Free Email Account

[Hansard]

Looking for a reputable free email account for use in the UK. Did a search but all the info is fairly old. Any recommendations?

Thanks!

[Capetonian]

Most people seem to think Google/Gmail is by far the best. I think other feedback will confirm this.

I don't like it at all, I find the interface clumsy, and as an IMAP type email, it doesn't interface well with some email clients.

It's spam filtering is excellent, and it has massive, or unlimited, storage.

There are other free emails such as Hotmail, Yahoo, and many others, unfortunately they tend to lack credibility if you use them for business purposes specially if combined with a silly name (I got an employment application from a lady who called herself prettytitty@a yahoo domain, it doesn't conjure up a good image), and a lot of emails divert emails from those domains into spam.

[call100]

GMX,.,,,,at GMX.com. (http://www.gmx.com)...would be my first recommendation or Gmail would be my second choice....:ok:

[BOAC]

I use Gmail with Outlook Express as pop3 and it zings! It is noticeably faster than other email accounts too.

[Keef]

I use gmail with Imap for my iPhone, and another gmail account as backup spamfilter on my more spammed addresses (ie most of them), and it rocks.

If you're worried about the lack of professionalism implicit in a gmail address, buy yourself a domain with mailforwarding only (about £6 for 2 years) and have that forward to gmail. Thunderbird can do the rest, and only the cognoscenti will know you're using gmail.

[Capetonian]

I use Gmail with Outlook Express as pop3 and it zings! It is noticeably faster than other email accounts too.

I was doing the same, but I upgraded from XP to Windows 7 which doesn't work with Outlook Express. I had a lot of problems with Thunderbird, losing folders, corrupting my inbox, etc, with my other accounts, so I changed to Windows Live Mail. Gmail doesn't work well with that client.

[Shunter]

Gmail doesn't work well with that clientMicrosoft? Artificially degrading a competitor's service? Who'd have thunk it :} In all seriousness, Microsoft's IMAP support has always been diabolical.

Thunderbird is probably one of the most robust email clients man has ever seen. I'm sorry to hear you've had a problem, but I sincerely doubt it was the fault of Thunderbird. I've thrown all sorts of filth at it, and it's never batted an eyelid.

[Keef]

Summat adrift there, Capetonian. Thunderbird is indeed very stable and reliable. I run it with Windows 7 on two machines with no problems at all.

I also run gmail with the mail client on the iPhone, as Imap, and that's solid too.

No idea about Outlook Express or Outlook, since I've not used either for mail for many years.

[Booglebox]

I use Gmail and it's brilliant for the following reasons:
1. constant updates (unlike Hotmail)
2. unfailingly reliable
3. features like retrospective filtering, POP fetch, auto-forward (standard to mail clients I know but unusual for webmail! also you don't have to have a client running all the time)

Runs good with Outlook 2003 and 2007 in my experience, heard it runs great with Thunderbird on PC. Thunderbird for Mac is incredibly, er, rubbish- as is Entourage- you're far better off using mail.app which is a bit of a case of bashing a square peg into a round hole (google for instructions) but once it's in it's awesome and works fantastically. :)

[bnt]

I've personally stopped using Outlook or any other standard client entirely, and have gone entirely web-based with three different accounts. I used Outlook before when I was working, but it's overkill for my life as a student.

The one exception is that I've set up my iPod Touch to talk to Gmail, and found it works extremely well, so I have Gmail "POP-ping out" to the other two accounts hourly, and all mail eventually arrives in the one place. I can still log on directly if I know something's arriving that needs urgent attention.

[Sprogget]

Best stay off hotmail for a bit...

BBC NEWS | Technology | Hotmail accounts 'posted online' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8291268.stm)