Fastmail or Pobox IMAP

jimg72 · 3 May 2006, 03:25 AM

I'm a current Pobox customer and am ready to upgrade my $20 account to a $50 mailstore account but then I found fastmail. Does more sense to get a fastmail account and use it with my pobox address? I'm going to keep pobox, I've had the address for several years and want to keep using it. What I'm looking to gain by adding either new service is IMAP, webmail, and maybe eventually syncing contacts online. I'm currently forwarding to Gmail but want to use IMAP with a new Treo.

Any opinions either way? The price difference is negligible.

1) Pobox ($20) + Fastmail ($34.90)

0r

2) Pobox ($50)

David · 3 May 2006, 03:49 AM

I use Pobox in combination with Fastmail and Tuffmail, although I don't really need both. As I get three free domain name aliases (for my personal domain name) with Pobox, I don't really need virtual domain name hosting from Fastmail, so I can manage with a full account, or Tuffmail's most basic account option. Fastmail have the better web interface (imo) though.

Either one of the above is better than Pobox's Mailstore, which I tested and cancelled. Their SquirrelMail interface is not worth the extra thirty Dollars (over and above what you pay for their basic forwarding)

ankupan · 3 May 2006, 09:33 AM

Hi jimg72,

I am Pobox and Fastmail user too.

Really its one of excellent combination.

I also tried Mailstore, but cancelled.

my setup is Pobox + FM Enhanced

Result =

odedp · 6 May 2006, 01:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by David
Either one of the above is better than Pobox's Mailstore, which I tested and cancelled. Their SquirrelMail interface is not worth the extra thirty Dollars (over and above what you pay for their basic forwarding)

I agree.
I'm also a Pobox user (I have the "Plus" account as I need the filters.)
Like David, I have also tested Mailstore, and cancelled.
I'm using Pobox with both Fastmail and Runbox.

Goodluck,
Oded.

ewal · 6 May 2006, 02:40 AM

I also have the pobox plus account, having had it for many years. I keep renewing each year just to keep some names even though I mostly use my fastmail email addresses.

I had hoped to be able to host my own domain at pobox (and thereby be able to forward to both fastmail and a secondary account), however they don't allow a catchall for own domains and buying extra aliases (even for one's own domain) is just too expensive for my taste. I hope pobox changes their policy one day, perhaps by charging for own domain hosting (it is currently free if you have a pobox account).

Edward

JasonWard · 6 May 2006, 02:53 AM

Im really interested in why people have multiple email accounts.

I dont mean like I've got

Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail and Fastmail.

All appart from Hotmail (who I pay *JUST* so I can have Fastmail retrieve my emails from them) all my accounts other than Fastmail are free.

I mean people people who have Fastmail and Pobox or Fastmail and other high end services.

What do you do with these other services that you can't do with one account at one provider?

Or is it mostly because your email accounts are also toys and having extra toys with twidly bits is always fun?

Jason

placebo · 6 May 2006, 03:47 AM

I have two paid accounts at FastMail just so I can keep my business e-mail mostly separate from my personal stuff.

I set my mother up with pobox.com years ago, so she'd have a stable e-mail address despite switching ISPs every so often. Since then, I set her up with a FastMail account to which all her e-mail now gets forwarded, but she still pays for pobox.com so she can keep her old e-mail address.

David · 6 May 2006, 03:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ewal
I hope pobox changes their policy one day, perhaps by charging for own domain hosting (it is currently free if you have a pobox account).

I hope not Edward. You wouldn't want to gain at the expense of another would you

ewal · 6 May 2006, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by David
I hope not Edward. You wouldn't want to gain at the expense of another would you

Ok ok David, you win. Free catchall and free own domain hosting at pobox all dual forwarded to fastmail and tuffmail.

An unbeatable solution.

Edward

n5bb · 6 May 2006, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JasonWard
Im really interested in why people have multiple email accounts. ...
What do you do with these other services that you can't do with one account at one provider?
Or is it mostly because your email accounts are also toys and having extra toys with twidly bits is always fun?

I only have a paid account at Fastmail, Jason. But I can understand why some have a need for more than one. Now please bear with me as I pose some purely rhetorical questions........

Do you have more than one pen or pencil? One should be enough. When it runs out of ink or graphite you can visit a store and purchase another one. Oh, you say you have a BOX of pens or pencils in the drawer? Why are you so extravagant? You can only use one at a time. You aren't going to grab ten up at once and try to use them like Edward Scissorhands, are you?

And yes, extra toys are soooo fun! Glad you brought that up. I'm a ham radio operator, and one reason I'm sure I started playing with radios was that they do have -very- -nice- -twidly- -knobs- (as in other respects do software and email). Oh, by the way, there are also so very many twidly bits in discussion boards.

Now I'm going to wear my philosopher's cap a new more seconds and quote from a song I was listening to while composing this rant post.. The album was released the year I really started playing with twidly radio knobs (1969). Computers were very big and corporate back then, so all I had to twiddle was my radio stuff (and maybe a slide rule). From the group King Crimson (21st Century Schizoid Man, last stanza):

Death seed blind man’s greed
Poets’ starving children bleed
Nothing he’s got he really needs
Twenty First Century Schizoid Man

Bill

William9 · 7 May 2006, 03:45 AM

There are several practical reasons to have multiple e-mail accounts.

Separate business and personal email
Redundancy in case one service goes down.
Prioritize messages -- such as having an account for important stuff and others for newsletters, etc.
Having an account for mobile device so that it isn't choked with newsletters and HTML messages.
Increased storage space.
Exploring what's out there. What kind of services are available and how do they work.
Need for own domain services to host MX records.

3 May 2006, 03:25 AM	#1
jimg72 Junior Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 2	Fastmail or Pobox IMAP I'm a current Pobox customer and am ready to upgrade my $20 account to a $50 mailstore account but then I found fastmail. Does more sense to get a fastmail account and use it with my pobox address? I'm going to keep pobox, I've had the address for several years and want to keep using it. What I'm looking to gain by adding either new service is IMAP, webmail, and maybe eventually syncing contacts online. I'm currently forwarding to Gmail but want to use IMAP with a new Treo. Any opinions either way? The price difference is negligible. 1) Pobox ($20) + Fastmail ($34.90) 0r 2) Pobox ($50)

7 May 2006, 03:45 AM	#11
William9 The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: San Francisco Posts: 2,281	Multiple E-mail Accounts There are several practical reasons to have multiple e-mail accounts. Separate business and personal email Redundancy in case one service goes down. Prioritize messages -- such as having an account for important stuff and others for newsletters, etc. Having an account for mobile device so that it isn't choked with newsletters and HTML messages. Increased storage space. Exploring what's out there. What kind of services are available and how do they work. Need for own domain services to host MX records.

3 May 2006, 03:49 AM	#2
David Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Canada. Posts: 10,355	I use Pobox in combination with Fastmail and Tuffmail, although I don't really need both. As I get three free domain name aliases (for my personal domain name) with Pobox, I don't really need virtual domain name hosting from Fastmail, so I can manage with a full account, or Tuffmail's most basic account option. Fastmail have the better web interface (imo) though. Either one of the above is better than Pobox's Mailstore, which I tested and cancelled. Their SquirrelMail interface is not worth the extra thirty Dollars (over and above what you pay for their basic forwarding)

3 May 2006, 09:33 AM	#3
ankupan Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 809	Hi jimg72, I am Pobox and Fastmail user too. Really its one of excellent combination. I also tried Mailstore, but cancelled. my setup is Pobox + FM Enhanced Result =

6 May 2006, 02:40 AM	#5
ewal Master of the @ Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: West Sussex, UK Posts: 1,334	I also have the pobox plus account, having had it for many years. I keep renewing each year just to keep some names even though I mostly use my fastmail email addresses. I had hoped to be able to host my own domain at pobox (and thereby be able to forward to both fastmail and a secondary account), however they don't allow a catchall for own domains and buying extra aliases (even for one's own domain) is just too expensive for my taste. I hope pobox changes their policy one day, perhaps by charging for own domain hosting (it is currently free if you have a pobox account). Edward

6 May 2006, 02:53 AM	#6
JasonWard Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: London, UK Posts: 834	Im really interested in why people have multiple email accounts. I dont mean like I've got Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail and Fastmail. All appart from Hotmail (who I pay JUST so I can have Fastmail retrieve my emails from them) all my accounts other than Fastmail are free. I mean people people who have Fastmail and Pobox or Fastmail and other high end services. What do you do with these other services that you can't do with one account at one provider? Or is it mostly because your email accounts are also toys and having extra toys with twidly bits is always fun? Jason

6 May 2006, 03:47 AM	#7
placebo Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 743	I have two paid accounts at FastMail just so I can keep my business e-mail mostly separate from my personal stuff. I set my mother up with pobox.com years ago, so she'd have a stable e-mail address despite switching ISPs every so often. Since then, I set her up with a FastMail account to which all her e-mail now gets forwarded, but she still pays for pobox.com so she can keep her old e-mail address.