best alternatives to fastmail? can't take any more outages

pcm41 · 13 May 2011, 11:46 PM

I moved from my own server to Fastmail in February on the advice of a friend (changed ISPs and shut down my dedicated line). The features of Fastmail are great, but the reliability is terrible. In as many months as I've been with Fastmail it has had serious/lengthy outages.

The AT&T-NYI peering problem (while not Fastmail's direct problem) was also extremely frustrating. It's not a very serious hosting solution if they just operate out of a single DC as they currently do.

I'd be happy to pay double, triple, quadruple, quintuple what Fastmail charges if the service would just stay *up* 24/7 - *reliably*.

I can understand hardware failures, but come on, guys -- someone makes a "configuration error" that brings down the system and corrupts data? Do you realize that this is a service that you provide, that people *pay for* and count on working?

My wife must rely on her e-mail being available for her work, and every time Fastmail goes down it causes extreme stress (for her and me, as a result). I'd love to stay, but I just can't risk more outages like this.

Can anyone offer any alternatives to Fastmail that they've had good experience with? At present, Rackspace e-mail hosting looks very appealing.

ChinaLamb · 13 May 2011, 11:54 PM

Anything I've tried I've only moved back again to Fastmail.

There's always Gmail and Hotmail tho... But I've got about 1000 reasons to stay away from them...

pcm41 · 14 May 2011, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChinaLamb

Anything I've tried I've only moved back again to Fastmail.

There's always Gmail and Hotmail tho... But I've got about 1000 reasons to stay away from them...

Yes, it looks like there aren't a lot of good options without doing more work (e.g., VPS via EC2 or similar cloud hosting solutions). Definitely do NOT want to go the gmail route.

I really want to stay with Fastmail, the features are incredible. But they MUST do something about reliability.

fryr · 14 May 2011, 12:10 AM

1. Register your own domain and set it's MX records to point to Fastmail with a short TTL.
2. Configure Fastmail with Domain and set up rule that forwards all mail to Gmail (Backup)
3. Only use email addresses from this domain.
4. On Outage change MX records to local domain and set domain forward to Gmail email address.

That's what I did after the last major outage and have enacted it this time and am now getting any new mail in Gmail.

The same can be done without MX records if you can configure a domain forward simply point it at Fastmail and when it is down point it at Gmail.

Pfolson · 14 May 2011, 12:14 AM

The sad thing is, it seemed like these kinds of outages were a thing of the past, a remnant of the bad old days.

For the past several years, Fastmail had stellar reliability, with only very scattered and extremely brief interruptions. This year, however, has been a whole other story. We're back to the days of frequent and often lengthy outages.

I understand that "stuff happens," and I respect the technical expertise of Fastmail staff. But this recent trend is still depressing, and it's starting to concern me quite a bit.

Paul

Tom Gallagher · 14 May 2011, 12:28 AM

Sadly, I have reached the conclusionn that there are no better alternatives....

krimlin · 14 May 2011, 12:30 AM

Even if I found a new email hosting provider, I wouldn't get back any money I paid for FastMail, would I? My subscription ends in 2,5 years...

David · 14 May 2011, 12:32 AM

Not putting all of your eggs in one basket is one solution....

**Shelded** · 14 May 2011, 12:34 AM

other thread running on this topic also.... http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=62269

pcm41 · 14 May 2011, 12:35 AM

The Rackspace solution looks very nice/serious (http://www.rackspace.com/apps/email_...ckspace_email/) -- doing some research on reliability.

William9 · 14 May 2011, 12:47 AM

Luxsci is awesome. Reliability and customer service are excellent. It's more expensive than Fastmail. I've had an account with LuxSci.com for about 4 years. I've personally experienced no significant downtime.

SPG900NY · 14 May 2011, 12:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChinaLamb

Anything I've tried I've only moved back again to Fastmail..

Me too. When Opera bought them and changed the TOS without giving us any notice, I left. But I was crawling back within a month with my tail between my legs. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any decently-priced, feature-filled, quality aggregator of POP accounts that you can use online.

So we're left with the occasional outages, limited interfaces, and slow development.

SPG900NY · 14 May 2011, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcm41

The Rackspace solution looks very nice/serious (http://www.rackspace.com/apps/email_...ckspace_email/) -- doing some research on reliability.

Interesting. You know, OWA looks like it's finally to the point of being a capable web client. I'm not stoked about spending $10 a month for email, but this might be a good idea. The Rackspace option is cheaper, but you have to buy multiple email boxes.

Tom Gallagher · 14 May 2011, 01:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPG900NY

Me too. When Opera bought them and changed the TOS without giving us any notice, I left. But I was crawling back within a month with my tail between my legs. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any decently-priced, feature-filled, quality aggregator of POP accounts that you can use online.

So we're left with the occasional outages, limited interfaces, and slow development.

Amen to that.

William9 · 14 May 2011, 01:03 AM

It depends on what your needs are. If you want reliable e-mail service (accessibly near 100% for years) such as for business or professional messaging and great customer service, then LuxSci fills those needs. At least it has done so for me. LuxSci also has many features like multiple POP's, rules, push to mobile devices, etc.

13 May 2011, 11:46 PM	#1
pcm41 Junior Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 19	best alternatives to fastmail? can't take any more outages I moved from my own server to Fastmail in February on the advice of a friend (changed ISPs and shut down my dedicated line). The features of Fastmail are great, but the reliability is terrible. In as many months as I've been with Fastmail it has had serious/lengthy outages. The AT&T-NYI peering problem (while not Fastmail's direct problem) was also extremely frustrating. It's not a very serious hosting solution if they just operate out of a single DC as they currently do. I'd be happy to pay double, triple, quadruple, quintuple what Fastmail charges if the service would just stay up 24/7 - reliably. I can understand hardware failures, but come on, guys -- someone makes a "configuration error" that brings down the system and corrupts data? Do you realize that this is a service that you provide, that people pay for and count on working? My wife must rely on her e-mail being available for her work, and every time Fastmail goes down it causes extreme stress (for her and me, as a result). I'd love to stay, but I just can't risk more outages like this. Can anyone offer any alternatives to Fastmail that they've had good experience with? At present, Rackspace e-mail hosting looks very appealing.

14 May 2011, 12:10 AM	#4
fryr Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Yorkshire, UK Posts: 147	My Solution to Fastmail Outages 1. Register your own domain and set it's MX records to point to Fastmail with a short TTL. 2. Configure Fastmail with Domain and set up rule that forwards all mail to Gmail (Backup) 3. Only use email addresses from this domain. 4. On Outage change MX records to local domain and set domain forward to Gmail email address. That's what I did after the last major outage and have enacted it this time and am now getting any new mail in Gmail. The same can be done without MX records if you can configure a domain forward simply point it at Fastmail and when it is down point it at Gmail.

14 May 2011, 12:28 AM	#6
Tom Gallagher Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: South Jersey, USA Posts: 195	Alternatives Sadly, I have reached the conclusionn that there are no better alternatives....

13 May 2011, 11:54 PM	#2
ChinaLamb The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: a virtually impossible but finitely improbable position Posts: 2,320	Anything I've tried I've only moved back again to Fastmail. There's always Gmail and Hotmail tho... But I've got about 1000 reasons to stay away from them...

14 May 2011, 12:14 AM	#5
Pfolson Essential Contributor Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 490	The sad thing is, it seemed like these kinds of outages were a thing of the past, a remnant of the bad old days. For the past several years, Fastmail had stellar reliability, with only very scattered and extremely brief interruptions. This year, however, has been a whole other story. We're back to the days of frequent and often lengthy outages. I understand that "stuff happens," and I respect the technical expertise of Fastmail staff. But this recent trend is still depressing, and it's starting to concern me quite a bit. Paul

14 May 2011, 12:30 AM	#7
krimlin Essential Contributor Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 243	Even if I found a new email hosting provider, I wouldn't get back any money I paid for FastMail, would I? My subscription ends in 2,5 years...

14 May 2011, 12:32 AM	#8
David Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Canada. Posts: 10,355	Not putting all of your eggs in one basket is one solution....

14 May 2011, 12:34 AM	#9
Shelded Moderator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: USA Northwest Posts: 3,849	other thread running on this topic also.... http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=62269

14 May 2011, 12:35 AM	#10
pcm41 Junior Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 19	The Rackspace solution looks very nice/serious (http://www.rackspace.com/apps/email_...ckspace_email/) -- doing some research on reliability.

14 May 2011, 12:47 AM	#11
William9 The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: San Francisco Posts: 2,281	Luxsci is awesome. Reliability and customer service are excellent. It's more expensive than Fastmail. I've had an account with LuxSci.com for about 4 years. I've personally experienced no significant downtime.

14 May 2011, 01:03 AM	#15
William9 The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: San Francisco Posts: 2,281	It depends on what your needs are. If you want reliable e-mail service (accessibly near 100% for years) such as for business or professional messaging and great customer service, then LuxSci fills those needs. At least it has done so for me. LuxSci also has many features like multiple POP's, rules, push to mobile devices, etc.