Can you provide e-mail support to setup anti-Spam filtering and at what cost?

Although we would be delighted if every UK citizen took advantage of our fully-hosted e-mail service we appreciate that everyone arriving 'at this page' will have different needs so if you want an e-mail service where we filter the mail prior to you receiving them then: click here but if you want help to set up anti-Spam filtering on your own e-mail domain then this is it - read on!.

Note that our aim is to protect the investments and minimise the pain for all of you - our customers and prospects - even those who we help to 'DIY' (Do it Yourself for the non-UK audience!) at minimal cost. In that respect the support we give will allow you to take advantage of our server-based offering if you feel the need in the future.

The way in which we achieve this 'right first time' approach is by design and planning. Whatever the solution, it will always involve us registering a domain on your behalf - i.e. in your name so there is no lock-in possible. This is in contrast to 95+% of ISPs! - see: problems with some ISPs. If you can get a '.co.uk', '.me.uk' or '.name' (expensive!) that suits you - e.g. your surname then you have a great start. If you really want to register the domain yourself then PLEASE use the following company as they offer relevant facilities and their domain management facilities are very familiar to us: 123-Reg (Nottingham, UK which will save you money if we need to help you by telephone.

The support (Telephone assistance for 'DIY') we offer is for two activities:
• Domain registration for your e-mail service because you may not know how to setup catch-all e-mail forwarding (or name server settings if using our server) and:
• set up e-mail filters on your own PC because you need to 'Get it right first time' at low cost because without (our) Server management Spam is only deleted after downloading to your PC

Pros and Cons of this DIY approach to Domain Registration and e-mail Filtering on your PC

The setup cost may be higher (i.e. our time charged at £20 per hour) because it normally takes much longer to explain exactly what needs to be done (normally 1 but 2 hours max.!) rather than us to do it for you.

The benefits to you are that you remain independent and achieve the lowest ongoing cost of e-mail service - ths cost of a '.uk' domain being £6.50 per two years if you take complete responsibility for technical and administrative registration, management etc..

However, do bear in mind that if you choose to do filtering at your PC (i.e. not F below) then the tools to assist with administration and management will not be available if or when required.

It takes us around half an hour over a period of half a day to order a domain, configure the settings and then configure the PC client to pick up mail and setup e-mail filtering at the client but you even PC literate customers should assume it will take 2-3 times as long.

Zero** Loss e-mail services with Zero** Administration

We believe that we have one of the best solutions in the marketplace but do not want to market it TOO widely because that would attract the attention of the hackers who are often extremely bright and they have an army of (virtual! - MAYBE YOUR PC!) resources to target our facilities.

Again it is inappropriate to go into the details of our solution on a public web site but a 'phone call from anyone who's identity I can verify in some way will always be welcome.

In the short term there will always be significant pain as the existing e-mail addresses which are attracting Spam will need to be kept active while you as a customer migrate your contacts to use your new e-mail address.

There have been many users of a variety of the techniques that we use over many years. What we have done is to pull together several techniques into a single architecture and design and then to add the automated management of activities that are needed by non-technical users of it.

** Notes re: Zero Loss and Administration

Although the design and implementation of our own piece of the Internet e-mail jigsaw is relatively robust there are literally hundreds of 'Points of Failure' within the Hardware and Software which underpin any e-mail in the life-cycle from creation to being read.

In short - if anything is really important, urgent or confidential then the simple answer is that the Internet is not suitable because of the unreliable and insecure nature of the infrastructural components. Also note that the Internet is very volatile and the criminal nature of Spam and the resulting profits are likely to dramatically affect the trends and nature of the Internet in ways which are unpredictable. We cannot guarantee that what we provide today will work in the long term although there are many reasons that it is more likely than many other technical and (any!) legal attempts to stop Spam.

Zero Loss is OUR TARGET from the receipt of an e-mail at your domain on our server until either:

1. You download it directly to your PC or other device from our server or
2. We transmit the e-mail to your designated e-mail storage facility (e.g. your ISP or Hotmail et. al.)

We cannot improve the other stages of the delivery process because we do not manage them. Also note that a well-known potential problem with the latter of the two options above is that ISPs are now (2005 onwards) harshly scanning e-mails prior to either deleting them or filing them for automatic deletion if you don't retrieve them. You will almost certainly not be informed of any action taken on individual e-mails as that would be as ineffective as having them in an InBox.

Zero Administration could be affected by the targetting methods used by Spammers which change frequently as part of their strategy to sustain delivery and increase their virtual armies. The other major factor is you and your PC - practicing 'safe computing' and having a well-maintained PC with Firewall, Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware and the latest updates for Windows is essential to ensure that you don't become part of the problem rather than avoid it.

*** Your choice of ISP and how it might affect what we can deliver

Certain ISPs take 'lock in' to the extremes of dominating the whole desktop experience and technical environment in such a manner that the deliberately cause difficulties for other potential suppliers of service.

The only ISP which we are no longer prepared to try to accomodate is AOL. Other services which we offer in terms of Wireless Networks and PC assistance are also unavailable for AOL users. Apologies for any inconvenience caused but we are not the root cause of the problem(s). When ordering, please indicate which ISP you are using and if necessary we will help you conduct a brief test at no charge.

Registering a domain yourself - planning ahead

If you really want to register the domain yourself then PLEASE use the following company as they offer relevant facilities and their domain management facilities are very familiar to us: 123-Reg (Nottingham, UK)

This will save you money in the long term if we need to help you by telephone. It may also be possible that other companies either charge for or even do not provide the facilities that you will need so 'buyer beware'... Note that some unscrupluous companies also charge an administration fee for release of your domain to another provider!

Fees charged for this specific support - setup and ongoing

The rate of £20 per hour is very substantially discounted because the knowledge and skills required are a small subset of those we apply to more complex customer problems. There is also an element of the reduction which reflects the repetitive nature of the problems and solutions which we can pass on to our clients.

Should you require broader I.T. support then please contact us for details, as at Dec'06 prices start from £28 per hour for Telephone and Online Remote Assistance (XP and a suitable Internet connection required).