mail.com quietly makes pop3 for-pay?

Nikolaos · 12 Apr 2012, 08:44 AM

Mods, please feel free to delete if someone has already mentioned this elsewhere - I did a quick scan of recent threads before posting this but may have missed an earlier post.

I just tried to sign up for a new mail.com account for fun. Only found out after going through the whole process that the new account does not get pop3/smtp access.

There's a little tab in settings now where the server configuration info used to be, which gives you a price list for "premium" services like pop3 etc.

Of course, I immediately ran to check my other mail.com accounts

Fortunately, they still seem to be popping without any problems. However, consider this a heads-up in case mail.com decides to stop pop3 again for pre-existing accounts at some point in the future.

Pity their experiment in free pop3 only lasted for such a short time!

Since they're affiliated, I also went over and peeked at GMX.com - there is no mention of pop3 on the welcome page, and I don't feel like going through the whole signup process all over again just to find out (and end up with yet another useless web-only account) - but if anyone is feeling particularly energetic and wants to confirm this, please do come back here to update us on GMX

janusz · 12 Apr 2012, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikolaos

I also went over and peeked at GMX.com - there is no mention of pop3 on the welcome page

Correct.
But IMAP, POP & SMTP are available: http://help.gmx.com/mail/overview/pop3/

drew · 12 Apr 2012, 03:37 PM

Could it be a sign of the future of email as we know it.
Very few companies will be rich enough to allow for pop?

Should I guess it is the success of FaceBook that makes
the market too small for all the competing email services.

People use FB to send messages so the Advertisers send FB
all their money and mail.com get too little to afford the servers?

kijinbear · 13 Apr 2012, 03:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew

Could it be a sign of the future of email as we know it.
Very few companies will be rich enough to allow for pop?

I think it's going to be more like, if you need POP/IMAP, pay for it. Well, in fact, I think it's always been like that, with only a few exceptions such as Gmail.

After all, free services make money by showing you ads. If you don't visit their website and only access your e-mail through POP, they're not making any money off of you. Google can afford to give you free POP and even IMAP, not because they're rich, but because most people use their Google accounts for dozens of other services that are plastered with ads. It's profit-per-user that matters. But if a company only offers e-mail services, they lose money every time somebody accesses a free account through POP.

Nikolaos · 13 Apr 2012, 04:25 PM

Thanks janusz, good to know!

drew and kijinbear - I agree. Frankly, I thought free email was dead after the dotcom bubble exploded. We were lucky enough to get a second wave of freebies when google took off, and of course microsoft and yahoo have always stuck in there too, but for all intents and purposes I think the glory days are long gone.

mail.com/iname has been around for a looong time, all things considered, and for most of that time they have been webmail only for free users. It was a happy little hiccup that they decided to provide free pop3 for a couple of years, but as you said, unless they have a solid paying base to keep them going, free pop3 is pretty hard to make money off of.

I'm just going to keep enjoying the service while I can, and hope that they last a little longer yet. Wouldn't be surprised if Yahoo goes down the drain next, they've been circling it for long enough as it is

jdtaylor · 13 Apr 2012, 07:40 PM

Youre quite right there but the details are still burried in the help system.

kaptitsky · 13 Apr 2012, 08:31 PM

During the AOL hosted years of Mail.com, POP3 and IMAP4 were available free (though there was a mail sent out asking people to pay once) but since forwarding was done through a separate server (AOL mail doesn't support auto-forwarding and probably never will now), that was always for pay.

The same model seems to be in place during the current GMX years. They'd like you to pay for POP3 and IMAP4, but haven't closed them off. Forwarding, though, is still pay only.

janusz · 13 Apr 2012, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaptitsky

The same model seems to be in place during the current GMX years. They'd like you to pay for POP3 and IMAP4

Source???

From: http://gmx.com/set-up-email-address.html

Quote:

we do not charge for any additional services such as IMAP

kaptitsky · 15 Apr 2012, 01:03 PM

Mail.com is not GMX.

Login to a Mail.com address.

Choose "Settings," "POP3 & IMAP."

See the blurb for Premium Mail.

One of the Premium Features is "Access mail via POP3 or IMAP."

The price is $3.95 monthly, or $19.95 for a year.

Just like Nikolaos said.

On a GMX account, that panel gives server information.

But this is Mail.com, and they ask for payment, even if older accounts allow access without payment.

I stand by my statement:

Quote:

They'd like you to pay for POP3 and IMAP4, but haven't closed them off. Forwarding, though, is still pay only.

just1acc · 15 Apr 2012, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaptitsky

Mail.com is not GMX.

Login to a Mail.com address.

Choose "Settings," "POP3 & IMAP."

See the blurb for Premium Mail.

One of the Premium Features is "Access mail via POP3 or IMAP."

The price is $3.95 monthly, or $19.95 for a year.

...

I stand by my statement:

Well, you are correct in both post. But I can confirm in AOL days of mail.com this price tab was there. Though mail.com was accessible from gmail via pop3.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaptitsky

During the AOL hosted years of Mail.com, POP3 and IMAP4 were available free

kaptitsky · 15 Dec 2015, 01:23 AM

Ignore this-- I was wrong.

I noticed that Gmail was still popping fine, so I took a look. My POP3 checker was setup with POP.GMX.COM not POP.MAIL.COM, and gmx was failing. Mail.com is fine.

You can still use your old GMX customer number to login.

My Mail.com accounts are coming back "Authentication Failed" when I poll them with POP3.

It looks like they have closed the loophole and POP3 access is now limited to premium clients only.

Something to check if you are background polling an account somewhere, like Gmail.

philtec · 15 Dec 2015, 04:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaptitsky

Ignore this-- I was wrong.

I noticed that Gmail was still popping fine, so I took a look. My POP3 checker was setup with POP.GMX.COM not POP.MAIL.COM, and gmx was failing. Mail.com is fine.

You can still use your old GMX customer number to login.

My Mail.com accounts are coming back "Authentication Failed" when I poll them with POP3.

It looks like they have closed the loophole and POP3 access is now limited to premium clients only.

Something to check if you are background polling an account somewhere, like Gmail.

My email.com would not work today thru pop.
I could log in with webmail but WLM said password no good.
I had the incoming set thru GMX for quite some time and it always worked.
After changing GMX to pop.mail.com and changing port to 995 with SSL it works again.
Not an important address to me but one I have had since I had free NBC internet service
back around 1999.

philtec · 15 Dec 2015, 06:25 AM

This is the header of an email received Sept. 18, 2015:

Please note that the POP/IMAP function will no longer work for your email account XXXXX@email.com after this month. You will then receive an error message and you will only be able to access your account and emails via the mail.com Webclient or our Mobile Apps if you choose not to upgrade to Premium.

Didn't pay it no mind as I do not use it for anything.

kaptitsky · 15 Dec 2015, 06:39 AM

They have been saying that POP/IMAP access will be pay only for several years now. The first posts in this thread are from April 2012.

That is why I assumed this change had gone into effect when authentication failed, though it was only a change in server configuration and was fixed with a new server name.

Will they shut down access at some point? They very well may. They have made their intention clear. After almost four years, it is also clear, however, that much of their bluster has been to encourage users who value the addresses to upgrade to premium.

Like you, if I lose access, no big deal.

In fact, they have already sold off the domain my main address was on and it has stopped receiving mail. That doesn't make me want to trust any other addresses that I have with mail.com.

Bamb0 · 15 Dec 2015, 01:40 PM

They either are having 2nd thoughts about making it pay or are having troubles in some other way...

12 Apr 2012, 08:44 AM	#1
Nikolaos Essential Contributor Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 345	mail.com quietly makes pop3 for-pay? Mods, please feel free to delete if someone has already mentioned this elsewhere - I did a quick scan of recent threads before posting this but may have missed an earlier post. I just tried to sign up for a new mail.com account for fun. Only found out after going through the whole process that the new account does not get pop3/smtp access. There's a little tab in settings now where the server configuration info used to be, which gives you a price list for "premium" services like pop3 etc. Of course, I immediately ran to check my other mail.com accounts Fortunately, they still seem to be popping without any problems. However, consider this a heads-up in case mail.com decides to stop pop3 again for pre-existing accounts at some point in the future. Pity their experiment in free pop3 only lasted for such a short time! Since they're affiliated, I also went over and peeked at GMX.com - there is no mention of pop3 on the welcome page, and I don't feel like going through the whole signup process all over again just to find out (and end up with yet another useless web-only account) - but if anyone is feeling particularly energetic and wants to confirm this, please do come back here to update us on GMX

15 Dec 2015, 01:23 AM	#11
kaptitsky The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 2,186	Ignore this-- I was wrong. I noticed that Gmail was still popping fine, so I took a look. My POP3 checker was setup with POP.GMX.COM not POP.MAIL.COM, and gmx was failing. Mail.com is fine. You can still use your old GMX customer number to login. My Mail.com accounts are coming back "Authentication Failed" when I poll them with POP3. It looks like they have closed the loophole and POP3 access is now limited to premium clients only. Something to check if you are background polling an account somewhere, like Gmail. Last edited by kaptitsky : 15 Dec 2015 at 03:13 AM.

15 Dec 2015, 06:25 AM	#13
philtec Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: YouEssAey Posts: 145	POP/IMAP function will no longer work for your email account This is the header of an email received Sept. 18, 2015: Please note that the POP/IMAP function will no longer work for your email account XXXXX@email.com after this month. You will then receive an error message and you will only be able to access your account and emails via the mail.com Webclient or our Mobile Apps if you choose not to upgrade to Premium. Didn't pay it no mind as I do not use it for anything.

12 Apr 2012, 03:37 PM	#3
drew The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 2,626	Could it be a sign of the future of email as we know it. Very few companies will be rich enough to allow for pop? Should I guess it is the success of FaceBook that makes the market too small for all the competing email services. People use FB to send messages so the Advertisers send FB all their money and mail.com get too little to afford the servers?

13 Apr 2012, 04:25 PM	#5
Nikolaos Essential Contributor Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 345	Thanks janusz, good to know! drew and kijinbear - I agree. Frankly, I thought free email was dead after the dotcom bubble exploded. We were lucky enough to get a second wave of freebies when google took off, and of course microsoft and yahoo have always stuck in there too, but for all intents and purposes I think the glory days are long gone. mail.com/iname has been around for a looong time, all things considered, and for most of that time they have been webmail only for free users. It was a happy little hiccup that they decided to provide free pop3 for a couple of years, but as you said, unless they have a solid paying base to keep them going, free pop3 is pretty hard to make money off of. I'm just going to keep enjoying the service while I can, and hope that they last a little longer yet. Wouldn't be surprised if Yahoo goes down the drain next, they've been circling it for long enough as it is

13 Apr 2012, 07:40 PM	#6
jdtaylor Master of the @ Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1,693	Youre quite right there but the details are still burried in the help system.

13 Apr 2012, 08:31 PM	#7
kaptitsky The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 2,186	During the AOL hosted years of Mail.com, POP3 and IMAP4 were available free (though there was a mail sent out asking people to pay once) but since forwarding was done through a separate server (AOL mail doesn't support auto-forwarding and probably never will now), that was always for pay. The same model seems to be in place during the current GMX years. They'd like you to pay for POP3 and IMAP4, but haven't closed them off. Forwarding, though, is still pay only.

15 Dec 2015, 06:39 AM	#14
kaptitsky The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 2,186	They have been saying that POP/IMAP access will be pay only for several years now. The first posts in this thread are from April 2012. That is why I assumed this change had gone into effect when authentication failed, though it was only a change in server configuration and was fixed with a new server name. Will they shut down access at some point? They very well may. They have made their intention clear. After almost four years, it is also clear, however, that much of their bluster has been to encourage users who value the addresses to upgrade to premium. Like you, if I lose access, no big deal. In fact, they have already sold off the domain my main address was on and it has stopped receiving mail. That doesn't make me want to trust any other addresses that I have with mail.com.

15 Dec 2015, 01:40 PM	#15
Bamb0 Master of the @ Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA Posts: 1,874	They either are having 2nd thoughts about making it pay or are having troubles in some other way...