On Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:50:13 -0400, Dapper Dan wrote:

I had called Cogeco and they wouldn't provide any help other than to
recommend that I use their webmail facility. In effect it allows me to
access my mail account from their website. However the problem is that it is
so slooooooow; it drives me nuts.

Some ISPs have drunk the AOL Kool-Aid. Sounds like Cogeco is one of those.

I'll look into that gmail work-around that you suggested. It sounds
promising. I have a Yahoo secondary account that is delivered to my Outlook.
I didn't think you could do the opposite, i.e. have my cogeco account
deliver to gmail. I'll look into it.

Both Yahoo! and Gmail will download email from a POP3 server. So either
would be able to get your Cogeco email. Both also allow for the use of a
verified email address outside of the domain (i.e., other than 'yahoo.com',
or 'gmail.com'). Where Gmail shines is having IMAP access (Yahoo! is POP3
only), and in allowing free access to the SMTP server (U.S. and Canada
Yahoo! requires a paid account, at $20 a year, for SMTP access).

I thought this was a simple query given that most everyone these days
communicates electronically and I don't think that everyone who travels
abandons their regular mail service to a web based service. However I now
have a couple of recommendations to check out.

It really depends upon the email service. ISP email is the most difficult,
as many ISPs have ridiculous 20th Century limitations on their services. In
the USA, both AT&T and Comcast really shine in the access department. With
either ISP, you can be off network (non-AT&T, non-Comcast IP address), and
still use their SMTP message submission servers. Others don't allow it;
Charter is particularly iffy; almost the same as Cogeco.

Another commonly advised approach is to just use third party email for all
correspondence. Third party providers have long had to deal with access
problems; and they allow the user to be ISP independent. You don't have to
advise all of your correspondents every time your ISP email address changes.

--
Norman
~Shine, bright morning light,
~now in the air the spring is coming.
~Sweet, blowing wind,
~singing down the hills and valleys.