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EMAIL
Are you still trying to figure out your own email system? Don't. There are excellent
email providers which make a living of running email and messaging systems; their
know-how as well as their pricing make an internal mail server a poor choice to
spend manpower and resources on.
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Outsourcing Email
If you decide to outsource your email, you have typically the choice of dealing
with a local company, like an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Many ISP's are
offering this service on top of their Internet access subscriptions. For a small
operator with less than 10 email accounts, this might be a perfectly good solution.
Email Specialists
There are a number of companies, most of them based in the US, doing nothing else
but configuring mail servers and mail boxes. There are three or four larger providers
and a number of small operators. If you decide to go with a small operator, do only
as a POP service (downloading mail to your work stations), so you have your email
on hand in case the operator goes bust.
IMAP Service
The larger email providers, on which you can rely that
they will be around for a while, can configure IMAP mail boxes for you, which leave
the messages stored on the mail server. For shared in-boxes (like client services etc)
this is the only feasible alternative. IMAP is more expensive and more reliable than
POP3.
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Cost
Setup fees vary from a few Dollars to over $1,000 for the heavy duty providers.
On average you have to pay some $50 to $200 in setup fees and the monthly fee
per mailbox is around $3 to $10, depending on what service level you require.
Most of these providers have very effective anti-spam filters in operation to get rid
of spam messages.
In general the charges are modest compared to the safety and the comfort of having
someone else deal with the mail server settings and the day-to-day solving of
email problems.
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