Choosing email hosting service

[Barry]

Can anyone suggest a good email domain host? What should I look for in a host? Is it best to use the same service that hosts my website?

I am under the assumption that it is very easy to jump from one host to another if you are unsatisfied or find a better deal. Therefore I need not spend too much time researching this aspect of my e-business. True?

[KSA]

I'm confused. What do you mean by an email domain host?

If you want an email address from your web domain name, you have to set it up where the website is hosted. It can either be a real mailbox or an address that is forwarded to another email address.

Are you talking about an ISP maybe?

Expand a bit more on your question. How is your email set up now?

[Barry]

If you want an email address from your web domain name, you have to set it up where the website is hosted.

Got it! That answered my round-about question. I was confused after reading an article on the web (go figure).
Thanks!

[KSA]

No problem Barry. I've been bushwacked by some of those pesky articles, too!

[Toqom]

I'm confused. What do you mean by an email domain host?

If you want an email address from your web domain name, you have to set it up where the website is hosted. It can either be a real mailbox or an address that is forwarded to another email address.

Are you talking about an ISP maybe?

Expand a bit more on your question. How is your email set up now?

Not to harp but you're wrong, you NEVER HAVE to host your e-mail with your host. In some cases it could be business suicide. Say your host allows spammers to keep dedicated servers there, your IP range could be blacklisted as a spamming IP. Or your web host use a horrid e-mail system.

I am a webhost and do setup both e-mail and the site on my box but it's because I control it and I know my mail traffic. I do have one client who has their own exchange server and points mail to it instead of my web server, VERY easy to do. If you have a 3rd party e-mail application like an exchange host you like using, there is nothing stopping you from using it and a seperate web host.

[KSA]

Toqom,

Are you recommending forwarding your mail to another web host, or are you saying that there is a way to host your website in one place and establish a mailbox from that website somewhere else?

For example, if Webhost A hosts mywebsite.com, I can set up Kathleen @mywebsite.com as an address, but not a mailbox, then forward it to any host I want.

Are you saying I can go to Webhost B and set up an email mailbox called Kathleen @mywebsite.com?????

[MattL]

Just chiming in, here --

You can have your email hosted separately from your web site. GoDaddy, along with most other Registrars, offer this fairly inexpensively. You can then forward your "vanity domain" email to your real/usual email address without ever changing anything on your desktop.

However , there are some important caveats to this:

• Not every email server knows how to properly handle this split-personality hosting.
• Some form submissions, or less-intelligent mail-sending programs, may not work.
• There are no guarantees that Host B is any better with your email than Host A.

KSA did have it wrong, though, there's certainly nothing that ties your email to your web service, or vice-versa. They are (mostly) mutually-exclusive.

-Matt

[KSA]

Matt,

Thanks for the post. Guess I never investigated using a different host since most web hosts also offer free email.

Kathleen