vB Easy Archive - Opinion of Mail2Web & 4Smartphone

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Opinion of Mail2Web & 4Smartphone
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Posted by: vting

What are your thoughts and opinion of the above two services as well as emoze?

I am looking into one of these exchange services and would love to have people's thought and opinion to run on Treo 750. Or if you have a other ideas and/or services to allow me to sync Outlook without me setting up my own exchange server.

Sadly to say cost will play a part in the decision but if the service and feature is good then it will out weight the cost in the decision.

I am more interested in syncing the Outlook calendar, contact and note more then for email.

Fire away...

Posted by: MrDSL

I use exchangemymail.com for $10 a month.

Very nice features and I can do everything online also which is good. Only complaint is they don't use outlook 2007 yet..

Posted by: tylerwhite

My experience with Mail2Web has been that their servers are very slow when I have used them for accessing POP3 or IMAP4 accounts via their web site. I would be interested in hearing if their Exchange service is faster.

Search HoFo for "4Smartphone" and you might find several postings about service outtage.

Syncing notes has to be done through ActiveSync, right?

Posted by: nextel1996

You will find it's kind of a 'to each his own' thing. Everytime a thread like this pops up, everyone has had good and bad experiences with all of them.
That being said. I have used mail2web free exchange (and the $1.99/month version) for about a year. They both have worked flawlessly for me and are painfully simple to set up which is not the experience I've had with the others. I've turned many of my friends onto them too and they have reported similar experiences.
Good luck.

Posted by: Fixup

Try 1and1. $6/mo, you can use your own domain. After several months of using this service, I'm very happy except one thing: it is extremely slow after 9PM on my desktop computers.

Posted by: mikewchandler

1and1 here too.....no problems in almost 2 yrs.

Posted by: tylerwhite

I use 1and1.com, too, but not for any Exchange-related services. I think their service is "okay"... nothing major in the way of problems, but I think the performance of their web/mail servers could be better.

Posted by: floepie

1 and 1 has a terrible PIN/pass requirement that they enforce on your device, but I've found a reg hack that disables it. Every once in a while it creeps back though. Some may not like it, but your logon ID is a random 9 digit number which you just have to memorize. Other than that, it's pretty reliable.

Posted by: vting

Thanks all for your input!
I dont care if it good or bad, just want all your thought about the services.

What are your thought on Sherweb?

Posted by: FallN

Both mail2web and 4smartphone have been recently experiencing hardcore outages and problems. Most of the problems seem to have been addressed but that doesn't mean that all of the problems are cleared up.

I would suggest you try both and decide which is the most reliable and works the best for you.

Posted by: tonypitt

Quote:

Originally Posted by vting

Thanks all for your input!
I dont care if it good or bad, just want all your thought about the services.

What are your thought on Sherweb?

I switched to Sherweb after the recent 4Smartphone outage. I'm currently considering either heading back to 4Smartphone or someplace else.

Reason: Although Sherweb has been solid (i.e. no outages), I'm not getting all my email. They run a highly aggressive spam filter, and valid emails of mine are caught in their filter.

While they do provide account-level spam filtering, the filter which wipes out my email actually takes place before it hits the account filter.

If it weren't for my redundant mail handling setup, I wouldn't have realized that I was losing several emails each day. At one point I was averaging about 7 lost emails each day. A recent post of this forum confirmed that at least one other user reported leaving Sherweb for the exact same issue. (I wonder how many others are affected but don't realize it.)

So far they've been friendly but not effective at addressing this issue.

Posted by: mikewchandler

yeah, 1and1 requires the security code for your device be set. It's not a problem for me as you can set it to only require the code after 24hr of non-use. Which, for me, is basically never. So, the only time I input the code is after a soft reset....which is only every 2-3 days.

Posted by: ceebz

I have been very happy with themessagecenter.com. I love their control panel interface. Also, Outlook over RPC is always fast and I've never missed an email or had any delayed.

Very good service.

Posted by: techiegirl

I switched from 4smartphone to mail2web to 1and1 to sherweb to themessage center. Now I'm on webville. The best by far has been webville. Bill (the owner) is fabulous and worked with me the entire weekend, despite my idiocincracies (aka pickiness) to make sure everything is exactly the way I want it.

They are $10 a month for 1 gig and has worked perfectly. Emails show up the second I press send.

Posted by: vting

Quote:

Originally Posted by techiegirl

I switched from 4smartphone to mail2web to 1and1 to sherweb to themessage center. Now I'm on webville. The best by far has been webville. Bill (the owner) is fabulous and worked with me the entire weekend, despite my idiocincracies (aka pickiness) to make sure everything is exactly the way I want it.

They are $10 a month for 1 gig and has worked perfectly. Emails show up the second I press send.

How long have you been with webville now?

Posted by: techiegirl

Not that long. I signed up on Friday. I've stayed with them longer than I have stayed with Sherweb or 1and1 though.

Posted by: vting

Quote:

Originally Posted by techiegirl

Dont mind me asking but why you change from one to the other?
Is it the outage 4smartphone and mail2web were having lately or some other reason.

I almost signing up to Sherweb right before I got your post. Now I have one more to compare. Its now down to three Sherweb, 4smarphone and now Webville.

Webville seem to offer a lot but I am not sure what they are and mean and even they will benefit a single personal user.

Posted by: matrix849

I will add to your discussion that I left mail2web and I am currently without an exchange email account currently. The downtime that mail2web left me with was extensive and the problem was never admitted, apologized over, or anything (I didn't really expect an apology but a "hey guys we have some problems give us a couple of hours to fix it" would have been nice). I have gone back to going to gmail.com and checking my email there..... more of a pain but at least its there when I need it!

Posted by: vting

I did have Mail2Web on my list but I can't make heads or tail of what they are saying and also I dont understand their pricing so it is out of my list of choice.

Posted by: techiegirl

1) I left 4smartphone after the first outage that left me out of service for 48 hours (I believe). My husband's service was still ok, so he stayed. I went to mail2web.

2) My husband moved to mail2web after the 2nd outage that left him out for a week. However, mail2web does not allow for desktop access (entourage or outlook) and he really wanted that We decided to move to 1and1.

3) After an hour with 1and1's tech support, we found out that they do not support entourage or outlook2007. He was using entourage and I was using outlook 07. They will support it in IMAP mode, which means that we can read emails off it, but cannot use the calendar or contacts functions. That's when we went to sherweb. (somebody mentioned in this group afterwards that they were able to set up 1and1 on outlook '07 but I had already left by then). I also noticed that emails my cousin was sending me from his 1and1 exchange was going to my spam box.

4) With sherweb, I was only getting 1/2 my emails. Like OP, I was forwarding my emails to sherweb and a gmail account and found quite a few missing emails. I emailed support and they said there was nothing wrong with their system.

5) We moved to lanlogic. Their service was good but it was pricey ($10 for only 200 mbs). We left when we discovered themessagecenter. They had very good reviews and offered 500 megs.

6. We stayed with themessagecenter for the longest time since 4smartphone. We were with them for a whole month (yes, I know). We found that our emails were not getting pushed. It was delayed for 1/2 hour to up to 2 hours. My emails were automatically forwarded from themessgecenter to a webmail account and I was getting my emails on my webmail account up to a few hours before on the phone. I emailed support and they said their services were fine and that it was a cingular problem. I said tmc was the only exchange I was having this problems with, after trying all the the others. They were adament that it was not the fault of their service.

7) After numerous phone and email conversations with Bill (the owner) we decided to switch to webville. They offered $10 for 1 gig and exchange 2007. It's been 6 days, but service has been fabulous. I emailed Bill over 10 times in the course of the weekend, setting up the forward, aliases, additional domains and many many questions. I'm sure he thinks I'm a pain, but everything was set up just to my liking. I get my emails within seconds of me sending it (on a test) and of it being sent to me (emails). I get emails on my phone and the webmail that is forwarded at the same time, with no delays (like it was on TMC). For the first time in a long time, I'm real real happy with the exchange service.

Phew...I'm exhausted now. I think I need to take a nap after this post. Too bad I have to go to work now.

Posted by: vting

Quote:

Originally Posted by techiegirl

Phew...I'm exhausted now. I think I need to take a nap after this post. Too bad I have to go to work now.

Thank you VERY much for taking the time to share your experience, techiegirl. Have a drink on me!

With the information I been given I think I will try out Webville. You should ask Webville if they have a reward program for helping them gaining a client.

Thanks again!

Posted by: terryrocks

I used Mail2web at first and found them to be speedier then 4smartphone, but that was a year ago. Now I musing 4smartphone because Mail2web won't work with my AOL account. I am happy with 4Smartphone.

Posted by: tonypitt

techiegirl, we sound like kindred spirits. I've had a lot of frustration lately in trying to get my email handling system to be as bulletproof as I can. (This has become esp. important of late as I'll be moving this summer and my email will become my only conduit for consistent communication for quite some time.)

Please keep us posted as to how things continue going with Webville. I might check back in with you in a couple of weeks. I'm glad things have gotten off to a good start there. Hopefully you'll be just as satisfied in the future as you are now.

Posted by: techiegirl

Thanks vting.

tonypit:
I just feel like we purchased our exchange service for a reason. If I want my emails every 2 hours, I wouldn't spend $10 a month. I had no problem living with the 10 minute delays with mail2web because it was cheap ($2 a month). Since I'm paying $10 a month for "push" mail, I want "push".

Feel free to PM me in a few weeks. I'll let you know the status of webville.

Posted by: nemadrol

I've been using mail2web's exchange server (free version) for a couple of days and everything has worked fine. I don't get e-mail instantly like on a blackberry, but they do arrive within seconds (i've done several tests =)). But yeah, it's very easy to set up and has been working great for me. Go check it out!

Posted by: lovebeta

thanks for the lengthy review. However your account of mail2web and 1and1 are inaccurate. I am using Outlook 2007 with 1and1 -- but you are left on your own in terms of setup.

Quote:

Originally Posted by techiegirl

1) I left 4smartphone after the first outage that left me out of service for 48 hours (I believe). My husband's service was still ok, so he stayed. I went to mail2web.

2) My husband moved to mail2web after the 2nd outage that left him out for a week. However, mail2web does not allow for desktop access (entourage or outlook) and he really wanted that We decided to move to 1and1.

3) After an hour with 1and1's tech support, we found out that they do not support entourage or outlook2007. He was using entourage and I was using outlook 07. They will support it in IMAP mode, which means that we can read emails off it, but cannot use the calendar or contacts functions. That's when we went to sherweb. (somebody mentioned in this group afterwards that they were able to set up 1and1 on outlook '07 but I had already left by then). I also noticed that emails my cousin was sending me from his 1and1 exchange was going to my spam box.

4) With sherweb, I was only getting 1/2 my emails. Like OP, I was forwarding my emails to sherweb and a gmail account and found quite a few missing emails. I emailed support and they said there was nothing wrong with their system.

5) We moved to lanlogic. Their service was good but it was pricey ($10 for only 200 mbs). We left when we discovered themessagecenter. They had very good reviews and offered 500 megs.

6. We stayed with themessagecenter for the longest time since 4smartphone. We were with them for a whole month (yes, I know). We found that our emails were not getting pushed. It was delayed for 1/2 hour to up to 2 hours. My emails were automatically forwarded from themessgecenter to a webmail account and I was getting my emails on my webmail account up to a few hours before on the phone. I emailed support and they said their services were fine and that it was a cingular problem. I said tmc was the only exchange I was having this problems with, after trying all the the others. They were adament that it was not the fault of their service.

7) After numerous phone and email conversations with Bill (the owner) we decided to switch to webville. They offered $10 for 1 gig and exchange 2007. It's been 6 days, but service has been fabulous. I emailed Bill over 10 times in the course of the weekend, setting up the forward, aliases, additional domains and many many questions. I'm sure he thinks I'm a pain, but everything was set up just to my liking. I get my emails within seconds of me sending it (on a test) and of it being sent to me (emails). I get emails on my phone and the webmail that is forwarded at the same time, with no delays (like it was on TMC). For the first time in a long time, I'm real real happy with the exchange service.

Phew...I'm exhausted now. I think I need to take a nap after this post. Too bad I have to go to work now.

Posted by: techiegirl

Mail2web's $1.99 per month service does not provide for outlook 2003 or 2007 or entourage (desktop application) access of mail, calendar and contacts. I'm sure that is accurate. Only their business exchange plan $11 (or so) a month provides for outlook (not owa) access.

As for 1and1, it specifically said on the website as well as by the support person that they do not support full exchange services on outlook 07 or entourage. That's what I was told by support. I know that somebody on this list mentioned that they were able to use outlook 07 with 1and1, but I had already left by then.

Posted by: lovebeta

Oh BTW, if you are energetic enough, you can give http://www.exchangemailhosting.com/ a try. For 10$/month, they provide unlimited storage and Exchange 2007. Seems to be a good deal...

Quote:

Originally Posted by techiegirl

Mail2web's $1.99 per month service does not provide for outlook 2003 or 2007 or entourage (desktop application) access of mail, calendar and contacts. I'm sure that is accurate. Only their business exchange plan $11 (or so) a month provides for outlook (not owa) access.

As for 1and1, it specifically said on the website as well as by the support person that they do not support full exchange services on outlook 07 or entourage. That's what I was told by support. I know that somebody on this list mentioned that they were able to use outlook 07 with 1and1, but I had already left by then.

Posted by: techiegirl

Thanks. I'll keep them in mind. Right now, I'm still very happy with Webville.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovebeta

Oh BTW, if you are energetic enough, you can give http://www.exchangemailhosting.com/ a try. For 10$/month, they provide unlimited storage and Exchange 2007. Seems to be a good deal...

Posted by: vting

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovebeta

Oh BTW, if you are energetic enough, you can give http://www.exchangemailhosting.com/ a try. For 10$/month, they provide unlimited storage and Exchange 2007. Seems to be a good deal...

What MORE?!

Now is am stuck on decision.
This one also sound good.
Looks like I will have to do more investigation on this one.

Posted by: vting

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovebeta

Oh BTW, if you are energetic enough, you can give http://www.exchangemailhosting.com/ a try. For 10$/month, they provide unlimited storage and Exchange 2007. Seems to be a good deal...

Are you with this company? If so can you give of how their service, support and reliability?

Posted by: vting

Just to share my experience of my use of hosted exchange with www.exchangemailhosting.com after only a few hours of testing and setting up.

The email instruction I recieve from them was quick clear to understand and with all the required setting details however there are no instruction for setting things up. They are only a web link to help setup Outlook 2007 and Entourage 2004, nothing of how to setup the PDA or the email MX record.

I have to go through the ticket help system for help and with the time difference it will take me while to get reply. There are not FAQ page then just the two link I mentioned above. Those pages however does content picture and text for easy follow through.

Things like how to move data from the original outlook data to exchange, how does one sync Notes and so on. Just a simple step by step guide is all one wanted.

I already encounter a small problem that I am not sure where the problem lays. On my test I sent all day appointment from my Outlook 2003 to my exchange and it show up all nice on Outlook Web Access but when it get sync to Entourage 2004 it some how jump to a different day for been a day behind. eg, if I set the all day event on my outlook 2003 to Monday and when it arrive to Entourage it is set in all day Sunday. However if I sent the all day appointment from Entourage to Outlook Web Access all is fine.

I have check my outlook and entourage and outlook web access time zone and it is all set to the right place.

Nothing much more to say for now beside they should have a batter FAQ place and step by step guide for a bit more area then outlook and entourage.

Posted by: defii

Quote:

Originally Posted by techiegirl

Thanks. I'll keep them in mind. Right now, I'm still very happy with Webville.

Do they (Sherweb) provide a free copy of Outlook 2007? And do you point your domain to them or can you just forward email?

Posted by: vting

Quote:

Originally Posted by defii

Do they (Sherweb) provide a free copy of Outlook 2007? And do you point your domain to them or can you just forward email?

Sherweb do provide a copy of Outlook 2007 and you can point your domain to them or forward to them.

Posted by: vting

Quote:

Originally Posted by techiegirl

Techiegirl

I want to ask you if I may...
Since exchange 2007 does not sync Notes with Treo 750 or any WM5 devices (only between Outlook 2003,2007 and Exchange 2007), how you go about getting a copy to the Treo?
Do you just use the Activesync via USB cable or some other means.

Thanks in advance.

Posted by: techiegirl

I do not use notes. Instead, I use tasks. I know some may argue that it's different, but that's the only way for me to sync through exchange. I do not use the USB cable to sync and have not used the usb cable on the treo since the treo 700p.

I install all my software via a cab file and all my cab files are saved on the sd card. I can literally hard reset and reinstall everything when I don't even have my computer with me at all.

Posted by: jdc

I have used 4smartphone for a year now. I have had no outages. I have had no major problems. Their owa service is sometimes slow. If I have had a problem, I email them and get a response.

I considered going elsewhere after my year was up, but decided to stay with them. It works.

Remember that Blackberry users also experienced a serious outage recently. ALL systems are prone to outages; nature of the beast, I think.

Posted by: vting

Quote:

Originally Posted by techiegirl

I do not use notes. Instead, I use tasks. I know some may argue that it's different, but that's the only way for me to sync through exchange. I do not use the USB cable to sync and have not used the usb cable on the treo since the treo 700p.

I install all my software via a cab file and all my cab files are saved on the sd card. I can literally hard reset and reinstall everything when I don't even have my computer with me at all.

Thank you Techiegirl, looks like that is the only way to go for now until MS bring out an update that will allow use to sync Notes.

Posted by: Sniper2075

I have also been using 4smartphone for almost 2 years now. My second year or service is up in June I think. I have had no real problems, the few times I thought the service went down I actually just needed to reset my device. I turned it off and then back on and everything worked fine. Seemed to happen after a few months of never turning the smartphone off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdc

I have used 4smartphone for a year now. I have had no outages. I have had no major problems. Their owa service is sometimes slow. If I have had a problem, I email them and get a response.

I considered going elsewhere after my year was up, but decided to stay with them. It works.

Remember that Blackberry users also experienced a serious outage recently. ALL systems are prone to outages; nature of the beast, I think.

Posted by: vting

To update everyone on my experience with www.exchangemailhosting.com.

I have to say for now it is a mixed bag, at one point I am getting good support and another the problem has not been resolves since I signup nearly a week ago and I am yet to start using the service. I have to say though for the support, is that I am getting what I expected from them and in fact from any good company.

Maybe someone can share their knowledge of how to fix the problem.

When an all day event is sent from either Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 it seem to be a day behind when it arrive at my Entourage and yet I have all three computers on the same time zone (Melbourne, Australia). This only happen for all day event and not the event with a time span.

The support guy have me changing the timezone on my Outlook 2007 but every time I go to change that it also change the system timezone too, they are somehow linked.

I now been told that Microsoft engineer are also involve and hope to find the problem.

I am afraid that I may get the same problem if I jump ship but at the same time frustrated that I still can't use my service and the problem are get to be found.

Anyone can share their thought and experience would be greatly appreciated.

Posted by: Eric1285

I'm looking at mail2web's site right now, and I've signed up for the free service. I'm confused as to whether or not this free service offers a way to get push email. I'd like to have it work with my gmail account if possible.

Edit: Nevermind, figured it out =)

Posted by: El Chino

techiegirl - whats the link to webville? i am tired of 1and1
vting - are you still using exchangemailhosting?

thanks!

Posted by: vting

Quote:

Originally Posted by El Chino

vting - are you still using exchangemailhosting?

thanks!

I am kind of. I been with them for the pass two weeks but have not actually started using my account. They are still in the process of trouble shot why my Entourage does not sync with the correct timezone.

One thing I can say for them right now is, they are determine to find a solution. They have not giving up on me. They are now involve in talk with MS engineer and have a computer setup to test my problem

And another thing I have say is that I have not even been charge for my service yet and they are providing support and in constant contact with me to try solution and to keep me updated with progress they have with MS.

Update: Just got words that my problem has now been move from MS support to MS Entourage Support and are leaning towards it been a bug.

Posted by: fiveohhh

I've been with 4smartphone for a week and I'm getting all my emails and direct push is decent, within 2 mins at the most, mostly within 30seconds to 1 minute. Outlook can take up to 5 minutes to connect. Their customer service takes on avg over a day to get back to me.

After reading here, I'm going to give webville a shot and see if thats any better.

Posted by: vting

Just a progress update of my service with exchangemailhosting.com.

The report back from MS Entourage support is that they can duplicate my problem with timezone sync and is now working on a fix.

The other info is that exchangemailhosting deliberately did not want to charge me for the service until the problem is resolved. Now although I am yet to use my account, I have to take my hat off to them for providing service and support who has yet to pay.

In this day and age, you dont see this kind of service anymore, will until now. Most people want you to pay upfront first and then provide some if any support. I have more then one occasion that the support just gave up on me.

Until next update...

Posted by: gcherke

I have been using mail2web for Exchange/Active sync with my Blackjack ever since Cingular release the Blackjack. There was a time a couple of months ago when they did have issues for about a week and I was not receiving emails until several hours later. But prior to that and over the past couple of months it's been great for me.

I am using their payed service so that I can change the reply to address so when I send from my phone, the reply to address is actually my work account.

I set my girlfriend up with the free account so a copy of all her gmail messages go to mail2web so she can see her emails by using an Exchange/Active sync connection. Since she only needs to receive her gmail messages and does not reply from her phone, I have her using the free service.

The free service won't allow you to change the reply to address and when you use OWA there are advertisements. Not sure of the other differences from the paid account other than more storage space.

Anyway, other than that week when they had issues from doing maintenance, the Exchange service has been great. I get messages within seconds usually.

Posted by: vting

A quick update.

I received words from ExchangeMailHosting after they were contacted by Microsoft, somehow the timezone update/fix for exchange server 2003 does not work properly for Exchange server 2007.

Looks like they are working on it still, hope it will not be too long to go.

Posted by: Devileyezz

Any new updates guys?
How is Webville and ExchangeMailHosting or TMC doing?