SMTP mail with hosting - what are the pros and cons?

[Marcia]

I'll probably be changing ISPs (so email will change) and web hosts both this month, and have been weighing whether to look for hosting with SMTP mail so when I send it appears to come from the domain name. Most hosts offer only POP3 and/or forwarding, and it might or might not cost a bit more for hosting with this. But it wouldn't be much more, and not more than what my current host is raising their charges to.

What are the pros and cons of SMTP mail with hosting? Is it a good idea to have?

[oilman]

I've never come across too many hosting companies that offer SMTP. Most of the time they only offer POP and make you use your ISP for outgoing mail. That's the case with my hosts. That said most ISP's allow you to specify any 'FROM' address you want. I use the same SMTP server at my ISP to send mail from any of a dozen different addresses.

Some hosting companies offer relay servers for outgoing mail. Usually they are much slower than regular SMTP.

[Marcia]

>I use the same SMTP server at my ISP to send mail from any of a dozen different addresses.

Is there provision with your ISP to do that, or is it just configured within your Outlook program?

So then, if you send mail and it appears to the recipient to come from [e-mail] and they hit reply to send an answer back, it will appear to be going to [e-mail], with your real ISP address being invisible to them?

What email program are you using?

[oilman]

It's all just configured through my email program. When I send email it comes from [e-mail] and when someone replies it goes to the POP account with my host.

If you dig into the email headers you can find out where it really came from but who does that with regular email?

[Marcia]

oil, which email program are you using? I've gone through all the documentation, and if Outlook Express does it, I haven't found it.

[ggrot]

Hmm, I've never known a hosting company NOT to offer SMTP. The smarter ones require you to POP3 in to check your mail from that ip address within the last 15 minutes or so before letting you *send* mail. I also believe there are a few SMTP servers out there that will accept all ips all the time. Usually those end up getting used for spam and may get shut down at any given time, but if you hunt around, you could set up your mail program for them. Let me suggest using something other than outlook though, simply for the sake of avoiding 99% of email spread virii.

[Marcia]

What's a good alternative to Outlook Express then, that will send the mail through my ISP's SMTP server like yours does, with the choice of email address that appears?

[oilman]

I use Outlook and before that I used Outlook Express. It's under Tools>Accounts>Add Account and away you go.

[tedster]

One of my clients has 12 different SMTP boxes/addresses plus 40 virtual (forwarding) POP accounts from their website host.

The SMTP mail has been a real godsend to their business, which is a virtual business spread over 3 continents. Their business mail is always separated from their personal mail -- and that keeps the spam out of their personal accounts.

Their host's SMPT mail service is extremely dependable -- they've had more trouble with personal accounts at ISPs. This arrangement also allows them to deal with large attachments that would have choked their personal accounts rather quickly.

[ggrot]

I'm not sure what all the options out there are. I use netscape messenger for all my email needs. I've used pegasus in the past, but it's not great. Just look around to find one that works for you. There are a plenty. On the other hand, if you are careful, smart, and keep your virus software updated - outlook is fine.

[tedster]

Along these lines, anyone have anything to report about using Opera's email client?

I've been using either Netscape Messenger or Eudora for a long time -- both are fine with me and help me hide from the viruses that target MS programs. Opera might also be a nice choice, and given the solid quality of their browser, I'd bet the email client is good too, but I've never heard anything much about it.