Free email is very useful. My ISP email is for friends, family and employment only. Every other entity gets the @yahoo.com.
They're extremely useful. I use mine to intercept spam and to deflect the malicious. A couple of years ago I got into it with some troll who picked up my real email addy from my FR profile page and signed me up for all sorts of radical newsletters and left-wing spam. Took a couple of months to get free of it all. Since then I've used my Hotmail addy and if that gets bombed I can always dump it and start another.
What's so good about it?
Without it, I'd have NO email! I have no computer!
(I Freep from work and the Library.)
I've had the same free email for almost 10 years. I'd have changed ISPs many times since then, also changed addresses and phone numbers over 7 times. I still get emails from people touching base with me after several years, and luckily, it's easy to keep in touch because I still have the same email.
I think "fastmail.fm" is really quite good. Two accounts; one public one private. The public one is pretty obvious and easy to bounce spammers from -who rarely return. The private one is a pretty random collection of mishmashed letters-numbers string and since only family members have it, any new entries are high on the priority scale. The public one I only check every once in awhile -and it comes in quite handy when I need to suffer through one of those "you-must-provide-a-valid-email-to-obtain-password-to-continue" annoyances.
At one point, in an attempt to cover his ass, he turns in an email address for his source at a major electronics firm in California called Jukt Electronics. The email address is an "aol.com" domain. It is at this point that people start smelling a serious problem. I laughed my butt off it was so funny.
Hogwash.
Isn't this a no-brainer ?
My job changed, my ISP changed, my phone numbers changed, my address changed, but Hotmail has followed me wherever I am, and gotten even more usefull over the years.
Since my ISP is very stingy with both total storage and size of file, I need either my GMail account or my other free account for large files.
Online e-mail is great.
I used to have POP3 e-mail but don't feel like I am missing a thing with online e-mail. Same features basically...can search, make folders etc. Drafts folder. Lots and lots and lots of storage.
The only downside is no return receipts if you want one. But, ReadNotify is much better anyway and they don't know you are tracking if they read your e-mail or not.
I don't need e-mail stored on my computer cluttering it up.
Online e-mail is just fine. I can use a work e-mail for work and official business or just fake out people by changing my yahoo address to make it look like it has another domain (real easy...just change the name to make it look like an address). Unless people are smart enough to look at the headers, they won't know the difference.
Free e-mail rocks. I have accounts with 4 different accounts, and it is helpful when you want to join something as a free trial and you have run out with your other account...lol.
Of course, you could create an account...doesn't even take 2 seconds...with mailinator.com for those quickie joins.
Did you all know you can use GMAIL as a free online storage server?
With this plugin, you can use it to store as much stuff....mp3 files, documents or whatever up to the amount you have left in your mailbox (probably 2 GIG since that is how much Gmail has and if your e-mail takes up even 10 MB, that is a ton of e-mail, so you would have lots and lots of space to use it as your storage place). It is organized in one folder so it is not confusing and you can access it from My Computer I think IIRC.
It is really sweet.
Think about it. 2 Gigs of storage online for files or whatever FOR FREE that looks in My Computer like another drive.
Check it out: http://www.viksoe.dk/code/gmail.htm
You have to use that tool for it to work, and when Google updates the e-mail system, it sometimes causes the tool to stop working, so make sure you check for updates if it stops working.
Oh, the wonders of Gmail.