Access Email From Anywhere

by Alden Smith

One of the biggest benefits of my job as a freelance writer is the ability to work from anywhere I have an internet connection. I spend large blocks of time with my children away from the home office, house sit for friends in the summer, and yet still have access to my email account through any computer I happen to be working on. Because email is an important part of my business, accessing it is essential. Today, people depend more on email to stay in touch with family and friends than through the written word. Being able to check your email from any location is a must if you travel or are out of town for any length of time. Today, this is an easy thing to do. There are a lot of different ways to access email, and many of them are safe and secure. Here, we will discuss how this is done and ways to access email away from home.

Using Online Accounts

The easiest way to access email is through an online account. There are many good ones out there, but the most popular ones are Yahoo! Mail and Google's GMail. Yahoo is easily accessible, and is the most used email client on the web. It has a lot of features much like a full blown email client, such as:

Unlimited storage
A calendar system
RSS feeds
"Drag and drop" capability
Yahoo! Messenger capability
Keyboard shortcuts
SMS Messaging in certain countries
Search capabilities
Notepad

Yahoo! Mail is my email client of choice when I travel. They recently changed to a more secure system, and it has always worked flawlessly for me. There have been issues of slow speeds and inability to access, but this is always true of any internet based application. Yahoo! provides two different interfaces to allow you the look and feel of your home email client. The calendar feature is priceless, because you have access to it from anywhere. This component is comparable to MS Outlook in its ability to save and access important dates and reminders. A plus feature for people is the ability to share your calendar with others through a secure system that is internet based.

G Mail, Google's answer to Yahoo! Mail, is another good email client that is web based. Originally, you had to have an invitation from a member to be able to access G Mail. Since February 2007, this is no longer the case.

G Mail has all of Google's cool bells and whistles, with access to a calendar system much like Outlook, access to Google Reader, which aggregates RSS feeds in one place, access to Google Documents and photos through their Picasa web albums. One of the features that is nice with G Mail is a small icon that can be placed in the task bar of a computer that notifies you of incoming email. Google also has the ability to show these features in many different languages.

A Business Solution

If you run a small business, especially one that is web based, then consider Microsoft Web Access. In anything web based, communication is critical to the project. Using MWA is a good way to accomplish every business need regarding communication. The application is heavy on security, making it an ideal solution. Accessed through a web browser, it requires secure authorization for the user. It handles this through Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology which handles not only user identification, but encrypts data transfer.

This is handled through the Microsoft Exchange Server. MES supports electronic mail, calendaring, contacts and tasks, and offers support for mobile and web-based access to information. An instant messaging eservice allows people to stay in contact easily. The service has the ability to allow access through different platforms and web browsers, making it universal to anyone wishing to access the service. Because it is an enterprise service, it needs to be purchased through Microsoft. Prices and information on this tool can be found on the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 website.

Free Services

There are a lot of free services available for web based email access. Some of these are mail2web, MyEmail.com, Mailreader.com and XS2Mail. Most of these services have advantages and disadvantages, but allow access to email on the road. A good list of these can be found at http://www.emailaddresses.com/email_fee.htm. Be aware, however, that you will be bombarded with spam and tons of advertising if you use them. An advantage for these email accounts is that they can be used for accessing information that you do not wish to have sent to your primary email account, thus reducing inbox spam.

Today, email can be accessed from anywhere, even through your mobile PDA or phone. Take advantage of these services as you travel.