Email choices

[Frostbit]

Our email service is discontinuing in July 2024. It's provided through our cable internet provider and they are stopping email service without replacement.

Who do you use and what's the advantage/disadvantage? Cost?

[Celeste Chalfonte]

It's probably not secure, but nothing is these days; I use GMail. It works well, and the spam recognition is pretty decent. It's convenient. I'm used to the inbox format. The search function is a little clunky; for example, it searches your inbox and folders pretty well, but not trash.

I've never used the one my internet provider (the dreaded Comcast a/k/a Xfinity) offered. I don't like having all my communications eggs in one basket, so I have separate email, internet, and cell service. Now the office cell is with yet another carrier, so if Verizon and Comcast both go down (as happened recently), I can still contact the outside world.

[phillygirl]

I have a gmail account. I rarely use it and almost always use my work account for anything that I want to make sure I read. Having said that, I've never had an issue with gmail and I do like that I can sign in to it from the internet if I need to. Not a bad idea to also purchase a virus protection program. I would guess a norton anti-virus or something like that. I don't know anything about the work email as our IT people handle all of that.

[scott]

I use Gmail, and pay $1.99 per month for the Google One 100GB storage plan.

It's the simplest and most versatile email and calendar for me.

The free plan includes 15GB storage.

[gary m]

I use the one through my ISP but also have a gmail account.

While there are some advantages to the ISP account since some places I need an email account always think of gmail as a throw away spam account and won't recognize it as an actual verifiable account, the biggest problem I have with the ISP based account (actually 5. 2 personal for me, 1 for my business, one for DW and 1 for the rescue she heads) is that it ties me to the ISP and if I choose to change, it is a major headache changing email addresses for that many accounts.

What I don't like about the gmail account is the amount of spam and other useless emails it receives. The spam filter is ok, but the number of porn, phishing, and scammer crap maes it virtually unusable for everyday personal or business use.

[Frostbit]

Protonmail was recommended by a friend that doesn't like the surveillance that a google platform like Gmail entails. Take a look at Proton and tell me what I'm not seeing. Gary's statement about the pain in the ass of the ISP address going away it what we will have to deal with now. We have so many payment accounts, subscriptions, etc. attached to our present email that changing them all out and not missing one will be a real pain.

Whatever new account we create will hopefully be a forever account.

Thoughts?

[Newman]

Protonmail was recommended by a friend that doesn't like the surveillance that a google platform like Gmail entails. Take a look at Proton and tell me what I'm not seeing. Gary's statement about the pain in the ass of the ISP address going away it what we will have to deal with now. We have so many payment accounts, subscriptions, etc. attached to our present email that changing them all out and not missing one will be a real pain.

Whatever new account we create will hopefully be a forever account.

Thoughts?

I despair of avoiding surveillance while using electricity. I'll settle for simple living, keep my nose clean, and takes my chances.

Nevertheless I'm an old ship that needs to be taken to dry dock and get the barnacles scraped off. I've collected at least a half dozen email addresses, a few deliberately, and probably as many creepy subscriptions dogging my credit cards.

Due to some data breach or other I had to close one of our (two) checking accounts a few months ago, at the bank's insistence, open a new one, and it was a royal hassle. (I'm so glad we had that second account to run smoothly through the re-boot....) I'd say I prefer using paper checks to better see what's going out, and I do, but postage isn't free, nor delivery infallible, and hell I had a large check stolen and forged a year ago.

So I'll keep dog-paddling along, hoping all this dross doesn't drag me underwater before it's time to go. My principal email is our oldest, @ msn.com, and I'm resigned to throwing out the trash every day.

[80zephyr]

Hotmail. Has the same problems as what everyone here is complaining about.

Mark

[scott]

Protonmail was recommended by a friend that doesn't like the surveillance that a google platform like Gmail entails. Take a look at Proton and tell me what I'm not seeing. Gary's statement about the pain in the ass of the ISP address going away it what we will have to deal with now. We have so many payment accounts, subscriptions, etc. attached to our present email that changing them all out and not missing one will be a real pain.

Whatever new account we create will hopefully be a forever account.

Thoughts?

The free version is too robust to not sell the email address. There has to be a catch somewhere.

If you have an iPhone you are already under surveillance. Gmail is easiest for me, works in the browser and the phone apps are great.