E-Mail Setup - New Domain etc

[Matthew]

I have been approched by an orginisation who are not best pleased with their e-mail setup. There are about 5 people who work for it and have odd combinations of e-mail i.e. Hotmail, Yahoo, Lycos etc. One of the problems caused is with the Yahoo account, all is setup and working in Outlook Express but when they wanted to send a document (about 34mb via NTL basic package - home one) it would not send so I said they might be better with a domain i.e. theirorginisation.org.uk, as it is easier to remember address, looks more professional and I said I think there should be no problems sending large documents.

I have come to the conclusion that something like the 1and1.co.uk Exchange package would be ideal for them but want to know the best way around this. We are a business who want to make profit as such but once the domain has been registered we do not want any more as such to do with it.

Please can someone advise.

Thanks.

[SMHarman]

Do they have an exchange server yet? Are all these ees in the same building, just using external mail to communicate? Is there an internal network?

[Matthew]

It is some kind of Church orginisation but I went to what I believe is the main office, just a room in a house where two people are based. There is no network just two machines I think.

I was thinking of using 1and1.co.uk's Exchange package.

34mb via e-mail

Not a very bright idea - and you have mis-informed them as well - many smtp servers would reject it, not to mention many pop servers and/or mail reception systems would refuse to accept it. They should really look at other ways to send the file.

[Raistlin]

Originally Posted by Paul M

34mb via e-mail

Not a very bright idea - and you have mis-informed them as well - many smtp servers would reject it, not to mention many pop servers and/or mail reception systems would refuse to accept it. They should really look at other ways to send the file.

Also would be worth asking why they need to send the file.

I quite often get asked, at work, to find a way to make something happen for someone. When I ask them why they want to do it that way it turns out that they weren't aware there was any other way of doing it.

What I'm saying is that they may be trying to send large amounts of information to eachother (or other people) that could actually be hosted on the web. People could then view it/download it as they require.

Alternatively, they could be trying to email a couple of images. By resizing/resampling the images you could cut the file size down drastically and save some bandwidth.

I know that's not strictly on topic for the question that you asked, but it's worth considering anyway. Even if you do get the email/domain thing sorted you will still have problems, as Paul M has pointed out, sending emails that large.

[Matthew]

When I took a look on Yahoo's site it said maximum was 10mb I think. I said that it would have to be split down and I said I thought you could send larger ones but was not 100% on this but would look into it.

Do you think the best bet would be to use something like the Exchange package? As they want more memorable address, ones that look better and something that can be controlled from one thing.

[Raistlin]

Not had a chance to have a proper look at the Exchange package but it appears to be entirely web-based.

Not sure how that solves your problem. They might be better going for a web hosting package and uploading any excessively large files to the site for other people to download.

That way the get email addresses like anamehere@theirorganisation.co.uk plus they can expand and have a web presence etc if they want it in the future.

The other advantage is that they can use their existing software (in this case Outlook Express) to download their emails. They aren't having to learn the new (web based) software that is used in the package you are quoting. Add all of that to the fact that web hosting would probably work out cheaper.....
__________________

I think the key thing to do here is to go right back to basics.

What do they need?

Why do they need it?

How often do they need it?

How much are they prepared to pay to get it?

[Matthew]

I have got a meeting with the person who I work with tomorrow, yes I know its bank holiday but we live accross the road from each other and are good friends. I am going to discuss options said on here and then take a look at it all.

Getting them to learn new ways will not be a problem and we will provide documentation if not already provided with package.

Just to answer a few of the questions in the last post, it will be used daily and cost is not really an issue.

I will mention the use of webspace for transfering large documents like the one that was attempted to be sent via e-mail.

Thanks for you help so far. Will get back on here if need any more help/advise.

[Raistlin]

Originally Posted by Matthew

Thanks for you help so far. Will get back on here if need any more help/advise.

No prob's. Glad to help.

[Chris W]

gmail accounts all round i reckon... no problem sending large files there.... largest i have achieved is 600meg!

FTP or p2p is definately the best way to share larger files though, but can be difficult to explain to those who are not particularly savvy.

Originally Posted by monkeybreath

gmail accounts all round i reckon... no problem sending large files there.... largest i have achieved is 600meg!

The fact that gmail can send it does not mean the destination system will receive it. I doubt you can send 600mb to an ntl mail account, you certainly could not send it to any company system I have seen.

[Chris W]

Originally Posted by Paul M

The fact that gmail can send it does not mean the destination system will receive it. I doubt you can send 600mb to an ntl mail account, you certainly could not send it to any company system I have seen.

aye true, but i was under the impression that the small group of people were intending to send large files between each other, in which case gmail would be a viable option... plus i have about 200 invites to get rid of