We only have one customer like that, but he doesn't text either. Phone calls or snail mail. I think he has our phone service because, well, phone, and then Internet for CC machine or other business requirements, not because he actually uses the Internet.
I like my customers more than yours every day, Ken. ;-) -- Mike Hammett ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Hohhof" <[email protected]> To: "AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2026 12:32:37 PM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Hosted emails What I find contradictory is that companies act like an email address is mandatory, often it is used as your account ID. Yet I run into a lot of people who don't use email. Even if they have an old aol or yahoo address, they never use it. This comes up when we try to sign people up for autopay / paperless billing. Many people use text messages instead. I guess it's one of those legacy things that won't go away, like FAX. -----Original Message----- From: AF <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Mike Hammett Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2026 12:18 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Hosted emails We still use our own server on our own network. They aren't hard. Carbonio is the mail server, going through (inbound and outbound) Proxmox Mail Gateway. It's a really simple and reliable setup. -- Mike Hammett ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Jones" <[email protected]> To: "AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, January 16, 2026 3:35:47 PM Subject: [AFMUG] Hosted emails We still provide legacy email. Debating on whether to continue. Rackspace just bumped our cost from .47 a box to 4 bucks a box and we still have about 296 boxes. 85 are paid (weird, right) and about 211 are free. Its was pretty hands off, with rackspace. Kind of irritating, we just went through a family acquisition and ended up migrating to a new business domain to get into a collaborative email environment without needing 300 boxes. and now we may dump the email anyway. There is zero interest in self hosting, or managing an email server whatsoever. Email stickiness isnt what it used to be. but I do feel for some of these folks, elderly, been with us for 20 years. The following is our current list of contenders, any im missing, any who are plague, and who are great? These are just set and forget imap boxes PolarisMail * Pros: Best fit. Base plan includes 25GB (supports our heavy users). Free managed migration services (saves us ~40 hours). Dedicated reseller program. * Cons: Slightly higher cost than OpenSRS (~$1.50/mo), but significantly lower than Rackspace. * Status: Inquiry Sent. Tucows / OpenSRS * Pros: Lowest cost. Pay-per-tier model ($0.50 for 5GB users). We only pay extra for the few heavy users. * Cons: High admin overhead. We must manually monitor and upgrade user quotas to prevent full mailboxes. DIY Migration. * Status: Inquiry Sent. DreamHost * Pros: Simple flat pricing (~$1.67/mo) with 25GB for everyone. No quota management needed. * Cons: Retail-focused support (Chat only), DIY migration, less "ISP-aware" than Polaris/Tucows. * Status: Inquiry Sent. ⚠️ THE "PROCEED WITH CAUTION" LIST Sherweb (Existing Partner) * Pros: We already have a relationship; reliable infrastructure. * Cons: Pricing likely too high ($2.00–$3.00/user) to solve our core cost issue. * Status: Reaching out to rep. Namecheap * Pros: Cheap first-year pricing. * Cons: "Trap" pricing. Basic plan has low storage (5GB) and NO mobile sync (ActiveSync). Upgrading to Pro for features/storage makes it expensive ($42/yr). * Status: Inquiry Sent (Low priority). Zoho Mail * Pros: Great interface, reliable. * Cons: Storage Limits. Strict 5GB/10GB caps on cheap plans. Migrating our 25GB users will fail unless we buy expensive enterprise licenses for them. * Status: Inquiry Sent (Likely incompatible). Migadu * Pros: Flat fee for unlimited users. * Cons: Critical Risk. Uses a "Shared Sending Limit." If one customer spams, all our customers get blocked. No ActiveSync. * Status: Inquiry Sent (Not recommended). -- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
