What EMAIL solution is best for my business or organisation?

There are so many ways that email can be setup, so we thought a good blog might help you decide which is best for you.

• Ordinary Mailboxes
• Google Apps
• Office 365
• Gmail or Hotmail or Yahoo

Ordinary Mailboxes

You can configure your phone and computer to check your mailbox

You can configure Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail to POP (receive) from our mailboxes, and to SMTP (send) via our server, using your domain email address. 

We allow 1GB per mailbox. If you send lots of big files, you might eventually run out of space. 

To use our email service, simple ENABLE email in the CMS, and create the mailboxes and forwarding rules you require. And enable a DNS domain template where we are in charge of your MX records. 

We provide ordinary email mailboxes for all paying customers. You need a domain, plus a hosting account. You can pay for just email hosting if you want, and that's quite affordable at only NZ$7 + NZ$5 per additional mailbox. Aliases/forwarding rules are free. 

Google Apps

Google Apps is awesome. Not only can you manage your email, but you can also share files and calendars with your team. 

Google Apps costs about US$5-US$10 per user per month, depending on what features you need. Some charities may be entitled to free accounts. 

If you use Google Apps, you will still need someone to manage your DNS. DNS is provided free with all web hosting accounts. We charge a fee of $35 a year to provide DNS services to anyone who does not have a live website with us. 

To use, signup with google. Verifiy ownership of your domain, and then change your domain DNS template to one of the GMAIL/GoogleAPPs options. 

Office 365

Office 365 is pretty awesome too, and will be liked by those who are used to using outlook and other MS software.

It's a little more expensive but includes license to use Office software on your computer.

It's also a little complicated setting up office 365 in your DNS, but we have a handy wizard in our CMS to help you configure the DNS settings. 

Gmail or Hotmail or Yahoo

For small businesses, you can continue to use your existing private email address. Just add additional POP accounts in the setup area. This will allow you to receive and send on behalf of a domain email address. 

POP email will have a short delay before appearing in your inbox, as their servers have to poll our servers. 

There is usually no fee for this service. However, we charge a fee to provide the mailboxes if you don't currently have a paid web hosting plan. See the first option above re Ordinary Mailboxes. 

What Apps Are Best On My Devices?

If you are using Gmail or Google Apps, then you should use the specific Gmail app on your iphone. Do not use the integrated iphone mail app. The same would be true for Office 365, however, the writer does not have a great knowledge of those apps. 

If you are using standard mailboxes, then you can use the standard mail apps provided with the device. Or if you are POPing your mailbox email through Gmail or Hotmail or the like, then you should use the Gmail or Hotmail email app.

If you have a samsung phone, please do not use the samsung calendar app. Use the Google calendar app if you have google account. 

Support Around Email

We try to offer basic support for email, to confirm your email account is active via a test to webmail. Or a quick review of your DNS settings.  

If however, you have not quickly solved your issues, it may be that you require expert IT knowledge to help you. Generally having someone on site who can look at your computer or mobile device, will speed up this process. We suggest you contact an independent IT expert to help you. Sorry but our phone support is strictly limited to helping you build your website, and only basic email support. Where as many businesses have complex IT issues, that are better serviced by IT professionals. That's what they do best.