REVIEW OF FASTMAIL EMAIL SERVICE

(Note: This review was originally written in February, 2013. If this page is still here, it means that I still use and highly recommend Fastmail. If that ever changes, I will update the page to reflect that.)

For over a decade, my primary email was a Hotmail address and I used Outlook Express to manage that email account (along with some secondary email addresses that I also used.) Then, one day, Microsoft decided to change their protocols so that Outlook Express would no longer work with Hotmail the way I was using it.

Long story short: In order to manage email the way I wished to, I had to switch away from Hotmail.

I first tried using Gmail, which had the benefit of still being free. But there were two things I really disliked about it:

• Gmail forced the inbox to show messages in threaded conversation style. I much prefer to see each individual message in chronological order. Yet Google didn’t even allow the option to turn off threading.
  
  
• I wanted to be able to send emails from other email addresses through Gmail. But whenever I did so, rather than simply show the email as coming from that other address, Google would force the email to say that it came from that Gmail account “On Behalf of” the other email account.

In addition to these, I wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of Google scanning all my emails in order to provide targeted ads to me.

So I started looking at various other email options to find the best one.

That search didn’t take long because I soon found Fastmail.

It’s not often that I find a product or service that I find basically flawless – one that does everything I want it to do effectively and efficiently and leaves nothing I want out. But, for me, Fastmail is one of those. That’s why I’ve used it now for several years and have already signed up to use it for several more. And it’s also why it’s one of the few products or services that I happily endorse and recommend to others.

If you want to take a look at all of the features Fastmail offers, you can do so here. But I’ll mention just a few of the ones that I’ve found wonderful.

Fastmail:

• Uses IMAP so I can manage my email everywhere I go on any device and keep it completely in sync. I can use Thunderbird on my main home computer and Fastmail’s web interface elsewhere and every change I make anywhere automatically and instantly shows up correctly everywhere else.
  
  
• Has great security so it’s safe to use Fastmail from any computer or connection, even public computers or wifi connections at cafes, for example.
  
  
• Offers tons of customizations so that you can pretty much set it up exactly as you want it.
  
  
• Allows you to use “Virtual Domains.” What this means is that you can set up an email address on any domain you own and then connect it to your Fastmail account. For instance, I bought a domain, set up an email address on that purchased domain and now all emails to and from that domain are managed through my Fastmail account. So I get all the benefits of Fastmail’s features working with my own email address that I personally chose.
  
  The great thing about this is that I will never again be forced to change my email address and have to notify everyone about it, which is part of the hassle I had to go through when Hotmail changed their service and I could no longer do what I wished with my original Hotmail address. Now I own my email address for life and can move it wherever I want, even away from Fastmail if I have to, without anyone else needing to change their address book.
  
  
• Allows you to set up “personalities” so that you can send email that appears to come from any of your other email accounts seamlessly.
  
  
• Offers POP service so that you can have your emails automatically pulled into Fastmail from any other service that offers POP. For example, I have Fastmail pull in emails from one of my old Hotmail accounts so that, if I get any emails to that address, I will not miss them and can work with them right from the same interface as my main email.

Fastmail isn’t free like Hotmail and Gmail are. But the price is extremely affordable and more than worth the money. It’s one of those purchases I don’t even bat an eyelash at. Especially since it becomes even cheaper the longer the service period for which you pay in advance.

So if you’re looking for a great service that you can count on to work well for anything you wish to do in terms of your email – whether for personal, family or business use - try Fastmail. They even offer a 30-day free trial with no credit card required. So you really have nothing to lose.

If you sign up for a paid personal or professional account after visiting the Fastmail site by clicking on one of the links (like this one) on this page, you'll receive 10% off all purchases you make from Fastmail for the next year and I’ll get a little commission for the recommendation which I appreciate.

If you have any questions about Fastmail or how it works for me you can feel free to ask me, as well.

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