Suggestions for SOHO email service

[Bill Sconce]

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 12:21:36 -0400
Ted Roche <tedroche at comcast.net> wrote:

> My current email situation has broken down, and I'd like suggestions  
> on the easiest, cheapest and best solutions for setting email for my  
> small business.


My personal suggestion.  (Easiest, cheapest and best for our case,
anyway.)

    MV Communications.

Personal opinions:

  o They ARE the community in New Hampshire

  o Support has been uniformly excellent

  o They know what they're doing, and they know what the Internet
    and Free software are

  o Support has been uniformly excellent

  o They are honest, devoted to delivering, and BS free

  o Support has been uniformly excellent

  o Did I mention, they know what they're doing, and have been
    involved with the Internet and Free software in New Hampshire
    since forever?

Some years ago we had our domain and e-mail with another vendor
here in southern New Hampshire.  Because of dial-up issues we
couldn't use MV in the beginning.  Over time the other vendor
dropped the ball, and (at the expense of local forwarding so that
dial-up wouldn't have to be long distance) we did go with MV.
We've never looked back.

Now we have DSL, but (partly for the reasons you mention, such as
DHCP) we'll be continuing with a real 24/7 host service.   We'll be
staying with MV.  (We have TDS for DSL too, as it happens.  We
briefly considered trying to "save" by self-hosting over DSL, but
PSNH reliability, DSL reliability, and "who needs the grief" made
the decision for us.  Also, who needs to hassle with DSL Terms of
Service?  TOS, as well as DCHP, discourage self-hosting, or maybe
prohibit it?  Or may be changed to prohibit self-hosting at any
time, at TDS's sole discretion.)

MV's cost is very modest if you only need domain registration and
e-mail - i.e., you're not dialling up and using their modems to
get at the 'net.

And their support has been uniformly excellent.

.02
-Bill

P.S.  You mention domain registration.  Part of our troubles with
the earlier service was ... Network Solutions.  MV was instrumental
in rescuing our domain from those parasites - others on this list
have told horror stories about Network Solutions.  MV has our 
enduring gratitude for Doing The Right Thing when it mattered.




 
> Currently, we have Comcast cable and internet in our home and a TDS  
> DSL for the home business. On the DSL, we host three domains for web  
> serving (It was handy to go downstairs and hit the power button). The  
> DSL is dynamic IP, unfortunately, and the local TDS office tells me  
> they have no static IPs they can provision (that wasn't what I was  
> told initially, and why I bought the line)(and hook, and sinker). Am  
> I mistaken, or does a dynamic IP address mean that I can't host my  
> own email server? I've heard that some dynamic IP addresses are  
> rejected as sources of spam. Would relaying outbound email through  
> TDS solve part of this?
> 
> My domains are registered with MyDomain.com, who provide an email  
> forwarding service at no charge of up to 10 email accounts per  
> domain, plus a catch-all account. This lets me feed webmaster@,  
> abuse@, support@, sales@ as well as several people's accounts to  
> their ISP, gmail, yahoo! or whatever email accounts.
> 
> Unfortunately, MyDomain.com has fallen down on the job. After four  
> years of near-perfect service, they are dropping, bouncing and  
> delaying crucial emails. I need to set something else up.
> 
> I'd be comfortable setting up an email server on the TDS DSL line,  
> but since the IP address is dynamic, I'm afraid the mail would be  
> rejected by some services.
> 
> How do other people handle email through their domain when only  
> dynamic IPs are available? Or is the answer to host the domains at an  
> ISP?
> 
> Ted Roche