Alternative webmail service

[#1]

Can anyone recommend a basic alternative to the Plusnet webmail service, because it has become unmanageable  ?  I am looking for something simple, absolutely no frills, bells or whistles, like the Plusnet basic Webmail, but one that is compatible with my Outlook client on the desktop - i.e. pop3 etc.

I have got both Gmail and Outlook.com accounts but they are too clever by half, try to organise my emails and have all the features which I do not want / use.  All I need is a simple mail box from which I can download my emails to Outlook.

The Plusnet Webmail service used to be ideal but it has become useless because the server keeps being dropped.  Then I get threatening messages from Plusnet saying my storage is running out, but when I try to do housekeeping, the server just crashes or does not even respond.  The next thing that happens is that Plusnet wipe the emails !

So any suggestions would be most appreciated.

[#2]

What is the real problem here?

Webmail is nothing more than a browser based IMAP email client.

What is the difficulty of pointing Outlook at your Plusnet email address?

Just to be clear, when you mention "Outlook" exactly what do your mean?

• The proper Outlook client (Outlook 2016/19 or earlier) installed on your PC?
• Outlook.com the free Outlook web browser based Office365 interface to email?
• The next to useless Win10 Mail program which also goes under the label "Outlook"?
• One of the otherwise excellent Outlook Express email programs on WinXP and earlier - still available for download and will work on Win10

Only Office365 mail is actually a mail service, everything else is an email client which connects to an email service ... such as Plusnet's mail service.

Slow webmail

There is a known gremlin in the third party Round Cube webmail program which can cause delays in listing emails - see the end user mitigation post at the top of the Email board here. It somewhat appears that any sorting or filtering on a large mailbox cripples the performance of RC webmail, where as the 'basic' webmail program (Squirrel Mail) is not affected. Using Squirrel Mail can be an effective way of accessing a mail box which is running slow with RC.

There is no necessity to restrict your access to your Plusnet email via the Plusnet Webmail interface. Virtually every IT device comes with an in-built email program which can be configured to access your Plusnet email service. See the setting up an email client guide.

Some have found logging into their mailbox using this third party webmail client - https://mail2web.com helpful in clearing out clutter from their mailboxes.

[#3]

Thank you for replying

I have explained the real problem quite clearly.  I keep getting messages from Plusnet to tell me that my mailbox is nearing the maximum.  But whenever I try to manage it, the webmail service grinds to a halt.  Half the time, the server falls out in the middle of deleting and I have to sign in again.  The other half of the time the server just hangs when I ask it to load ALL the emails, not just the first page, so that I can decide what to keep and what not to keep.

I file all my webmail mails into FOLDERS which presumably the FOLDERS are there for.  I have done this for twenty years, and it provides a short-term back-up for me.  I travel abroad a lot and seldom take a laptop with me.  It is therefore very useful for me to be able to look at my emails from someone else's computer, which is why I do not automatically delete anything.

Yes of course I use the standard email client Outlook - as I clearly stated in my original post - to download my emails to be managed offline.  I started with Outlook Exchange many years ago and migrated to Outlook about 20 years ago.  I have back-ups of all my email going back to 1995, and actually refer often to very old ones still.  I am methodical.

My complaint about webmail is that it is unreliable and keeps crashing.  The Basic webmail is so bad that I would not even dream of using the Advanced version !  As an experiment, I just tried to access Basic webmail while writing this.  It took half a minute to load and twenty seconds to delete five emails - and then promptly crashed.  And I am paying for this - handsomely.  And I am on Plusnet fibre, by the way, before you ask.

The beauty of Plusnet webmail is it's simplicity - there are no bells and whistles.  That is what I like about it.  It is WYSIWYG.  Other mail systems like Gmail, Outlook.com etc. are far too fussy with so many features and automated services that it is easy to lose control.  The ugliness of Plusnet webmail is that whereas years ago, in the days of Lee Strafford and Paul Cusack before BT messed everything up, it used to be consistently reliable whereas today it is totally unreliable und unpredictable.  That is why I am desperate to find a very simple alternative to it.

By the way, if you admit that you know there are Gremlins, as you have, why is Plusnet not sorting them out ?  Lee and Paul would not have tolerated it !

[#4]

It does not matter if you put mail into folders, it still takes up space on the server.

You pitched the requirement as something which will work with Outlook as a client.

If you do not have the means of culling email or archiving it off line, then you need a mail service offering something more than 1GB of online storage.

Gmail offered that but as reported elsewhere, Google snoops on your mail and then starts sending adverts.

Outlook.com might give you what you need.

Using any device based email client is likely to perform better than webmail. There is also the other webmail service I provided a link to.

[#5]

Again, your comments are appreciated but you are still unfortunately missing the point.  You say :

"It does not matter if you put mail into folders, it still takes up space on the server."

I put mail into folders purely as a temporary measure for use when I am away.  I usually have two months worth which I then (try to) delete.  The problem is that when you try to do any housework, like reducing the size of the stored emails, the webmail system hangs, crashes or i, you are lucky, takes an age to do what you ask it to do.  My example earlier in the afternoon was classic.  Having finished responding to you, I tried it again out of curiosity and guess what: it crashed before even signing in !

The complaint therefore is not the amount of storage; it is not the features; it is not even the speed.  It is the basic unreliability and the often impossibility to do any housekeeping to get below Plusnet's limits.  It is not my fault when I go over the storage limit and then have everything wiped off the server by Plusnet.  It is never for want of trying to reduce.  And then I have to wait two weeks usually to get the mails restored and then have to set an alarm clock to get up at 2.00 a.m. in the morning to do the housework, because Basic webmail works properly only in the small hours.

Plusnet seem to forget that I am a customer and that webmail was included in the package when I signed up.  I am paying for it and should not have to be asking for advice on alternative services.  All I am asking for is to be treated like a customer and not have to resort to taking them to Court like I did about three years ago for their failure to perform.  I  won and was awarded damages by the Court for breach of contract.  The Judge when handing down judgment addressed Plusnet's barrister directly and told him that Plusnet  needed to improve its customer service - that is on tape on the Court record.  Nothing has changed since.

[#6]

I have tried using your suggested in your earlier post but without success.  I have spent twenty minutes trying and trying again, including Advanced Log-in and Secure Log-in as suggested by https://mail2web.com.  I do not know what I am doing wrong but for some reason it just does not work on *******@********.plus.com with my normal password.  This is what I get whatever I do every time :

Login Failure. Please check your email address and re-enter your password.. Login again

Frequently Asked Login Questions (FAQs)

1. Why can't I login?

   There could be a few reasons you cannot log in to your email.

   1. Your email provider may require specific settings. If this is the case, try using an Advanced Connection and specify your settings.
   2. Check to make sure you are typing your password with your caps lock key off, and that you are using the same password you use for your email client.
   3. Some corporate email servers will lock your account after several tries. If you are trying to check your work email and you've failed to login a few times, check with your work IT department for assistance.....

So, what am I doing wrong or is it again the Plusnet webmail service which is not working properly ?

[#7]

Solved the https://mail2web.com problem by trial and error.  Where it asks for my email address, I have been doing just that, namely *******@********.plus.com.  I eventually succeeded by leaving out the full email address (alias) and just using my Plusnet User Name followed by @plus.com.

While that seems to work, it does not enable me either to use housekeep on my folders or even to delete my folders, and loading was no quicker than the standard Plusnet webmail service.  So I do not appear to be any further forward.