Hosted exchange server email providers - who is good/cheap?

[coolVariable]

who can you recommend as a hosted exchange provider?
Definitely want to use Outlook with the exchange account and have push email (+ contacts and calendar) via activesync on my WM phone.

1. MS seems to charge $10/month.

2. Godaddy just started offering hosted exchange services (but it's not clear if they charge $6.99 or $9.99 for 'mobile services').

3. mail2web seems to offer mobile for $4.95/month but blocks outlook on that plan, i.e. if you want to use Mobile + Outlook with your exchange account it's $9.95?


What's the best (and cheapest) in your opinion?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Any self respecting geek would setup a home server running exchange and buy their domain name....kids these days, pfft.

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
Any self respecting geek would setup a home server running exchange and buy their domain name....kids these days, pfft.

Lol. But yeah, that's probably the best option, though not necessarily the cheapest (unless you can get a free/cheap copy of Exchange or have a TechNet subscription).

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
Any self respecting geek would setup a home server running exchange and buy their domain name....kids these days, pfft.

Sure but what if he or she does not want all the fuss of doing this?
Residential IP addresses are often on RBLs for sending email. The Exchange server can be configured to use the ISP SMTP server as a smarthost to prevent this I suppose. OWA may have to use an alternate port if the ISP blocks 80 inbound. Don't know if this affects OMA/smartphones, etc. Then one has to set up the server, purchase the software licenses and maintain the server. If the ISP feed goes down or there is a power failure messages will bounce unless the host registering has a store and forward queue set up. A suitable database/mailbox backup plan needs to be in effect. If the database experiences a dirty shutdown familiarity of ESEUTIL is essential. This can happen if the server is running on substandard hardware or something overclocked or was overclocked. Sometimes it just is not worth the hassle to have something that works for a few bucks a month.

 

[hiromizu]

mailstreet has been quite good. You're gonna pay at least $10/month with anyone.

 

[Mungla]

I host multiple Exchange servers with 1000+ mailboxes each. It's definitely not cheap to setup Exchange, implement proper firewall security, and then deal with ISP issues, static IP address, or even services like Postini for filtering/queing. And yes, ESEUTIL is a godsend. Just watch the /R option carefully.

 

[Goosemaster]

for personal an SMB: price/results ratio foes in favor of mail2web

pro/med business: mail2web , mailstreet

high: MS, rackspace

 

[coolVariable]

Suggesting self hosting for 1 email account, esepcially since I asked about HOSTED exchange providers, is a little moronic, isn't it?
The electricity bill for the exchange server for 1 account would be higher than the cost of getting a hosted exchange account for $10/month.


No providers in the $5/month range?

(charging $4-$5 extra for activesync or outlook connectivity is ridiculous IMO)

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
Any self respecting geek would setup a home server running exchange and buy their domain name....kids these days, pfft.

Sure but what if he or she does not want all the fuss of doing this?
Residential IP addresses are often on RBLs for sending email. The Exchange server can be configured to use the ISP SMTP server as a smarthost to prevent this I suppose. OWA may have to use an alternate port if the ISP blocks 80 inbound. Don't know if this affects OMA/smartphones, etc. Then one has to set up the server, purchase the software licenses and maintain the server. If the ISP feed goes down or there is a power failure messages will bounce unless the host registering has a store and forward queue set up. A suitable database/mailbox backup plan needs to be in effect. If the database experiences a dirty shutdown familiarity of ESEUTIL is essential. This can happen if the server is running on substandard hardware or something overclocked or was overclocked. Sometimes it just is not worth the hassle to have something that works for a few bucks a month.

Wow, you took my joke in entirely the wrong direction.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: coolVariable

(charging $4-$5 extra for activesync or outlook connectivity is ridiculous IMO)

how so?

 

[MrChad]

We've had great luck with MailStreet.

 

[Drakkon]

have you looked into gmail for your domain? It is setup pretty much like an exchange server now...I have my domain setup on my windows mobile phone and get mail, calendar, contacts, all integrated with my domain account. Even seems to work with Outlook like that as well using Google Apps Sync.

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: Drakkon
have you looked into gmail for your domain? It is setup pretty much like an exchange server now...I have my domain setup on my windows mobile phone and get mail, calendar, contacts, all integrated with my domain account. Even seems to work with Outlook like that as well using Google Apps Sync.

Gmail doesn't have true push email.

Godaddy says that they offer activesync even on their $6.99 plan.

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: coolVariable

(charging $4-$5 extra for activesync or outlook connectivity is ridiculous IMO)

how so?

Because it doesn't cost them anything extra.

 

[Tsaico]

Originally posted by: coolVariable

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: coolVariable

(charging $4-$5 extra for activesync or outlook connectivity is ridiculous IMO)

how so?

Because it doesn't cost them anything extra.

Yeah, I agree with this. They must have taken a page out of Ticket Master' book.

 

[Drakkon]

Originally posted by: coolVariable

Originally posted by: Drakkon
have you looked into gmail for your domain? It is setup pretty much like an exchange server now...I have my domain setup on my windows mobile phone and get mail, calendar, contacts, all integrated with my domain account. Even seems to work with Outlook like that as well using Google Apps Sync.

Gmail doesn't have true push email.

Godaddy says that they offer activesync even on their $6.99 plan.

I just set it to be be an IMAP account and get messages every 5 minutes...close enough...and for free I can't complain

 

[KeithP]

I had used mail2web for awhile before I switching to gmail, no complaints.

-KeithP

 

[coolVariable]

Ok. Then please explain how to get PUSH email with gmail.


IT DOESN'T WORK!!!

F*** gmail.

 

[drinkmorejava]

Push mail does work with gmail, at least with blackberries anyway.

And do you necessarily need hosted exchange? The MOS cloud solution is pretty decent.
www.microsoftonline.com
There is an online only option for $2-3 a month, but there are several packages offering various degrees of service.

PM me if you want to know more about it. Disclaimer, I work for a MS Gold Partner and help sell this product.

 

[coolVariable]

1. Read the original post!
2. No gmail does not offer true push email since they didn't license activesync.
3. Will look at MOS but essentially want something that works exactly like an exchange server: (seamless) sync of contacts, calendar and (push) email across phone, outlook and web access.

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: drinkmorejava
Push mail does work with gmail, at least with blackberries anyway.

And do you necessarily need hosted exchange? The MOS cloud solution is pretty decent.
www.microsoftonline.com
There is an online only option for $2-3 a month, but there are several packages offering various degrees of service.

PM me if you want to know more about it. Disclaimer, I work for a MS Gold Partner and help sell this product.

That's Microsoft's hosted exchange offering ... which costs $10/month ... not $2-3.

 

[drinkmorejava]

It is not "hosted" Exchange, many companies, including Microsoft, have been offering that for years and years. In all likelihood, you really, really do not want that. This is an online cloud solution, which provides some level of exchange integration.

Anyway, ignoring semantics, Exchange online is actually $8.61/m for the time being.

 

[Mr Pickles]

www.syapps.com

 

[coolVariable]

Originally posted by: drinkmorejava
It is not "hosted" Exchange, many companies, including Microsoft, have been offering that for years and years. In all likelihood, you really, really do not want that. This is an online cloud solution, which provides some level of exchange integration.

Anyway, ignoring semantics, Exchange online is actually $8.61/m for the time being.

What's the difference between exchange online and MS's hosted exchange service?

Because I think I really, really want a hosted exchange account for personal use but am not willing to pay $10/month for it.

 

[coolVariable]

Sorry for the delay, I have been busy over the weekend.

Except for the last 18ish months, hosted exchange has exclusively meant an offsite provider hosting a real exchange server for you, with real exchange costs, and assuming you don't pay them for management, you would have to run everything yourself using the normal admin tools, including ADUC and adsiedit. This is what many small companies with little or no IT department have done forever.

For all intensive purposes, the new 3rd party exchange email providers are not giving you anything resembling exchange, other than outlook sync. Even Exchange Online has very few similarities.

Ultimately, exchange online will give you the best features for windows mobile, but if you don't want to pay $, then it's not going to be for you. Despite the 8.61/month, we've been moving all of our clients over, because it's insanely cheap compared to running our own servers. If you sign up before the price changes (you have to make an account and go to the mocp and add a subscription to your shopping cart before you see the discount) I believe the fee will never go up to the normal rate.

Anyway, as far as cheaper options go, GApps premier is $50/year with min 5 accounts, and will give you task syncing with outlook and more space, as well as a few other features like Postini filtering. I'm not sure when they'll be turning on MAPI push for windows mobile devices. Using free GApps you already get calendar and contact syncing using a desktop and phone application. Free and premier both have instant push email for blackberries.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thought I would post this in here.