Checking Emails

william

This may sound basic but is bothering me a bit.

My wife is setting up a consultancy business later this year and will need email access. How do most small sole trader offices check their emails as in do they use the standard free ISP connection or pay for the privelage?

Also, w.r.t. the .ie domain, she is currently hosting through a US service provider for $96 a year. If she went through Eircom or Esat for the same email service, it would cost several hundred euro. Is this a total rip off or is there some justification for it? Again, how do most people go about this?

tribble

most domain name registrars provide some form of free e-mail redirection. limits on size and volume usually apply however. you're clients would email you at gun_for_hire@assinations.com and the mail would be redirected to any address you wish eg gun_for_hire@eircom.net. you're replies would come from the eircom address though. firms such as vegetarianshose.co.uk do this.

yes eircoms domain name hosting is excessive. the only reason for picking a server geographically closer to home is that the difference in the time zone means that tech support calls are at a less ungodly hour.

there are many on boards who are much wiser than me though so wait for some other opinions

tribble

MagicBusDriver

An ISDN line with a 1891 account. http://www.elivefree.net/ seems to do free 1891 accounts. The are plenty of good cheap US/UK hosts

maxheadroom

have a look over on the web hosting forum for a list of cheap/good webhosts a little closer to home.

ednwireland

I use a US hosting co. and never had any complaints and a .com cos i wasn't prepared to spend the money on a .ie. use a 1891 no. to connect on analogue as my house is out in the sticks
allright as long as you don't want to do large downloads although come off a splitter recently which doubled access speed

Ardmore

Originally posted by william
My wife is setting up a consultancy business later this year and will need email access. How do most small sole trader offices check their emails as in do they use the standard free ISP connection or pay for the privelage?

If you need to go online during the daytime, then you only have to spend about an hour a day online to make a subscription account pay. If you only expect to use the internet at off-peak times (evenings and weekends), then a subscription account doesn't really make any sense. (Unless you expect to need a lot of tecnical support, though I don't know how much yuou'll actually get if you need it).

Also, w.r.t. the .ie domain, she is currently hosting through a US service provider for $96 a year. If she went through Eircom or Esat for the same email service, it would cost several hundred euro. Is this a total rip off or is there some justification for it?

Their costs are higher, and they don't depend on the business. If you're satisfied with the service you will get from a US based supplier, go for it.

Ardmore

Originally posted by tribble
you're replies would come from the eircom address though.

Not so. You can set your From: address to anything you want.