New FastMail Plans & Pricing

[danieldk]

Originally Posted by mekitron

At this time, my bill is 55 USD excluding domain bill (multiply with 100 to convert into my very personal currency) but in December it will be 250 USD. I really don't have that much. Some budds are talking about 60% more storage; I would say, oh yes I touched 1021 MBs in previous 10 years.

I don't understand, people who are in the old plans stay in the old plans. Why would your cost change from $55 to $250?

It seems that a lot of people complain about price hikes that do not even apply to them.

[danieldk]

Originally Posted by pjwalsh

That may not be inaccurate. There does seem to be habitual response patterns.

I can't blame FM staff feeling disheartened by some of the comments.

Also, another one of Rob's tweets is particularly relevant:

@gaz_stephens yeah, it's rebalancing mostly, and making sure we actually making some money (old plans have thin margins or even take a loss)

It's quite embarrassing that people expect Fastmail to keep up a stellar service (with extreme storage redundancy, etc.) plus support for $10 per year.

At any rate, it's a shame to see every thread about a new feature turn into a big whine here about how Fastmail goes downhill and threats of moving to another service. Change is a fact of life, many of Fastmails changes have been great (the web interface is great, it's good to have modern 2FA, etc.). If you prefer to stay in 2005, just move to another service... Don't pollute every other thread with threats.

[randian]

Originally Posted by danieldk

It's quite embarrassing that people expect Fastmail to keep up a stellar service (with extreme storage redundancy, etc.) plus support for $10 per year.

I'd upgrade if the $30 plan supported own domains. I didn't need 15G for email when it was Enhanced and I need 25G for email even less. I do not like being forced to overbuy, which is the real complaint from most of the people here.

[TheJapanese]

Originally Posted by randian

I do not like being forced to overbuy, which is the real complaint from most of the people here.

He's right. An adjusted family plan would be nice.

And I really like fastmail, the interface and their service.

[danieldk]

Originally Posted by randian

I'd upgrade if the $30 plan supported own domains. I didn't need 15G for email when it was Enhanced and I need 25G for email even less. I do not like being forced to overbuy, which is the real complaint from most of the people here.

But you are looking at storage space, which is just dimension. Hosting/maintaining/supporting a nameserver plus its administration interface has maintenance cost as well. One could argue that the extra storage space and domain support shouldn't be bundled together. But Fastmail has to get its margin somewhere and some of that is in people who need the storage space or the domain support, but not both. I am a perfect example of this: I currently use 1960 MB of space for e-mail but use the domains feature. So, I definitely don't need the 25 GB space (perhaps even not 15 GB with some cleaning).

But Fastmail is a business and not a philanthropic organization. They need to put food on the tables of their employees and make some profit along the way. So, I am perfectly fine with (possibly) paying a bit extra despite not using the storage.

At any rate, no one is forcing anything. Besides the grandfathering, this is an open economy. If you don't like their pricing structure you can move to another competitor that has a pricing structure that is to your liking [1]. If you prefer Fastmail's features or reliability, then it is clearly worth the money.

[1] Though I'd be surprised that you will find a service with the same reliability and wide feature set as Fastmail at a significantly lower price point. Even Google and Microsoft, who have the benefit of economy of scale to its extreme have settled around a pricing point of $5 per month.

[Terry]

Originally Posted by randian

I'd upgrade if the $30 plan supported own domains. I didn't need 15G for email when it was Enhanced and I need 25G for email even less. I do not like being forced to overbuy, which is the real complaint from most of the people here.

Really $50 a year is not that much to pay just a $1 a week and look at all the bells and whistles.
If half the people leave, F/m would have to sell and personally I would hate to see that happen. I have tried a few email services over the years and nothing comes close to what F/m has to offer.

I come on here and complain as I hate all the changes, but I'm stuck in 2003-2005 mode.

[danieldk]

Originally Posted by TheJapanese

And I really like fastmail, the interface and their service.

I don't really see his or your point. If you are an existing Fastmail customer, you stay in the same plan. The pricing doesn't change.

[soromak]

Originally Posted by Terry

Get a domain and forward their mail to outlook....old Hotmail

Outlook offers a preview of hosting an own domain with 5 accounts, I can not recall the price but it is lower than Exchange online. Full Active Sync support and better handling of aliases that Exchange Online, as in fact you can actually hassle free send as alias in Outlook, while this is a hassle in Exchange Online.

[emailer84]

I agree with danieldk. Those of us who are grandfathered in still benefit from the exact same service we did last week. FastMail have brought many new features at no cost and for a while, I've considered it a steal for what I actually pay for it. YMMV.

RobN: Can you confirm that we will still be able to increase levels in family plans (for example Full to Enhanced) on our existing accounts at the same price, and that this option isn't scheduled to disappear?

I understand why FM want to simplify their plans, that's why I also hope they consider offering a tiny plan with our own domain(s), essentially, the Family Full plan (1GB mail / 1GB storage) for something like $20/year. I think this would solve a lot of the grumbling.

[17pm]

Originally Posted by emailer84

I agree with danieldk. Those of us who are grandfathered in still benefit from the exact same service we did last week. FastMail have brought many new features at no cost and for a while, I've considered it a steal for what I actually pay for it. YMMV.

RobN: Can you confirm that we will still be able to increase levels in family plans (for example Full to Enhanced) on our existing accounts at the same price, and that this option isn't scheduled to disappear?

I understand why FM want to simplify their plans, that's why I also hope they consider offering a tiny plan with our own domain(s), essentially, the Family Full plan (1GB mail / 1GB storage) for something like $20/year. I think this would solve a lot of the grumbling.

I would be cool if there was a "use own domain" add-on, for a small fee.

[walpurg]

Originally Posted by danieldk

I don't understand, people who are in the old plans stay in the old plans. Why would your cost change from $55 to $250?

It seems that a lot of people complain about price hikes that do not even apply to them.

etc.

It seems that some people don't get that if a company that used to engage a lot with its customers later develops a pattern of springing sudden changes on them without much prior hint or discussion, people have at least some justification to worry that the same thing will eventually happen with these pricing changes, even if it didn't happen today.

"For existing users on our previous plans there’s no change. Your current plan is unchanged and continues to offer the same features, for the same price as before. You can upgrade to one of our new plans at any time if you choose." can leave current users uncertain about whether they'd be able to renew their current subscription at the old rates (and for how long), and that's certainly a valid reason for expressing concern. While FM reps have clarified this point here, for some reason they haven't done so in the blog, so you can still get people coming here with this idea.

Also, for example for people who were already in the trial period, it can easily look like moving the goal posts to not let them sign up with the old plan they thought they were trialing. And, apparently (I don't know enough about them, just going by what people say here) family accounts have some valid concerns as well.

In any case, what's the big deal about people expressing their concerns ("complaining", as you call it) at an independent forum that's not even linked to from any FM pages? It'd be of no benefit to FM whatsoever if instead of "complaining" here. getting things clarified, and staying with the company, people would take your apparent advice and silently leave.

[ChinaLamb]

All these messages are why I'm less involved in the forums. Change happens. It's not malicious, no one is out to get you. People just want to feed their families and put their kids into college. They let us stay on the old plan, so what are you complaining about. Zheesh. Give it a rest. Every day something more to complain about. Great changes are happening. 2FA, etc. No service is going to remain the same from 2000 to 2016. Look at how much all the other email services have evolved, yet you demand things stay the same. No offense, but i feel like this forum is full of spoiled brats demanding their own way. Almost always, fastmail had tried to find a way to accommodate. And what do they get? Complaints . They are held back from evolving to stay relevant by a very loud userbase, whom they have tried to over pacify. Personally., Id be fed up if i were fast mail. They have to change, because the world is changing.

[walpurg]

Originally Posted by ChinaLamb

It's not malicious, no one is out to get you. People just want to feed their families and put their kids into college.

Does this mean you understand why those with families might voice concerns about what they (rightly or wrongly) perceive as potentially drastic price increases to their family plans, and that they're not doing so to "hold FM back from evolving"?

[ChinaLamb]

Originally Posted by walpurg

Does this mean you understand why those with families might voice concerns about what they (rightly or wrongly) perceive as potentially drastic price increases to their family plans, and that they're not doing so to "hold FM back from evolving"?

From what I've read, nothing has changed for those with family plans.

[walpurg]

Originally Posted by ChinaLamb

From what I've read, nothing has changed for those with family plans.

So you're amending the point of your outburst from "don't complain about change" to "don't complain, nothing is changing"?