Web-based email can be obtained through a website service and accessed through a browser or email client. It offers advantages such as accessibility and a separate address for non-personal mail, but also has drawbacks including security and privacy concerns. Free services may have ads, while paid accounts may not. It can also be included in a host’s package for those with their own domains.
Email addresses are commonly assigned by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), but it is also possible to obtain an email address through a website service. This is known as web-based email.
Most people are familiar with setting up their email clients to receive mail through their ISP. The client requires a Post Office Protocol (POP) server to receive mail and a Standard Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server to send mail. However, most email clients can also be used to collect Web-based email by configuring the client to connect to an Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) server. The IMAP server is part of the host’s package. That said, the most common way to access this mail is to use a browser.
Web-based email has its advantages, especially for people who travel. Email can be collected by simply visiting a website, eliminating the need for an email client, or logging in from home. Wherever there is a public terminal with Internet access, from the library to the coffee shop, airport or hotel, you can check, send and receive emails quickly and easily.
Another benefit of this type of email is that it provides an alternative address which allows you to reserve your ISP address for personal use. If you want to sign up for a newsletter, enter a sweepstakes, register for a website, participate in chats, or send feedback to a site, a web-based email address is the perfect answer. It will keep non-personal mail on a server for you to check when you want, rather than filling up your private email inbox.
Websites often share the information you give them, but providing them with a web email address means that junk mail will go to this disposable account instead of your personal account. Later, if you lose interest in connections associated with this address, you can close or abandon it (as policy dictates) without ramifications to your standard email address. In short, such an email address can help keep your ISP inbox tidy, while still allowing you the flexibility to take advantage of Internet businesses that require an address.
Most accounts have a storage limit, usually more than the average person needs. Pictures, ringtones, MP3s or graphic files can be stored here, saving space on your home hard drive.
However, there are also some drawbacks to web-based email. Security and privacy are the biggest issues. Most sites will explicitly state in their privacy policy that no privacy expectation will exist, even if elsewhere in the policy they state that the site’s goal is to protect privacy. The security of the server is also less certain, compared to an ISP to which you pay a fee with a contractual promise to provide basic protections. It is therefore unwise, in general, to use web-based email for any correspondence of a private nature, or to use it for services that will email sensitive information.
Many web-based email services are free, but often the price is paid in advertisements that clutter and slow down the interface. Other service providers include a small slogan attached to the end of every email they send. These services usually offer premium, paid accounts that don’t include slogans or ads.
People who have their own domains might also have web-based email depending on the host’s package. These types of accounts also often come with POP and SMTP servers.
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