freemail.gr will cease permanently operation on 30.12.2024!

sorin · 4 Nov 2024, 12:21 AM

"Αγαπητοί φίλοι, Με λύπη σας ανακοινώνουμε ότι την 30/12/2024 το Freemail θα διακόψει οριστικά τη λειτουργία του"... ("Dear friends, we regret to inform you that on 30/12/2024 Freemail will permanently cease operation"...). They explain that "the service's management team has decided that Freemail no longer serves a particular purpose that would justify its continued funding, given that the vast majority of users now have their mobile phone registration address as their primary email address". This service started in 1997 and I used it from 2005 but not as my main email.

Bamb0 · 4 Nov 2024, 09:56 AM

Very sad to see all of them go

xylon · 6 Nov 2024, 04:25 PM

Only the login page was found, and basic information was not found online.

Bamb0 · 7 Nov 2024, 01:01 AM

Looks like they are really gonna go thru with it

sorin · 7 Nov 2024, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xylon

Only the login page was found, and basic information was not found online.

They sent this announcement to my email account there. Possibilities for new registration here stopped some years ago. Only this login page remained for already registered users. Was a "clean" mailbox service without any adds but not very reliable.

Mjjmail · 19 Jan 2025, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sorin

They sent this announcement to my email account there. Possibilities for new registration here stopped some years ago. Only this login page remained for already registered users. Was a "clean" mailbox service without any adds but not very reliable.

The login page is still there. Is this email still working?

Tsunami · 17 Jul 2025, 02:50 AM

I can recall there was another free Greek email service (containing the word "mail" in its domain, also using ccTLD .gr) , maybe that one is still around for those who wish to keep a Greek email account.

I fear more and more local providers will disappear, unless tied to a local ISP, as the world becomes more and more globalised. Pretty much everywhere, Gmail/Outlook/Yahoo are king.

Some exceptions include Germany (gmx.net, web.de, etc), Russia (mail.ru, yandex.ru), Czech Republic (seznam.cz and its other domains like email.cz), China (I think qq.com being one of the biggest?).

But those are the exceptions.

xylon · 17 Jul 2025, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tsunami

I can recall there was another free Greek email service (containing the word "mail" in its domain, also using ccTLD .gr) , maybe that one is still around for those who wish to keep a Greek email account.

I fear more and more local providers will disappear, unless tied to a local ISP, as the world becomes more and more globalised. Pretty much everywhere, Gmail/Outlook/Yahoo are king.

Some exceptions include Germany (gmx.net, web.de, etc), Russia (mail.ru, yandex.ru), Czech Republic (seznam.cz and its other domains like email.cz), China (I think qq.com being one of the biggest?).

But those are the exceptions.

It wasn't profitable, so everyone gave up.

Tsunami · 17 Jul 2025, 07:49 PM

I remember in a very old topic that someone mentioned another free Greek email service, saying "If I'd decide to retire in Greece, I already know what email service I should get"

Of course, this doesn't mean that service is still around, as the post I'm refering to was probably over 15 years old.

Not everyone gave up though.

As I mentioned, in some countries a local email provider has the same (or higher popularity) as Gmail/Yahoo/Outlook. I gave Czech Republic, Russia, Germany and China as examples where I know for sure local email providers are still doing very well (to that extent that services like web.de, mail.ru and yandex.ru even attract foreigners signing up).

I even forgot a few that I'll mention here: in Iran mail.ir is overwhelmingly popular, Belarus has mail.by, ...

I am however positive that the list doesn't end there, I just feel uncomfortable mentioning more examples as I wouldn't be sure. But I would not be surprised that for example mail.co.uk also gets a fair amount of users in the UK? And don't Japan and South Korea have local providers too that are very popular (I cannot recall the names though)? Don't Hungary and Slovakia have a popular local provider too? Brazil?

But yes, a lot gave up.

I remember in the not very long distance there were services such as ice.is (Iceland), spray.se (Sweden), terra.es (Spain), laposte.fr (France), walla.co.il (Israel), ...
Some of those probably still exist, but their past popularity seems to have faded a lot. I do know some people in those countries, and they almost all use Gmail or Yahoo these days.

4 Nov 2024, 12:21 AM	#1
sorin Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: romania Posts: 7	freemail.gr will cease permanently operation on 30.12.2024! "Αγαπητοί φίλοι, Με λύπη σας ανακοινώνουμε ότι την 30/12/2024 το Freemail θα διακόψει οριστικά τη λειτουργία του"... ("Dear friends, we regret to inform you that on 30/12/2024 Freemail will permanently cease operation"...). They explain that "the service's management team has decided that Freemail no longer serves a particular purpose that would justify its continued funding, given that the vast majority of users now have their mobile phone registration address as their primary email address". This service started in 1997 and I used it from 2005 but not as my main email.

4 Nov 2024, 09:56 AM	#2
Bamb0 The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA Posts: 2,370	Very sad to see all of them go

6 Nov 2024, 04:25 PM	#3
xylon Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2023 Posts: 159	Only the login page was found, and basic information was not found online.

7 Nov 2024, 01:01 AM	#4
Bamb0 The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA Posts: 2,370	Looks like they are really gonna go thru with it

17 Jul 2025, 02:50 AM	#7
Tsunami The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: in between the bright lights and the far unlit unknown Posts: 2,618	I can recall there was another free Greek email service (containing the word "mail" in its domain, also using ccTLD .gr) , maybe that one is still around for those who wish to keep a Greek email account. I fear more and more local providers will disappear, unless tied to a local ISP, as the world becomes more and more globalised. Pretty much everywhere, Gmail/Outlook/Yahoo are king. Some exceptions include Germany (gmx.net, web.de, etc), Russia (mail.ru, yandex.ru), Czech Republic (seznam.cz and its other domains like email.cz), China (I think qq.com being one of the biggest?). But those are the exceptions.

17 Jul 2025, 07:49 PM	#9
Tsunami The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: in between the bright lights and the far unlit unknown Posts: 2,618	I remember in a very old topic that someone mentioned another free Greek email service, saying "If I'd decide to retire in Greece, I already know what email service I should get" Of course, this doesn't mean that service is still around, as the post I'm refering to was probably over 15 years old. Not everyone gave up though. As I mentioned, in some countries a local email provider has the same (or higher popularity) as Gmail/Yahoo/Outlook. I gave Czech Republic, Russia, Germany and China as examples where I know for sure local email providers are still doing very well (to that extent that services like web.de, mail.ru and yandex.ru even attract foreigners signing up). I even forgot a few that I'll mention here: in Iran mail.ir is overwhelmingly popular, Belarus has mail.by, ... I am however positive that the list doesn't end there, I just feel uncomfortable mentioning more examples as I wouldn't be sure. But I would not be surprised that for example mail.co.uk also gets a fair amount of users in the UK? And don't Japan and South Korea have local providers too that are very popular (I cannot recall the names though)? Don't Hungary and Slovakia have a popular local provider too? Brazil? But yes, a lot gave up. I remember in the not very long distance there were services such as ice.is (Iceland), spray.se (Sweden), terra.es (Spain), laposte.fr (France), walla.co.il (Israel), ... Some of those probably still exist, but their past popularity seems to have faded a lot. I do know some people in those countries, and they almost all use Gmail or Yahoo these days.