Member Question about Email

MEMBER QUESTION: Well, things aren't going smoothly as I had initially thought with Wild Blue [a new internet satellite broadband provider] and AOL. We have had chronic problems accessing AOL and our e-mail and Wild Blue tech support says there are "issues" with AOL. We still have problems even when we access AOL via the Web using Safari. We tried new software from AOL that was supposed to solve problems and had it launch after startup. But we always had problems -- using can't sign on. AOL, as usual, seems to be screwing up -- maybe they don't really care about Mac users -- certainly not those with Wild Blue. AOL tech support is a nightmare -- try understanding a guy with a thick Indian accent who sounds like he is communicating via a tin can with a string.

Anyway, I need to set up a new mail account pronto. What do you recommend? I am much more interested in simplicity, ease of use, and robustness than bells and whistles. We have Entourage as part of MS Office, but I start getting cross-eyed when I look at the busy interface.

I tried to download Firefox twice. First time, it was estimating hours and hours to download 18 MB. I gave up. Then I tried again last night and left the G4 running overnight, but I had only a very tiny fragment of the program this morning. Since it's free, could you put it on a disk for me? What do you think of Thunderbird, which I understand is the mail program? What works for you?

Am I correct in thinking that Tiger has no mail program unless you sign up for .Mac?

MACSTAC ANSWER:  Life is complicated, but there are solutions to your problem. Before you jump off the deep end, try this - assuming you want to keep AOL around for a bit, try

Option 1

http://mail2web.com

Mail2web.com provides a free web-based email retrieval application that allows users from anywhere to anonymously pick up their email from almost any POP3 and IMAP4 email server. No registration is required to access or use the application. Rather than offer another email address like Hotmail ® or Yahoo Mail! ®, Mail2web.com allows you to use your existing email account.
Retrieving and sending email with mail2web.com is as simple as entering your email address and password. Now you can easily read, reply, forward and even delete messages all while you're away from your regular email program.

Try it; it's free; you may like it.

Option 2 is to use Tiger's Mail program. It does NOT require a mac.com account. For those members using Wildblue it is my preferred e-mail. They have it linked into Wildblue and it's mostly reliable - Wildblue seems to lose the password now and then, but Keychain catches it and tells you to re-enter it. The Mail preference settings are a bit complicated, but we can talk you through them. Mail also interfaces nicely with Tiger's Addressbook and whatever browser is your primary one - some of our members use both Safari (Primary) and Camino (Secondary). Firefox has had some security problems and a lot of members just haven't wanted to embrace it yet.

BTW, our members have been having mega-problems with AOL. Most now how the free service, but there is no human help desk. The latest release (10.3.7 REV 4136.310), but that doesn't help. One thing that does help is to trash the AOL preferences and let them rebuild when you sign on again. AOL dies a lot everyday and the AOL browser is very poor and is exceedingly slow. Only reason to keep it is it may take forever to switch over to Mail exclusively.

Option 3 is to set up a Google Gmail account - fast, clean, accessible from everywhere, and free. You could have a bit of a problem trying to signup without an invitation from a current user. But not to worry: Roy Frost, our Webmaster, has a Gmail account and he says:
"I would suggest trying Gmail from Google. I use it most of the time now and Love it. If a member is having trouble getting an account have him send me an eMail at elroy1092@gmail.com and I'll send him an invitation. Roy"
Option 4 is to go to Thunderbird. Roy demonstrated it several meetings ago and I was impressed. There may be a learning curve there.