Recommend Me A New Web Based Email

bluffer

thanks all. will have a look at gmx.

Heedtheadvice. the same thing happens in hotmail/outlook. it somehow knows things and puts them into your calendar.

esuhl

agrinnall wrote: »

It's possibly more what esuhl says, an issue with rules that I had set up to forward certain emails to my usual address, that didn't always work as expected.

Ah, right! It's not just me, then! I played around with the filters for ages, but there's some broken logic in there somewhere. I gave up and use my email client to filter messages now (although that's not ideal when I log in from a different machine).

esuhl

Oh -- one problem I keep having with GoogleMail is that IMAP access keeps failing and the logs show that I have to visit a URL in a browser to login instead of being able to use the email client.

It almost defeats the point of IMAP if I have to log in to their webmail server anyway. :-/

abibee

Aswell as above suggestions, there's Yandex mail, and if you don't mind paying, them fastmail is a couple £'s a month.

Techno_Mystic

bluffer wrote: »

I have heard gmx is ok but never heard of it so would be interested if anyone on here uses it.

Are you concerned about security? If so, you need a service that supports Two Factor Authentication (2FA) and GMX does not, at least according to this list:

https://twofactorauth.org/#email

(Note: this list incudes free and paid for services.)

2FA protects you from having your email hijacked by requiring an additional code to be entered (sent by SMS or generated by an app) or a key plugged into the USB socket of your computer.

SunnySusie

I've been liking tutanota.

Heedtheadvice wrote: »

As an example, I am putting this down to Gmail but could be wrong, I recently booked a flight got a confirmation to Gmail account and Google (I presume!) automatically, without asking or without me setting it up, added into my tablet's calendar. So I assume that emails are being monitored!
If it's a setting somewhere then if you can advise how to stop it.....

Yes, Google link up their services. That's all. An email app necessarily can access your data, and can so can Google Now and Photos and Maps. This is a massive attraction for many.

Ultimately a computer is always going to be able to look at and read your emails. Even if you use an encrypted service the chances are you are emailing someone who doesn't so your messages will be readable by the SMTP servers relaying your message. If you want secure end to end messaging, email might not be the solution you are looking for.

So, you're left with Google and you have to accept that their email code is able to access your messages, why is it then such a leap if their calendar app code can access them too? Either you trust your email provider or you don't.

At the end of the day there's a techie with access to that server and you have to trust he isn't doing something malicious. Who audits the supposedly secure providers? At least Google has a lot to lose if a whistle blower reveals a big hole and they are infinitely resourced to address problems.

An interesting by product of fully encrypted products is that their functionality becomes limited. For example simply searching old emails becomes problematic. Notice how my provider Tutanota doesn't have a search facility. To search all my emails they would have to decrypt them and then their calendar or advertising app could read them. And presumably a human could too. That said, they are working on a solution to the search problem.

I quite like that google have always been very good at providing clear information about what they store about you in one central place with tools to control it. Always been a step ahead of Facebook in that regard.

Heedtheadvice

I tend to agree with you Susie but there are other factors too that certainly influence my decisions. I hope I have got all this correct -please do correct me if I am wrong!!

My driver's are:
Trust. Not sure I feel some of the free big sellers are very trustworthy (Facebook syndrome?). They have to make money somewhere if it is not from me then done via the ' backdoor'. I do not want advertising (targeted or otherwise) so am trying to avoid those ones. Trust is difficult to pin down and some of it comes down to impression and interpretation! Privacy statements too if they can be believed!

No data harvesting/mining. Comments similar to the above certainly Gmail reads my mail.

Not a supplier that is the same as my ISP! It is a right pain ever time Broadband supplier is changed for money saving reasons :money:

Avoidance of 'snoopers' so that rules out servers in the USA that by definition, it seems, will get snooped on by their organisations. The EU is becoming (more) sensitive regarding privacy and some countries require 'warrants' or judicial approval to justify a snoop. Australia and Belgium (there will be others just haven't come across them yet) have privacy laws to prevent unjustifiable snoops so country of server locations seems important. Would not go for a Russian based server either! SSL or TLC seem essential?
Access required from web browser, windows pc client ( IMAP for proper sharing). Have lots of historical mail that I wish to keep access to, hopefully seamlessly so easy import/sharing of mail folders (I prefer them!) and contacts is highly desirable.
Good simple interface - I do not like the Gmail interface on Android - is the browser interface any better? Quite happy with older versions of Outlook client functionality (but do wonder with regard to Msoft version updates changing the user interface).

Tech support by provider - for when something goes wrong, it inevitably will.

Search facility (noting this might be ruled out with encryption)

Mail backed up and available even after (for a good time) ceasing payment (to avoid errors!) or if service not used for a period.

Two factor authentication possibility even as an option

Encryption option and digital signature option. As posted by Suzie, that is not infallible but it covers a significant part of the transmission chain helping to reduce risks.

I realise that getting all the above together is probably unrealistic. All the ones I have looked at/researched seem to have some downside or limitation. I thought Fastmail might meet the bill (Australia based) but it has servers in the USA too.

Mailfence seems to be a very good compromise (paid version). EU based (Belgium) this needing to comply with the new EU controls and Belgian telecoms laws. Certainly even with the free version a support query has been answered quickly.

Would be great if you could comment on the above, especially if you have any experience of Mailfence.

Heedtheadvice

I should have added (what? More?...) For anyone moving from Which? -there will not be many of us- today their technical team recommended Gmail or Outlook but agreed that they are some of those that have advertising/mining etc concerns but ought to have reputations to keep up and good functionality. Surprisingly they do not have a review of email providers (for their members) which I suggested was a shortcoming in their service.......

RumRat

You thought Fastmail might meet the bill because it was Australian based, until you found it to have US servers?
Australia is one of the 5 eyes, so nothing should really be trusted coming from there if you don't trust US servers.
I've never seen any advertising on Gmail or GMX, so if that is a criteria, just use a mail client or adblockers.

Heedtheadvice

That's the sort of revelation I want! Thanks Rumrat.
I really have no problem with countering espionage etc. and there is always the possibility of government 'monitoring' of sensitive Comms. Whilst I do nothing illegal (as far as I know) I hope that some countries 'interventions' are more trustworthy than others.

Did not know about five eyes (I had heard of Cyclops!) so thanks for the heads up. I guess one more reason not to use Fastmail.

As for Gmail my main concern is their data harvesting that I have experienced (and the user interface). I have no direct evidence of advertising issues but have noted that targeted advertising is on the rise and almost anything to reduce that is a plus!