'Downloading my friend’s wedding photos cost me £100!' Blog Discussion

Former_MSE_Natasha · 31 July 2007 at 6:01PM

This is the discussion link on the back of Martin's 'Downloading my friend’s wedding photos cost me £100!' blog. Please read the blog first, as the discussion follows it.

Read Martin's "Downloading my friend's wedding photos cost me £100!" Blog

Godders · 31 July 2007 at 6:44PM

Some of the users I used to support hated it when that happened so we had to design a solution (we used Lotus notes though),and we ended up with them being happily able to use it over a mobile phone GPRS (not even 3G) link.

I'm not an Outlook / Exchange expert which I what I guess you use - but I've found the following settings -

Tools -> E-mail accounts
View or Change Existing E-mail Accounts
Click on your account and choose "Change"
Click "More Settings"
Theres a tab labelled "Remote Mail"
Choose "Retrieve Items that meet the following conditions"
Click "Filter"
Click "Advanced"
There some size filters in there - I suspect they will stop it downloading huge messages over dial up / 3G connections.

This doesn't appear to exist if you use POP for mail retrieval (sorry), or if you happen to use Lotus Notes then it's a doddle to set up limited file size filters over slow connections, while still being able to download improtant large files on demand.

frak · 31 July 2007 at 6:47PM

Martin,
webmail is your friend here. I am not sure exactly how you have your email set up but from what i can guess you are downloading emails directly to your laptop through a pop 3 account. It is possible to have webmail set up on your servers so you can access the mails that are stored there without having to download them through pop3 until you can do it on a cheaper. If your mail server uses Linux/unix you can use squirrelmail in conjucntion with an IMAP or pop3 mail server. I am using a lot of jargon here but i am sure you have access to someone techy who can help with this. The beauty is you can also access your mail anywhere as long as you have a web browser. The amout of data you would transfer with a 3g card would be a lot less using webmail than pop and you could be selective about what you download.
hope this helps

frak

Smiley_Mum · 31 July 2007 at 6:56PM

If anyone wishes to send you large files in future, could they not download them onto a site online where they could be stored for a bit so all you would be sent is a link so you could access them at your leisure, rather than your inbox being seriously slowed up. You could drop a LARGE hint by sending a note to everyone in your address book. Just a thought, and would save any hassle in future and big bills.

Here, look's like you could do with a vodka and cranberry juice...

Sillychuckie · 31 July 2007 at 9:16PM

Martin.

You are going to have to put this one down to a lack of technical knowledge.
It would have been useful if you specified which email client you were using, but as it clearly isn't web mail, I'll take a punt at MS Outlook.

Do the following:

'Tools', 'Send/Receive', 'Send/Receive Settings', 'Define Send/Receive Groups'.
This window can also be opened with the shortcut key CTRL+ALT+S.

Select the main send receive group that you use for the email account in question (in all likelihood, there is only one present anyway).
Click 'Edit'.

Select the account on the left hand side, and then check the radio button on the right which says: "Download headers only".

What this essentially does is, when you retrieve your email, it will only download the headers. You will see an entry in your outlook showing that you have an email, who it is from, its subject etc...
BUT, It won't download the content. Only when you double click to open it will it fully retrieve the item.
This will mean you can nit-pick which ones you want in these circumstances.

You can even fiddle with the size restrictions and block even the headers from being retrieved.

Happy to help.
SC.

Now_then · 31 July 2007 at 9:24PM

Martin

As a person who gets very many emails have you thought about separating your personal from your work emails, with different addresses? If this were in place you would have able to bypass your friend’s photos and access your work stuff at a fraction of the cost.

Also, if you are self employed (and VAT registered) then sending your report would be a genuine business expense and wholly off settable against your income for tax purposes. So whilst the cost may be £100, the affect to your ‘take home pay’ should be circa £40, much more bearable.

Finally, 36 hours filming in Malaga for GM TV, it’s a hard life for some!

Regards

Now then

MSE_Martin · 31 July 2007 at 9:35PM

Thanks folks

Actually the problem is my email is an MSE email and therefore in the purvue of the techies. Don't worry the bill is in my company name and is therefore a work expense so can be written off.

As for 36 hours in malaga - sounds fun- actually doing 5 films in that time is ultra hard work. I know it doesn't sound it - but filming is a truly draining process and that type of schedule is a killer.

Martin

dronid · 31 July 2007 at 9:38PM

Many of us have been hit by this. In my less MSE informed days I was visiting my family in Spain during the Boxing Day Tsunami. We were miles from anywhere, without a local sim card and my sister, who normaly lives in Thailand, together with the rest of us checked the news online on my Orange PDA. We also had calls from concerned relatives checking on my sister and loads of text messages. All good reasons for using the phone but cost me over £250! A mistake I will never make again!

M4RKM · 31 July 2007 at 10:36PM

MSE must be hosted somewhere that offers a webmail service?
and if MSE is microsoft exchange based you can normally access it via webmail too... seems odd that your techies are limiting you to pop3 only..

and no wireless in malaga? there are at least 17 commerical hotspots, and i'm sure a number of FON hotspots... hmmmm

lean&mean · 1 August 2007 at 12:30AM

Hi Martin,
Sillychuckie makes a cracking suggestion if you do use Outlook (but not Outlook Express). [Select the account on the left hand side, and then check the radio button on the right which says: "Download headers only".]

It doesn't matter how your email is hosted, what matters is what email client (programme software) you use to download and read your mail.

This IS a great moneysaving tip for any travellers and also time saving if you've got a really slow connection. It used to drive me crazy when people sent huge files (yes, usually photos of their pets looking cute) and all I had was a GPRS (slow wireless), or a dialup connection. As wireless cards charge on the amount of data you download using Sillychuckie's method for just downloading the emails you really must read while abroad, and leaving the rest 'til you get home, is a really good idea. It takes about one minute to set up and anyone can do it.

Alternatively if you really want to save money, before you leave Blighty, register for Yahoo mail and Yahoo allows you to pick up your normal popmail account, like your MSE mail). Once abroad, if you can get to an internet cafe, you can sign in to Yahoo and read all your regular emails and reply to them. Then you can download your mail properly when you get home, including those wedding photos and cute pets...

Hope this encourages you and others to avoid paying the mobile phone companies those exorbitant bills for data when abroad.

Cheers

metaphase · 1 August 2007 at 3:10AM

markymoo wrote: »

MSE must be hosted somewhere that offers a webmail service?
and if MSE is microsoft exchange based you can normally access it via webmail too... seems odd that your techies are limiting you to pop3 only..

Even if you have a POP3-only mailbox then you can have a DIY webmail service by using the free mail2web site - http://www.mail2web.com.

Cheers

Alan

'Downloading my friend’s wedding photos cost me £100!' Blog Discussion

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