On March 21, 2004, America Online added webmail to its list of free services. AOL Mail. This is sometimes referred to as AIM Mail in reference to AOL Instant Messenger, the instant messaging service that AOL is most known for.
AOL Mail is a free mail email service that features the following features: Unlimited email storage, that means never having to delete emails when storage space runs low, 25MB attachments, that means you can attach things larger than most other free email providers will allow you to attach. There is also spam and virus protection, a spell checker because nothing is more embarrassing than misspelling something in an email, full integration with AOL Instant Messenger. One thing that AOL Mail has that no other email provider offers is the ability to unsend and email, of course, this only works if the email was sent to another AOL Mail recipient.
AOL Mail also has the ability to link with Outlook, Thunderbird, or any other email program. Like most other free email accounts, this one features a 3-month grace period of not logging in before it terminates your account and deletes all of your email.
As is the norm, this email service is advertising based. That means that whenever you receive or open an email, the text of the email is read electronically and an appropriate advertisement is displayed along with the email.
America Online initially started as one of the first, and later, one of the biggest Internet Service Providers in the United States. In recent years, AOL’s market base has shrank as people migrated to many other service providers. But one thing that AOL has managed to bring people back to is its services, such as AOL Instant Messanger, AOL Mail, their news portal, search engine, and several other online items.
Currently, AOL is testing a new version of its email service, currently called Project Phoenix. This email interface will feature a system where instant messages and emails can be sent from the same area, connect five different email accounts together, and feature an enhanced email search feature. It is currently an invitation-only affair.
AOL Mail is working to be one of the best email providers in the world just like gmail.com and yahoomail.com. The majority of free email accounts feature a lot less space than Unlimited, a lot less. With the improvements Phoenix seeks to add to email, this could become the top email provider to look out for.
Sign up for Aim Mail here.