AppRiver BlackBerry Exchange Hosting Review

AppRiver BlackBerry Exchange Hosting

Editorial Rating

Overview:

Established in 2002, AppRiver is a company that specializes in secure email solutions to ensure that their customers have the best Exchange mail experience. They are also a company that offers Microsoft Exchange Hosting and BES.

Pros: AppRiver’s plans include unlimited mailbox storage, public folders, additional storage for no extra cost, spam and virus filtering, including content filtering and compliance tools, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, and Goodlink support, and more. They also offer a free 30-day trial, and their special spam and virus protection through SecureTide.

Cons: Unlimited mailbox storage doesn’t actually mean that you can have massive amounts of data stored safely in your mailbox – the company defines this as “practical limits to how large a mailbox can be before performance becomes unacceptable. This also doesn’t mean that mailboxes can be defined as archives.” Also, if you’re going to get a plan with AppRiver, you must spend $50 minimum.

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Detailed Provider Information:

Version of BES: (Microsoft, IBM Lotus Domino, Novell Group Wise) AppRiver uses Microsoft Exchange 2007.

Plans and Pricing: AppRiver offers one plan for $12.95 per user, per month, and requires a minimum $50. You get unlimited mailbox storage and full SecureTide Spam and Virus protection, as well as all the included features, like full support through ActiveSync for mobile devices and free Outlook 2003. AppRiver offers a 30-day trial for its hosted exchange services. BES services cost an extra $9.95 per month.

Firewall Protection: Virtual-eMail provides disaster recovery services and have network tools to make sure that your email remains safe.

Anti-Spam and Virus Protection: Anti-virus and anti-spam is offered through AppRiver’s SecureTide Spam and Virus program, which offers advanced email protection at no extra cost.

Set-up Fee: BlackBerry service requires a $19.95 set-up fee. There are no set-up fees for a hosted mailbox.

Other Devices Supported: AppRiver supports BlackBerry and Windows Mobile Devices.

Customer Service: There is online support through AppRiver’s website as well as through telephone. They offer 24/7 support to their clients.

Backup History Storage: AppRiver performs backups regularly and keeps data

Uptime Guarantee: 99.9%, according to their SLA. You will be credited 5% of the monthly fee for each 30 minutes of system downtime, should that happen. There are exceptions to this rule on the website.

Additional Services: AppRiver provides spam and virus protection and email scanning engine software to keep your email safe, as well as Microsoft Exchange Hosting.

Fee to Change BlackBerry for Current Customers: There is no charge for this service.

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1 kim September 24th, 2011 at 10:01 am: Our company has been using appriver for over 3 years. they have wonderful tech support and though its rare that we have an issue, when we do they are there to do whatever it takes to get it done.
2 Mike February 23rd, 2011 at 15:43 pm: We were using AppRiver and just switched to NeoCertified because of the time it was taking to deliver messages through AppRiver so far we are pretty pleased with NeoCertified
3 A Dog October 12th, 2009 at 16:16 pm: I've been a partner of AppRiver Since 04 and worked utilizing their spam filtering services since AppRiver was the smallest spec on the map.
Response to comments above:
Adam: "We originally had dozens of our client websites hosted with them..." First off AppRiver isn't a web hosting company. Never has been. If your clients websites are having issues, AppRiver is not the problem.
Bill - Ya should probably go to a Barracuda... O Wait; you probably didn't due to cost and reoccurring maintenance. cost. Are there bugs in SaS companies; sure. Google, Amazon, Yahoo, etc have all had down time. But costs are costs and the cost of a spam solution and or Exchange services is minimized through AppRiver. Take the good with the bad.
Guest: Different Strokes for different folks. Interoffice email is still traveling through AppRiver servers. And if there is a discrepancy in internet connection, there can be a delay. Heck, there could be an AppRiver server problem... As far as them being a joke... AppRiver is the premier provider of Exchange hosting. Didn't start that way, but have become the one to beat. And yet, no one compares to price and service.
Tech: Two different animals when comparing hosted exchange vs. Internal exchange. As far as delayed mail goes, you can have that in either environments. AppRiver didn't build exchange... Microsoft did. AppRiver hosts the servers for you and what comes along with that are lower costs and certain caveats.
John: Just like local exchange administrators... they have access to your mail. Not sure what the surprise is here.
Bottom line - Speed can be an issue. Your mail is going to Florida, then to your server/Outlook. Have to take that into consideration. Would I recommend AppRiver hosted exchange for 50+ users in a single office, no. Advantages are not there for that load. AppRiver is great at what it does, for who it does it for and at the cost is delivers it at.
4 Macy November 13th, 2008 at 10:14 am: The company I work for has been very happy with Appriver. We rarely get spam and our e-mails are on time and easy to manage. They also have a great tech support and if there is a problem it is fixed right away. I would recommend Appriver to everyone!
5 Brian October 30th, 2008 at 16:02 pm: I am an extremely happy customer of AppRiver. We have been using their Hosted Exchange and Blackberry services for over a year now without any downtime. It is wonderful to speak with a technician within minutes of calling anytime of the day and get a pleasant/knowledgeable support person who is willing to take the time to answer our questions. AppRiver has rock solid products and backs it up with excellent support.
6 Jim October 22nd, 2008 at 15:03 pm: I have been a satisfied AppRiver client for four years now (anti-spam/exchange) and all I can say is that they are terrific. When I have questions, I get immediate answers. I never have problems getting my email on my Treo, at home or in the office. About once a month, a spam message will get through, but I just forward that to them and they take care of it. I recommend AppRiver to everyone.
7 John October 16th, 2008 at 23:24 pm: We used to use AppRiver. Their service *is* slow (and you really notice it when you use devices like a BlackBerry).
What bothers me the most is that that all the tech support guys have administrator access to e-mails (either they can read them or redirect them). The tech support rep told me this when I asked about their security policies as we deal with confidential cases. Stay away from these clowns.
8 PegWeb October 8th, 2008 at 13:30 pm: We have been using Appriver services for about a year now. Been very happy. They are responsive to support inquiries and the service has been really good.
9 TechSoEasy September 29th, 2008 at 19:35 pm: I am an MCSE and a Microsoft Exchange Administrator that has just migrated our companies email off of AppRiver's hosted service and onto our own internal Exchange servers and I have to say that my experience with AppRiver is terrible. The main reason why we are migrating is because sometimes our users on the network were not receiving mail or would receive mail late. On a few occasions my boss received mail form months back showing up as new in his inbox. I would not recommend their service as I feel that they are not capable of providing the type of quality service that we as a company need.
10 Guest June 2nd, 2008 at 17:17 pm: We used to use AppRiver - but sometime around the November of 2007, their service went downhill quick. What irritated me the most is that technical support would outrite lie to me about lost e-mails and service outages. We send intercompany e-mail and there can be delays up to an hour at times. We have switched to a Barracuda Spamwall and it works much better. Get a Spamwall - AppRiver's service is a joke.
11 Ross February 29th, 2008 at 14:14 pm: Appriver has been wonderful. I had a smooth transition with them. Tech support is great. A live person picks up on the 2nd ring. They are prompt, reliable, and I have experienced no downtime.
12 Bill Michales February 13th, 2008 at 14:48 pm: I provide service to about a dozen companies and we used to have AppRiver.
Their service is slow (it takes 10-20 minutes to deliver a message - to myself on the server). When I complain, I was told that I shouldn't expect e-mail to be instant!. On top of this, one of my employees saw another company's data (an engineering firm) mixed in with our e-mail folder! We were told it's just a bug - its still happening and this has been several months. There has been several times when we didn't have service and I called and they had no idea they were even down! I suppose small companies that arent that e-mail dependent wouldnt notice - but we do and will probably go back to our own Exchange service (with a Barracuda spamwall or something like that).
13 Adam January 31st, 2008 at 17:01 pm: AppRiver's service is horrible. There are 20+ minute delays in e-mail delivery. They constantly lose messages. In fact, on occasion we received e-mail destined for *other* customers. Their technical department actually told us that SPF records were obsolete when Yahoo started rejecting are messages! (They have since changed their tune on this).
We originally had dozens of our client websites hosted with them and due to the insane number of complaints and the lack of any action for AppRiver, we are looking to move, but are worried we will get stuck with another crappy company.