Gmail alternatives?

[untonuggan]

Does anyone know of a good gmail alternative? I don't mean something like Yahoo or AOL. I'm talking about an ethical company (if one exists) that will store my data with integrity. Obviously I am willing to pay for this service, for asysabetwordsmith  pointed out the other day, if you're not paying for something then you're the product. (I think I've botched that quote, but I hope its meaning is roughly clear.)

My partner and I have been considering setting up our own email server, but there are all kinds of kinks to sort out such as setting up a static IP address; having some sort of back-up on a cloud server if our power/internet is out so the emails don't bounce; where to get our alias/domain name thingy from (ie godaddy is skeevy). If anyone has any experience setting up this kind of thing, advice would be appreciated too. The advantage to this, of course, would be that we could also host our own photos/videos/etc and thus avoid a lot of potential problems. Of course it is also a lot more work.

Thanks in advance!

Comments

[daedala]

Setting up your own email server, IMO, is way more trouble than it's worth. It's expensive to do it right with backups, appropriate network connectivity (i.e., you should pay for business-class service), etc. Also, I find that when my email goes down (which it hasn't in years -- since I moved off the former friend's home server, natch), I tend to panic, and this is not a good state in which to try to deal with one's own server's issues.

What it sounds to me like you want isn't so much an email service -- which means gmail, yahoo, etc. -- as a hosting service. I haven't looked around much, but I think there are a few pure email hosting services even for small accounts. However, I'm not sure how cost-effective that is, and I think it's worth getting something with a little more, like web hosting. I know Dreamhost has email and webhosting; that's what I use (though I forward it all to Gmail for reasons having to do with how I set up the account originally and my laziness about fixing the resulting problems; this was my fault, not theirs). I don't know how they are as an ethical company, as I joined with them before I really understood the issues around that, but I've been a reasonably happy customer for ten years.

ETA: Dreamhost does a lot of promo stuff, etc., and it's hard to figure out; if you decide to go that route, check with me.

[untonuggan]

Thanks for this - I'll forward it to my partner to see what she thinks, as she is the mastermind behind this operation...

[indywind]

I use Fastmail.fm for web based email. They were a small independent company til recently when they were bought by Opera software. As far as I can tell they're ethical and effective.

[ranunculus]

If it isn't too late, try: Laughing Squid or Fat Cow. Both host small websites and both have e-mail attached. Lowest price about $6 to $7 per month. Laughing Squid is larger, and has a long track record, but still seems ethical. I have several friends on Fat Cow who are happy.
Wordpress also has some other suggestions for hosting/email.

Gmail = shudder. I have a couple of e-mail accounts there which I will move very soon.

[untonuggan]

Thanks for the tip - I will pass this on to my partner. The email hosting decision has gotten postponed as we are moving domiciles and everything is in a bit of an uproar.