Mail2web.com – Can be a Lifesaver or Just a Convenience
Mar 25 '02 (Updated Mar 28 '02)
The Bottom Line An easy way to read and send email from any computer with web access.
This seemed like the best place to put this review but I am open to suggestions if someone has found a better place. Essentially this is my alternate email service but it can be used by anyone, anywhere without registering or paying a cent.
Why I found this service
One day several months ago, I could not retrieve my email from my Southwestern Bell account. I was connected to the internet, my Outlook Express seemed to fine but the email just would not arrive. I would see the message that I had 24 messages but I couldn’t retrieve them.
I called Southwestern Bell to see if they were having any known problems. They weren’t (or they didn’t admit to it). But the tech support person wanted to try a few experiments. He tried pinging my computer (successful), had me do some crazy thing in DOS (which for the life of me I can’t remember what we did), and spent several hours trying various other things without getting my email. Finally, he told me to go to a website called
www.mail2web.com
to check my email. By signing in with my email address and my email password, I was able to read my email, delete the garbage, forward the necessary messages to another account, and generally get caught up with my communications. Something told me to copy down that web address and add it to my favorites list. It seemed like it might be an easy way to access my email while on the road if I could get internet access.
Later that day, my Southwestern Bell account was working (don’t ask – I still don’t know what was wrong then) and I forgot about mail2web.com.
Then my computer crashed about a month ago. Yes, I had everything backed up but without a master hard drive, I couldn’t get the computer turned on to get to the back up. We had to wait for the new hard drive to arrive.
Meanwhile, I used my husband’s laptop to access the internet. The most important thing for me, though, was my email. I do mystery shopping and get job assignments through my email. He did not want me to install Outlook Express on his computer. I didn’t want to set up his Outlook program to receive my email as our emails would be mingled causing confusion. Then I remembered mail2web.com.
I was able retrieve my email, send email, reply to emails for a week until our hard drive was installed. I could not set up folders to sort or keep my email but I was able to forward important messages to another email account where I held them until my computer was up and running.
What Can You Do and How Does it Work
You can pick up your email from most POP3 or IMAP4 email servers, send new email, reply to email, and delete your messages from your server.
There are three ways to sign in and all have worked for me. The first and easiest way is to enter your email address and email password. You can use the advanced login by entering your email server name, user ID, password, and specifying POP3 or IMAP4. You can use the secure log in by entering the same information as the advanced log in. The more information you enter the faster you will find your email.
Mail2web claims to be secure and not sell or even record your information. They are an application not a service. That means your email stays on your email server. You read it from your server. It is not downloaded to mail2web or anywhere else. You may delete your messages from your email server but they do not go to a recoverable deleted items folder. When I use the service I delete the garbage, forward anything I might want to keep, and leave a few very important messages that I want to be able to find in several places. That way when I am able to get back to my computer and retrieve my email with my Outlook Express, I also receive the items I had already seen but did not delete while visiting mail2web.
Best of all, this is a free application. The emails I sent from mail2web did not have any obnoxious advertising but had a simple message at the bottom about 2 lines long notifying the receiver that this email came from mail2web. It was very tasteful.
What Else Can You Do (Things I Have not Tried)
The only thing I have actually tried is getting my email on my desktop when my email server was being temperamental, and getting my email on my husband’s laptop when my desktop was down. According to mail2web’s site, and I quote, “You can pick up your email using a desktop PC, notebook computer, Internet TV, mobile phone, or PDA.” Since I’m not familiar with wireless access I don’t know how to do it but apparently, it can be done using this website.
If you wish to customize mail2web to handle several email accounts or to list your favorite newsgroups or create a personalized url (http://mail2web.com/your_name) you can register. I prefer to use the basic service and have not registered. They call what I do “using the system anonymously.” Sounds good to me.
Mail2web offers web hosting services starting at $9.95 a month. The cost increases as the storage and number of email addresses increases. They also offer dedicated hosting using Windows 2000 servers. This is where you lose me. I don’t understand all the nuances of all the variations of the web hosting and dedicated hosting. I am totally lost when I read about their SharePoint Team Service but I suspect if you work in Internet Technology this makes sense to you. But I do understand domain name registration, another service offered for a fee.
Additional Information
Their terms and conditions as well as the security policy are not overly long and are relatively easy to understand. They claim not to use and cookies and I have to agree as I have my options set to prompt me when a cookie is being used. No matter where I have surfed on mail2web or what mail I have read I have never been prompted to accept a cookie.
They have the contact information listed which to me is always a good sign on a web site and they have a list of about 20 FAQ which covered everything I needed. We’ll see how good that contact information is when I submit the Epinion’s link to them so they can see this review.
(Update March 28, 2002)
I submitted this link to the mail2web.com site and received back two emails – one from the CEO and one from customer service. They both thanked me for writing the review and the customer service person said she would forward the link to all their colleagues. I received both answers within one working day of sending the link. It does seem like this company is interested in providing good service and staying in contact with their customers.
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Epinions.com ID:
colleenmf
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Member: Colleen Farley
Location: Lubbock, TX
Reviews written: 146
Trusted by: 147 members
About Me:
Happily married, mostly retired, and addicted to the internet.
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