Suggestions for free email service?

SendMail · 24 Jun 2010, 10:36 PM

Hi everybody,
I am looking for a FREE email service with the following features: at least 50Mb storage; SECURE webmail + IMAP + POP3 + SMTP; ad-free or small ads in webmail; reliable virus scanning; possibility to change the 'from' address in outgoing mails. It shouldn't be gmail or gawab. Any suggestions? Many thanks in advance!

jeffpan · 24 Jun 2010, 10:43 PM

Give a try on AOL.
other than Gmail/AOL I don't think there is another one.
Hotmail doesn't have IMAP, Yahoo neither.

jeffpan · 24 Jun 2010, 10:46 PM

Maybe I'm lost, but GMX/Arcor does have what the features you wanted.
Also freenet.de provide freemail right now, also has pop/smtp/imap, but for secure webmail, I don't know.

xmailer · 25 Jun 2010, 02:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffpan

Give a try on AOL.
other than Gmail/AOL I don't think there is another one.
Hotmail doesn't have IMAP, Yahoo neither.

I've been unable to find any means for changing the 'from" address in outgoing messages from AOL, one of the "requirements" listed by the OP.

As a side note, I've just had to negotiate a CAPTCHA to login to my AOL account, even though I got the password right on the first attempt. Has anyone else noticed this rather annoying "feature" with AOL?

janusz · 25 Jun 2010, 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xmailer

, I've just had to negotiate a CAPTCHA to login to my AOL account, even though I got the password right on the first attempt. Has anyone else noticed this rather annoying "feature" with AOL?

Yes, but only on the 1st attempt to login after a long absence (a few months in my case).

Besides, it seems that only the login screen is secure (https), anything after that is not (http). This may matter to some folks.

xmailer · 25 Jun 2010, 02:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by janusz

Yes, but only on the 1st attempt to login after a long absence (a few months).

Thanks for the feedback on that. While I'm not sure it's been quite as long as months since my last login, since I don't login to any of my AOL accounts on an extremely regular basis, I suppose it might be possible that it's been that long. Although offhand I'm having trouble thinking of a reasonable "rationale" for forcing a CAPTCHA on login merely on the basis of somewhat long term inactivity.

Quote:

Besides, it seems that only the login screen is secure (https), anything after that is not (http). This may matter to some folks.

It apparently matters to the OP. Which means AOL has at least two strikes against it for his purposes, including the lack of the ability to change the "from" address AFAICT. Which leaves only Gmail so far as meeting all his requirements -- except the requirement that it "shouldn't be gmail,". for whatever his reasons may be, -- meaning no "useful" suggestions thus far. (Except possibly GMX? Which I haven't looked at lately to know whether it meets all his requirements or not, but its horrible webmail interface would be more than enough for me to eliminate it from consideration.)

SendMail · 25 Jun 2010, 03:00 AM

Thank you. I checked it out: AOL and GMX do not allow another "from" address, except with their domain names. Freenet does not provide free IMAP access. Any other suggestions?

xmailer · 25 Jun 2010, 03:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SendMail

Thank you. I checked it out: AOL and GMX do not allow another "from" address, except with their domain names.

Although I'm not absolutely sure, and while it may not be adequate to your needs anyway, I believe that in addition to their own domain names, GMX allows users to change the "from" address to any addresses set up for POP polling from the account (including free Yahoo and Hotmail accounts, I believe). Not that I am personally "endorsing" the service, since as I "intimated" above, I can only stand to login to the GMX webmail on rare occasions, finding it, I'm tempted to say, generally "obnoxious" in design.

xmailer · 25 Jun 2010, 03:22 AM

Have you looked at zoho.com? While I'm not absolutely sure that it meets all of your "tests", at a quick glance it appears to meet many, possibly at least most, of them.

Otherwise, as long as "free" is one of your requirements, of course your options are likely to be somewhat limited. (In fact, I only currently use free services myself, being willing to live with the limitations at that "price.")

SendMail · 25 Jun 2010, 04:42 AM

Thanks for your reply.

Quote:

I believe that in addition to their own domain names, GMX allows users to change the "from" address to any addresses set up for POP polling from the account

I created a test address with gmx.fr and found out that one cannot change the "from" address in webmail.

Quote:

Have you looked at zoho.com?

I just checked it out and it seems to be a fantastic mail service. However, it does not yet provide IMAP.

Any other suggestions?

SendMail · 25 Jun 2010, 05:05 AM

Sorry, I am wrong: zoho.com allows now IMAP. Thus, it fits my needs. Thanks again.

xmailer · 25 Jun 2010, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SendMail

Thanks for your reply.

I created a test address with gmx.fr and found out that one cannot change the "from" address in webmail.

That's mystifying, since there have been many discussions about changing the From address in their user forum. You can't change it to "just any" address, but there has been much discussion of the dropdown list for changing it to one of one's aliases or one of one's accounts which GMX polls via POP3, although I can't recall whether I've actually ever used the latter myself.

Quote:

I just checked it out and it seems to be a fantastic mail service. However, it does not yet provide IMAP.

I'm not sure what your source for that information is, and I've never used its IMAP myself, however I have the option to enable it in my webmail settings (similarly to as Gmail does). It was originally available only on individual request while in the testing stage, but my most recent information on it (which admittedly was some weeks ago), was that they had added the ability to enable it to all their users' settings, and as I said, it appears to be available in mine now.

Quote:

Any other suggestions?

Not at the moment, sorry.

xmailer · 25 Jun 2010, 05:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SendMail

Sorry, I am wrong: zoho.com allows now IMAP. Thus, it fits my needs. Thanks again.

I guess we almost "simulposted."

I haven't yet tested/used my own zoho account "rigorously" enough to confidently attest to its reliability, etc., but I hope it works out for you. Good luck.

Dutchie007 · 25 Jun 2010, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SendMail

Hi everybody,
I am looking for a FREE email service with the following features: at least 50Mb storage; SECURE webmail + IMAP + POP3 + SMTP; ad-free or small ads in webmail; reliable virus scanning; possibility to change the 'from' address in outgoing mails. It shouldn't be gmail or gawab. Any suggestions? Many thanks in advance!

Did you try gmx.com have many of the above features, except for secure webmail i don't know as I sometimes use it through my poco mail email client.
They have 5 gig storage....

gawab.com has 10 gigs storage and also pop3 and imap for free...don't know about secure webmail though......

Dutchie.

RunboxCustomer · 25 Jun 2010, 07:27 AM

I would rather pay for the features that I want than try to fish for some free service that may or may not be reliable or have those features. There are a lot of paid services that are inexpensive and usually have everything that you want and none of what you don't want. Fastmail, Runbox and a few others. Shop around for what suits your needs and budget.

24 Jun 2010, 10:36 PM	#1
SendMail Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 16	Suggestions for free email service? Hi everybody, I am looking for a FREE email service with the following features: at least 50Mb storage; SECURE webmail + IMAP + POP3 + SMTP; ad-free or small ads in webmail; reliable virus scanning; possibility to change the 'from' address in outgoing mails. It shouldn't be gmail or gawab. Any suggestions? Many thanks in advance!

24 Jun 2010, 10:43 PM	#2
jeffpan The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Macao Posts: 2,162 Representative of: tls-mail.com	Give a try on AOL. other than Gmail/AOL I don't think there is another one. Hotmail doesn't have IMAP, Yahoo neither.

24 Jun 2010, 10:46 PM	#3
jeffpan The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Macao Posts: 2,162 Representative of: tls-mail.com	Maybe I'm lost, but GMX/Arcor does have what the features you wanted. Also freenet.de provide freemail right now, also has pop/smtp/imap, but for secure webmail, I don't know.

25 Jun 2010, 03:00 AM	#7
SendMail Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 16	Thank you. I checked it out: AOL and GMX do not allow another "from" address, except with their domain names. Freenet does not provide free IMAP access. Any other suggestions?

25 Jun 2010, 03:22 AM	#9
xmailer Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: USA Posts: 5,485	Have you looked at zoho.com? While I'm not absolutely sure that it meets all of your "tests", at a quick glance it appears to meet many, possibly at least most, of them. Otherwise, as long as "free" is one of your requirements, of course your options are likely to be somewhat limited. (In fact, I only currently use free services myself, being willing to live with the limitations at that "price.")

25 Jun 2010, 05:05 AM	#11
SendMail Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 16	Sorry, I am wrong: zoho.com allows now IMAP. Thus, it fits my needs. Thanks again.

25 Jun 2010, 07:27 AM	#15
RunboxCustomer Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 29	I would rather pay for the features that I want than try to fish for some free service that may or may not be reliable or have those features. There are a lot of paid services that are inexpensive and usually have everything that you want and none of what you don't want. Fastmail, Runbox and a few others. Shop around for what suits your needs and budget.