Who else to trial for single user custom domain email/calendar/contacts hosting?

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Baboon

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#283840 15-Mar-2021 14:24

My needs:

Multiple custom domain support, with a unified inbox.
Plenty of aliases (at _least_ ten, preferably 20+).
5GB+ storage.
Calendar.
The ability to set multiple alerts for a calendar event, that are either a notification or email.
Contacts.
IMAP (there are some free/very low-cost plans without, so I thought it worth mentioning)
ActiveSync or CalDAV and CardDAV.
Decent webmail, since I prefer to use webmail on the desktop, as I move between a number of computers and OSes in a given day.
And since I couldn't do this with Zoho Mail webmail - the ability to one click archive email into a separate folder in web mail. Zoho webmail has its very own funky archiving that actually just hides email, and doesn't work with other email clients that only comprehend arching to a folder.

I think that's everything. I really should've started a list earlier on in my quest :-)

Anyway, I'm wanting to move away from Google Workspace after an atrocious support experience late last year soured me on Google.

So far, I've tried Zoho Mail https://www.zoho.com/mail/zohomail-pricing.html , which was excellent value on paper, but had its own funky archiving by hiding method that doesn't translate to other clients, even their own Zoho Mail for Android app! :-D And accessing its calendar via ActiveSync cut the number of alerts from four in the web client to only 1 in other clients - again, even in Zoho Mail's own Android app :-(

I'm currently trying out Microsoft 365 Business Basic https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/microsoft-365/business/microsoft-365-business-basic , which is the web-only Office apps one. I don't need desktop MS Office apps.
I'm finding web Outlook as clunky, uninspired, and shy of quality-of-life features and innovation, as I recall desktop Outlook from my last office job. Still, it does the job... though the birthdays calendar it generates from contact info is bugged to offset dates by +1 in the calendar - see this post for more info: https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumId=86&topicId=283814
I also cannot set more than a single notification-only alert per calendar event :-(
And for the life of me, I cannot access app-specific password generation. The ability to do _is_ enabled for my user, but the facility is just not there where it ought to be in admin security.

So, I'm not warming to MS 365, either.

Next up to try on my list, is Fastmail https://www.fastmail.com/pricing/ , which many have told me very good. And then Rackspace Email https://www.rackspace.com/applications/rackspace-email , and Namecheap Private Email https://www.namecheap.com/hosting/email/

Do you think I'm missing any good options to try? Or perhaps I should leap straight to one of the other two remaining on my shortlist?

I'd have liked to have gone with a NZ host, but I struggled to find the value locally for my modest storage and user needs. So any stable country is fine.

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#2674952 15-Mar-2021 14:46

If G-Suite or M365 aren't doing it for you, I respectfully suggest your expectations may need adjusting. Yes you are just a number to them, with M365 you can phone for support (though it is slow). You can use your favourite client to go with an M365 mailbox, though I recommend avoiding IMAP clients as the calendar and contacts sync is generally lacking.

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Baboon

386 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2674973 15-Mar-2021 14:59

Google App/G Suite/Workspace was great... right up to the point late last year, when I needed support. Google Contacts share top spots with Apple Contacts as the best contacts I've ever used. I can do everything I want with Google Calendar. And Gmail's labels system is excellent, and I love how they made it work with IMAP as well. Plus, I like the Gmail web UI enough, that it's all I've used on the desktop for the past 14 years.

MS's support is way better than Google's, yes, but so far, they've failed to resolve the two cases I've opened since beginning my trial. And even if they do solve them, I'm finding the whole 365 experience underwhelming.

Yeah, I know I can use other clients - even with exchange, but decent webmail is important to me. I do not want to have to have an email app setup on every machine I use. On mobile that's fine, because I'm not switching between them.

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michaelmurfy

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#2674987 15-Mar-2021 15:29

What support do you really need with such a small account and how is it bad?

I've got a bigger account again and have Google Workspace (the grandfathered free plan) and have never wished I wanted support - it has always "just worked" since I set it up in 2009.

Personally, I think your expectations are set too high.

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Baboon

386 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2675036 15-Mar-2021 15:40

My expectation is that when something goes seriously wrong with a Google service I've been paying for, I'll get some... what's the term I'm thinking of... oh yeah... _help!_ ;-)

But seriously - I don't expect Google to hold my hand because, say, I don't know how to do something. Especially with their services I'm not paying for. I _do_ expect just a _wee bit more_ when I'm a paying customer and I suffer a serious issue that is 100% on Google's side, out of my hands, and not caused by me.

And you'll note that nowhere in my list things I want from hosted email/contacts/calendar, did I mention support :-) That said - again, if I'm paying, I do expect a certain minimum level of effective support. You might feel differently, and that's fine. But I expect companies taking my money, to own their bugs and mistakes with user accounts, and do something about it :-)

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KiwiSurfer

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#2675069 15-Mar-2021 17:31

I'd recommend Fastmail. Find it fantastic for my personal needs.

Baboon

386 posts

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#2675082 15-Mar-2021 17:35

Fastmail are indeed my next service to try, as I say. I'm hopeful given their good rep and the number of people recommending them, that I'll have a good enough experience to find my new email hosting home with them :-)

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jarledb

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#2675083 15-Mar-2021 17:36

Baboon:
Anyway, I'm wanting to move away from Google Workspace after an atrocious support experience late last year soured me on Google.

I am curious, what was the support issue? What happened?

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Baboon

386 posts

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#2675088 15-Mar-2021 18:06

One of my user accounts had its YouTube account banned without warning (no strikes had been previously handed out), with only the most non-specific and unhelpful of reasons given - basically that I'd breached TOS (in an undefined manner). Despite the YouTube account being Premium and the parent Google Workspace account being paid for, I was unable to get any effective help or answers. I just kept being bounced between YouTube support and Google Workspace support.

Now losing all the watch and comment history as well as playlists from a YouTube account over a decade old, was bad enough. But they also disabled the parent Google account's ability to create new YouTube account or even access the UI to switch YouTube accounts while logged in with the parent Google account.

Was it something I uploaded? A comment I'd made? Something else? I can't tell you because I was never informed. My best guess is an upload, as my commenting has remained both consistent and inoffensive, if not downright dull for many years. Two months of effort with support reps who wouldn't communicate with each other, nor read what I'd previously written, had me reach a point of no hope this January. I gave up, and started reading reviews of other email hosts, and taking a look at likely candidates.

Because I'm not putting up with that kind of treatment. I promise I am way too boring to have done anything so outrageous it would result in an insta-ban, with no prior strikes, heh. Yet it happened to me, and was immensely frustrating for someone who spends a lot of time in YouTube (it's pretty much replaced TV for me), and was deep into the Google ecosystem - and happily so for many years.

Oh, and to rub salt into the wound, Google also left my 'Purchases' page of that Google account FUBARed after the ban - it simply would not load in any browser or YouTube app. I could not cancel my Premium sub before it rolled over, and ended up having to request YouTube support cancel it.
Sure, it was only another month's sub, but it riled me - you know?

Anyway - that's what happened to make me want to move away from using Google services as much as is practically possible, given I use Android and there really is no decent YouTube alternative. I realise they could care less about the drop in the bucket... no, more like ocean, that my business with them represented. But it just feels wrong to encourage their behaviour.

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jarledb

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#2675106 15-Mar-2021 18:56

Ah ok, so it had nothing to do with Google Workspace but was an issue with another of Google's services.

So are you moving away from everything Google and Google developed?

Baboon

386 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2675112 15-Mar-2021 19:16

Well, as I said above: I don't find it practical to fully abandon Google services, given I use Android (though switching back to iOS in the future is now highly attractive) and there really is no decent replacement for YouTube.

Plus, I'd add that it would be tough to fully give up Google and Google Maps - both of which are just so much better than the competition.

But I can move away from Gmail/Workspace, I'm certainly not paying for YouTube Premium again (instead I've started using Patreon, and have re-enabled ad-block on YouTube), I've already been using new Edge as my web browser on all supported platforms (and might even go with Firefox again, but I'll want to give it a test run first), and - well, I won't bore you with the rest of the many steps I've taken. Suffice it to say there are plenty of ways to reduce my usage of Google services without a loss in quality of life :-)

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cyril7

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#2675120 15-Mar-2021 19:38

Have you ever as a GSuite or whatever its called now, customer actually contacted them for support, I have in the past for some really curly issues, there are real people at the end of the line, they know there stuff and are very effective.

Cyril

Baboon

386 posts

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#2675124 15-Mar-2021 19:52

It is confusing, heh :-) 'Google Apps for Your Domain' - as it started out, rebranded as 'G Suite', which in turn was re-branded as 'Workspace'.

Well, all I can say is they would not help me with my YouTube account. I just kept getting bounced between YouTube and Workspace support.

YouTube support claimed they couldn't help me because the parent account was a Workspace one, and I should contact my admin (which is me!) or Workspace support.

Whereas Workspace support claimed they couldn't help me, and I should contact YouTube support... LOL.

I even tried hitting Google and YouTube up on Twitter, but they also wouldn't help. Not even to simply clarify why my account was banned in such an over-the-top fashion.

No one would take responsibility and help me in an effective manner. And every time I got a reply or made contact again, it was with a new person who wouldn't read past communications, and I'd have to start all over again...

It was painfully clear I was being denied even the glimmer of hope that would be a proper support request, with notes, continuity, actual help... :-(

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freitasm

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#2675161 15-Mar-2021 21:38

Many years ago (too far back) I had a paid Google Apps account. The one time I needed support I was told to post in their "community support forum" - despite being a paid customer.

Moved to Microsoft BPOS (which was later renamed Microsoft Office 365) and never looked back.

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#2675164 15-Mar-2021 21:42

@freitasm - I had exactly the same experience with Google. I've switched over to Office 365 and have only used their phone/callback support twice... and was very impressed with the follow through on both occassions.

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#2676290 17-Mar-2021 21:29

If you listen to Hello Internet https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Internet now on hiatus, they talk at length about Youtube and the problems you have described with banning and support issues et al.

Long story short, because they are effectively a monopoly, they can get away with it.

Jon

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