Low Bandwidth eMail...

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Spinal

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 14, 2004
Messages
4,806
Location
between Uxbridge and the Alps
Car
x254, G350, Duster, S320, Mach1, 900ss and a few more
I need some technical advice that is beyond my level of knowledge... I need a real email geek!

This is the scenario:
I'm going to be in the desert... connecting through a 9600bps connection... (yes, old-school - but I can't afford a bgan terminal). I will want to send emails... but I'm not sure I want to receive them!

At $1.50 per minute of connection, I'm looking at $10 to transfer the 300kb a normal send/receive transfers in my outlook (multiple accounts and A LOT of spam)

So, I'm thinking... lets squeeze out as much as I can... IMAP or POP? how much overhead does each have? is there a way to force outlook to send... but not receive? or maybe receive only the headers until I tell it to download a specific email?

My other idea was create a simple HTML form - nothing except for a text box, an upload box and a submit button... email goes into text box, any potential picture goes into upload box and then submit... the advantage of this is I can cache the page, so the only data is the transmit... I think?

Any ideas?
M.
 
IIRC in Outlook 2003 you can choose "Send All" instead of Send & Receive.

As for sending mail only, why not create a new gmail, hotmail etc account specifically for sending mail that way you have no chance of sending & receiving by accident.

You're right the handshake / logon process itself uses up bandwith too. Another alternative is some webmail providers have light versions.

I would suggest creating a new account that no-one else knows just for sending stuff out. As for differences in the protocols and their bandwidth utilisation - I can't help I'm afraid.

Takes me back a bit - I used to use dial-up mail over a GSM modem with my HP Journada about 9 years ago now, used it in the Middle East & US quite a bit. When I couldn't get a local ISP I would dial back to an ISP in the UK :wallbash: crazy I know! :D
 
check out some ocean yachty sites as there are many light e mail solutions available.
 
Do a remote desktop session, to a host running outlook, this way you only do screen refreshes and not downloads of email.

Alternatively, use webmail with images turned off in the browser.

Both are doable over 9600 GSM (just).

A blackberry (with unlimited roaming data) works in some African countries - this might solve part of your route.

Blackberry coverage countries in Africa below
 

Attachments

  • blackberry.jpg
    blackberry.jpg
    12.1 KB · Views: 58
Last edited:
IMAP - you can restrict the download to headers only or 500 kb or whatever size you choose and then only mark for download those you want to see.
 
Non geek suggestion would be to seek out and use the internet cafes/hotel pcs that will be in the most unlikely far flung reaches of the planet to check and post emails. My easter trip to remote bits of Java (not the desert I know) revealed very cheap internet access in titchy villages in the back of beyond, so I could happily bring my work stress on holiday. :D

Ade
 
IMAP - you can restrict the download to headers only or 500 kb or whatever size you choose and then only mark for download those you want to see.

Good call, forgot about that! Yes as stated you could set for headers only or headers and first x kb, so you could even set for lower than 500kb.

Remote access is a decent call, I've used Citrix systems on 9.6k connections although they can feel a bit 'flaky', usable however the other suggestions here may be more usable / practical.
 
Remote access will hammer your connection. Imap is probably the way forward, or a plain webmail like fastmail.fm
 
So, I'm thinking... lets squeeze out as much as I can... IMAP or POP? how much overhead does each have? is there a way to force outlook to send... but not receive? or maybe receive only the headers until I tell it to download a specific email?

It doesn't matter which of these. POP3 is probably slightly lighter.

Your problem is that you need a mail tool that just downloads the mail headers and allows you to pick just the mails you want.

If I were you I would set up a separate POP3 or IMAP mailbox just for this and give the mail address only to those people who will send you

(a) relevant mail

(b) concise plain text messages

Remote Access using RDP is a BAD IDEA in this scenario.

Edit: And if going the webmail route make sure the HTML generated by the email client is extremely lightweight.
 
Last edited:
Thanks!

Ok, my thoughts:
> webmail : Don't like the idea... too much extra "junk" is included with most webmail clients, and I don't have time to code my own client. I have a "Send-only" page which is light and works... but can't receive

> RDP : Really don't like the idea. Downloading a 800x600 image instead of downloading a few lines of text for an email doesn't seem like a bandwidth-saving idea...

> IMAP: My mobile is set to download headers, I'm sure I can figure out how to do that on outlook... hmmm

> POP : is there a way to download headers only in POP? If so, I think I'll do that!

> A separate email address is a given, that's already set up and on the server side it has an exclusive spam filter (i.e. allows emails only from a select few addresses). It's also set to only accept plain text encoded only messages - but send anything (i.e. if I need to send a picture)

M.
 
Thanks!

Ok, my thoughts:
> webmail : Don't like the idea... too much extra "junk" is included with most webmail clients, and I don't have time to code my own client. I have a "Send-only" page which is light and works... but can't receive

> RDP : Really don't like the idea. Downloading a 800x600 image instead of downloading a few lines of text for an email doesn't seem like a bandwidth-saving idea...

> IMAP: My mobile is set to download headers, I'm sure I can figure out how to do that on outlook... hmmm

> POP : is there a way to download headers only in POP? If so, I think I'll do that!

> A separate email address is a given, that's already set up and on the server side it has an exclusive spam filter (i.e. allows emails only from a select few addresses). It's also set to only accept plain text encoded only messages - but send anything (i.e. if I need to send a picture)

M.


You really should try fastmail - it is very lightweight, works on all browsers including most mobiles and is perfect for low bandwidth connections. Also gives full IMAP implementation. It's one of the services I use when I'm travelling in Africa and using FWTs.

Oddly, outlook express implements IMAP better than outlook does and is more lightweight. As for Pop some clients will let you download the first "x" lines of a message but it is more heavy than IMAP in that respect.
 
^ Outlook Express as mentioned lets you select Send all or Receive all from the taskbar.
 
I think Eudora may have just the features you want

Nick Froome
 
Pop is like this.

telnet pop.youisp.co.uk 110
USER: mehere
PASS: whatever
/* what have I got ?*/
LIST
1.msg header subject line
2. msg header
3. msg header
/* not interested in first one */
RETR 2
/* Lets prune first 2 */
DELE 1
DELE 2
/* leaving 3rd one */
QUIT


Pine was my first thought too.
 
POP it is then :D Pulling only headers though, and then I can pull the body if I really need too...

My idea is to ask the three people who have access to send emails to this address to put something like "URGENT" in the subject if it needs to be read immediately... or just call!

Just ordered the jerry cans... and the spare copper pipe to rebuild the brakes...

Now that I've spent my months salary I feel better... alot poorer, but better :p

M.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom