ATTENTION! USA.NET Free E-mail service to be discontinued!

[AnitaPeterson]

Just logged on to my e-mail address, and guess what, they announce they will discontinue the free e-mail service at the end of July...

It seems that more and more e-mail services are closing down...

We still have

hotmail.com
excite.com
yahoo.com
marple.zzn.com
bigfoot.com
mail.com

...am I missing anything?

Damn! The bloody usa.net (or netaddress.com) service was really sluggish lately, but I never thought they would pull this kind of trick on us!

 

[Rendus]

"Pull this kind of trick"?

I'm guessing after at least 3 years (they've been around longer I think, not sure), they've realized the "Giving Everything Away" business model just doesn't work, and rather than end up as another dead .com on f*company, they'll try making money instead. Yes, what a dastardly trick, this "Trying to be able to continue to provide services to those who pay" thing.

Free e-mail services:

Hushmail.com
hotmail.com
Juno.com (or did they suspend that? I was in their beta for their e-mail service Way Back When(TM))
zdnetonebox.com
rocketmail.com
mail.freeze.com
iwon.com
military.com
moneywithmail.com
oemmail.com
tulipsmail.com
yoyomail.com
zwallet.com
eurosport.com
wildemail.com
123india.com
mail.metallica.com
acmecity.com
adoption.com
alloymail.com
altavista.iname.com
amuro.net
angelfan.com
angelfire.com
www.animenation.com/freethought/freeemail.html
anotherwin95.com
another.com

I could go on. There are thousands, literally.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

<< Yes, what a dastardly trick, this &quot;Trying to be able to continue to provide services to those who pay&quot; thing. >>



What's your point? You're thinking a wee bit too much about money and forget other points.

They said &quot;Free e-mail for life&quot; when we signed up, and besides that, they had those ads all over the screen!

Now they are shutting down the system.

I prefer to use an internet-based service, since I travel a lot, and need to access my e-mail from wherever I can. But I'm not going to pay for this &quot;luxury&quot;.

I doubt anyone would actually pay them, anyway. Some services should remain free.

For an Internet-based service requiring fees, they would first need to establish much better filters. After all, I'm not paying them for the privilege of cleaning 200 k of useless junk from my inbox every day. But you eneter a vicious circle then.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

By the way, rocketmail.com doesn't exist anymore... it was taken over by Yahoo in 1998.

Of course, many sites out there are giving away free e-mail memebership, but I wonder how reliable those services are and for how long will they keep doing it. Usa.net was an established and trustworthy (sort of) service.

 

[perry]

Since you are in Canada, not the south eastern US, this really isn't an option, but my ISP, bellsouth.net, gives you webmail access to your POP3 account. AT&amp;T does as well. Double check that your ISP doesn't...

Add beer.com to the list of free email providers..

 

[RichieZ]

I like hotpop, real POP3 and its alrite, a little slow tho.

 

[Rendus]

<<

<< Yes, what a dastardly trick, this &quot;Trying to be able to continue to provide services to those who pay&quot; thing. >>



What's your point? You're thinking a wee bit too much about money and forget other points.

They said &quot;Free e-mail for life&quot; when we signed up, and besides that, they had those ads all over the screen!

Now they are shutting down the system.
>>



It's either shut down free mail, or shut down the company, lay everybody off, liquidate assets, and possibly file bankruptcy I'm sure. I suppose you would make your argument of &quot;But they said free for life!&quot; even if they no longer were in business.




<< I prefer to use an internet-based service, since I travel a lot, and need to access my e-mail from wherever I can. But I'm not going to pay for this &quot;luxury&quot;. >>



Then you're not their customer. You're a user of their service. A user they probably can no longer afford to support without some sort of return. (Ad banners, in case you haven't noticed, don't do much to support a company.)



<< I doubt anyone would actually pay them, anyway. >>



If you're a user who wants to keep your e-mail address, you'll pay. That's what they may be hoping for.



<< Some services should remain free. >>



Again, if a company doesn't exist, it's rather hard for them to provide free services.



<< For an Internet-based service requiring fees, they would first need to establish much better filters. After all, I'm not paying them for the privilege of cleaning 200 k of useless junk from my inbox every day. But you eneter a vicious circle then. >>



-Shrug- I've never bothered filtering. Either way, now that they're getting rid of the dead weight (as far as their ledger goes anyway. You're no longer an expense), they may be able to expand their tools.

Like I've said, the company made a decision. It's either take a lot of negative press about killing the free service, or take a lot of negative press later on down the road due to financial issues (which will probably happen anyway, but at least they're trying).

 

[epsilon]

This is horrible. I have been using them for quite some time because of the &quot;permanent&quot; email address. I have referred many friends and clients to it. I understand that times have changed but I still don't like it.

At this point I'm not sure if I will subscribe to their service or not. I could go through the hassle of getting all my contacts to use another email address, but this would require some SERIOUS effort and some things would fall through the cracks I'm sure. Basides, if usa.net can crumble whats to say that the next one I sign up with wont do the same. At least they're providing an option for those of us who wish to keep their address instead of just shutting the doors. Oh well.

I'm curious about how many people here used usa.net. If you have, why dont you chime in so we can all get an idea of how many people this will effect.

 

[vinnyracer]

The hell with that, first I paid $12 a year for using there POP3 services, now they want $30. I'll just move all my mail to hotmail or yahoo.


This suck A$$.

 

[dawks]

USA.net to charge for e-mail

I use Yahoo! Works perfect. I dont feel comfortable placing my data within Microsofts reach.

 

[ugh]

Strange, I've an account via www.amexmail.com and it doesn't say that they're gonna kill off their free service. But www.netaddress.com does. What gives?

BTW, they both have @usa.net suffix.

 

[thedarkwolf]

I have been using them for years and this really bites. Well atleast I only use that address for spam control and the mailing list I subscribe too. Does yahoo have filters?

 

[fr]

Wow. I got a free t-shirt from them 5 years ago advertising their &quot;free e-mail for life.&quot; Short life huh?

I had a couple accounts there, but I stopped using them a few months later.

 

[ISAslot]

Yahoo! has a bulk mail box you can set up to collect that unwanted mail.

 

[Helpless]

>>This is horrible. I have been using them for quite some time because of the &quot;permanent&quot; email address<<


I feel your pain, sir...sent them a 'nasty-gram' telling them what I thought about their $30.00 a month BS I was using an email.com and a hotmail.com for my junk mail, but the usa.net was my major internet-based email account I used for everyday use...the bastages.

 

[fr]

<< I feel your pain, sir...sent them a 'nasty-gram' telling them what I thought about their $30.00 a month BS >>



It's $30/year

 

[lnk57]

me too...I am using AMEXMAIL and it didn't say anything about charging users for using their email.

 

[bandXtrb]

you dont' think yahooo or hotmail would start charging would u?

 

[raven82]

check out this thread:Text

 

[ugh]

<< me too...I am using AMEXMAIL and it didn't say anything about charging users for using their email. >>


Perhaps they're of different &quot;holding&quot; company? Aghh.. This is so confusing...

 

[reitz]

<< I prefer to use an internet-based service, since I travel a lot, and need to access my e-mail from wherever I can. >>

Check with your ISP. Any worthwhile internet service should offer some form of web interface for checking email. If yours doesn't offer it, find another.

Or you could always sign up for a free @canadasucks.com email

 

[Choralone]

I was rather shocked as well to see Netaddress wanting to charge $30 for the first year for e-mail. I can understand them wanting to source of revenue, but $30 for the first year and $50 for each year thereafter seems too steep for me. Come on, it's just e-mail!

Now I'm going to have to figure out everything that I have going to my usa.net e-mail address and re-route them to whatever I find to replace it with.

This really sucks. I've had that e-mail address for almost 4 years!!! :|

Free E-mail for life my a@@!!!

 

[reitz]

<< Come on, it's just e-mail! >>

How much do you pay monthly for dialup Internet service?

The standard price for most major services is in the ballpark of $20/mo. Let's say that 25% of that monthly fee is for email. 25% of $20 is $5; $5 x 12 months is $60/yr, just for an email account. I don't know about you, but $30 - $50/year sounds pretty reasonable to me.

 

[vinnyracer]

Why pay $30-50, if you can get the same service for free.

I use yahoo e-mail from now on.

 

[aceO07]

I've had it since Jan. '97.. maybe earlier. The service has been slow lately and I've been told by friends some emails didn't get to me. I think it's worth it for me to subscribe for a year. Want the extra time to go through my emails and set up another email elsewhere.