FastMail down! - Page 2

**Sherry** · 7 Nov 2010, 09:57 AM

Whoops, spoke to soon. Back down but at least we know they are doing something when it bounces off and on like this.

Sherry

**Shelded** · 7 Nov 2010, 10:02 AM

Yeah, I'm OK when my car does this, no problem.

jerrycable · 7 Nov 2010, 10:12 AM

I'm back up too (USA). But based on previous comments, I guess I'll wait a little bit before doing anything substantial with e-mail.

**Sherry** · 7 Nov 2010, 10:15 AM

Yes, everything is back up, at least for now. The Status Blog isn't updated yet. When it's up totally they usually let us know it's fixed and what was wrong so I'll wait for that...

Sherry

ozar · 7 Nov 2010, 10:33 AM

It's working really well (and fast) at the moment... sure hope it stays that way!

**Shelded** · 7 Nov 2010, 10:34 AM

yeah, I like it without all the other people in the pool!

**Sherry** · 7 Nov 2010, 10:37 AM

I just logged into a few different accounts and, like ozar said, they loaded faster than normal. Even the Guest account which usually loads slower than the rest. Do the rest of you notice a difference in speed?

Sherry

EDIT: And Bron did post to the Status Blog awhile ago...

**Shelded** · 7 Nov 2010, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Everything is up and running again. One machine broke down and went crazy flooding the internal network with traffic! What a mess. Once we figured out the offending machine and unplugged it we were fine.

Hey, Bron's explanation sounds like when Ash malfunctioned! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipfcH1fxCg4

CyberSaint · 7 Nov 2010, 09:16 PM

I love the functionality of Fastmail, but this kind of sudden outage (again) is what makes me think of jumping ship to another email host. Are there hopes of things getting better and a little more reliable with Opera as the new owner?

I'm not wanting to bash Fastmail at all, I just need reliability in whoever provides my business email service.

Comments?

Thanks,
CS

**Shelded** · 8 Nov 2010, 12:23 AM

Don't expect even Gmail to have better reliability. I've not heard of MSN being down recently, but they seem less forthcoming about their shortcomings than Gmail and none of the big three are as honest about them as Fastmail. These short outages by Fastmail seem truly competitive to me.

Tom Gallagher · 8 Nov 2010, 12:57 AM

I think they all have outages once in a while.

BritTim · 8 Nov 2010, 01:33 AM

I have been very happy with Fastmail's robustness for a couple of years up until recently. It is disappointing that they have slipped a bit in the last month or two. That said, I feel very comfortable with their ability to react quickly and avoid really long outages. If anyone has good ideas on a more robust alternative, I might consider it, but I am not aware of any.

William9 · 8 Nov 2010, 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shelded

Don't expect even Gmail to have better reliability. I've not heard of MSN being down recently, but they seem less forthcoming about their shortcomings than Gmail and none of the big three are as honest about them as Fastmail. These short outages by Fastmail seem truly competitive to me.

I don't agree with this reliability assessment based on my personal experience. Maybe there are message delays behind the scenes that I'm not aware of, but I don't recall ever not being able to access my Gmail. I don't recall ever experiencing at outage with Tuffmail (I believe that it may have had a brief one a year or so ago, but I'm not sure and I didn't experience it) nor have I ever experienced an outage with LuxSci -- using it many times a day for several years. PolarisMail is reported to have a 100% uptime as well. The only outages that I have personally experienced are with my accounts at FM, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail. (Oh, and I just remembered: frequent outages with my company's Exchange Server). Maybe it's just one person's experience, since outages can involve only a subset of users, but I see a distinct difference in reliability.

Adon · 8 Nov 2010, 02:44 AM

I can't understand the problem here, email is not designed for urgent messaging (that's what phones are for), what disaster can there possibly be if you can't access your mail for an hour or a few. First it happens so rarely and even if it does happen, it's even less likely you will be affected since it can happen at the time when you sleep or simply do not access your mailbox, second if you need something important delivered/replied to fast, you really should use the phone.

William9 · 8 Nov 2010, 03:56 AM

It depends: Some of us rely on timely and reliable e-mail communications more than others.

7 Nov 2010, 09:57 AM	#16
Sherry Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: USA Posts: 8,687	Whoops, spoke to soon. Back down but at least we know they are doing something when it bounces off and on like this. Sherry

7 Nov 2010, 10:02 AM	#17
Shelded Moderator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: USA Northwest Posts: 3,849	Yeah, I'm OK when my car does this, no problem.

7 Nov 2010, 10:12 AM	#18
jerrycable Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Allen, TX Posts: 35	I'm back up too (USA). But based on previous comments, I guess I'll wait a little bit before doing anything substantial with e-mail.

7 Nov 2010, 10:15 AM	#19
Sherry Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: USA Posts: 8,687	Yes, everything is back up, at least for now. The Status Blog isn't updated yet. When it's up totally they usually let us know it's fixed and what was wrong so I'll wait for that... Sherry

7 Nov 2010, 10:33 AM	#20
ozar Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 133	It's working really well (and fast) at the moment... sure hope it stays that way!

7 Nov 2010, 10:34 AM	#21
Shelded Moderator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: USA Northwest Posts: 3,849	yeah, I like it without all the other people in the pool!

7 Nov 2010, 10:37 AM	#22
Sherry Moderator Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: USA Posts: 8,687	I just logged into a few different accounts and, like ozar said, they loaded faster than normal. Even the Guest account which usually loads slower than the rest. Do the rest of you notice a difference in speed? Sherry EDIT: And Bron did post to the Status Blog awhile ago...

7 Nov 2010, 09:16 PM	#24
CyberSaint Essential Contributor Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Hurricane, WV Posts: 206	I love the functionality of Fastmail, but this kind of sudden outage (again) is what makes me think of jumping ship to another email host. Are there hopes of things getting better and a little more reliable with Opera as the new owner? I'm not wanting to bash Fastmail at all, I just need reliability in whoever provides my business email service. Comments? Thanks, CS

8 Nov 2010, 12:23 AM	#25
Shelded Moderator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: USA Northwest Posts: 3,849	Don't expect even Gmail to have better reliability. I've not heard of MSN being down recently, but they seem less forthcoming about their shortcomings than Gmail and none of the big three are as honest about them as Fastmail. These short outages by Fastmail seem truly competitive to me.

8 Nov 2010, 12:57 AM	#26
Tom Gallagher Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: South Jersey, USA Posts: 195	I think they all have outages once in a while.

8 Nov 2010, 01:33 AM	#27
BritTim The "e" in e-mail Join Date: May 2003 Location: mostly in Thailand Posts: 3,090	I have been very happy with Fastmail's robustness for a couple of years up until recently. It is disappointing that they have slipped a bit in the last month or two. That said, I feel very comfortable with their ability to react quickly and avoid really long outages. If anyone has good ideas on a more robust alternative, I might consider it, but I am not aware of any.

8 Nov 2010, 02:44 AM	#29
Adon Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 135	I can't understand the problem here, email is not designed for urgent messaging (that's what phones are for), what disaster can there possibly be if you can't access your mail for an hour or a few. First it happens so rarely and even if it does happen, it's even less likely you will be affected since it can happen at the time when you sleep or simply do not access your mailbox, second if you need something important delivered/replied to fast, you really should use the phone.

8 Nov 2010, 03:56 AM	#30
William9 The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: San Francisco Posts: 2,281	It depends: Some of us rely on timely and reliable e-mail communications more than others.