General E-mail -vs- ISP Email ; Weighing The Pros and Cons

It is a good idea to use a general e-mail service instead of the e-mail address provided you by your internet service provider, or ISP. Doing do affords you more freedom to change ISP's without the hassle of having to notify every contact you have of your new e-mail address (I'll post a few links to some good ones at the end of this post). But having web-based e-mail can be a harsh mistress when it comes to security. Don't get me wrong, the pros far outweigh the cons, and even the cons can be virtually eliminated with some net savvy and some due diligence. I'll break down the issues and weigh the choices in three major categories: Security, convenience and storage.

1) Security (after all, isn't security ALWAYS number one?)

With ISP-based e-mail, the ISP bears some responsibility for maintaining their anti-virus and security standards. This doesn't alleviate the end-user (a.k.a. you) of the need to have appropriate security on your computer. However, since most ISP's are local, you have an office to go to and complain should you have a problem or issue with your e-mail. Never forget, though, that ISP's make their money from internet service, not just e-mail. This means that e-mail is their second priority at best.
With web-based e-mail services, all they do is e-mail. It behooves them to keep their security measures up to date. In fact, most of them maintain state-of-the-art security measures. The reason for this is that they make their money from small ads they place on your account page. If they loose customers from bad customer service or lack of security, they can't sell ads. It hurts their bottom line if they don't mind their P's and Q's. This being said, they are just as vulnerable to malicious script attacks as ISP e-mail. However, a periodic check of your filter and redirect lists can all but eliminate this with the web-based email services. Also, it never hurts to be cautious of where you and your family members / business associates surf.




2) Convenience

Most ISP's don't allow you to check your e-mail away from your computer. If you're at school, on vacation or otherwise indisposed, you're S.O.L. (Sh*t Outta Luck) where e-mail is concerned. Your e-mail account is also chained to your ISP account. Change providers or otherwise loose internet access, you loose your e-mail. You can't even access it from a WIFI Cafe or public library.
Web-based e-mail can be accessed from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. All you need is your user name and password. Change ISP's as much as you want, with web-based e-mail, your address stays the same. That is most valuable if you run a web-based business or a tech blog (ahem...).



3) Storage

Most ISP's give you a marginal amount of storage. I had one once that only gave me 6 megabytes of storage. One e-mail from my brother-in-law with pictures of the niece and nephew and I was bouncing back e-mails to everyone. But that was a bit ago. Currently, the average is 500 Megabytes. A whole lot more than the paltry 6 megabytes I had in years gone by, but still wholly deficient when compared to nearly all web-based e-mail services.
The average storage for web-based e-mail services is 5 gigabytes. That's 10 times the storage of most ISP's e-mail. There are even Firefox extensions that allow you us use that storage as an online hard-drive.



And the winner is by a 3 - 0 KO... Web-based e-mail!

Before I log off, I'd like to give my readers an old Irish toast for the new year.

"May the best moment of this year, equal the worst moment of next year."

-----Recommended web-based e-mail services-----
Gmail.com

Yahoo.com

Inbox.com