by Paul Lines

Created on: December 27, 2008

In reality, acquiring an e-mail address might seem to be a relatively straightforward process. Fundamentally, it is simply a matter of going on line and deciding which of the hundred's of ISP's (Internet Service Providers) one wishes to be associated with and signing up to their e-mail service. However, as with many other technological and Internet facilities, there are a number of points to take into consideration during the course of the decision making process.

The first step in the decision process is to consider whether you want you e-mail storage to be maintained online by the provider or linked directly to your own computer, in which case every e-mail you send or receive will be stored on the computer at your home or laptop location. The problem with the latter option is that you have either to be at home or have your laptop available to be able to access your e-mail messages, which may not always be convenient. With the online option you can access your e-mail location from almost any location in the world that has Internet connection facilities and, in addition, you can use any computer to perform this task.

The second issue to consider is a comparison of the options that the different ISP's offer. This will include a number of factors. Amongst these will be the amount of storage space that will be available to you. Whilst most will of at least 5 GB of storage space, including Hotmail and MSN, others like Yahoo offer increased amounts of storage, in this particular case this being unlimited, which is a significant advantage, especially if you conduct a lot of work online. Then there is also the issue of the size of attachments you can send with an email. Some ISA's such as Orange limit this to 5MB while with others you can get up to four times this level, an essential consideration if you have a need to send large files, such as those containing a mass of photos or videos.

The majority of ISP's offer virus protection with their e-mail systems and, in most case, they also have a spam filter that sends this type of e-mail direct to a separate box, which saves clogging up your important inbox with unsolicited and potentially harmful mail. This system also enables you to put a block on e-mail addresses if you find the information from these sources is troublesome.

Finally, although the actual setting up of the e-mail address might be free it is important to read all of the terms, conditions and facilities being offered by the ISP before finalising your decision. This way you will be able to determine the extent of the free services you are being offered. It is essential to perform this task as, whilst you might decide that you do not require any of the services that are likely to be charged for at present, this position might change in the future. If it does you want to make sure from the outset that you have availed yourself of the most cost efficient ISP service.

As stated, most ISP offer you the opportunity of setting up free e-mail addresses, with more than one being available in the majority of cases. It is recommended that, in view of the way that e-mail addresses can be shared and exposed on the Internet, one should have two e-mail addresses. One of these addresses should be restricted to close and trusted friends and contacts, and the other should be for more general Internet business. That way, for your personal and important contacts you will not have to be wading through numerous e-mails that are unrelated or spam based to find the messages you are looking for.

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