I have been using Yahoo mail for about 4 years, and I think that it is one of the best web based e-mail accounts, and I would definitely recommend it.
I also have experience of using Hotmail, but prefer Yahoo mail for a number of reasons. From my experience, Hotmail's service is down more often, and it seems that Yahoo mail is more reliable. (Not that Hotmail is down a lot, just more than Yahoo mail).
I was very pleased to discover recently that my Yahoo mailbox has been upgraded to 6.00 MB. Previously my account had a 3.00 MB limit. There is also the option of buying a 25 MB mailbox. I think this is a big improvement to the service, as I always had to keep an eye on my inbox, to make sure I did not go over the limit, and this limit would have been my main complaint about Yahoo mail. The 6.00 MB mailbox is very generous, and most free web based e-mail providers usually have a limit of 3.00 or 4.00 MB. Hotmail only has 2MB of space.
When you log on to your e-mail account, it lets you know what percentage of your mailbox you are using up. This comes in very handy. Hotmail does not have this feature, but lets you know through e-mail when you have gone over the limit. One negative thing about Yahoo mail is that it does not allow you to accept any more e-mail when you are over the limit, although Hotmail does. (Hotmail will warn you via e-mail, and it says that they will delete your e-mails for you, if you don't. I was over the limit for a few weeks before I realised, but they did not delete anything, just kept sending me more warnings).
One of the best points about Yahoo mail, and it's advantage over other e-mail providers is the access that your Yahoo ID gives you. Once you have signed up for Yahoo mail, you can automatically use other Yahoo services such as Yahoo auctions, Yahoo Chat and Yahoo Messenger, which instantly alerts you to any new e-mails.
The sign up process is very simple and easy. Yahoo mail itself is easy to use, and has useful features such as searching for messages, and spam prevention. I have found that I do not get any spam at all on my Yahoo account. Hotmail seems to have more of a problem with spam, but this seems to vary with different accounts. Some members of my family get more spam than others.
So, overall an excellent service, and if you sign up you get a lot more than just an e-mail account. I would particularly recommend it if you are subsribed to a lot of lists or get a lot of e-mail.
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Nov 27th, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
