Email Providers

[Hans Tucker]

I noticed that my email provider, linked to my previous Internet Provider, is no longer providing email services. So, time to look for a new email account provider. I know people use gmail and the like but any other suggestions for a secure email? Would a paid option be more secure?

[AstroViking]

I am in the (slow) process of migrating from GMail to ProtonMail. Proton is fully encrypted. Your data is encrypted in-transit and 'at rest' on their servers.

They have a range of offerings, from free to 'the kitchen sink', including a VPN service and file hosting.

I'm on the base-level paid plan (about 3 euro per month) as that lets me use the ProtonBridge application and link the email program on my home computer with my Proton account. (The free plan does not let you do this, so your email is accessible via browser or mobile-app only.)

Cheers,
V.

[OzEclipse]

I own my own domain, and my permanent email addresses are blahblahblah@mydomain.com.

If I change hosts and move the website hosting to a different company, or change my ISP, the email address remains. I also have website administrator access to the account so even if someone did hack me, I can change the password via a different login if required to regain control of the account. Some people register their own domains only to have those permanent email addresses and don't have associated websites.

I use a hotmail account as the public contact point for the webpage, the other for my personal correspondence with friends.

Joe

[RB]

Yep, that’s what I have too.

RB
:thumbsup:

[GTB_an_Owl]

hi Hans

does your new internet provider not supply an email address?

geoff

[bojan]

I am on iinet.. they say the reason for decision to not providing email service any more is the "need to concentrate on better service" (or some-such nonsense). Somehow this doesn't sound right...
Probably I port my email account to suggested email provider, who will stay free for a year.. then who knows..

[OzEclipse]

Because your email account is integral to your online identity, password changes, new account registrations etc something permanent makes more sense. It can sometimes be difficult to change the email address used to create some accounts. At the very least, it's a pain and time consuming to change all those email addresses. Make sure you do it while the iinet account is still active in case you need it to verify your identity.

I can understand that you might not want to go to the extent of buying your own domain like RB and I. I'd recommend something like a hotmail/msn or gmail account. These are big companies, with very long term stable provided platforms.

I have had two hotmail accounts based on my name since 1997/8. Both offer a range of other apps in the cloud account plus online file sharing & file storage.

I also have a gmail account which I needed to access some google services - forms.

Both are excellent.

Joe

[GTB_an_Owl]

a possible reason for internet and hosting providers moving away from email is that compromised email accounts produce a huge amount of spam which tends to get them black listed or the cost of cleaning them up is too costly or time consuming..


geoff

[bojan]

Yes, I also have both but (unfortunately) iinet account I used for everything - now I have to change all that (ATO, banking, medicare.. the lot..).
Pain.. well at least I have some time (one year) to migrate to hotmail/google.

[GTB_an_Owl]

how many of you would pay for an independent email address

geoff

[bojan]

Not me.. Why would I when there are free services?
BTW, I am already paying (iinet, and too much for what I am using) for access.

[GTB_an_Owl]

free one's are great Bojan - until you start getting too much spam

a private one is great for family and personal friends, business and governmental use.
only changes when YOU want it to

geoff

[Sunfish]

Namecheap.com
Pick a domain and get a webmail or redirection for US$4.50per month.
Ps,
And gmail for everything else

[GTB_an_Owl]

just to note
that is the $X per month plus the yearly $X for domain name renewal

geoff

[jamespierce]

Fastmail.Com here - local and reliable... personally been using them ~20 years.

[GTB_an_Owl]

i know a fella that designs web pages and hosts domains as a hobby

he tells me he just bought a new domain name - mailaddr.me -

think he is going to see if he can sell mail box accounts pretty cheap
$20 to $30 a year
stay tuned

some of you might know him too........;)

geoff

[RB]

Who?
Leon?

:lol:

[GTB_an_Owl]

yes well Leon is smart enough to know who the fella is RB

geoff

[RB]

:lol:

Yes he is…
The Wise Owl
:)

[GTB_an_Owl]

so they say RB - time will tell

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

that fella i know said the website for those interested in getting a "FOREVER" email address is up and running.

https://www.mailaddr.me

:thumbsup:

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

great opportunity to get that address that is taken up elsewhere

geoff

[RAJAH235]

I'm another Fastmail dot com dot au "pro" user & it's been fine for years.

I also just started using "mail.com" for one of my "other" sites that stopped using my original client.

Gotta register & log in but it's free & very secure.

[ronson]

There are few aspects I would consider if I were to choose a new email service.
1. Security.
2. Privacy.
3. Usability.

Please note, security and privacy are two different things though they have some touching points.

Most decent email providers, some already mentioned above, are generally secure. Secure in the way they develop the service and in the way they deliver and protect it.

Privacy is a bit of a tricky one. Everyone has their understanding and/or threshold for privacy. Complete privacy is only offered by few email providers, Proton being one of them. It means, no one, but no one including the provider, can read your messages and calendar items because they are end to end encrypted and only you have the key to decrypt them. The caveat here is that as soon as you send an email outside the Proton service (i.e., to an email address that is not hosted on Proton), assume it is no longer private as the provider on the other side could read it, leak it etc.

Now, if your understanding of privacy is that your email messages (and data in general) are not being scanned and resold to third-party analytics/marketing companies, and you see no ads when using the service, i.e. you are not the product, then the paid services of the popular providers would generally do the job for you.

Not going to discuss the usability as this is very personal to everyone. Test it and decide if it works for you.

PS: Strongly recommend the suggestion above, to bring your own domain and use for the email service. This way you don't depend on a provider maintaining one of their generic email addresses for you and you are not at their mercy should they decide to shutdown the service, change the terms and condition unilaterally in your detriment, or kick you out etc. If you do so, make sure you set the SPF, DKIM and DMARC DNS records. Most providers will guide you how to do it. Last but not least, make sure you enable multi-factor authentication.

[KISSMAD]

The site does not say what currency the prices are in.


No option to purchase.

[bojan]

How about GoDaddy?
Are they any good/acceptable price?

[scarecrow2012]

How about proton mail?

Was your email before an ozemail.com.au address?

[bojan]

Looong time ago, it was..

[GTB_an_Owl]

hi Bruce

price is in $ au

purchase via contact form at the moment

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

our Domain and Email service is hosted through Dreamhost.com

so all mainstream security and privacy concerns are met

geoff

[ronson]

Hi Geoff,

Hope this doesn't come across harsh and is by no mean intended to not appreciate the effort you and your business are putting forward.

Please, take my feedback as a suggestion of improvement rather than anything else. Appreciate, if you are in the works of addressing anything related to below feedback.

There are few red flags, that myself, as a prospective customer, would put me off in signing up for your service:

Lack of privacy policy.
Lack of terms of use policy.
Lack of clear business ownership info (business name, ABN, company address etc).
Only option to purchase the service is via a contact form.
No clear currency of the pricing.
Lack of definition of "forever email address".


Not knowing who the business is in 2023 is a bit, hmm, raising suspicion.
What does "forever email address" means? If the business goes under, would the email address' ownership remain (or be transferred to) with the customer?
The statement "our Domain and Email service is hosted through Dreamhost.com, so all mainstream security and privacy concerns are met", implies your business does not understand or is not familiar with the shared responsibility model and Australian privacy requirements. For one, Dreamhost.com is US based company, so they have no requirement to comply with the Australian Privacy Act.

So, all of the above raises the question - why should we (the prospective customers) trust you with our money and our data and privacy.

Happy to be proven wrong on all my notes and see relevant clarifications provided.

PS: The website loads really slow. Not just for me, but for a number of website speed tests services I tried (including timing out on few of them).

[GTB_an_Owl]

thankyou for your input Ronson

geoff

[KISSMAD]

Thanks but I've gone with Fastmail.


BTW
Might want to use a spell checker on the main page.

[GTB_an_Owl]

as per our "about Page"

In a past life, our family ran a small Dial Up and ADSL Internet business on the Central and North Coast.
We installed a “Wireless System” in a Central Coast retirement village that was only capable of 25K download speeds at that time. We serviced over 100 homes with our wireless system. This was quite a success until Telstra improved their capabilities in the area.
Of course with the advent of larger ADSL providers and the NBN, we have had to change the focus of our endeavours. You just can’t play with the big boys on an even footing.
We now provide Web Hosting, Domain Names and Email Accounts on a private and hobby basis.

PS: we still maintain some email accounts of old customers from back then
geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

thanks Bruce

a work in progress
i'm sure there will be more issues to come
like getting pages to load faster
I am using a new page builder program called oxygen and it has some caching problems

and my keyboard has a few sticky keys
geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

yep and "L" is one of them Bruce

geoff

[GTB_an_Owl]

hi ronson

would you mind checking the site loading time for me again please
i have deleted a few plugins that might have been slowing things down

geoff

[ronson]

Hi Geoff,

It’s considerably faster now. Example: https://tools.pingdom.com/#626c292b26000000. It now shows 3.42 sec. Before it was 30+ sec. Well done on the optimisation.

[Hans Tucker]

Thank you all for your input into this topic.

Apparently, there is an option to transfer to The Messaging Company so this may offer some breathing space.

I do like the Proton option so researching the pro's and con's about going with a Free or Paid account.

[GTB_an_Owl]

thanks ronson

much appreciated

yes a good improvement

geoff

[OICURMT]

Internode has email accounts for A$30/year. I've been using them since I left Australia. I was with Internode internet for 14 years, then removed the service but kept the email for the past six years.


OIC!

[GTB_an_Owl]

ok folks

mailaddr.me is live and ready to provide email accounts and sub-domain mail packages

check it out
https://www.mailaddr.me

geoff