[scrivener]

Hello, and Happy New Year.

I'm new here and am seeking advice from those more informed than me (which should be just about everybody).

I've decided to move to a pay email service and have come to a choice between Fastmail Standard and and Pobox Mailbox. I understand they both are part of the same business now, and use the same web interface, but otherwise are continuing to function separately. But I'm not clear on the most significant differences between them, and if anyone can explain these to me I will be very grateful.

My needs are straightforward. I currently own two domains that I intend to use for email (but am not using at all yet) one for my self-employed small business and the other for personal messaging. They may become associated with web sites in the future but not yet. I may also use a small number of the Fastmail/Pobox addresses/aliases for other purposes. Both plans provide plenty of addresses for my needs.

I'm also old-fashionedly accustomed to using mail through Thunderbird, though web based mail is fine.

I am not in any way a 'power user'. Ease of use and reliability (especially for my business) are the most valuable considerations for me. I have no particular technical skills, so simplicity in getting things going -- especially getting the domains working -- is valuable too.

Searching through past discussions as research before posting this I found comments to the effect that Fastmail has advantages on the front end, Pobox on the back end (or was it the other way around?). I wasn't clear on the meaning of that, though. Does either service offer notable features the other doesn't?

Thanks in advance for any information you provide, and a great new year to all.