Remote Electronic Mail Access

Using a remote-access e-mail client is more efficient and productive for you, the user, and for the Alachua Freenet service in general. It saves time by allowing you to work on your mail off-line, then be connected only for the time it takes to transfer the mail. Working with a client is also easier to use than interactive terminal mode, since you don't have to wait for each character to be sent to the server, then returned to your screen before you can see it, resulting in the common situation where you have to wait to see what you've been typing.

Remote Electronic Mail access is available via the IMAP and POP3 protocols, though POP3 protocol is older an its use is discouraged. If you have a program that can use one of these protocols, such as Netscape Messenger, Outlook Express, Eudora, or PC-PINE, use one of the following addresses (respectively) to configure your program to access your AFN email: 

      imap.afn.org
      pop3.afn.org
For outgoing mail, you should configure your program to use the following address: 
      smtp.afn.org
This service is available only for registered users. Here is more information about electronic mail on AFN.

Note: While you can connect to the IMAP and POP3 servers from anywhere in the world and read your E-mail, you can not send E-mail with Alachua Freenet's SMTP server unless you are actually within the afn.org domain; that is, using an AFN dialup connection. For more details on this, see our anti-relaying policy.

IMAP

An Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) client has the advantage of allowing connections to an e-mail server from multiple locations, and allowing manipulation of mail in folders on the server as well as the clients.

POP3

The Post Office Protocol (POP3) is designed for a situation where you only have one place that you check your e-mail. When you make a connection using POP3, the client will normally copy all your inbox files from the server to your local machine. This can cause problems when your inbox has many files or large files common with graphically enhanced messages, so use of the POP protocol is discouraged.

Here are detailed configuration instructions for PC and Mac Eudora.

AFN Webmaster