Feb 27, 2004 10:56 PM
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(Updated Feb 27, 2004 10:59 PM)
If you are thinking of switching to another Email service, for whatever reason, you are reading the right article. In this article, I'll compare India's Top email services; all FREE, and will tell you what to look for in an email service. Let's go one by one:
Performance and uptime:It's a very crucial factor. Your service provider must have enough resources to ensure that you can send/receive emails whenever you wish and you must also be able to do it with a reasonable speed, even if you have to use a dial-up internet connection or browse from a crowded cyber-cafe at peak hours. Yahoo, Rediff, VSNL, Indiatimes, Sifymail, 123india all provide decent speed. Although Rediff server is sometimes, down. While Hotmail, Lycos, I think, are too slow for dial up users, especially because of large number of Ads that they display. In addition to these BIG players, you should also consider the email service provided by the organization you work with. For example, if you work in GE India, you have your email address as: your_name@ge.co.in Since you access your email from your own office or your home, which is in the same city, your company's email service is likely to be faster than any of these listed above. Geography matters. I see no reason why people should go for email service by AOL or yahoo.co.uk when they sit and browse in India.
Spam and virus protection : This is must. Yahoo, VSNL provide, in my opinion, provide the best spam and virus protection. While my (bad) experience with indiatimes, AOL and 123india has compelled me to discontinue their service. Rediff also does a good job AFA viruses are concerned; But isn't a very good spam blocker. Hotmail server seems to send ''self-spam'' It constantly nags me to upgrade my membership, shop for the stuff I don't need and what not. Another facility that an email service should provide is the ability to define your own rules to defend spam you get. One such very powerful rule is to block an email, which doesn't have your address in the To:field. This way, you receive only those emails that are sent to you and you alone. All the rest are bounced back. Yahoo, Hotmail, Rediff have this facility.
Features: Apart from basic facility to send and receive emails, the service should also include other features like flagging an email for later follow-up, searching an email, sorting them according to date/sender/size, calendar, reminders etc. etc. An address book (AB) is a pretty convenient tool. But these days, it's kinda risky saving many email addresses in your AB, because, if you are hit by a virus or worm that does mass-mailing, your innocent friends and family members become convenient victims. You should always save the addresses smartly; for example: a_friend@hotmail.com may be saved as: a_friend@hotttttmail.com or a_friend@hotmail.kom. Yhaoo, Hotmail, VSNL have excellent features. Rediff, 123india, indiatimes do slysha poorly. SMS alerts is another useful feature, esp. for those who use email for business and stuff. Rediff has variety of schemes and offers for a mobile user. It's interesting to note that Rediff, which is so popular, doesn't have the facility to search an email. This is of particular importance for users who have over 200 emails in their inbox.
Storage space : A minimum of 4 MB is must; which yahoo gives. Rediff, Lycos provide 5 MB; and it is good enough. Budding players like 123india, indiatimes provide 10 MB; but seems like you pay every bit of it, by viewing their Ads and spam. That reminds me of another point...
Advertising : Everyone hates Ads. They make us wait while the page loads, sometimes, they encroach upon our privacy by sending our browsing habits, favorite websites to advertisers so that they can send us more relevant Ads and trap us in the lure. But they are essential. After all, that's how the service provider can sustain itself and the economy can grow. :-) But Hotmail, Lycos, Indiatimes overdo it. Rediff, Yhaoo, VSNL pages are moderately spiced. And, needless to say, your company will never show Ads to their employees. Unless may be, Microsoft who might ask its employee to ''upgrade'' his/her post from clerk1.0 to 2.0!!! Just kidding!!!
So, what's the bottom-line? I would say, give every consideration to your company; because it's fast, AD-free, simple and looks professional. Still, if you decide to go for a commercial service, Rediff is a good choice for an average user. A professional may opt for Yhaoo. And, one more advice: if you are happy with your email, stick with it, don't switch just because you read this review or similar such stupid reason. You'll end up having several accounts and then writing another review on Choosing an email service...
Someone has aptly said, computers do 50% of our work; but they also create 500% more work.
