Topic started by Siby (@ 61.11.12.9) on Thu Jul 19 06:53:15 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Responses:

• From: Siby (@ 61.11.12.9) on: Thu Jul 19 07:20:43
  
  usa.net is making its email service a paid one. 123india.com is following the suit. It's rumoured that hotmail and yahoo are waiting and watching before jumping on to the bandwagon of the paid e-mail services.
  How do you feel? Will this attempt be successful? Will it lead to a more stable and sustainable mode of internet business?
  what are the desirable rates for users, India and developed countries?
  I'm suportive of this idea only if the mail service providers can offer affordable rates to users. The rates offered by usa.net and 123india are not realistic for common Indian users. 123india plans to charge 1000 Rs. per year as subscription. I suggest 400 Rs or around for a subscription of 3/4 years. The high number of existing user base will create the necesary business volume to justify such rates. Of course, I assume only the giants will survive. There should be facility to receive payment via offline too. Going for short term subscriptions is not a good idea. Anyway, the net is going to stay and users are also going to stay put with email. people wont shell out 600 Rs for 6 months. Once the users have started using a particular mail after paying they'll stick with it.
  
  But the market for this biz will come from people who dont have personal Internet connection at home. Those who have will not subscribe since the ISP provides them free mail and competition among the ISPs will ensure its continuance.
  Now will these free-moving netters (mainly using from cyber cafes and work) be ready to shell out money for email?
  How many of you will be ready to pay for email services, if you are not an every-day user?
  How is this biz going to be?
  
  
• From: ninja (@ 61.1.208.193) on: Thu Jul 19 08:30:04
  
  Everyone has got used with using emails daily.Most of us cant do without it.But its also true that many of us are abusing the free services.I know many who have more than 10 email ids.But they use only one or two regularly and they never logon to other mails for months.It's sure that ocassional net users are not going to pay for the services.But for people like me who are regular netizens,have to pay for the services since we find it essential.But that too if the rates are moderate and bearable.If not we have to choose some other mode of messaging like cellular phones.[BPL has an additional messaging service to any part of the world along with its normal subscription rates]But i feel that not all companies will charge for their services and there will exist atleast a few websites which will continue with its free email service to have an edge over their competitors.
  
  
• From: thara (@ ip-111-104-77.stockton.navipath.net) on: Fri Jul 20 02:04:33
  
  i think there are some services in india that if you get like 5 connections at the same time they lower you rate. then you just have to pay the price for three. when i got internet connection at our branches,my uncle told me this. so when got the connection at our offices and i put the charge on one person's name. so they gave us a discount. this is a little crooked way to go about it but you could say some money. so go find a few other people that want to get internet connection at home and go apply for it under the same name, then you will get a discount and spilt the annual fee. this works but only in india. i don't know about your reaction to this but i am just trying to help. sometimes the alternate is not exactly something thats right. if you want to make some money, you have to be willing to do things like this.
  
  
• From: Siby (@ 61.11.12.9) on: Fri Jul 20 04:45:28
  
  Thara,
  Perhaps that technique could be employed by email providers. Anyway, my intention is to get to know the users response about paid email services--if they'll be ready for it.
  
  
• From: Sugrutha (@ 65.11.240.45) on: Fri Jul 20 17:40:48
  
  In a way it is good if they make it a paid service. They can offer additional features like additional virus scanning, scam filtering, additional storage etc at with added price for each feature. And I agree that they can come up with packages for 3-5 years, instead of one annual package. Such email services are available to business customers today. Businesses are charged about 10-20 USD/month for a 10 MB mailbox, with both Web as well as POP access.
  
  
• From: thara (@ a060-0482.snfc.splitrock.net) on: Fri Jul 20 17:47:30
  
  ohh, i am sorry. misunderstood. you are right, it is hard for a person to get a connection when you have to pay so much especially with the salary rates in india now. since there is only a few internet users in india compared to other countries, the companies are trying to get the best out of it. it will be really hard for people that need to use it but can't considering how much they charge in local internet booths. i don't know about kottayam but in ernakulam, there are places that charge a rupee per minute and in the city there are places that charge 40 rupees per hour. pretty expensive if you need to go on the internet daily or even once a week. but even then they have the advantage of using hotmail or yahoo or mailcity for free. but i think it is outrageous that they are going to charge for it. eventully all other free email services will start putting a fee on it. i know hotmail is getting too crowded. i got a mail from the hotmail administration that said you have to forward that mail to atleast 20 hotmail users to see if you are using it otherwise they will cut your account off. ofcourse, there are people that misuse the previlage. one of freinds said that there is a good chance hotmail will not be giving free email services in a while. its just a guess.well, i have to go. umas. thara
  
  
• From: Misguided Soul (@ ac9c043e.ipt.aol.com) on: Sun Jul 22 13:46:07
  
  I think this may take for a while..at least 3-4
  years... and apart from hotmail & yahoo, there
  are enough free email service providers....
  Personally I wouldn't go for a paid email
  service, especially in Western...
  
  
  Ganesh.
  
  
• From: vagees (@ 1cust65.tnt6.houj.da.uu.net) on: Sun Jul 22 17:08:34
  
  If msn and yahoo make it as paid service, I feeel all technical/frequent netbrowsers professionals will be forced to pay for it. $20 per year will be a decent bet. USA and most europian subscribers may pay for it.
  
  But in India, I feel less than 1% of current subscribers will pay for it(Unless somebody from US/Other countries sponsor them)
  
  Most Indian users are students, parents. Tech guys may perfer to use their office mail.
  
  MSN and Yahoo will lose their user base.
  
  People may even share ids to save cost.
  
  I don't think Yahoo and msn will be able to get anything substantial by making it as a paid service.
  
  I susepct whether more than countable number of guys subscribed to usa.net and 123India as long as msn and yahoo are free. I will be fool if I pay usa.net when msn is free.
  
  But if hotmail is not free, I will have to pay for it. (May be less than $100 an year?)
  
  
  
• From: Ramadas (@ globalb3.citicorp.com) on: Mon Jul 23 00:33:59
  
  The idea is welcome. But instead of flat rates
  per annum, it must be depending on the number
  of mails sent (not received) and the amount
  of disk space utilised. They can also charge
  for the number of times logged into the mailbox.
  
  
• From: Siby (@ 61.11.12.9) on: Mon Jul 23 02:06:59
  
  Ramadas,
  That doesn't seem to be a good idea. It's difficult processing the number of logins and charging the rates accordingly. Making email a paid service should not add extra burden on the provider. One of the reasons for the failure of net ventures was inappropriate management of HR portfolio. Dotcoms went for bulk recruitment and high salary.
  Same with disk space occupancy.
  Better option is a long subscription period with affordable rates and easy payment options.
  
  
• From: Siby (@ 61.11.12.9) on: Tue Jul 24 05:14:28
  
  I think the major problem in making e-mail a paid service (business) comes in defining the juristical territory, in case of any legal applications. Now usa.net, which has got its business office and servers in US, provides email service to India also but is not bound by Indian courts. How can an aggreived Indian customer sue the Co. for damages? There seems to be no international law to take care of these things.
  
  
• From: Siby (@ 61.11.12.9) on: Tue Jul 24 05:36:13
  
  Correction:
  >in case of any legal applications.
  --->in case of any legal proceedings being initiated.
  
  
• From: stg (@ st54-new.aramco.com.sa) on: Tue Jul 24 07:15:30
  
  Internet is still in the infancy in India.. if yahoo and hotmail follow suit for paid email..then I think most people will switch to the free mail services..there are a lot of portals offering free email.. Also 1000 rs per year will not work out in india..And I am sure many in usa.net would have switched to yahoo and hotmail.
  
  
• From: Ramadas (@ globalb7.citicorp.com) on: Wed Jul 25 00:14:00
  
  Siby's concern is true not just for paid email
  services (Legal implications and jurisdictional
  problems). Any e-commerce venture has this problem.
  Whose laws should the provider obey, the law
  of the land where his server is situated or
  the law of the land of the user?
  
  
• From: Benny Jacob- Shimoga (@ dialpool-210-214-188-46.maa.sify.net) on: Wed Aug 29 04:05:57
  
  Making the paid services of e-mail will make some difficult to some of them, if the subscription amount is low then ok , like Rs. 250/- for 2 years its ok. But the main problem is , if paid sevices is done then the e-mail users will be low, and one more thing that , if are paying for the services then our e-mail storage capacity must be incresed from 5MB to at least 10MB.
  
  
• From: Siby (@ 203.199.79.157) on: Tue Sep 11 04:00:38
  
  What has become of the usa.net? Have they got the critical number of users to carry on with the service. It seems they made a mistake in pricing. They went for 30$ yearly subscription for 10 MB storage space when yahoo was offering 25 MB storage space for 19$ for a yearly subscription.
  
  
• From: sanjeev sethi (@ ) on: Thu Sep 27 01:42:49
  
  i think 123india.com has not responded well to the brand loyal customers by making the move of makinf it's Email section paid.
  
  
  Can you please deliver some progress of the company in this respect.
  Thanking You!
  
  
• From: sanjeev sethi (@ 61.0.0.58) on: Thu Sep 27 01:43:38
  
  i think 123india.com has not responded well to the brand loyal customers by making the move of makinf it's Email section paid.
  
  
  Can you please deliver some progress of the company in this respect.
  Thanking You!
  
  
• From: sanjeev (@ ) on: Sat Dec 6 13:24:48
  
  if u want to make it paid email service its a good idea but u have to take care of the interests of users of other countries other than USA. because according to indian rupee 25 dollars is equal to 12500 rupees and most of the users in india are students so u should charge nominal fee 300 to 400 rupees annually .
  
  
• From: sanjeev (@ 210.7.68.167) on: Sat Dec 6 13:26:08 EST 2003
  
  i m sorry 25 USdollars is equal to 1250 rupees
  
  
• From: satish (@ 210.7.68.167) on: Sat Dec 6 13:29:41 EST 2003
  
  hi u know rediff.com is offering its paid email service for rupees400 annually and people can consider it as a good option n hope u understand me
  
  

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