I'm actually amazed that Fastmail has provided many years of service (over a decade in some cases) to Guest and Member accounts for no ongoing fees, far exceeding what I assert would be normal expectations for a service which has continued across two ownership changes.
- Fastmail users were sent an email in April 2010 informing them that the TOS were changing due to their sale to Opera. I just re-read that email.
- And then in October 2013 Fastmail staff purchased the company back from Opera, and the TOS changed again. Customers were offered a chance to discontinue the service when those changes occurred.
- Of course, all Fastmail account holders had to agree to the TOS when they obtained their account and when the ownership changed, and the TOS speaks for itself.
- The Fastmail TOS are not too long. Nothing in these terms seems to me to be unusual, and to my knowledge all email and similar services include terms which allow termination of accounts or any other changes to the service as desired by the service provider. No warranty was implied.
- Fastmail is now offering to give those with Member accounts credits so they can get a one year Basic current account, good through July 2018. This means that some early Member accounts will get the following amazing deal at no current cost (using that $15 they spent so long ago). I really can't imagine how they could be more generous.
- 15 years of simple email service with 16 MB of storage.
- 1 year of the latest Fastmail Basic account service (worth $30), with 2 GB of storage and all of the latest features (calendar, address book, etc.).
Bill