The Abundance of Free Email Services: A Comprehensive Guide

The Advertising Strategies of Free Email Services

Companies offering free email services have several strategies to generate revenue from advertising:

• Attaching a small ad to each email message sent or received
• Displaying banner ads
• Issuing popup windows with advertisements

Why Use a Free Email Service?

One of the primary reasons to use a free email service is to manage spam. A web-based free email account can be used to receive messages from various service signups. This way, any spam messages are directed to the free mailbox, which is not frequently used.

Another advantage of these services is the ability to access your email from your browser. This is particularly useful when traveling or when you want to check your personal email at work.

Types of Free Email Services

There are four basic types of free email services, each with its unique features and benefits.

Web-Based Email Services

These services allow you to retrieve, send, and manage your email from your browser. They are typically supported by banner advertisements, although most offer an ad-free paid version. Some examples include:

• Hotmail: The first and oldest web-based email system. It offers a good interface and is reliable and reasonably fast.
• Mail.Com: Possibly the best free web-based email service available. It offers a variety of email domains and is easy to use and flexible. A premium service is available at a low cost.
• Startrekmail: For Star Trek fans, this service allows you to create your own Star Trek email address with a variety of domains.
• Yahoo Mail: Another popular email system with lots of features. It is very reliable and fast.

POP Email Services

POP email is usually provided as part of the services you receive from your web host and ISP. Your messages are stored on a server, and you use your email client (such as Outlook or Eudora) to send, receive, and manage your messages. Some examples include:

• E-OmniNet: Provides online services of all kinds with a single account, including free POP3 email and web hosting.
• Mail Options: Provides mail and news access in a web-based browser. Mail is stored on a POP server.
• RunBox: A server-based email application that enables you to store all your email online. They provide 100 MB of storage space and extensive management features.

Web-Based POP Email Services

These services allow you to receive your POP email using your browser. Some examples include:

• Email Planet: Allows you to manage your email from your browser.
• FetchMail: Lets you read your POP email using your browser.
• Mail2Web: Reads POP mail from any POP server using your browser.

Email Forwarding Services

These services will forward your email from an existing email account to another account. Some examples include:

• Bigfoot: This service will forward email from your email account to another email address. It also has the ability to distribute and filter messages.
• HotPop: Provides a full-featured email client, with POP capabilities and email forwarding.

Return Receipt Services

Sometimes, you need to know that an email was received by someone. These services get around the problem of return receipts being dependent upon the email client and can be turned off entirely by the user. An example is:

• ReturnReceipt: A web-based email system that notifies you when your email has been received and read.

Miscellaneous Email Services

Some services that are useful but do not fit into the above categories include:

• OneHopMail: This service is useful when you need to send an email message and want it to appear as if you sent it from your home email but cannot access your email account.