Webmail is the term used when you access your email via a web browser such as Internet Explorer. Hotmail is an example of an email service that is exclusively accessed via webmail. Your emails remain on the server of the email provider until you choose to delete them.
POPMail refers to the other common way to access your mail which is via an email client program such as Outlook Express, Eudora or Mac Mail. When you access your email it is downloaded to the email client on the computer you are working at. Normally the emails are then deleted from the server, or soon afterwards, so you only have access to them on the computer you are working at. POP goes hand in hand with another protocol called SMTP which is used for sending.
We normally recommend that most people use POPMail as their primary access method, combined with use of webmail when away from home / the office.
Some pros and cons of Webmail and POPMail are summarised in the table below:
| Advantages of POPMail over Webmail |
| POPMail is accessed via an email client program which tend to be more fully featured and responsive than working within the browser when using webmail. |
| You can do much of your work offline. You can connect to the internet for a short time to send and receive your emails. You can then read the downloaded emails and compose new ones without being connected to the internet. This might be important if you have a dial up connection and just a single phone line, or if you pay for your internet access by the minute. With webmail you must be connected the entire time you are using it. |
| Your emails are stored on your local computer and removed from the server, so if you have a limited mailbox quota on your mail server, you are much less likely to go over your quota if using POPMail. Going over quota is very bad news because emails sent to you may then be bounced back to the sender. |
| As your emails are held on your PC, you don't have to manually delete old emails to stay within your mailbox quota size. This means you can keep all your past emails for as long as you like, provided your computer has enough disk space to hold them. This is very useful for searching for correspondence sent or received some time in the past. |
| If you have multiple email addresses, possibly run by multiple email service providers, you can configure your POP email client to pick up your email from many mail boxes. With webmail you would have to sign in to each in turn. |
| Advantages of Webmail over POPMail |
| You can access your email from anywhere via a browser, such as in an internet cafe in Bangkok. With POPMail you would normally only access your mail from a single computer, perhaps at home or in the office. |
| With webmail there is no need to install and configure an email client program. You simply need to know the web address, your user name and password. |