[twuug] Re: usa.net help

[John Graham]

On Thu, Apr 04, 2002 at 01:51:21PM -0800, Margrave, Thomas wrote:
>Ok, I am posting this to everybody on this list asking for opinions.   I had
>been using an email account on usa.net for over 6 years and now they are
>going to start charging me 29.95 to keep this account.  

Well, Thomas, I know exactly how you feel because I went through this
very thing last year (not sure how you put it off for so long, but good
job!).  I certainly felt a bit slighted, having been promised an address
that would be mine forever, the sun, the moon, etc.

My first instinct was of course "screw that, I don't need the stupid
service".  But once I actually thought about it, I couldn't get over one
simple fact--I didn't want to change my email address.

So here I am, a registered Net at ddress user since August, having paid my 
$29.99 for the privilege.  Some might say I coped out, but for me, the
alternatives are simply not worth the trouble.

My only other options are:

1) Revert to my ISP-provided email and change it whenever I change ISPs.

2) Run my own mail server and be subject to any problems with my ISP or
equipment.  But I travel a lot and can't always be around if something
needs to be fixed.  Plus, I have to change my address.

3) Switch to a different paid email service, which may have more or less
features, be more or less expensive, or more or less reliable.  Of
course then I'd be changing my address for more or less nothing.

Anyway, the point of all this yapping is just that Net at ddress has served
me well since biting the bullet last August.  Actually, since then,
they've performed both hardware and software upgrades, and I haven't
seen the unplanned downtime they used to suffer from as a free service. 

If you truly need to retain all 3 email addresses with them, perhaps you
could contact them about a discount option?  I believe they are making
some changes in the near future, including SMTP service and additional
storage options.

- John

--
John Graham
j.graham at usa.net