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

kramii

I am sorry to hear you got caught out, Martin.

As a newbe money saver, I have been caught out on deals a few times already. Usually because I've not read t&cs properly, not kept my eye on the ball. I must admit I do find it reassuring that even the Expert gets stung occasionally! The great thing about moneysavingexpert.com is that we can all learn from each other's mistakes.

Many thanks for being honest with us, and thanks to those who have posted ways to avoid this kind of thing.

Mrs_Wossinge

Why does anyone email photos any more, when they can store them online and just email a link? I really don't understand. Surely anyone with the technology to email photos could open an account with one of the online photo development companies, or post them on a blog/social networking site?

In one job I had a related, but different problem: a very low email attachment size threshold imposed by an over-zealous IT department. I work in publishing and it was embarrassing to have to tell people their photos were too big to squeeze through the company firewall and to use my personal internet email account instead.

It still suprises me that not just individuals but highly media-savvy PR agencies don't stop emailing photos and just store them online. It would make everyone's lives easier.

davidriley

Alan's comment is worth highlighting - used web2mail for years - it is perfect for this type of issue..... You dont need to worry about configuring anything. You can "organize" messages through the web browser & then use your normal email client to download that "stuff" that is important (by leaving it in your inbox)

alanjrobertson

Forgot to mention before - they've also got a mail2wap page for access from mobile phones if you don't have a PC handy!

Cheers

Alan

stuartduffy

All this advice seems a little over complicated for Martin.

My advice:

1. register a GMail account (Google email) Happy to send you an invitation to join!

2. Set up a rule in Outlook (TOOLS > Rules and alerts) to forward all MSE mail to your Gmail account.

3. If stuck in the middle of no where you can access your mail from your phone or any internet connected computer.

3 steps! Easy! Got to love it!

alanjrobertson

Hi Stuart

I agree GMail are pretty good - I've just started using them a bit whilst I'm between ISPs - I was particularly impressed with the small applet you can download to your phone to get quicker access to your GMail account.

If Martin doesn't use Outlook then he could also use GMail to check his POP account for him instead and bring the messages across (leaving the originals in the POP account for when he returns home).

Cheers

Alan

PS - @Martin - greatly enjoyed the ITV programme re. Moneysaving lessons for kids. Was impressed by how quickly they picked things up and how much money they saved. I'm please the Gov't are introducing lessons on this subject but I worry they won't be anywhere near as fun/interesting/informative as your lessons looked!

stuartmc_2

Spain has one of the more enlightened approaches to 3G data. Vodafone Spain charge 60Euros for 1G worth of download. Your datacard will need to be unlocked for this to work though as most are locked to a particular network.

Buy a Vodafone Spain SIM card. You then need to load it with 70Euros (they add VAT to the cost so you need more than 60Euros) You then text C PRE to 207 and your 60Euros buys you a Premium Bono which is the 1G download.

I know this sounds too simple but it does really work. I have been using this with a Linksys 3G router in Spain as we have no phone lines. For the long version look at the 3G forum at http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum/showthread.php?t=32431

jackbremer

stuartduffy wrote: »

1. register a GMail account (Google email) Happy to send you an invitation to join!

2. Set up a rule in Outlook (TOOLS > Rules and alerts) to forward all MSE mail to your Gmail account.

3. If stuck in the middle of no where you can access your mail from your phone or any internet connected computer.

3 steps! Easy! Got to love it!

Not so much use though if he turns the computer off when he leaves to go on holiday - which as a money saver I suspect he does!

Best bet is to use "Google Apps For Your Domain" (http://www.google.com/a/) and do all email, calendars, document sharing, etc etc there. You can still pick things up in Outlook as nurmal, and use it for webmail too... AWESOME. :money:

Geoffrey_Coan

It'll require a bit of techy help to configure the settings to point to your MSE pop mail server, but an excellent way round the problem is to use the free popcorn mail program (just google for it).

I think it's no longer being developed but it's a really nifty tiny email client that downloads the mail headers and then gives you the option of deleting mail messages or reading specific ones. I use it when my friend (who's still on telephone dialup) gets sent a massive (junk) email that blocks up his mailbox - it's dead simple to download the headers and delete the offending item

Good luck

Geoffrey

Froppy

I use a free little program called Magic Mail Monitor: http://mmm3.sourceforge.net/ It's a handy little utility you can use to check your mailbox(es), without downloading the messages. It only retrieves the headers of the message, and tells you how big the message is, so you can decide if you want to download it, or can delete a particular message from your mail server without downloading it. It fits easily on a USB pen so you can use it on any computer. i love it!