VBOK #4 - Free e-mail services
______________________________________________________________________

Some of you have asked. Yes, I do type in all these newsletters by
hand (no cutting and pasting). Why? I don't know, I'm a firm believer
in information is power (and it makes life more fun), and I like to
share what I know (and I guess I have no life :) <GRIN>

Alright, let's talk about e-mail...

I went to just about every single free e-mail place I could find, so
that I could provide you with a comprehensive list of the different
services provided. I'm listing the web site to go to to get the
account, what it is capable of, and some notes.

1. WEB - Means you access your e-mail via web browser (IE/Netscape)

2. Forward - Any mail sent to this address can be automatically
   forwarded to another e-mail address (ie my e-mail address for
   instance <vbok@biogate.com>. No matter where I go in the world, no
   matter what ISP I get with etc, you can reach me at this e-mail
   address (Provided I updated the forwarding address when I moved).

3. IS POP3 - This e-mail account can be accessed using an e-mail
   program (The Bat, Eudora, Netscape, Outlook Express etc..)

4. Reads POP3 - This account will allow you to gather e-mail from
   other POP3 (read your ISP e-mail account) accounts into this one
   for a one stop shop for reading e-mail. Useful for those TDY's.


Web site Capability Notes

<www.mailcity.com>   1,4

<www.hotmail.com>    1,4 Sometimes late deliveries

<www.usa.net>        1,2,3,4 Slow

<www.yahoo.com>      1,4 Pretty new

<www.excite.com>     1,4

<www.eudoramail.com> 1,4

<www.iname.com>      2

<www.geocities.com>  1,2,3,4 Kind of slow

<www.netforward.com> 2 You also get a redirect homepage.

So which is the best one? The top 6 are pretty much the same in
interface and capability. iname is nice because you can choose from a
few different domains (the @whatever_part) or for a small price, you
can get a specialized domain name (I'm cheap, so I go for the free
stuff).

Geocities is nice because you get a free homepage with it.

Netforward, I love netforward. They have cooler domain names to choose
from, They are extremely fast (If someone sends me an e-mail, I get it
within 2 minutes (assuming their SMTP (where your e-mail goes to when
you press send) sends it quickly), and they have redirects for your
homepage.


What's that do.. Well, like I stated earlier, no matter where I go or
what ISP I get with, you can always reach me through
<vbok@biogate.com>, well, no matter where I move my homepage to, 
you can always find it at <www.biogate.com/vbok/> Cool huh?

So why do I have a lot of e-mail accounts? Uhhhmm, I guess to be cool
or something, maybe to feel important :) Actually, There are a lot of
situations I give my e-mail address out in, and I may not want
somebody to always be able to find me, so I give them an e-mail
address that I have to check with a browser.. So if you end up getting
my hotmail account, guess which category you just fell into. :)

Now, I use two of these accounts in conjunction (conjunction junction
what's your function (oh boy...)) When I go TDY, I have my netforward
address forward all my e-mail to my usa.net e-mail address, and I have
my usa.net address comb all my POP3 e-mail addresses, so now I have
all my e-mail available to me anywhere that there is a computer with a
web browser on it.


Well, that concludes this issue. Have fun.


Leif Gregory


Copyright (c) 1998 by Leif Gregory. All rights reserved.
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