Exchange Mailbox

[camioneur]

Could anyone in simple terms explain to me the benefits of an Exchange mailbox. I have my own domain with my own email address's linked to it provided by Fasthosts. I use MS Outllok 2007. If away from home I have to use my mobile to receive email which I pay for by the amount of packet data received. Fasthosts are pushing to supply an Exchange mailbox with push technology for �7/month.
Are there any advantages to this sort of mailbox over an ordinary one. How could this benefit me, as I currently pay nothing for email unless I use my mobile to receive it? Any help appreciated thanks

[ACtheTROLL]

an exchange mailbox is more versatile

(this a criminally oversimplified explanation)
pop3 downloads e-mails and removes them from the server ... forwarding blocking etc is done by the ISP

with exchange you get to use the full version of outlook with all the bells and whistles (appointment sync ... blah blah
the sort of stuff that corporates "enjoy"? And if you have a bilberry ... raspberry etc you canmake sure you never get any privacy

if you've never thought "I whish I could ....."
don't bother

[stabard]

The key bit of what they are trying to sell you is the 'push technology' piece. If you are already using a single client Outlook 2007 you are unlikely to see any difference at your PC end as you have nobody to share calanders with.

What the push technology does it make the mobile version of Windows mail look more like a Blackberry in that when emails are delivered to your mail box, they automatically get pushed out to your device, instead of what you do now which is dial in and do a 'send and recieve' to get your emails. On a desktop, all you will notice is that emails arrive a bit quicker because they are pushed to you rather than waiting for periodic check.

So - do you need your emails delivered to you immediately they arrive at the ISP or are you happy to collect them as and when you are ready.

If you are going to think about Exchange the cool piece you might want to ask them is about Outlook Web Access (OWA) If that is provided as part of the deal then it might be worth it. With OWA you can go to any web terminal, type in a URL and get what looks like Outlook with all your email and calander in it. Very useful if travelling or away from your home PC.

[camioneur]

Thank you both very much. Not sure this is what I need really