# Info wanted on freebie e-mail accounts **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 2, 2001, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-wanted-on-freebie-e-mail-accounts/56537 "2001-03-02T19:42:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-wanted-on-freebie-e-mail-accounts/56537/1 "2001-03-02T19:42:48Z")
I want to set up a freebie e-mail account on one of the services like hotmail, bigfoot, yahoo, geocities, etc. It would help to have one that gives free webspace, too. Anyone here got a recommendation, warning, comments pro or con about some of these services? I’m looking for reliability, speed and ease of access, a minimum amount of commercials, etc. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-wanted-on-freebie-e-mail-accounts/56537/2 "2001-03-02T19:48:38Z")
The only recommendation I can make is to choose a name that isn’t easily guessed - thereby sparing yourself tons o’ spam. I’m certain there are programs that generate: john\_smith/johnsmith/jon\_smith/jonsmith/etc@whatever.com. I used my real name on my first hotmail account and got all manner of crap. But as fairychatmom, I got nothing unsolicited. Just some friendly advice! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-wanted-on-freebie-e-mail-accounts/56537/3 "2001-03-02T19:53:17Z")
I’d suggest not using hotmail. It’s really damn slow to logon and do anything, and it usually just hangs and does nothing. Works fine as a forwarding address though for incoming mail only. ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-wanted-on-freebie-e-mail-accounts/56537/4 "2001-03-02T22:31:46Z")
yahoo works for me (actually, I have a rocketmail address, but yahoo took over). They provide a generous amount of space for message storage, you can set up to check other pop3 accounts, and they have built in virus scanning. They don’t provide free webspace, but hey, lots of other places do. Good luck finding an acceptable name though. ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-wanted-on-freebie-e-mail-accounts/56537/5 "2001-03-02T22:51:17Z")
> [@](#): > > They don’t provide free webspace, but hey, lots of other places do. Well, they do, kinda, but you have to sign up for it separately: Geocities. I use the same name and password for my email, webspace and message boards on Yahoo/Geocities. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2001, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-wanted-on-freebie-e-mail-accounts/56537/6 "2001-03-03T00:03:56Z")
Another recommendation - if you’re going to be trying out a few e-mail accounts and so think you might be switching from one to the other, I would recommend signing up with a forwarding service so that you don’t have to keep on reminding people to change their address books for you. One such is [bigfoot.com](http://bigfoot.com), they’ve been around for several years and will forward (for free) e-mails sent to [yourname@bigfoot.com](mailto:yourname@bigfoot.com) to as many as five e-mail addresses. When signing up for an e-mail program, you can change your “reply-to” address to “[your\_name@bigfoot.com](mailto:your_name@bigfoot.com)” if the service allows it and then when changing e-mail companies just change the forwarding information at bigfoot. Might prevent some people trying to e-mail you at a discarded address. An additional benefit of signing up with [bigfoot.com](http://bigfoot.com) is that you could simultaneously sign up for several free e-mail addresses, have bigfoot forward to all three of them, and see which one is the most reliable that way. ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2001, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-wanted-on-freebie-e-mail-accounts/56537/7 "2001-03-03T00:09:58Z")
> [@](#): > > have bigfoot forward That just sounded funny when I was reading it! \< what this is MPSIMS, is it not? \> 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dragonlady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@dragonlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragonlady)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2001, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-wanted-on-freebie-e-mail-accounts/56537/8 "2001-03-03T01:50:05Z")
I’ve been using [frogshit.com](http://frogshit.com) as my second address. No spam, no problems logging on. And funny as hell! ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2001, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-wanted-on-freebie-e-mail-accounts/56537/9 "2001-03-03T02:00:23Z")
I use Angelfire for my webspace. They have email but I use yahoo and my primary ISP for mail. I’ve also used [mail.com](http://mail.com) (very good) and Hotmail (gone to shit). ---
**Author:** ![pezpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@pezpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezpunk)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2001, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-wanted-on-freebie-e-mail-accounts/56537/10 "2001-03-03T02:31:12Z")
> **[Beer.com | Domain Name For Sale | Uni Market](https://uniregistry.com/market/domain/beer.com)** > > Check out this great domain name I found for sale at the Uni Market. Need I say more? ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2001, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-wanted-on-freebie-e-mail-accounts/56537/11 "2001-03-03T03:03:27Z")
I use [http://www.e247.com](http://www.e247.com). It’s just like an online drive, but you have an e-mail address to go with it ([xxxxx@e247.com](mailto:xxxxx@e247.com)). You get 100mb of free space, and you can upload and download files off of your computer . I think they just started up not too long ago, so getting a name that you want should be no problem. They also have a nice set up too, with an outlook express type file manager, for reading your emails… The only downside is that when you compose an e-mail, there’s no spell checker. That can be annoying, but there are ways around it. ---
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2001, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-wanted-on-freebie-e-mail-accounts/56537/12 "2001-03-03T03:08:21Z")
I forgot to add a link for a site which lists a couple hundred or so free internet based e-mail sites. I’m sure that there is something here that would strike anybodys fancy. [http://www.emailaddresses.com/email\_web.htm](http://www.emailaddresses.com/email_web.htm) ---
**Author:** ![RalfCoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@RalfCoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RalfCoder)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2001, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/info-wanted-on-freebie-e-mail-accounts/56537/13 "2001-03-03T15:57:46Z")
I set up a yahoo account last night, and it seems to be working fine. **pezpunk** - great domain name. I’ll suggest it to some people I know. **dragonlady** er, thanks, but no thanks. **techchick, FairyChatMom, all the others** thanks for all of your suggestions. I’ve heard of people using bigfoot to forward stuff. I may go that way yet. I got too many addresses to track!