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Early Warning... If an email service has closed down or changed the services it offers, or if there are indications it is about to do so, post about it here.

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Old 24 Feb 2019, 04:29 AM   #1
thisisnotgood
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Angry Lycos pulled the plug on my 22+ year email....!

If you can believe it, after 22 years of having free email service with them they decided to charge for it. It's really amazing, as Lycos is such a forgotten relic (like Netscape,MySpace ect) from long ago to have the guts to capitalize on them holding your email use hostage is quite ridiculous. This really shows that you have to stick with the HUGE profitable providers like Google, Microsoft & Yahoo (Verizon) to make sure that they don't put the noose around your neck! When I first got their email, it was quite big if I recall. The only REALLY safe way is your own domain.
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Old 24 Feb 2019, 05:25 AM   #2
FredOnline
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And Lycos are no doubt thinking, for 22+ years we've provided this guy with a free e-mail service, and now he won't pay???

This is not good!!!
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Old 24 Feb 2019, 06:11 AM   #3
janusz
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thisisnotgood View Post
after 22 years of having free email service with them they decided to charge for it.:
... and they announced the change in May 2018. You've had some 8 or 9 months' advanced notice
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Old 25 Feb 2019, 07:31 AM   #4
EricG
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$20 a year is low for email, fastmail basic is $30 with less storage.

You still have 4 months to switch. Outlook and Gmail are your only long-term free options. Import your lycos mail using IMAP, and poll for new mail with IMAP (POP and forwarding not available).
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Old 25 Feb 2019, 10:23 AM   #5
n5bb
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EricG View Post
...You still have 4 months to switch..
I'm confused by this and other posts in this thread. According to the post below from last year, Lycos initially informed users they were discontinuing free accounts as of May 15, 2018. That's last year, not this year!
http://www.emaildiscussions.com/show...63&postcount=7

This Lycos help post from May 15 of last year restated the ending date as June 1, 2018:
https://helpdesk.lycos.com/support/s...ee-service-faq

Now (8 months later) a Lycos free email user is complaining about the account termination in June of last year. So either they haven't tried to use their account for 8 months (so I assume that it must not be a very important account) or this is a long-delayed complaint.

The pricing comparison to other services (such as Fastmail) depends on the renewal term:
  • Per month plans (Fastmail is a better deal):
    • Lycos Mail (5 GB mail storage): $4.95 per month
    • Fastmail Basic (2 GB mail storage, 1 GB file storage): $3.00 per month
    • Fastmail Standard (25 GB mail storage, 10 GB file storage): $5.00 per month
  • Per year plans (Lycos Mail is a better deal if you only care about email storage and don't compare other features):
    • Lycos Mail (5 GB mail storage): $19.95 per year
    • Fastmail Basic (2 GB mail storage, 1 GB file storage): $30.00 per year
    • Fastmail Standard (25 GB mail storage, 10 GB file storage): $50.00 per year
Am I misunderstanding the Lycos policy or the posts in this thread? Call me confused.
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Old 3 Mar 2019, 11:48 AM   #6
thisisnotgood
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Quote:
Originally Posted by n5bb View Post
I'm confused by this and other posts in this thread. According to the post below from last year, Lycos initially informed users they were discontinuing free accounts as of May 15, 2018. That's last year, not this year!
http://www.emaildiscussions.com/show...63&postcount=7

This Lycos help post from May 15 of last year restated the ending date as June 1, 2018:
https://helpdesk.lycos.com/support/s...ee-service-faq

Now (8 months later) a Lycos free email user is complaining about the account termination in June of last year. So either they haven't tried to use their account for 8 months (so I assume that it must not be a very important account) or this is a long-delayed complaint.

The pricing comparison to other services (such as Fastmail) depends on the renewal term:
  • Per month plans (Fastmail is a better deal):
    • Lycos Mail (5 GB mail storage): $4.95 per month
    • Fastmail Basic (2 GB mail storage, 1 GB file storage): $3.00 per month
    • Fastmail Standard (25 GB mail storage, 10 GB file storage): $5.00 per month
  • Per year plans (Lycos Mail is a better deal if you only care about email storage and don't compare other features):
    • Lycos Mail (5 GB mail storage): $19.95 per year
    • Fastmail Basic (2 GB mail storage, 1 GB file storage): $30.00 per year
    • Fastmail Standard (25 GB mail storage, 10 GB file storage): $50.00 per year
Am I misunderstanding the Lycos policy or the posts in this thread? Call me confused.
Since I don't use the lycos account much, I didn't realize it would be deleted. Luckily it was not used as my primary or even secondary email account. It's just a pet peeve of mine when a company provides something for free, then decides it's uneconomical for them to continue or they simply just get greedy just like Fastmail did and decide to charge. Having you own domain is really the only way to not be at the mercy of the email provider. The only people that would even pay for email from lycos would be the unlucky ones that have used it as their primary email for years and must be really angry.
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Old 3 Mar 2019, 11:58 AM   #7
thisisnotgood
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..

Quote:
Originally Posted by EricG View Post
$20 a year is low for email, fastmail basic is $30 with less storage.

You still have 4 months to switch. Outlook and Gmail are your only long-term free options. Import your lycos mail using IMAP, and poll for new mail with IMAP (POP and forwarding not available).
Not just Outlook and Gmail, I have had an aol/aim and Yahoo accounts for over 2 decades. Also a few mail.com/email.com accounts for almost as long, although they also started to charge for some of their original free features like forwarding but the basic mail is still free.

Note: as n5bb pointed out, the fat lady has already sung on Lycos.
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Old 3 Mar 2019, 05:14 PM   #8
FredOnline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thisisnotgood View Post
It's just a pet peeve of mine when a company provides something for free, then decides it's uneconomical for them to continue
I wonder if we can get this updated to 77:

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ent...WduRig6xHElf2w

#62 is definitely a pet peeve of mine.
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Old 3 Mar 2019, 09:25 PM   #9
TenFour
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I personally don't get peeved at free stuff going paid. I expect it! Seriously, I encounter these come-ons constantly. Look at cable TV packages, cell phone plans, connected car services, even restaurant giveaways. One joint down the street gives away free burgers when you buy one on a certain day, and I expect they find that it attracts people to come back for meals at other times. Should I be peeved when they stop offering free burgers?
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Old 4 Mar 2019, 12:19 AM   #10
thisisnotgood
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TenFour View Post
I personally don't get peeved at free stuff going paid. I expect it! Seriously, I encounter these come-ons constantly. Look at cable TV packages, cell phone plans, connected car services, even restaurant giveaways. One joint down the street gives away free burgers when you buy one on a certain day, and I expect they find that it attracts people to come back for meals at other times. Should I be peeved when they stop offering free burgers?
I see what you are saying, but it's not the same. As you point out you *expect* it because: you are informed before hand or it's just common sense what the deal is.. When you are have an email with a company for 22 years and it's been free the entire time and you were not informed that one day they will charge you, you don't expect that to happen. In addition,those scenarios you point out do not have you held hostage. You can switch cell phone carriers with number porting. You don't get a free burger and then expect it again even if you were not told as this is a safe assumption...So I can say when a company gives a service for free that they don't indicate or is not common sense that they will ever charge for it, is a pet peeve of mine.
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Old 4 Mar 2019, 03:07 AM   #11
janusz
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thisisnotgood View Post
When you are have an email with a company for 22 years and it's been free the entire time and you were not informed that one day they will charge you, you don't expect that to happen.
Did they inform you they would never charge? Facebook-style: "It’s free and always will be"? Or did you assume "free for life"?

Quote:
Originally Posted by thisisnotgood View Post
In addition,those scenarios you point out do not have you held hostage. You can switch cell phone carriers with number porting
You change your physical address (and/or name), which aren't exactly portable, and then go through all the necessary motions of informing all who should know. It's not exactly fun, but not a hostage situation either. People do change email addresses and survive.

Let's keep things in perspective.
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Old 17 Mar 2019, 02:11 AM   #12
thisisnotgood
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Of course companies have the right to decide to charge you for services given free previously.

However, it's cheeeeeezey to decide to charge because they want to cash in on their users just like fastmail did. This makes the company not worthy of my business. That's my perspective!
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Old 17 Mar 2019, 03:57 AM   #13
emoore
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thisisnotgood View Post
However, it's cheeeeeezey to decide to charge because they want to cash in on their users just like fastmail did.
Lycos has other ways to make money. Fastmail doesn't display ads. It seems unreasonable to expect a small email only business (Fastmail) to offer free email accounts forever when they are competing with much larger companies who have other sources of income.
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Old 12 May 2019, 01:06 AM   #14
Tsunami
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thisisnotgood View Post
If you can believe it, after 22 years of having free email service with them they decided to charge for it. It's really amazing, as Lycos is such a forgotten relic (like Netscape,MySpace ect) from long ago to have the guts to capitalize on them holding your email use hostage is quite ridiculous. This really shows that you have to stick with the HUGE profitable providers like Google, Microsoft & Yahoo (Verizon) to make sure that they don't put the noose around your neck! When I first got their email, it was quite big if I recall. The only REALLY safe way is your own domain.
Sadly enough you are spot on that the only long-term guaranteed free options are big companies such as Yahoo, Outlook/Hotmail, Gmail, ... Maybe add some regionally orientated providers such as Yandex, Mail.ru etc who in their country are as dominant as Gmail and Microsoft are globally.

Quote:
Originally Posted by thisisnotgood View Post
Not just Outlook and Gmail, I have had an aol/aim and Yahoo accounts for over 2 decades. Also a few mail.com/email.com accounts for almost as long, although they also started to charge for some of their original free features like forwarding but the basic mail is still free.

Note: as n5bb pointed out, the fat lady has already sung on Lycos.
Charging money for something as basic as forwarding to me equals "not free".
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