NZ domiciled paid webmail with old-fashioned billing?

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jfw01

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#322789 22-Sep-2025 18:15

Hello all,

I'm wondering who I can pay for webmail which is:

funded by me, not by advertising or by training an AI
functionally a drop-in replacement for gmail
not tied to my choice of ISP
stored at rest in New Zealand
processed near the storage
generally subject only to New Zealand law (modulo my counterparty)
billed on paper (because whether I have an email address to receive on is exactly the open question)
settled by direct debit to a New Zealand bank account

My nirvana would include paying up front for, at the end of the relationship, two copies of the data on whatever removable media is current, and the provider to use best endeavors to locate my executors, in order to deliver the data to them.

I recognise that this is desparately old-fashioned. I used to have a career in tech. Now that tech has moved on, I loathe not having a hands-wet understanding of it. These are the criteria on which I'm contemplating trusting it.

Regards,
James.

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#3417499 22-Sep-2025 18:43

I can't think of any NZ options that would fit more than 5 out of 8 of your points above. Good luck getting paper billing out of any tech-centric company these days.

If you can put up with IMAP/SMTP, consider 1st Domains. A good Kiwi company (Voyager) that I can't picture every selling to an offshore company.

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#3417513 22-Sep-2025 19:25

7) I can't see happening

richms

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#3417533 22-Sep-2025 20:47

Nothing will be a drop in replacement for gmail, as noone will be developing an app like that for a small provider. And paper billing, you get that when you use your printer to print the bill out.

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gzt

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#3417535 22-Sep-2025 20:47

jfw01: Hello all, I'm wondering who I can pay for webmail which is: [eight requirements

I'm curious how much are you willing to pay for this service and how many addresses do you require, and does it need to be a particular domain you own?

Imo there are several small isps who can probably provide the service. I'm guessing there's one small enough somewhere willing to send you a paper bill.

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#3417536 22-Sep-2025 20:53

Apparently Spark have moved away from yahoo and are hosting webmail locally. I assume Spark can bill on paper?

https://www.spark.co.nz/help/get-more/xtra/webmail-basics

Perhaps there is someone from Spark here to confirm or comment.

danfaulknor

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#3417537 22-Sep-2025 20:54

gzt:
jfw01: Hello all, I'm wondering who I can pay for webmail which is: [eight requirements

I'm curious how much are you willing to pay for this service and how many addresses do you require, and does it need to be a particular domain you own?

Imo there are several small isps who can probably provide the service. I'm guessing there's one small enough somewhere willing to send you a paper bill.

Yeah we'd be open to doing this, the price would just have to cover the cost of someone mailing the bill :)

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#3418363 24-Sep-2025 11:45

danfaulknor:

Yeah we'd be open to doing this, the price would just have to cover the cost of someone mailing the bill :)

If @danfaulknor's option doesn't work (gotta support those on Geekzone first!), I use 25 Mail St and have done for several years without issue. It's run my Rimu Hosting, who are in NZ (Cambridge) About RimuHosting - RimuHosting. They are even have an article about Gmail! Beyond Gmail: Taking back control of your own email address – RimuHosting Blog

25 Mail St.: Managed email hosting

MichaelNZ

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#3419866 29-Sep-2025 21:05

jfw01:

funded by me, not by advertising or by training an AI
functionally a drop-in replacement for gmail
not tied to my choice of ISP
stored at rest in New Zealand
processed near the storage
generally subject only to New Zealand law (modulo my counterparty)
billed on paper (because whether I have an email address to receive on is exactly the open question)
settled by direct debit to a New Zealand bank account

We could potentially do this but seeing Dan has already offered you could consider Prodigi.

But to offer another perspective on your points.

We do not use any client data for training AI or advertising. You are paying for the service so its a very transparent financial arrangement.
We offer Webmail and IMAP / SMTP access so a good replacemnent for Gmail. You can access this via browser, mail client or phone app.
Its not but we can offer internet access if you want.
Yes. It is stored and processed on servers located at NZ's #1 Data Centre of choice for ISP's.
Does point 4 answer this?
In so far as we can, it is subject to NZ law. The company is a NZ company with NZ citizen owners.
Bills are emailed as PDF. Unless there is a bit of spend here we would be reluctant to do anything else.
This can be paid by internet banking, Visa or Mastercard. No surcharge.

I anticipate Dan will be able to sort you out but if you want to discuss this further my inbox is open.

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jfw01

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#3424555 13-Oct-2025 10:32

Hello Michael

I think that I'm clarifying your offer in case someone follows in my footsteps.

MichaelNZ:

We could potentially do this but seeing Dan has already offered you could consider Prodigi.

But to offer another perspective on your points.

We do not use any client data for training AI or advertising. You are paying for the service so its a very transparent financial arrangement.
We offer Webmail and IMAP / SMTP access so a good replacemnent for Gmail. You can access this via browser, mail client or phone app.
Its not but we can offer internet access if you want.
Yes. It is stored and processed on servers located at NZ's #1 Data Centre of choice for ISP's.
Does point 4 answer this?
In so far as we can, it is subject to NZ law. The company is a NZ company with NZ citizen owners.
Bills are emailed as PDF. Unless there is a bit of spend here we would be reluctant to do anything else.
This can be paid by internet banking, Visa or Mastercard. No surcharge.

I anticipate Dan will be able to sort you out but if you want to discuss this further my inbox is open.

4. Where (at a level of cities) is that data centre?

5. Well, maybe somebody is about to rent compute cycles for processing remote data, and it's cheap enough (probably after rewards from abusing the data :-) to displace local cpus. I've been out of IT for long enough to really not know how baroque it can be.

7. Email billing would be a stress-point for me.

8. That (payment cards) is currently breaking for me.

Regards,
James.

MichaelNZ

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#3424675 13-Oct-2025 15:30

jfw01:

4. Where (at a level of cities) is that data centre?

In Auckland.

jfw01:

5. Well, maybe somebody is about to rent compute cycles for processing remote data, and it's cheap enough (probably after rewards from abusing the data :-) to displace local cpus. I've been out of IT for long enough to really not know how baroque it can be.

7. Email billing would be a stress-point for me.

8. That (payment cards) is currently breaking for me.

Like everyone else I know, we are setup to do email billing so unless you have a big spend, a change to this is not something we can cater for. However, to extrapolate on this every big spending client I can think of wants their accounts delivered electronically and to make payment electronically.

I have worked in this industry since the mid 90's and have found there is an inverse relationship between unusual needs and client revenue.

When we are talking about 1-in-1,000 type level its just not compelling for us to do the deal.

What I am trying to say here is if you want the best you need to be playing in the same arena as lots of others and therefore would be well served to fix your end and work like they do.

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Earbanean

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#3424686 13-Oct-2025 16:41

Linux:

7) I can't see happening

Just print the email bill. I guess you could then put it in an envelope and mail to yourself if you really wanted, but I'd probably not do that.

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BlakJak

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#3437708 26-Nov-2025 16:03

Old thread but i'm dying to know why email billing for your own email environment would be such a stressor?

I have more faith in my personal email service than I do in paper mail delivery to my letterbox, what with neighbours, mail theft, inclement weather destroying paper items, etc.

Also, as much as I love domestic hosting, there aren't a lot of downsides to Australia based hosting and that greatly increases your options. They're generally considered to have compatible legal and privacy frameworks with NZ.

(There's some great options in this thread in terms of domestic operators; the paper billing thing is going to be a major dealbreaker for most of them though. Save some trees!)

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BlakJak

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#3437710 26-Nov-2025 16:04

Oh and why direct debit? Why give them the ability to control how much money comes out of your bank account? Use Internet Banking, pay them the amount you agree to, at the time that works for you.

No signature to see here, move along...

danfaulknor

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#3437714 26-Nov-2025 16:26

BlakJak:

The paper billing thing is going to be a major dealbreaker for most of them though. Save some trees!

We did offer this option, for a price, but I am guessing OP found it too expensive as I haven't heard back from them in over a month (now that I check, they haven't opened my message in reply to their last set of questions).

they/them

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#3437720 26-Nov-2025 16:59

Sounds like a time waster!

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