Free Google Gmail for all

MSE_Martin
MSE_Martin Posts: 8,272
First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
Money Saving Expert
What’s the deal?

Google’s free e-mail service, Gmail, is now open to all. The accounts were previously available by invitation-only, now, for the first time, the service is open access.

Of course there's nothing stopping you doing this alongside your existing email account.

What’s all the fuss about?

Its main strength is its humungous 2GB storage capacity, compared with Yahoo’s 1GB (though upgrade to Windows live and it also give you 2GB) and Hotmail’s 250MB. Plus, many techies (including the MSE ones) believe its spam filters are considerably better than other email providers.

Other bonuses include the ability to search all of your e-mails, and e-mails with the same subject line being automatically grouped together. The fact it makes it much easier to log into other Google applications, its fast, automatically adds email address to contacts, you can download a small piece of software so you can view it from your mobile.

Is it better than the other free email services? Well now you can try it - you can decide :) (and experienced Gmailers please leave your feedback in the discussion below)

A sneaky trick for freebie/competition grabbers

Another nifty function is that you to set up different ‘alias’ addresses, which you can give out to specific people. This is very handy if you sign up for lots of freebies and competitions and are worried that those companies might spam you.

It works like this: any e-mail sent to your.username+any.alias@gmail.com will arrive in your inbox. So if you give them the e-mail address money.saver+freeshampoo@gmail.com it will be delivered to [EMAIL="money.saver@gmail.com"]money.saver@gmail.com[/EMAIL] If the company starts spamming, you can set up a filters to automatically direct these messages to Trash.

Update: Want to use Gmail/Other online emails in Outlook/Outlook Expresss?

Read down the thread, you'll see some very helpful techies explaining exactly how to do it.


An important note for all MoneySavers

To make sure the weekly Money Tips e-mail always gets through if you've got hotmail just add [EMAIL="martinsmoneytips@moneysavingexpert.com"]martinsmoneytips@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL] to your contacts list.

Martin
threadbanner.gif
Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Don't miss out on urgent MoneySaving, get my weekly e-mail at www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips.
Debt-Free Wannabee Official Nerd Club: (Honorary) Members number 000
«13456711

Comments

  • dickibobboy
    dickibobboy Posts: 1,054
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Thankyou for the spamming tip martin i new about the junk folder but not about the different email address such as the one you mentioned in your post. May i also add that new sign ups in the uk are @googlemail.com but if you send to @gmail it will arrive saftley

    Thanks
    Things that are free in life are great, well most of the time :beer:
  • marleyboy
    marleyboy Posts: 16,698
    First Post Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    excellent. Nice one ;)
    :A:dance:1+1+1=1:dance::A
    "Marleyboy you are a legend!"
    MarleyBoy "You are the Greatest"
    Marleyboy You Are A Legend!
    Marleyboy speaks sense
    marleyboy (total legend)
    Marleyboy - You are, indeed, a legend.
  • Martin, Hotmail is now 1GB and when you upgrade to Windows Live Mail you get 2GB. The upgrade from Hotmail to Windows Live Mail is FREE.
  • colin79666
    colin79666 Posts: 1,348
    First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    I've been using gmail for years now (I was one of the early adopters). Have recently closed my old hotmail account completely as gmail is far better - no annoying ads for a start!

    Quite simply if you haven't already tried it then give it a go. Chances are you won't want to go back to your old webmail system.
  • judderman62
    judderman62 Posts: 5,134 Forumite
    seconded - Gmail is excellent and it's spam filters are indeed top drawer.

    Google Calendar is also pretty darned good and you can have any reminders you set in it sent as SMS to your mobile at (to the best of my knowledege and seems borne out in my experince with my provider) no cost whatsoever :beer: :beer: :j
    Hate and I do mean Hate my apple Mac Computer - wish I'd never bought the thing
    Do little and often
    Please stop using the word "of" when you actually mean "have" - it's damned annoying :mad:
  • My current Gmail storage space is 2816Mb.

    As I've said here before, I've been running several accounts for months now and have only just started to make a small dent in the available space.

    The instant chat is used every day, the calendar is very handy and easy to add to, I can even understand the spreadsheets and I can share photos with my friends and family with the Picasa online web album facility.
    All these reachable from the Gmail Inbox interface :D .

    The spam catching is also very effective.
  • Gmail is ment to have unlimited space in theory. It keeps increasing. Mine is currently 2816 MB. SNAP. :)

    Threaded replies,
    built in IM chat
    powerful filters

    All good except for:

    They give targeted adds (firefox has plugin to remove these)
    Targeted means they read your email to get a profile of you.
    Gmail never delete anything - even after you press the delete button, the email is not truly deleted from their server.

    Google know you better than you know yourself!
    They know your interests
    They know your social life
    They know you work
    They know what journeys u take
    They know your address
    They know your family
    And they dont even ask for all this!
  • alba37
    alba37 Posts: 2,616 Forumite
    I like it too, although I would like to sort mail by sender, and can't do that except by searching. Also it would be good if you didn't have to go back to results to get to next mail. Am I missing something?
  • Yeah Martin edited the post to include my input of WLM. :T
  • talkshop
    talkshop Posts: 1,120
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    It's not gmail anymore for EU users and has not been for some time now.

    We have to have googlemail addresses.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.4K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards