General Question

dappled_leaves's avatar

What's a good alternative to gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo?

Asked by dappled_leaves (15893points) February 16th, 2017

I’m looking for a different email provider. Any recommendations? I’ll be using it as a sort of throw-away/spam account, but will want to keep tabs on it and may want to repurpose it later.

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15 Answers

Hawaii_Jake's avatar

I actually use a separate Gmail account for my throwaway needs. I know that the Gmail software will ask you whether or not you want to link it with your other accounts, but I simply always answer no. I haven’t had any problems with this arrangement.

Edit to add: I used Mail.com for a while for throwaway stuff. I did not like it.

Vincentt's avatar

What are your reasons for disliking those three? That might help in determining what kind of alternative you’re looking for.

imrainmaker's avatar

Try rediffmail. Go to www.rediff.com.

Call_Me_Jay's avatar

Outlook.com is Microsoft’s offering, formerly known as Hotmail.

Zaku's avatar

There are many other email providers.

Many ISPs offer email included with your connection to the Internet (e.g. bobx5@comcast.com). Many also offer email accounts for a fee that are not associated with an Internet connection (e.g. Sitestar.net is good but $5/month).

If you have a web site, often your hosting provider will provide you with free email as well (e.g. Dreamhost.com).

There are also companies that offer free email accounts, though they vary in their limits and requirements. Here is a current article comparing ten such offers. Google “free email” for a bazillion alternatives.

Also, if you know a friend who runs a web site, there’s a decent chance he/she could set up a free email account for you under his/her domain.

zenvelo's avatar

You can still get an AOL account. AOL does not filter spam very well, so it might get tiresome if you use aol for visiting commercial or porn sites.

rojo's avatar

A USPS P.O. box?

Joedone56's avatar

Gmail is good to use, I didn’t received any spam email.

BellaB's avatar

I’m curious why you don’t get a second yahoo/gmail/hotmail account? it’s easy to toggle between accounts.

Hawaii_Jake's avatar

@BellaB There are many reasons to have an email account that is in no way linked to any other email account one might have. I have one specific account on Gmail that I use for making intimate contacts, but I do not want it associated with my other Gmail accounts. I simply don’t link them. There are probably a million reasons to want an unlinked account. I can think of business reasons. I can think of family reasons.

I have 4 Gmail accounts, and 1 is unlinked to the others. I have a Yahoo account that is only used to allow access to my main Gmail account, should I somehow get locked out of it. I use it for nothing else. I used to have a Hotmail account that I abandoned, because it became a hassle proving I was me every time I signed in.

BellaB's avatar

I have a couple of gmail accounts, one yahoo account, several hotmail accounts. They all have different purposes. There is a primary hotmail account that I’ve had for close to 20 years, the others are single purpose disposables. The only link between any of them is that the yahoo account is the access account for two other accounts. Set also has a yahoo account on my computer. It is not linked to any of my accounts.

I was curious what the benefit to using still another provider would be.

hearkat's avatar

I use the email through my internet service provider (currently the cable tv company) as my throwaway box for rewards cards and the like. I don’t even have it set up on my mobile – I only check it periodically from my computer, and then I usually ‘Unsubscribe’ from what I receive.

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