FastMail Testimonials

neerav · 13 Dec 2001, 02:46 PM

I've been using FastMail for a few months now and I know that we are all impressed by the service, support, improvements, etc. Many forum members have emoted awe, satisfaction, surprise, humor and more in registering their comments on the forum. However, the comments, or "testimonials" are spread across and buried in over 150 threads, and rapidly growing. If I were to jump into this discussion group as a new user today, I would be overwhelmed by the number of threads. Before signing up, I know one of the first things I would want to see is what the "established" users think of the service.

So, I propose that this thread be the repository of testimonials from us, the FastMail users. If you have posted a testimonial in another thread, repost the clipped version of it here (avoid linking, so a new user can see all the testimonials in one window). If you have a testimonial, post it here. If you send such a comment to Jeremy and Rob, post the key parts here, so all new users can also read it and conclude for themselves that FastMail is the absolute BEST!!

This thread should be the second thread a new or prospective user reads (the first one being "Sticky: New Forum Guidelines - Please Read")

A very satisfied FastMail user.

--Neerav

neerav · 13 Dec 2001, 03:00 PM

To seed this thread, here's my testimonial from a while back in this forum:

Quote:

testimonial: I live in an area where signing into [other email services] can take upwards of 15-30 minutes sometimes. And then each message takes 5 minutes to load. However, two of my friends signed up for fastmail AND logged into the service in under 2 minutes (and that too on a bad connection day). They refused to believe how fast the site really was until they experienced it themselves.

Good work guys. You're the beginning of a new trend/movement!!

neerav · 13 Dec 2001, 03:07 PM

And one from an email I sent to the webmasters:

Quote:

I cannot impress enough on how awed I am by the changes being made on FastMail. I'm excited about the new interface (folders on the left). The new css schemes. The new tech forum. The new poplinks. And so much more!! Jeremy and Rob, you are doing a great job. But you already know that!

--Neerav

Ann_jr · 14 Dec 2001, 12:43 PM

For one thing, FastMail is really fast. And clean. And straightforward. I love having everything load so fast over my dialup connection. I'm not sophisticated enough to know why, but messages downloaded to my computer via POP take consistently less time than the same number from my Yahoo account.

But the absolutely greatest thing is the responsiveness of the guys behind the works. I've gotten an answer quickly to every question I've asked, even if it was the middle of the night in Australia. I really have the sense that FastMail is their baby and it's going to keep working, and working ever better and better.

Will I pay for the service? You betcha!

ikxu · 14 Dec 2001, 10:33 PM

I think your idea is just great!!!
ikxu

tenekun · 19 Dec 2001, 10:44 PM

I would like to mention what I love most about Fastmail. It is something I have never before seen in either a free or pay-based e-mail service, and it really is ingenious. It is the simple, square, humble "Bounce" button. All I have to do when I get a spam is open it once and click "Bounce", and it is as if my e-mail address did not exist. It is just like those devices one sees on the television that you plug into your phone, and when a computer-dialled telemarketing call comes in, the device sends a "number disconnected" signal to the computer, and you are taken off the telemarketers' lists. It is just like this, but It does not cost $49.99 plus Shipping and that mysterious, very expensive process called Handling. The "Bounce" feature is really a very simple idea, but one that is certainly unique. I cannot imagine e-mailing without It. You must all see the greatness of Him, the Great "Bounce" Button. This is not to diminish the other myriad great features of Fastmail, such as the multiple signatures and "From" addresses or the many beautiful styles, or even that helpful message: "Welcome Brandon Siegel! It is almost Oh-Dark-Thirty and what the heck are you doing checking your e-mail at this hour?", which has helped me realise perhaps caffeine is not a _direct_ substitute for sleep. But the glory of the "Bounce" button is one of the best features anywhere! Thanks Rob and Jeremy, and all the rest of the FastMail staff (if there is such a thing).

P.S.: Almost forgot one thing... This e-mail service is so fast! (hence FastMail). I love that too!

--Brandon

spruce · 20 Dec 2001, 01:40 AM

It seems very easy to use, and works great "out of the box", but I was actually looking for advanced features when I came across this. It's not the first email site to come up on a search engine like google, and I actually found a reference to it on slashdot after a search on "postfix". Anyway, I use fastmail's correct and extensive support of "plus addressing" which is splitting the local part of your email address to a user part and detail, like "user+box@host" allowing for easy filtering. If you give out a different detail part of your email address to each contact you have. This combined with the ability to reject messages based on the envelope part of the SMTP transaction allows me to bounce most spam easily, a method unavailable to most POP users whose ISPs "loose" the RCPT TO part of the SMTP mail delivery protocol by the time the end user sees an email's full headers. There are hints that some of this will soon be developed into their optional Personality setup "soon" as well. Combine this with the great forwarding features, and you also have multidrop mail for the masses. You can bet fastmail.fm will get my $40 a year (their *maximum* membership level - minimum is free!) as soon as they start allowing users to pay for this great service.

creed205 · 20 Dec 2001, 12:52 PM

Well this is my second day using FastMail and I think being able to access my e-mail with IMAP from anywhere is amazing. Using a POP server is not as flexible.

Great service!

platypus · 21 Dec 2001, 05:13 AM

When I click the confirmation URL that was mailed to me, I just get error messages. No reply from Fastmail.

Jeremy Howard · 21 Dec 2001, 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by platypus
When I click the confirmation URL that was mailed to me, I just get error messages. No reply from Fastmail.

We saw the error in our logs when it occured and had emailed you within 24 hours to the address that you registered when you signed up with the details of how to avoid the error message. We have always replied to support requests with 24 hours, and most of the time we respond within 1 hour. Perhaps in this case you didn't notice our email to you. If you still want to complete your signup please send an email to webmasterATfastmailDOTfm so that we know what address to send the details to.

platypus · 21 Dec 2001, 09:00 AM

Indeed.

I owe you an apology. You are absolutely correct. I just logged in at Fastmail.

//platypus

**psalzer** · 24 Dec 2001, 12:33 AM

Well, I've been playing around with my new Fastmail account for a few days now, and I'm crazy about it. Fast and reliable are the bottom line. If you don't have that, as far as I'm concerned it doesn't matter what else you do have, and Fastmail has those covered well.

A few other things that are really exceptional:

The ability to use different personalities and send things out from your own domain name or varioius domains all from this one account. Although that seems to be something that could be abused, it's also invaluable for legitimate reasons and Fastmail says they've got they're not worried about the abuse angle, so it's an answer to a lot of problems for me.

As another poster mentioned - the bounce button. It's better than a filter. I love it..really love it.

The ability to use custom.css if your browser supports it. I'm just starting to play with that one. I have one mostly done that I'm going to use while at work. It's too similar to sandy blue which someone already did to bother offering it up as a regular choice, but I'm trying to make it look as much like the SAP screen as posible because we use SAP at work. With a little more tweaking my personal e-mail screen will look like production work.

Then I'm going to work on a more "fun" look for home. What could be better? BTW, if anyone else is using SAP at work and would like to have a look after it's done - like at least a few days after Xmas, let me know.

The poll messages works really well, too. Since I'm using a notifier for several accounts I'm not depending on it yet, but it seems sufficient if you're having everything sent to Fastmail.

And of course there's the fact that it's being done by people who not only seem sincere and who know what they're getting into, they seem to be capable, relatively unflappable which is very important in this kind of thing and they have a real plan as well as obviously knowing what they're doing. I chose webhosting for several accounts on that basis and haven't had reason to be sorry, so I'm hoping that this will be the same.

Right now, I'm using ureach and am signed up for webhosts, domain and all kinds of things with that address, so I'm planning to use both and even pay for both for a few months but hope to switch entirely over to Fastmail in the coming year.

merrie · 27 Dec 2001, 08:40 AM

I've emailed the Fastmail webmasters Jeremy and Rob, and it was suggested to me that I put my comments on the forum to share with anyone new who may be considering signing up with Fastmail. Below are some comments taken from my emails to Jeremy and Rob:

"I am a former Visto user. I am one of those you rescued. There is no way to say how grateful I am for the care you have shown us. Especially developing the tool for "detach to folder" for the attachments was a life saver.

"Over the last several days, as I have used my new account and had some time to read the FAQs, I have come to appreciate everything about your service even more. I don't know very much about technology, but the little I have picked up has helped me understand (on the fringes of understanding) some of what I've read on the forum threads. I feel very safe here.

"One more comment--I notice on the forum threads, you (Jeremy) have sometimes mentioned not getting too technical for the newbies. I have to say
that I very much like to read all the tech stuff. Even if I don't fully understand it, I feel that I will somehow absorb it by osmosis! ;-) For example, I have read technical comments on mailing lists, and from that I picked up a kind of sense of what things mean. When I saw Perl mentioned in a couple threads, I thought, 'hmm, they might be using Linux' (which to me is a very good thing!) [That's just a guess--no one has mentioned specifially whether Linux is used in creating and maintaining the service.] It was one of the factors that made me feel safe and like these are people who really know what they are doing.

"I'm afraid my complete enthusiasm for Fastmail has not come through as strongly as I feel it. I plan to recommend this service to everyone. I've already been recommending it whenever I email anyone.

I'm feeling very at home here, like this is more of a community or even family than just a service.

Thanks for your responsiveness and everything about Fastmail--you are appreciated!" :-D

I plan to at least become a member, and possibly get a paid account. I don't need more than the basic service, but I want to support the Fastmail service and make sure it stays viable. And I'm just plain grateful! ;-)

Merrie

OtaconTV · 2 Jan 2002, 11:04 AM

I have my own testemonial, I put it up at my site. The sites still in beta and it's just starting, but the fastmail page is up. Here Jeremy or Rob is this okay?

Jeremy Howard · 2 Jan 2002, 11:32 AM

I think it's great. I really like these personal testimonials--for a new user considering using FastMail.FM, it's much better to see someone's real-life comments than just read some ad. For instance, the tip to try to learn the interface despite the learning curve is really valuable.

Two minor corrections:
and if you really don't like it use Outlook Express if your really don't like it: Avoid duplicate "if you really don't like it".
No I was not paid to right this: "right" should be "write".

You may or may not to include a suggestion to include your username in the 'referrer' field when they sign up. Doing this has the benefit that you get account credits if they become a paying customer, but on the down-side your testimonial becomes a little less credible because you benefit from it.

13 Dec 2001, 02:46 PM	#1
neerav Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 35	FastMail Testimonials I've been using FastMail for a few months now and I know that we are all impressed by the service, support, improvements, etc. Many forum members have emoted awe, satisfaction, surprise, humor and more in registering their comments on the forum. However, the comments, or "testimonials" are spread across and buried in over 150 threads, and rapidly growing. If I were to jump into this discussion group as a new user today, I would be overwhelmed by the number of threads. Before signing up, I know one of the first things I would want to see is what the "established" users think of the service. So, I propose that this thread be the repository of testimonials from us, the FastMail users. If you have posted a testimonial in another thread, repost the clipped version of it here (avoid linking, so a new user can see all the testimonials in one window). If you have a testimonial, post it here. If you send such a comment to Jeremy and Rob, post the key parts here, so all new users can also read it and conclude for themselves that FastMail is the absolute BEST!! This thread should be the second thread a new or prospective user reads (the first one being "Sticky: New Forum Guidelines - Please Read") A very satisfied FastMail user. --Neerav

14 Dec 2001, 12:43 PM	#4
Ann_jr Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: CT, USA Posts: 124	Why I'm impressed For one thing, FastMail is really fast. And clean. And straightforward. I love having everything load so fast over my dialup connection. I'm not sophisticated enough to know why, but messages downloaded to my computer via POP take consistently less time than the same number from my Yahoo account. But the absolutely greatest thing is the responsiveness of the guys behind the works. I've gotten an answer quickly to every question I've asked, even if it was the middle of the night in Australia. I really have the sense that FastMail is their baby and it's going to keep working, and working ever better and better. Will I pay for the service? You betcha!

14 Dec 2001, 10:33 PM	#5
ikxu Guest Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 400	neerav's idea I think your idea is just great!!! ikxu

20 Dec 2001, 01:40 AM	#7
spruce Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Boston Posts: 38	Easy Interface, Expert features It seems very easy to use, and works great "out of the box", but I was actually looking for advanced features when I came across this. It's not the first email site to come up on a search engine like google, and I actually found a reference to it on slashdot after a search on "postfix". Anyway, I use fastmail's correct and extensive support of "plus addressing" which is splitting the local part of your email address to a user part and detail, like "user+box@host" allowing for easy filtering. If you give out a different detail part of your email address to each contact you have. This combined with the ability to reject messages based on the envelope part of the SMTP transaction allows me to bounce most spam easily, a method unavailable to most POP users whose ISPs "loose" the RCPT TO part of the SMTP mail delivery protocol by the time the end user sees an email's full headers. There are hints that some of this will soon be developed into their optional Personality setup "soon" as well. Combine this with the great forwarding features, and you also have multidrop mail for the masses. You can bet fastmail.fm will get my $40 a year (their maximum membership level - minimum is free!) as soon as they start allowing users to pay for this great service.

21 Dec 2001, 05:13 AM	#9
platypus Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 2	Can't even activate account When I click the confirmation URL that was mailed to me, I just get error messages. No reply from Fastmail.

19 Dec 2001, 10:44 PM	#6
tenekun Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Off the deep end Posts: 87	I would like to mention what I love most about Fastmail. It is something I have never before seen in either a free or pay-based e-mail service, and it really is ingenious. It is the simple, square, humble "Bounce" button. All I have to do when I get a spam is open it once and click "Bounce", and it is as if my e-mail address did not exist. It is just like those devices one sees on the television that you plug into your phone, and when a computer-dialled telemarketing call comes in, the device sends a "number disconnected" signal to the computer, and you are taken off the telemarketers' lists. It is just like this, but It does not cost $49.99 plus Shipping and that mysterious, very expensive process called Handling. The "Bounce" feature is really a very simple idea, but one that is certainly unique. I cannot imagine e-mailing without It. You must all see the greatness of Him, the Great "Bounce" Button. This is not to diminish the other myriad great features of Fastmail, such as the multiple signatures and "From" addresses or the many beautiful styles, or even that helpful message: "Welcome Brandon Siegel! It is almost Oh-Dark-Thirty and what the heck are you doing checking your e-mail at this hour?", which has helped me realise perhaps caffeine is not a _direct_ substitute for sleep. But the glory of the "Bounce" button is one of the best features anywhere! Thanks Rob and Jeremy, and all the rest of the FastMail staff (if there is such a thing). P.S.: Almost forgot one thing... This e-mail service is so fast! (hence FastMail). I love that too! --Brandon

20 Dec 2001, 12:52 PM	#8
creed205 Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 3	Well this is my second day using FastMail and I think being able to access my e-mail with IMAP from anywhere is amazing. Using a POP server is not as flexible. Great service!

21 Dec 2001, 09:00 AM	#11
platypus Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 2	Apologies! Indeed. I owe you an apology. You are absolutely correct. I just logged in at Fastmail. //platypus

24 Dec 2001, 12:33 AM	#12
psalzer Moderator Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 2,654	Well, I've been playing around with my new Fastmail account for a few days now, and I'm crazy about it. Fast and reliable are the bottom line. If you don't have that, as far as I'm concerned it doesn't matter what else you do have, and Fastmail has those covered well. A few other things that are really exceptional: The ability to use different personalities and send things out from your own domain name or varioius domains all from this one account. Although that seems to be something that could be abused, it's also invaluable for legitimate reasons and Fastmail says they've got they're not worried about the abuse angle, so it's an answer to a lot of problems for me. As another poster mentioned - the bounce button. It's better than a filter. I love it..really love it. The ability to use custom.css if your browser supports it. I'm just starting to play with that one. I have one mostly done that I'm going to use while at work. It's too similar to sandy blue which someone already did to bother offering it up as a regular choice, but I'm trying to make it look as much like the SAP screen as posible because we use SAP at work. With a little more tweaking my personal e-mail screen will look like production work. Then I'm going to work on a more "fun" look for home. What could be better? BTW, if anyone else is using SAP at work and would like to have a look after it's done - like at least a few days after Xmas, let me know. The poll messages works really well, too. Since I'm using a notifier for several accounts I'm not depending on it yet, but it seems sufficient if you're having everything sent to Fastmail. And of course there's the fact that it's being done by people who not only seem sincere and who know what they're getting into, they seem to be capable, relatively unflappable which is very important in this kind of thing and they have a real plan as well as obviously knowing what they're doing. I chose webhosting for several accounts on that basis and haven't had reason to be sorry, so I'm hoping that this will be the same. Right now, I'm using ureach and am signed up for webhosts, domain and all kinds of things with that address, so I'm planning to use both and even pay for both for a few months but hope to switch entirely over to Fastmail in the coming year.

27 Dec 2001, 08:40 AM	#13
merrie Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 18	glad to be here I've emailed the Fastmail webmasters Jeremy and Rob, and it was suggested to me that I put my comments on the forum to share with anyone new who may be considering signing up with Fastmail. Below are some comments taken from my emails to Jeremy and Rob: "I am a former Visto user. I am one of those you rescued. There is no way to say how grateful I am for the care you have shown us. Especially developing the tool for "detach to folder" for the attachments was a life saver. "Over the last several days, as I have used my new account and had some time to read the FAQs, I have come to appreciate everything about your service even more. I don't know very much about technology, but the little I have picked up has helped me understand (on the fringes of understanding) some of what I've read on the forum threads. I feel very safe here. "One more comment--I notice on the forum threads, you (Jeremy) have sometimes mentioned not getting too technical for the newbies. I have to say that I very much like to read all the tech stuff. Even if I don't fully understand it, I feel that I will somehow absorb it by osmosis! ;-) For example, I have read technical comments on mailing lists, and from that I picked up a kind of sense of what things mean. When I saw Perl mentioned in a couple threads, I thought, 'hmm, they might be using Linux' (which to me is a very good thing!) [That's just a guess--no one has mentioned specifially whether Linux is used in creating and maintaining the service.] It was one of the factors that made me feel safe and like these are people who really know what they are doing. "I'm afraid my complete enthusiasm for Fastmail has not come through as strongly as I feel it. I plan to recommend this service to everyone. I've already been recommending it whenever I email anyone. I'm feeling very at home here, like this is more of a community or even family than just a service. Thanks for your responsiveness and everything about Fastmail--you are appreciated!" :-D I plan to at least become a member, and possibly get a paid account. I don't need more than the basic service, but I want to support the Fastmail service and make sure it stays viable. And I'm just plain grateful! ;-) Merrie

2 Jan 2002, 11:04 AM	#14
OtaconTV Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 66	I have my own testemonial, I put it up at my site. The sites still in beta and it's just starting, but the fastmail page is up. Here Jeremy or Rob is this okay?

2 Jan 2002, 11:32 AM	#15
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	I think it's great. I really like these personal testimonials--for a new user considering using FastMail.FM, it's much better to see someone's real-life comments than just read some ad. For instance, the tip to try to learn the interface despite the learning curve is really valuable. Two minor corrections: and if you really don't like it use Outlook Express if your really don't like it: Avoid duplicate "if you really don't like it". No I was not paid to right this: "right" should be "write". You may or may not to include a suggestion to include your username in the 'referrer' field when they sign up. Doing this has the benefit that you get account credits if they become a paying customer, but on the down-side your testimonial becomes a little less credible because you benefit from it.