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Comcast To Launch New Webmail Suite
SmartZone will have Zimbra core...
Comcast is gearing up to offer their broadband customers a new browser-based webmail and messenger service with the open source Zimbra suite at its core, notes ZDNet. Dubbed SmartZone, the new webmail service should launch later this year. Zimbra says their open source platform will differentiate the product:
"The big advantage of open source [is] the creativity and innovation from the community. We show what we have and now everybody can take that and make slight tweaks and come after us, intentionally or unintentionally, on some of the things we are doing. A big difference between a good startup and bigger company and those that don’t survive is how to keep running far ahead [of the competition]. Zimbra was the first online suite to have offline AJAX capability. I'm sure within six months others will have it."
Comcast is spending big bucks to compete in the portal (advertising) space, and is worried that sub-par webmail will result in customers leaving for greener portal pastures.
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AnonProxy
Premium Member
join:2001-05-12

AnonProxy

Premium Member

bla bla bla

More bandwidth, not more AOL like services.

ColorBASIC
8-bit Fun
Premium Member
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA

1 recommendation

ColorBASIC

Premium Member

Re: bla bla bla

Handing out more bandwidth doesn't make them money. AOL like services does.

MysticGogeta
The Robot Devil
Premium Member
join:2005-03-14
Katy, TX

MysticGogeta to AnonProxy

Premium Member

to AnonProxy
Personally I would rather have a uncapped service.

LeftOfSanity
People Suck.
join:2005-11-06
Dover, DE

LeftOfSanity

Member

Re: bla bla bla

said by MysticGogeta:

Personally I would rather have a uncapped service.
Well, my system must begood, because there was a few months I've gone 300+ Gig's, and never heard a peep.

Did you ever get a letter?

telcolackey5
The Truth? You can't handle the truth
join:2007-04-06
Death Valley, CA

telcolackey5 to MysticGogeta

Member

to MysticGogeta
said by MysticGogeta:

Personally I would rather have a uncapped service.
Call the T1 provider megapath (typically they advertize on this site). You can get a T1 for $359.

Commercial usage = commercial rates

Mactron
el Camino Real
Premium Member
join:2001-12-16
PRK

Mactron to AnonProxy

Premium Member

to AnonProxy
Big Tubes.... (without Caps)
Not yet another useless portal.

ColorBASIC
8-bit Fun
Premium Member
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA

1 edit

ColorBASIC

Premium Member

Webmail isn't going to attract their users

Why would Comcast users need webmail at home where they control their portal?

At work the portal is often controlled by Dah Man. I don't think webmail is a selling point for a "good portal". Remote users will go there anyway to pick up their webmail, home users have mail clients for grabbing their mail.

This is another gimmick like The Fan that no one gives a crap about and just makes what would otherwise be a 1/2-way decent portal beyond lame. Give me a FLASH FREE portal with CURRENT news, weather, traffic supported by simple banner ads and I'm cool.

They're better off that spending money on licensing different news content as I think content, not webmail, gets average people interested in a particular portal.

Jim Gurd
Premium Member
join:2000-07-08
Livonia, MI

Jim Gurd

Premium Member

Re: Webmail isn't going to attract their users

said by ColorBASIC:

Give me a FLASH FREE portal with CURRENT news, weather, traffic supported by simple banner ads and I'm cool.
I don't really care about the content. I use »www.comcast.net/lite/ to check my e-mail. It's Flash free.

I find myself using the webmail interface even from home. The reason is that it allows me to mark the spam for deletion without downloading it first. The massive amount of spam was why I started using the webmail interface in the first place.

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

sivran to ColorBASIC

Premium Member

to ColorBASIC
I donno, one of the things I miss about Comcast is the webmail. At first it wasn't much, but later they upgraded it and it became the best traditional (ie: not gmail) webmail I've ever seen.

Not all home users get their mail with a third party app. I've done ISP tech support, and a not-insignificant number of users just used the webmail. And that was Verizon, which has the second worst, most primitive, least-featured webmail I've seen. The worst is anything powered by Uebimiau. (*coughs in Westhost's direction*)

Morac
Cat god
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ

1 edit

1 recommendation

Morac

Member

I don't use Comcast's email

I have Comcast, but I don't use their email (I use Yahoo) and I don't know why anyone would for the following reasons:

1. 250 MB of storage space - In the day where basically all the free email providers offer 1 GB all the way up to infinite storage, 250 MB seems paltry.

2. Comcast will delete your unread email if you don't read it within a certain amount of time. Granted I think this is a month or two, but this is just wrong.

3. If you leave Comcast, all your mail gets left behind.

4. In the past I found it unreliable in both sending and receiving. It may be better now, but this was one of the main reasons I stopped using it.

I'll admit, the new interface does look cool and it is much better that the current one, but a better webmail interface won't help with any of the above problems.

plencnerb
Premium Member
join:2000-09-25
53403-1242

plencnerb

Premium Member

Re: I don't use Comcast's email

Before I moved to Wisconsin, I had Comcast, and I did not have any problems with their mail. I do want to point out that I do not know if you are talking about the Webmail version, or if you are talking about having an e-mail client local on your system. If its a local e-mail client, then I have to counter you on your four point...
said by Morac:

1. 250 MB of storage space - In the day where basically all the free email providers offer 1 GB all the way up to infinite storage, 250 MB seems paltry.
Last time I looked, my 120 GB HD has 100 GB of free space. That is much more then the 250 MB that you are talking about.
said by Morac:

2. Comcast will delete your unread email if you don't read it within a certain amount of time. Granted I think this is a month or two, but this is just wrong.
My mail client on my machine checks for e-mail once every 10 minutes. So, this was never an issue.
said by Morac:

3. If you leave Comcast, all your mail gets left behind.
As I said, I was a Comcast Customer. Even though I am now with RR, I am still able to open my Inbox, and see all my e-mail, even going as far back as the late 1990's, when I had @home as my ISP. I never lost any e-mail when I switched from Comcast to RR.
said by Morac:

4. In the past I found it unreliable in both sending and receiving. It may be better now, but this was one of the main reasons I stopped using it.
Short of the system actually being down, which was not that often, I never had a problem with the e-mail service provided by Comcast.

Now, on the other hand, if you are talking about the Webmail client, then yes, your points are valid. Which is why I don't understand why people would only use webmail, where there are a lot of free e-mail clients out there to use.

I do want to point out that I agree with others. If I was still with Comcast (and the same would be true for RR), I feel that their money would be better spent on the maintenance and upkeep of their network, instead of on their "portal".

--Brian
nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD

nasadude

Member

my blessings to the comcast portal...

may they have the same success as @Home.

FicmanS
Premium Member
join:2005-01-11
Brownsburg, IN

FicmanS

Premium Member

Re: my blessings to the comcast portal...

Interface looks nice, looking forward to it...

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Comcast system too late in the game

SmartZone, due later this year according to the company, is the only way for Comcast to keep Comcast.net customers from migrating to Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and other players who have invested heavily in creating more state-of-the-art Web-based communications suites for consumers.
I think that boat has already sailed. Many have already migrated to Gmail and other web based mail systems. And any Comcast mail I get, I forward automatically to Gmail where I keep everything in one place.

dr3yec
join:2002-12-19
00000

dr3yec

Member

Re: Comcast system too late in the game

I use gmail that has 2gigs of space. I would never use comcrap mail. Just another wasted product. Just like all there portals.

comcast insider
@comcast.net

comcast insider to FFH5

Anon

to FFH5
Just because people that post here are smart enough not to use comcast email doesn't mean that everyone's switched to a third party. i do technical support, and I talk to people everyday that use it. All the drawbacks explained here are pointless, the majority of users don't need more than 250mb, and comcast does not delete your old or new messages, you have to delete them yourself. A lot of people do use webmail over outlook express because its easier to setup. Forget all of that. It doesn't matter, what matters is that your email account is tied to your ISP. Why would you want both eggs in one basket? one, you cant take your email address if you move out of your ISP's area. Plus, when someone is working on your internet or phone services in the billing system, it *could* possibly fuck up your email if someone makes a mistake. its rare but possible. Why even take the chance? why not get free email that has nothing to do with your ISP account? Well, there is one reason. For all you pirates and copywright infringement junkies, comcast will send you your torrent warnings from the mpaa to your comcast email account.

jasqid
Fiber In Your Diet?
join:2002-04-02
East Palestine, OH

jasqid

Member

Poor Man's Exchange?

If they bump the storeage capacity and implement caching of Outlook.... this maybe something I'd use.

Zimba.com has an impressive flash demo. Now whether comcast goes full bore with it is something else.

Matt3
All noise, no signal.
Premium Member
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC

Matt3

Premium Member

[OT]Nice!

Zimbra is a nice email system! Too bad they want more than an equivalent Exchange system would cost.

$25/year PER USER? Are they INSANE?

sporkme
drop the crantini and move it, sister
MVM
join:2000-07-01
Morristown, NJ

sporkme

MVM

Re: [OT]Nice!

said by Matt3:

Zimbra is a nice email system! Too bad they want more than an equivalent Exchange system would cost.

$25/year PER USER? Are they INSANE?
Depends on which version you actually want:

»www.zimbra.com/products/ ··· ons.html

If you're telling me that buying the server OS, Exchange and the Outlook client costs less than $25/year, I find that very hard to believe.
teck91
join:2002-05-02
Fort Lauderdale, FL

teck91

Member

u got mail?

comcast has web-mail?

Jehu
Premium Member
join:2002-09-13
MA

Jehu

Premium Member

Comcast mail good

Comcast has taken a lot of steps recently to help insulate comcast email users from spam/phishing etc.

While it might be just another email address, by the end of the year, they will have a solid, spam-defensive backbone.

If their web client turns out to be any good, I might go back to using my comcast email.

Kylemaul
Lovin' My Firefox
Premium Member
join:2001-03-30
Puyallup, WA

Kylemaul

Premium Member

Yawn

*