Overview:
MailStreet, a division of Apptix Inc., was founded in 2001 and offers its customers hosting and Exchange services. It’s located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, and cites that 6,000 organizations depend on it for reliable service. EOutlook, another mail Exchange service in the Apptix, merged with MailStreet on January 5, 2006.
Pros: The company offers a comprehensive plan that includes many features, including free set-up, free VPN connectivity, a free 30-day trial, free DNS hosting, unlimited email aliases, free use of Outlook 2003/2007 or Entourage for Macs, shared tasks, calendars, 1 MB public folder, and more. The prices aren’t bad, either.
Cons: They don’t list prices for 20 mailboxes or more on the Website, although you can ask for a quote. As well, anti-spam is extra per month, as well as recovering a deleted mailbox. You can download Outlook and Entourage for free, but you will have to pay to have the CD delivered to you by UPS.
Detailed Provider Information:
Version of BES: (Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, Novell Group Wise) MailStreet uses Microsoft Exchange.
Plans and Pricing: There is one main plan listed on the Website, and it covers everything that MailStreet offers. You can get 200 MB to 2 GB of storage, and MailStreet posts an article on their Website explaining legal mailbox size limits to assure their customers that they are following Microsoft’s regulations. Users get a 30 day trial and no contract obligations. They also offer free set-up and discounts for annual agreements.
If you purchase two or more mailboxes, you pay $9.95 a month. If you purchase one mailbox, you pay $12.95 a month, but when you add additional mailboxes, the price is reduced to $9.95. Bigger orders are subject to discount (discounts are also given to non-profit organizations and religious or community groups), but you have to email the company for a quote – it isn’t listed on the Website.
Extra storage costs $5.95 a month for an additional 100 MB, which is expensive compared to other companies who will offer more for less. However, if you want more than that, you can get 1 GB for $49.95 a month. If you’re looking for a BlackBerry Enterprise Server, the plan is $9.95 with $39.95 activation. As well, MailStreet has Goodlink Service for Treo models for $14.95 a month with $19.95 set-up fee.
Firewall Protection: MailStreet offers network security tools to monitor mail-bomb, hacker, virus and denial-of-service attacks.
Anti-Spam and Virus Protection: Anti-virus is included with the plans, but anti-spam is an add-on offered for $1.99 a month. MailStreet has a program called MailStreet Defender which also provides extra-antivirus protection.
Set-up Fee: There are no set-up fees for the mailbox accounts; however, if you are going to get a BlackBerry or Goodlink account, the set-up fees vary from $19.95 to $39.95.
Other Devices Supported: MailStreet supports Treo, BlackBerry, PocketPC, Apple iPhone and Smartphones.
Customer Service: The company offers 24-hour emergency support, plus account management on their Website. As well, they offer a helpdesk from 8 am to midnight EST.
Backup History Storage: MailStreet makes nightly disaster recovery backups and stores 14 days of backup history, 7 more than other companies that offer the same service. They also offer archiving and compliance for business users – more information is on the Website. Pricing ranges from $45.00-$200.00 a month, depending on the service that you get.
Uptime Guarantee: MailStreet offers a 99% uptime guarantee with rebates if there are problems.
Additional Services: The company also offers voice telecommunications services and hosted SharePoint services.
Fee to Change BlackBerry for Current Customers: There is no charge for this service.
