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Old 21 May 2002, 10:34 PM   #1
Jensen
Junior Member
 
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 4
Thumbs up My Experience with FM

The Turning Point:

About 5 days ago now I think I just snapped I finally had enough of my Hotmail inbox fulling up with spam and my Yahoo messages no longer being forwarded through to OE. I was up late that night and started trolling the internet for my next (all encompassing) email site. Although there were hundreds to choose from, I honestly thought there would be more. I am afraid the night was to become even longer.

Fastmail.fm came to notice a few times, as well as a few others and finally started to compare what each offerred in terms of the basic functions I was after. This included forwarding and POP access primarily, but price was also an issue. Before this experience I would have said that it is my right to have free email and why would I pay when I get it for free. I had contemplated paying, but recurring fees were a turn off when paying the equivalent Australian dollars (it effectively doubles the US$ price).

I would like to note that at this point I remember reading some of these postings on this forum prior to joining and thought this sounds like the "Mutual Admiration Society". "Jeremy and Rob you are fantastic........" etc etc. I did wonder what was going on, are these guys rock stars?

The Decision:

It was a Saturday morning now at 4am now and it was time to commit. I wasn't going to bed until I had achieved something. I think I chose FM based on the forwarding function (Yahoo was still a sore point); all the other host of functions that I perused on the FM pricing table and the $14.95 once off cost was acceptable. At the last minute though I thought why not get the $19.95 a year deal and if i want to change next year I can always drop. By doing this as well I got myself a very nice 6 letter login name. I was set the money was paid and I started to explore my new 'toy".

Big Kids.......:

I've got to say I am one of these people that when I buy a computer game I just start playing and don't bother with the instructions. Learn on the fly. It is pretty haphazard, but you can usually get yourself out of trouble eventually. I was the same on FM. I saw the rename thing and thought, yeah I'll try that. Mistake one for me. Think before you act and read the print. I chose a name that I had reservations about straight away then found out about the one change only deal. Danger Will Robinson Danger!! I thought this was going to end in disaster until I saw that FM actually had a support email address.

The Support:

I formulated a very polite email playing up the "paid my money" aspect, in the grim hope of a reply. I was about to hit the sack thinking I would get a reply in a few days at best, when I get the reply saying "no problem the rename setting is reset". I was dumbstruck this is not normal. On top of this and prior I was trying to find a more suitable name when I inadvertantly registered the name I was after under a seperate account which i did not pursue. I thought that FM must have me on the "not financially viable" list by now but thought I harass them anyway to get this other name I was after. I hit the hay that time thinking it was not physically possible for me to continue at that point. Next day though I found my newly named account waiting for me. Wallaaa Problem solved once again. I did have only one other hassle, that being with my SMPT settings on OE but resolved that after properly reading the FM FAQ section. Read those FAQ's properly.

My Testimonial:

As you can gather I am now a committed customer. FM has everything you want and more. Including a few things you sometimes forget about - like Reliability and Support. As for the cost I would gladly pay my money again, even more for the service and product that I have received in 5 days. As for competitors I can speak from experience that there aren't many peers for FM out there. If you read this and you are thinking about going with FM just do it, you won't regret it. By the way Jeremy and Rob you are rock stars.

My only questions now are:

1. Where can we buy shares (stock)?
2. What city is FM based in?
3. How do your Wives/GF's put up with the long hours?
4. When are we going to see FM Cola?

Thanks
CJ
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Old 21 May 2002, 11:33 PM   #2
psalzer
 Moderator 
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 2,654
Ah, welcome to the cult.

Stock's not available yet. When it is, we're all in.

Fastmail is located in various places. Jeremy and Rob are in the Melbourne area of Australia, main servers are in Texas, US, and there are back-up servers in Europe.

I think their girlfriends are probably just figure that it keeps them off the streets..or something. Or maybe they figure this is one way to get a really good e-mail account?

Fastmail Cola - after the IPO and numerous mergers they'll probably buy Coca-cola.
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Old 22 May 2002, 03:58 AM   #3
robert@fm
The "e" in e-mail
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 4,681
Quote:
Originally posted by psalzer
Fastmail Cola - after the IPO and numerous mergers they'll probably buy Coca-cola.
I'd like them to first buy The Evil Empire (a.k.a. Micro$oft) and humanise it!
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Old 22 May 2002, 07:17 AM   #4
ReuvenNY
 Moderator 
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: New York
Posts: 4,259
Re: My Experience with FM

Quote:
Originally posted by Jensen
The Turning Point:
FM has everything you want and more. Including a few things you sometimes forget about - like Reliability and Support.
CJ
Welcome Jensen!

One thing that belongs to "and more" is this forum. You'll find it friendly, informative, helpful and fun. There will be a time when you are frustrated, puzzled, annoyed or just lost, not knowing what to do next. The FORUM to the rescue!!

Reuven
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Old 22 May 2002, 11:04 AM   #5
i_am_mac
Junior Member
 
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 15
Talking

<<It was a Saturday morning now at 4am now and it was time to commit>>

lol Oh my!

I've had a few of those nights myself, but it seems odd finding out that others have them also. I'd never admit to having 4 AM nights to people who know me, though.

I'm still amazed at the features FM offers. It seems every time I log in I find something else that I can do that I didn't know was possible. What ultimately got me to fork over my $ was the **excellent** spam control. Unless you have access to procmail and spam assassin on your own server (either owned or rented), fastmail is the way to go for the greatest spam protection possible. I receive so few spams in my inbox anymore (thanks Jeremy and Rob!!!) that when I DO get one I check to see if there's a legitimate email address so I can write and say, "How DARE you send me spam?!?!?" Before fastmail the spam was so bad that I would often spend hours each week trying to delete it, filter through it, and figure out how to stop getting so much of it.

The subdomain feature is also most excellent. Now you can easily find out who is selling your email address to whom just by using a different user@subdomain address whenever you sign up for something. And if the email address is sold at some point and you start getting spam at the addy, you can just as easily delete all of that spam right as it comes in.

As for the customer service, the ONLY way it could get any better would be if Rob and Jeremy flew to our homes and fixed any problems we had. And just in case.... umm... evenings and weekends are better for me.
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Old 22 May 2002, 11:12 AM   #6
Jeremy Howard
Ultimate Contributor
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Australia
Posts: 11,501
The sad thing about the spam control is that we can't use it ourselves--we have to white-list the webmaster address to be sure we receive spam reports and other email that might otherwise trip SpamAssassin... We also have to turn off virus control, because people like to send us virus samples sometimes...

BTW, while we'd be happy to fly over and help fix any email issues (and/or mow your grass), as long as you pay for the trip and "reasonable expenses" (e.g. if you are in Japan, we would expect to eat Wagyu beef most meals...), you can get the best possible support by flying down to Melbourne and buying us a beer or three.
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Old 22 May 2002, 11:53 AM   #7
i_am_mac
Junior Member
 
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 15
<< BTW, while we'd be happy to fly over and help fix any email issues (and/or mow your grass) >>

Woohoo!!! It's getting rather high right now, so this would be the perfect time. Look out for the dog droppings, though.


<< as long as you pay for the trip >>

ACK!

<< and "reasonable expenses" >>

Oh, well... umm... ehhh... I'm a penny-pinching tightwad who (1) doesn't have cable TV because it costs too much and (2) uses super-glue on shoes when they start falling apart just so they'll last a few more months... or years. (But of course I splurged for an enhanced fastmail account cause that's a *completely* different story.) So in my mind "reasonable expenses" would consist of paying for the gas in my car to drive you all around to the houses of friends and family so those friends and family members could feed you, give you shelter, and provide entertainment.

So....... I guess I'll have to mow the lawn myself, eh?
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Old 23 May 2002, 09:40 AM   #8
PON
Essential Contributor
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Wicklow, Ireland
Posts: 449
> a beer or three

This is a bit restrained, no? I know an aussie who asks "Shall we go for a beer or ten?" Of course he may suggest this on account of MY nationality not his<heheheh> We usually settle on about three in the end. 1 for thirst. 2 for conversation and a 3rd for the road. (sometimes followed, eventually, with ONE FOR THE GUTTER!... we'll call that the 11th).

Here's a service Fastmail does not offer
http://www.barsonline.com/chicago/beermail.htm

yet
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