The Best Free Email Account Providers

In response to a question I received, I thought I would write a hub about one of those things that seems so simple, but was a nightmare to set up when you and computer first became acquainted.

If you are just getting to grips with how a computer on, help is at hand to start emailing with a free email account and receiving e-mails in next to no time. Choose from one of the great free email accounts below and you'll be inundated with offers of breast augmentation and member enlargement before you know it.

Type Free Email accounts into Google and you will be presented with over 500 million web pages to choose from, which could prove a little overwhelming. However you need not panic as I will narrow down the selection to the main free providers to save a little time.

Generally speaking, if you stick with one of the top three free mail services you cant go far wrong. For more variety in the domain name you may need to look a little further - there are a lot out there. Many people choose a provider simply for the domain name provided. However it is a good idea to check out what each package offers to make sure you are getting the most out of your email account.

Most email packages come with sufficient storage space to cope with general use, however if you are planning to email large files or send and receive lots of photos you will be better off if you chose for the functionality of the service rather than the email account name.

FaceBook Email - @facebook.com

One of the biggest talking points on free email services comes from a certain Mark Zuckerberg, who is seeking to topple Google from its free email account monopoly by releasing the @facebook.com domain name as a free email service.

Due for release on Monday 15th November 2010, it plans to use its 500 million or so users to instantly become one of the biggest email services. Its all being kept under wraps until the launch, but if you want to have firstname.lastname at the social networking site, you had best be up early on Monday, especially if your name is Mark Smith or John Brown,

Of course, questions will be raised as to how secure the system is, when the social marketing platform comes under scrutiny for its SM service, but its better to have your email address and not use it, than to want it and not have it!

I have listed the main providers below with the with some rising stars and a couple of cool domain names to choose from.

Gmail

Examples: myemail@gmail.com, myemail@googlemail.com

Mailbox Size: Unlimited

Gmail is the most comprehensive free email provider with a vast array of add-ons, statistics, advertisement programs which can easily be combined into a single account. It can be used very effectively for business with domain mail management. It comes with pretty much unlimited storage space, is fast, reliable and easy to use. Even if you don't plan to use the wide array of features it is still a great program to use. It is compatible with Outlook and other mail clients free of charge, so it is easy to download and write emails off-line.

Yahoo

Examples: myemail@yahoo.com, myemail@ymail.com, myemail@rocketmail.com

Mailbox Size: Unlimited

With yahoo, you will have the option of a country specific suffix to the domain name such as .com, .co.uk, .de, .es, .fr, and .ca for example. You can also choose from the new Ymail.com and Rocketmail.com domains for a little less competition for your preferred user name.

Yahoo mail is web mail designed to be viewed on-line and if you want to download messages from your Yahoo account into an email client you will need to pay extra and have the premium mail plus service. However in addition to just an email program, through Yahoo you also have access to a personalised information resource through the My Yahoo! package. This function will give you news headlines, local weather, interesting daily articles and can be configured to your personal preferences.

They are certainly trying hard at Yahoo, and despite a few shaky moments last year they have improved their service considerably. The All-new Mail is sleek, tidy and gives access to the most common social networking sites at the touch of a button including a large range of games and chat rooms all integrated into their service.

Hotmail

Example: myemail@yahoo.com, myemail@yahoo.co.uk etc

Mailbox size: 5GB and rising

Hotmail was one of the first giants of email and is still a major player in the on-line e-mail market. Whilst still one of the most popular mail providers, many users have switched to other services for their mailing requirements, which offer greater storage and increased functionality. However it remains a useful webmail service, and it is fully linked into the Windows Live Messenger chat software, with all passwords and settings linked to all parts of their Windows Live system. As with Yahoo there is a tailored news and information service and directory offered through the MSN Network.

AOL

Example: myemail@aol.com

Mailbox Size: Unlimited

The last of the lifestyle packages in this selection is the internet giant AOL. As you would expect through their home page you have easy access to your mail, plus links for Amazon, E-bay and Wikipedia and access to their not insubstantial directory. They have an extensive news and article database, TV listings, and well pretty much anything you want. It can be easily linked into social networks, and despite the heavy advertising is not bad at all. All together it is a good family mail package for the additional parental control features they provide.

Fastmail

Example: myemail@fastmail.com

Mailbox Size: 10MB

Fast is the key here. If you are after quick and easy email then this is a good bet. On the downside the mailbox storage space is very easily filled up. Receive 4-full sized photos from a digital camera and your space is all gone. However for simple quick and easy emails it is a good little program with a great customisable user interface. Also if you like to format you can pay a nominal fee for up to 6GB storage.

GMX

Example: myemail@aol.com

Mailbox Size: 5GB

GMX is a fully functional alternative to Gmail which can easily be linked into POP and IMAP delivery of your mail to your hard drive. Whilst the capacity is limited to 5 GB, if you manage to fill that up then you really should cut down on the emails you send.

You can also link GMX into your other email accounts, so if you have more than one account you can use just the one interface. It has a great spam and junk filter, however it does have its limitations and cannot cope with encrypted mail. For business use it comes up a little short.

Mail.com

Example: myemail@mail.com

Mailbox Size: 3GB

Mail.com is an obvious choice for a provider as it must be one of the easiest domain names to remember, with a wonderfully simplistic email address. Whilst not the best in terms of security and anti spam, it is used by many as a forwarding account to a more robust program such as Gmail. By doing that you can benefit from the domain name without using the program. The name choice is vast, so you will get a cool domain name and you can have this forwarded onto a mail client via POP or IMAP for a fee.

Inbox.com

Example: myemail@inbox.com

Mailbox Size: 5GB

Inbox.com is a great all rounder for POP and Web access with a decent level of storage. The user interface is sleek and easy to use, and it can cope with rich text mails. Whilst not able to deal with IMAP and secure email it is a great mail service with a cool domain name.