# Recommendations for Free E-mail Services
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 3, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610 "2002-04-03T17:30:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610/1 "2002-04-03T17:30:21Z")
I find myself without a working e-mail account. As I understand, there are e-mail services out there that are free (supposedly paid for by pop-up ads and such). I’m requesting critical opinions on what program or programs of this sort are the “best” – most reliable and so on. (I suppose there is a certain amount of IMHO to this, but I intend the question as one with a definite answer – the e-mail program which is available free that is considered the most reliable among such programs.)
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### Author:  [@Netbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Netbrian)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2002, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610/2 "2002-04-03T18:26:41Z")
I wanted to mention that I have been very satisfied with [www.subdimension.com](http://www.subdimension.com) . It’s free, the ads are only on the front page, it is very free of clutter, and it includes POP3 e-mail as a bonus. Also, it does not seem to sell your address. Out of every one I’ve used, this one is definately the best.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2002, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610/3 "2002-04-03T21:39:27Z")
The best on i’ve seen is [myrealbox.com](http://myrealbox.com) web and pop3 or imap4 access - no spam from them and no popups.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2002, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610/4 "2002-04-03T21:49:45Z")
lets try that link again
[www.myrealbox.com/](http://www.myrealbox.com)
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### Author:  [@Mike\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_B)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2002, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610/5 "2002-04-03T22:08:45Z")
[www.hotmail.com](http://www.hotmail.com)
Great…MS sponsors it, fast site. You can filter out spam…
The only thing I have to say bad about it, is occasionally when you click an e-mail link, such as this [trainsnpep@hotmail.com](mailto:trainsnpep@hotmail.com), it will open the mail window, and not fill in the e-mail address…so you need to type [trainsnpep@hotmail.com](mailto:trainsnpep@hotmail.com) in…
Plus, when you sign up, you get a free Passport, which is Microsoft’s now booming 'Net Authentication service…you can use it on uBid, and I think eBay…and tons of other places.
PLUS, you can sign up for MSN Messenger, which is now giving good competition to AIM…
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2002, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610/6 "2002-04-03T22:22:53Z")
I don’t think it will be possible to get the Teeming Millions to agree on a single best service, so I’ll move this to IMHO.
By the way, don’t forget to update the e-mail address in your profile when you get a working one. This is as good a place as any to recap the rules:
All members are required to have a valid e-mail address in their profiles so moderators and administrators can contact them if necessary. It is possible to keep the address private so that other members can’t see it. To do so, you can use the “hide e-mail address” option when editing your profile.
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610/7 "2002-04-04T00:07:06Z")
I like MSN & Yahoo, but word is they won’t be free much longer. [Juno.com](http://Juno.com) still is.
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### Author:  [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2002, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610/8 "2002-04-04T02:46:31Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Netbrian \*
> \*\*I wanted to mention that I have been very satisfied with [www.subdimension.com](http://www.subdimension.com) . It’s free, the ads are only on the front page, it is very free of clutter, and it includes POP3 e-mail as a bonus. Also, it does not seem to sell your address. Out of every one I’ve used, this one is definately the best. \*\*
Just thought I’d mention that while subdimension does have POP3 service, they do NOT provide SMTP service. You’re required to send mail through your ISP’s SMTP server unless you want to use subdimension’s web based service. Although most ISPs do have SMTP service, AOL, for instance, does not.
BTW, [myrealbox.com](http://myrealbox.com) does seem pretty good 😃
I now return you to your regularly scheduled program.
Mike
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### Author:  [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2002, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610/9 "2002-04-04T05:45:49Z")
Hotmail seems to be pushing its $19.99 a year service… Otherwise, I like that one.
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### Author:  [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2002, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610/10 "2002-04-04T08:34:37Z")
I have Yahoo, Hotmail, [AmberDiceless.com](http://AmberDiceless.com), and [mail.com](http://mail.com).
The last two are my favorites. I use the [mail.com](http://mail.com) for business type mail. A few popups and Pop3 mail and you can recieve faxs at that address.
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### Author:  [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2002, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610/11 "2002-04-04T08:51:28Z")
[**Mail.com**](http://www.mail.com) is great, I even paid for the forwarding when it became pay. NO WAY I will pay for Hotmail’s though. I get several hundred (no lie) pieces of spam coming through into my account every week. I have the filter on exclusive and still every single day I get the “Account suspended” stuff from Hotmail Member Services, because they count the contents of the junk mail filter.
If Hotmail wanted to, they could easily run mass filters on “Viagra!” “Penis Enlargement!” “University Diplomas!” and those fking frolicking “college girls” that cram their spam hourly. They could easily ban the senders of them. God, Microsoft virtually run the entire internet now, total Big Brother scenario. But they don’t help out, and I think the reason is they are hoping people will pay them too.
However with Hotmail as crappy as it is, who would take the leap of faith and risk paid services, only for it to be just as bad afterwards?
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### Author:  [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2002, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610/12 "2002-04-04T12:23:51Z")
I haven’t tried it yet, but [HotPOP](http://www.hotpop.com/) might be a good candidate. I’ve seen it recommended a few times on Slashdot so I think it may be a safe bet. It has POP3 and SMTP access and even mail forwarding. It looks like they hand out the address to specific advertisers though. That could be a bummer.
From what I understand, Yahoo, Hotmail, and [Mail.com](http://Mail.com) are all reducing their free services to the bare minimum and pushing subscription services. I wonder if it’s possible for any free email service to sustain itself in the long run?
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### Author:  [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2002, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-for-free-e-mail-services/101610/13 "2002-04-04T14:16:01Z")
I have no complaints with Yahoo. I tried Hotmail for a while, but I have Javascript turned off except for sites I specify, and Microsoft had the Hotmail servers changing every day, so I was constantly having to add servers to the OK list. Yahoo hasn’t given me any problems at all, and I like that I can get to it from any machine.
As for it not being free, they are about to start charging for POP access, but regular web access is still going to be free, as far as I know.