Roskomnadzor themselves is not likely to block smtp or even imap traffic to fastmail in Russia.
Fastmail accounts blocked in Russia, here's what we know
141–150 of 181 posts
Re: Fastmail accounts blocked in Russia, here's what we know
#142Fastmail +1 . I have had an active Fastmail account for at least 20 years. It provides the perfect amount of features for me, without the creepiness.
I wish their notes and calendar were better. I emailed them asking if they were ever going to improve notes, they said no. I've been a customer for 5+ years despite the bad notes
Re: Fastmail accounts blocked in Russia, here's what we know
#143I wonder if the fastmail protocol could be hidden in AWS-like data streams to take an approach like telegram. If they try to block it, they shut down their entire digital business infrastructure. I have been looking for an alternative to Gmail, does anyone have recommendations? Fastmail? Proton mail? What put me over the edge is my young friend had a heart attack, went to the hospital and (during recovery) logged int…
I started using fastmail about 6 months ago and have really enjoyed it so far. My only concern is whether they’ll be around long term (10-20+ years) because it’s quickly become my default email for important stuff.
I've had my Fastmail account for over 20 years. It's an employee-owned company with first class ethics and a first class service. An absolute beacon of integrity. It's too bad these qualities aren't more in demand. Make sure you use a Yubikey. An honourable service provider isn't enough.
Re: Fastmail accounts blocked in Russia, here's what we know
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
Webmail replaces both IMAP/POP and SMTP for the connection between the user and the mail service they are using. The connection between you and a webmail provider is just a simple HTTP/S web application. It’s the connection between your mail service and the recipient’s mail server that will use traditional mail protocols.
I am aware of that, but you're missing my point. Webmail needs SMTP (while it doesn't necessarily need IMAP/POP). So there is bound to be an SMTP server somewhere that cannot be hidden in HTTP traffic, which is what I think hansel_der was implying.
Well fastmail's servers are not in Russia, so they can just keep using SMTP without issue, it would only be the client in Russia who would need to tunnel his traffic to fastmail.
Re: Fastmail accounts blocked in Russia, here's what we know
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
They might also be aiming to preserve their ability to send mail to russian mail servers, and to serve existing russian users, and to let new russian users sign up by signing up with a IP address outside of russia. I.e. a choice between "russia is ineffectively blocked by us" vs "russia is effectively blocked by the russian government".
yeah remember the block is because they don't have enough Russian customers to make complying with local data laws worth the cost/effort. They were not banned the were asked to obey the law and they weighed up pros and cons. Normal. Plenty of US sites refuse to let eu citizens view thier content because they don't want to comply with GDPR (which I consider a reasonable set of laws that protect me) Personally I use Ya…
> There is no malice in the law as it is written, its just data protection _from_ the US government.
That is absolutely not the reason for this regulation existing.
Re: Fastmail accounts blocked in Russia, here's what we know
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
I started using fastmail about 6 months ago and have really enjoyed it so far. My only concern is whether they’ll be around long term (10-20+ years) because it’s quickly become my default email for important stuff.
You can always get your own domain and only give out email addresses from that. But my prediction is that Fastmail will outlast GMail.
A bold prediction to be sure.
I hope you're right!
Re: Fastmail accounts blocked in Russia, here's what we know
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am aware of that, but you're missing my point. Webmail needs SMTP (while it doesn't necessarily need IMAP/POP). So there is bound to be an SMTP server somewhere that cannot be hidden in HTTP traffic, which is what I think hansel_der was implying.
Well fastmail's servers are not in Russia, so they can just keep using SMTP without issue, it would only be the client in Russia who would need to tunnel his traffic to fastmail.
You're forgetting the SMTP server on the other end. If Fastmail SMTP servers can no longer relay messages from/to Russian SMTP servers, then Fastmail is no longer a viable email service for Russians communicating with each other, unless all of them were using foreign based email services.
Re: Fastmail accounts blocked in Russia, here's what we know
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m also a Fastmail user (for the past 5 years or so), but I’m considering switching to iCloud, given the announcement it’ll start supporting custom domains. Fastmail is pricey ($50/month for the non-lite tier), whereas iCloud is $1/month for 50 GB.
Could you link to the iCloud announcement that says it'll start supporting custom domains? I saw that it will support disposable addresses, but didn't notice anything about custom domains.
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/06/08/icloud-mail-custom-doma... - it wasn’t discussed in the keynote but it showed up on the iOS 15 new features page
Re: Fastmail accounts blocked in Russia, here's what we know
#149I highly recommend scheduling a regular mbsync job to keep a local copy of your emails in sync with the imap server. With this it's easy to pick up and move to a different provider or recover from outages, account closure, etc. If you couple this with your own domain your email will be very portable.
Are there any pros/cons to using mbsync over imapsync out of curiosity? Only ask as I've seen imapsync recommended in many places.
Re: Fastmail accounts blocked in Russia, here's what we know
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well fastmail's servers are not in Russia, so they can just keep using SMTP without issue, it would only be the client in Russia who would need to tunnel his traffic to fastmail.
You're forgetting the SMTP server on the other end. If Fastmail SMTP servers can no longer relay messages from/to Russian SMTP servers, then Fastmail is no longer a viable email service for Russians communicating with each other, unless all of them were using foreign based email services.
I am not forgetting anything. It is indeed true that fastmail is broken for Russians in Russia. And trying to tunnel out to fastmail just to mail back in to Russia makes little sense.
Also broke are all Russian email users who have to send to or receive from the free worlds fastmail accounts. Would seem this is just Russia damaging Russians.