Most internet service providers (ISPs) offer free POP3 email addresses when you sign up. Emails are retrieved and downloaded to the user's computer using an email client such as Outlook, Eudora, or Mac Mail. While POP3 email is extremely useful, there are many webmail clients which offer a lot of excellent functionality, coupled with the benefit of being able to read emails from any location.

The three most popular webmail providers are Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Gmail (Google Mail). After Gmail was released in 2004, the bar for the standards of webmail services was raised considerably, and both Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail hurried to catch up with its fast, Ajax-based interface and huge storage limit, although both Yahoo! and Hotmail still offer their original interfaces for those who can't or won't switch over. All three services now offer advanced features, but each of them has a very different interface.

Windows Live Hotmail offers 2GB of storage space and a 10MB attachment size limit. It features an integrated audio player for mp3s emailed as attachments; a variety of colour schemes to personalise the user experience; and an Outlook-style paned view where the inbox can be viewed at the same time as a message. Drag-and-drop features are also supported, and the service boasts improved spam and virus protection, as well as inline spell-checking. Windows Live Hotmail does not work in the Mac browser, Safari. A small advert is inserted at the end of every email sent. For a fee, users can upgrade to 10GB of storage, a 20MB attachment size limit, no advertisements, and POP3 access (which is limited to the Outlook and Outlook Express clients).

Yahoo! Mail has "unlimited" mail storage (at the moment, it is unclear just how unlimited this is, but it is unlikely that most personal users will exceed any hidden limits), and a maximum attachment size of 10MB. Yahoo! Mail also has an Outlook-style interface which is reasonably fast and reliable. Yahoo! Mail does not work in Safari, and advertisements are embedded at the end of every email sent, as well as on the pages of the email account area. Account upgrades are also available.

Gmail (Google Mail) is very different from both Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail. It is not designed to look like an email client; the interface is extremely minimal and simple. Advertising is limited to AdSense text ads. The storage limit increases slowly all the time, and is currently at just over 2.9GB; the attachment size limit is 20MB. Like Yahoo! Mail, Google Chat is integrated into the interface, and like Windows Live Hotmail, mp3s and other sound files can be played within the webmail interface. Gmail allows users to use an excellent labelling system to organise their emails, and the system is remarkably fast in all browsers. Emails are archived in threads, meaning that users can easily view an entire email conversation on one page. Gmail's spam and virus filtering is also excellent.

Also, Gmail allows you to use its interface like a desktop email client: you can use POP3 to access other, non-Gmail POP3 accounts in the Gmail webmail interface. This service is free, as is POP3 access to your Gmail account via the email client of your choice. It is also possible to add an extra 6GB of storage space to your account for a fee. Gmail is also well-integrated with other Google products, such as the calendar, document and spreadsheet applications. Usefully, there is now a Firefox add-on, G-Space, which allows you to use your Gmail storage space to upload and store any files you choose.

As you can probably tell, Gmail is my favourite of the three – it's fast, reliable, and it has some truly excellent features, not least the POP3 access and labelling system. However, if you are looking for what is essentially Outlook in a webmail format, Yahoo! Mail is probably your best bet.

By Iain Ford

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