Internet gurus: My own domain for email?

Please help.

I've been using Yahoo's webmail for years and years. Pending changes to TOS will give Yahoo the right to read my emails. I do not like that one bit, no sir.

It seems that for very little dough, I can purchase my own domain, and for very little more I can find some place to host emails. I won't be hosting a web site, just email.

However, to get it set up, I would need 3rd grade level instructions for:

(a) getting started, including advice on which service to use

(b) finding and setting up an email client. I've been using webmail for so long, I'm lost in the world of POP3, IMAP, etc.

Can someone please advise?

Thank you

1and1 has a hosting plan to do just that. I use their hosting for my old websites

Google does use the content of your messages to advertise to you. I moved over to Google when Google Apps had a free tier. I'm grandfathered in, and I've never really had a problem with the service.

I'm considering moving to Hushmail to replace Google.

FWIW, I used to host my own SMTP at my house, and it just wasn't worth it.

Depends, I've been running my own SMTP server for well over a decade, but unless you already know what you're doing I wouldn't advise it.

I've heard good things about hushmail, that would be something I'd be looking at if I did it all over again.

First step is to get the domain, then you can move things around as you get more techy. I use Bluehost.com, they'll do what you want to $5/month at most including domain registration. Plus you'll get web hosting out of the deal, but that's not really important to this discussion :)

I use Ipower for my various domains I have. Never had an issue. You can get a cheap plan that will use a POP email.

Thanks for the advice. I looked at all the vendors mentioned, and boy, do some of them make it extra confusing!!

The most understandable website was 1and1.com, as mentioned by Brian. If I'm reading it right, I can get my own domain plus their email hosting for ~$20 for the first year and ~$30 for each following year.

Does this seem reasonable? Will anyone besides Brian vouch for their service?

They're certainly one of the big ones, but I've never dealt with them. I know that with Bluehost, it's a pretty simple interface and you have your choice of a few different webmail interfaces. I think it's the same for Domain Discover.

I pay a very small amount to godaddy for a .org address with email. 15 a year or so. With that I get SMTP email that no one harvests for information to spam me with.

In 10 years it has been down exactly once, for 3 hours.

Godaddys website builder stuff is a nightmare. Their commercials are terrible but the service is top notch for my simple needs.

Finale:

I went with 1and1. The biggest selling point over GoDaddy is that 1and1 anonymizes your domain registration info at no cost, while GoDaddy gets $8/year for the same service.

Even setting that aside, 1and1 is about $50 cheaper over a 5-year period. My total costs for 5 years with 1and1 will be about $140. For the cost of a cup of (cheap) coffee per month, I can keep the likes of Yahoo out of my personal business. Seems cheap to me.

For a mail client, I went with Mozilla Thunderbird. Seems reasonably useful, and it's GRM-friendly priced, i.e. FREE.