The differences between Fastmail and Pobox, for someone who must choose?
 

Hello, and Happy New Year.

I'm new here and am seeking advice from those more informed than me (which should be just about everybody).

I've decided to move to a pay email service and have come to a choice between Fastmail Standard and and Pobox Mailbox. I understand they both are part of the same business now, and use the same web interface, but otherwise are continuing to function separately. But I'm not clear on the most significant differences between them, and if anyone can explain these to me I will be very grateful.

My needs are straightforward. I currently own two domains that I intend to use for email (but am not using at all yet) one for my self-employed small business and the other for personal messaging. They may become associated with web sites in the future but not yet. I may also use a small number of the Fastmail/Pobox addresses/aliases for other purposes. Both plans provide plenty of addresses for my needs.

I'm also old-fashionedly accustomed to using mail through Thunderbird, though web based mail is fine.

I am not in any way a 'power user'. Ease of use and reliability (especially for my business) are the most valuable considerations for me. I have no particular technical skills, so simplicity in getting things going -- especially getting the domains working -- is valuable too.

Searching through past discussions as research before posting this I found comments to the effect that Fastmail has advantages on the front end, Pobox on the back end (or was it the other way around?). I wasn't clear on the meaning of that, though. Does either service offer notable features the other doesn't?

Thanks in advance for any information you provide, and a great new year to all.

Welcome to the forums scrivener. When Fastmail were very, very new, fifteen years ago, or more, they were (on occasion) experiencing technical problems, so I used both companies, and forwarded all of my Fastmail mail to Pobox.

The way I see it today (though these companies are technically amalgamated) I see no signs (upfront) that this is the case.

Review them both, is my foremost suggestion, and give it your best shot.

Pobox's management interface is not integrated in the e-mail client and I personally prefer this. And it is beautifully designed and user friendly. Their anti-spam section is much more comprehensive with (daily) reports, statistics, preview messages, whitelisting, etc. Also a notable feature of Pobox are the mail statistics (# of received, sent, etc.).

Pobox inherited the 'Files' part from FM, but you can't host a (simple static) website or a photo gallery on it. With FM you can.

Do you get push mail (with Fastmail push works flawlessly on iOS, I do not mean IMAP IDLE) and Cal/CardDAV with Pobox?

Thanks
 

I want to thank those who answered me with helpful information.

I went with Fastmail and am very happy so far, though I still have things to master.

After I get a little more experience I'll explain why I'm happy with my choice for the sake of others who may also be considering it and who search through the threads here looking for info like I did.

Meanwhile, I'm sure I'll be asking here for more advice...