Advice on Choosing a Better E-Mail Provider
 

Hello, everyone -

I hope to migrate from my two Google accounts, one of which currently hosts my personal domain. I am willing to pay for any new service that's reliable, responsive, and offers a high-quality user experience. I realize FastMail is well-regarded, but it's based in Australia; I'd prefer to avoid the Five Eyes.

What other providers could you recommend?

Thank you,
Brian

Out of curiosity, what type of email business are you conducting that requires such privacy?

You might want to take a look at Runbox, Brian

Runbox
 

I have been a Runbox user for some years and I appreciate the privacy with no annoying adverts etc.
It is very reliable although sometimes a little slow responding (might be a security routine) On the whole I am very satisfied with it.

Proton Mail seems to be well regarded if you want to go all the way to encryption. Personally, I have zero confidence that my email won't be vacuumed up by some national security apparatus no matter where in the world it originates from, so unless you go encrypted it is likely to be scanned for key words or whatever it is they are looking for (bad jokes about your beloved political leader). As far as privacy from intrusive advertising it is possible to use an ad blocker on the web and to turn off much of the targeting via the dashboard in Google and Microsoft accounts. I find that dramatically lowers the level of targeted advertising, but instead I see even worse scammy ads for things like health cures for various parts of my body. I haven't yet found a good ad blocker for my Android phone that doesn't make it unusable.

I use AdGuard. Seems to do a decent job without breaking sites.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions so far.

I'm essentially an average user. I simply don't like Google's business model, and I'm disgusted with government surveillance run amok. I realize the notion of e-mail security is almost an oxymoron--even with encryption--but it seems certain options are probably less bad than others.

I haven't forgotten Runbox, but it's hard for me to justify a minimum $80 for 15 GB. I've also seen comments that suggest the service isn't perfect.

I agree, TenFour. Yet, as I understand it, encryption is useless in some situations, and it adds a layer of complexity for recipients. Ultimately, I think it would be more sensible for me to seek peace-of-mind and a good user experience.

What about Kolab Now? I've had trouble finding recent information about them; indeed, the feedback I've seen here is from 2014.

Best regards,
Brian

TenFour, you wrote, "I haven't yet found a good ad blocker for my Android phone that doesn't make it unusable." I suggest you check out the Brave browser, a free web browser for Android with a built-in ad blocker, in addition to tracking and security protection.

https://brave.com/

https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/31/br...in-on-android/

I tried Brave for awhile, and it is a good effort. The problem is the automatic syncing of bookmarks and passwords (for low security sites) is just too useful on Chrome. It of course is possible to use both Chrome and Brave, but then you defeat the purpose. I suppose less ad tracking might be better than fulltime tracking, but not really certain.

Hi, TenFour -

Have you tried Ghostery for Android? It's probably worth a look, although I'm not sure it allows syncing.

Best regards,
Brian

Have you checked out StartMail? The servers of Startmail are based in the Netherlands so it's a lot safer than Australia. I've been using Startmail for over a year and I'm very satisfied with the one-click PGP encryption that even a N00b like me can use without a problem :). I also like the feature that allows you to make permanent and temporary aliases that feed into your main account. It's worth checking out!

Hello, Mr. Hellish -

No, I hadn't heard of StartMail--thanks for the recommendation!

Responding to PC Magazine's review, a StartMail user wrote,

Have you encountered any of these complications?

Thanks,
Brian

Startmail is bit of a joke around here. Not because of what it is now (I don't know anything about it).

It had a lot of hype and advertisement in its early days. It was going to revolutionize email ....yadda ...yadda.

It was "coming soon" for ages and ages. So long that people lost interest. When it finally did open there was no fanfare or email revelations that I was aware of.

Thank you for the warnings.

I'm gravitating toward either Kolab Now or FastMail. (Yes, I know FastMail is based in Australia and New York.) Many privacy advocates praised Kolab in years past, but I've found little recent information about them. Their site isn't well-organized and seems to lack important information, and I've read a comment suggesting that the service's spam filtering may not be up to par. Still, I haven't got sufficient feedback to make an informed choice.

Of course, FastMail has its share of complaints, some of which are pertinent to my situation. I'll save FM-related queries for the other thread.

Thanks again,
Brian

I was wrong: Kolab Now would be approximately $200 per year for 15 GB. Yikes--Runbox seems positively cheap in comparison!

The two main 'over the counter' providers are protonmail.com (I think you need an invite to get that), and tutanota.com. I'm using posteo.net as replacement for bluebottle, but not sure just how private and secure it is. If you want the real deal, you need to explore the 'DarkNet' using T.A.I.L.S., and look for email providers there.

Hi, Csin -

Perhaps this question is naive, but I've never used the "dark net." What types of e-mail services could I expect to find, and what assurance would I have that they're as trustworthy as regular webmail?

Thanks,
Brian

Lots of assurances--zero reliable evidence. I understand the desire for secure and private email, but what guarantees can any service provide that they aren't simply saying one thing and doing another? Even with full encryption etc., if it is provided by a company out of your control you have no way of knowing if it is not simply an arm of the Chinese or Russian or other government, or if it has surreptitiously granted a back door to the NSA or some other service. Personally, I think you are safer and more private being one needle in the giant haystack of some popular service like Gmail or Outlook.com. Sure, your emails are scanned for advertising, but at least they aren't being scanned for your bank account information. We are always afraid of the wrong things.