'd actually suggest eumx.net they might be able to adjust the account to suit your needs. Most webmail access is through the https protocol and I believe this is also offered on Imap/Pop. It may be worth asking the rep on here.

Yes, IMAP is there, not sure about POP.
I wouldn't bother with asking the rep for any details on EMD, write to support AT email.net.

BTW, eumx isn't free.

GMail interface
 

Ain't it the truth?

On FB someone complained they hated it so much they preferred GroupWise from their old job! Yikes!