Mailblocks Internet Email Mailblocks Free to $99/year Click Here Sean Gibson - email

so you want a great web-based email company

These days, the web-based email addresses that can be checked anywhere in the world are the most popular amongst internet users. Unfortunately for everyone the market is dominated by two companies - Yahoo and Hotmail (Microsoft) - and their competition really isn't much to look at.

At the recent CES show in Las Vegas, a company was marketing en force about a new spam-free web-based email service that promised to give consumers what they wanted - performance, reliability, and NO SPAM. Mailblocks, Inc., founded by the late Phil Goldman, (Former WebTV co-founder), was started with a simple idea: improve the consumer email experience; make it faster, more manageable and—above all else—free from the aggravation of spam (unsolicited, computer-generated email).

I was lucky enough to catch up with the PR team from Mailblocks, as I was personally tired of all the crap I got with my yahoo mail account, and gave up on Hotmail years ago. They were kind enought to set me up with a Premium account to try out all the features and to find out if Mailblocks will be the "big third" competitor that the hype says it will be.

Features

There are three types of service from Mailblocks, ranging from Free to Premium ... NOTE: A Tracker is an alias to your existing Mailblocks account. Trackers provide multiple, easy-to-use, disposable email addresses that allow you to receive messages from automated systems and unknown senders, while protecting your primary account from spam and other unwanted mail.

Free Service

• 5MB Storage
• Challenge/Response spam blocking
• 5 Trackers
• 6MB Attachments
• 15 Email Rules for managing messages
• Advertising Supported

Basic Service ($9.99 for 1 year)

• 15MB Storage
• Challenge/Response spam blocking
• 15 Trackers
• 6MB Attachments
• 25 Email Rules for managing messages
• Advertising Free
• Forward / manage 10 existing email accounts
• Compatible with Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Entourage and Apple Mail

Premium Service ($24.99 for 1 year)

• 100MB Storage
• Challenge/Response spam blocking
• 25 Trackers
• 6MB Attachments
• 50 Email Rules for managing messages
• Advertising Free
• Forward / manage 10 existing email accounts
• Compatible with Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Entourage and Apple Mail

Again, I got to see the Free Account (just signed up) and the Premium Service to see how well the web-based mail program worked. As you can see from the numbers, there is impressive stats with just the free account, since you get 5MB of storage space, and can have 6MB attachments - typically unheard of from free web email companies.

SO ... how well does it work?

I checked out a lot of different things with the email account I had. First, I used the import feature to import my address book from my Yahoo account, and then from my Outlook program at home. Mailblocks imported the address book files without any problems whatsoever. What I did after that is simply use the program and encouraged people to email me.

What the program does to block spam is simple - anyone in your address book or anyone you've written an email to is okay to write you and appears straight in your INBOX when writing you an email. Others get routed to the "pending folder" where the Mailblocks program sends them an email verifying they actually exist. Once they verify (hit the link) your pending email goes automatically into your inbox. Pretty nifty way to filter out spam ... and I have to say in two months using the program, I have not had ONE single spam come into my inbox.

Then I had to do what I've always wanted to do with an web email account - send GIGANTIC attachments ... sure enough mailblocks supports 6MB attachments ... which is above and beyond any free account we've ever seen. The attachment "attached" fairly quickly and was sent off without a problem.

I was able to receive attachment after attachment without worrying about it getting blocked. Even Yahoo's premium email service (for $29 a year) only gives you 25MB of space ... with Mailblocks Premium service ($5 cheaper) you get 100MB! So I was able to save all my sent emails and have a hefty inbox full of attachments without worrying in the least about my mailbox filling up to capacity.

other impressions

I was curious to know how quickly you could download attachments from a Mailblocks account, so I sent myself a 2MB PDF file and tried downloading if from various locations - more specifically the office (T1), my home office (Cable, where all the REAL work is done!), and from the local university library. All three yielded download speeds in and around the 400 to 500 mbps mark, which is phenomenally fast.

The spell checker also is superior to other web-based email companies, because when you hit spell check you aren't sent over to some random "spell check" screen and then have to reload back into your message to edit it. All Mailblocks does is highlight your misspelled words in yellow - then you simply click on the highlighted word and click on the correct version. That simple.

Any negatives?

Mailblocks isn't perfect, of course, and a fair review would be to point out those opportunities for Mailblocks to improve. One would be that the program offers no customization of colors or schemes ... sometimes it's nice to change things up.

The "big problem" I had with Mailblocks is that there are some providers that have blocked Mailblocks from sending in. Specifically, when I tried sending an email to my friend who has a XXX@socal.rr.com account, I got back:

"Connected to 66.75.160.11 but sender was rejected.
Remote host said: 550 5.7.1 Mail Refused - 20040416"

I looked up what the problem might be, and unfortunately, problem #20040416 was not referenced in their "issues" page. So - you might have some problems emailing friends ... hopefully Mailblocks can iron out this issue very soon.

overall impressions

Using Mailblocks was a very wonderful experience. I enjoyed the navigation of the entire system and its ease of use. I highly suggest that people look over Mailblocks for their next email account on the web - it's easy to use, spam free, and offers features that other web-based can't bring to the consumer the way Mailblocks can.

For those of your search for a Premium account, undoubtedly Mailblocks should be at the top of your list when looking for the right provider. If you are just curious about this new company, there's no charge to use the FREE service - so sign up and check it out since it won't cost you a thing.

Overall, the performance of Mailblocks was particularly impressive when it came to getting a spam free mail account with robust features and plenty of space to hold all my emails. The value of the service is extremely high since it ranks as one of the more inexpensive services out on the web today. Highly useful, being able to email from any computer is a luxury we all utilize these days, and from a longevity perspective you should be quite happy using your Mailblocks account for a long time. This email service has definitely won over this reviewer!

9 / 10 OVERALL SCORE 96% 10 / 10 10 / 10 9 / 10 10 / 10 9.6 / 10