Electronic Mail

Find someone who can give you a demonstration of how easy it is to send and receive e-mail messages. They can also give you advice about choosing a reliable local Internet service provider. Try a computer-literate friend, the computer lab at a local school, or a local computer vendor.

Cost
A basic Internet connection costs about $30.00 per month. This will be partly offset by reductions in long-distance telephone charges and postage. Once you are connected to the Internet, there is no additional charge for sending e-mail.

How Are E-Mail Messages Sent?
E-mail messages are not sent instantaneously, but are organized into batches and passed from computer to computer on the Internet until they reach their destination. Delays can result when the Internet is busy, but the process is still faster than "snail mail", the Internet user's term for the Postal Service.

Advantages of E-Mail

Read messages at your convenience
You can send messages at any time that you choose.  The recipient reads them at a time of their choice. This is a great way to avoid playing "Telephone Tag" – particularly with people in other time zones. Users should remember to read their e-mail on a regular basis.

Connect related messages (threading)
A good e-mail program links messages with the same subject, so that you read them in sequence, rather than scattered among other unrelated messages. This feature allows you to quickly delete "junk mail" which often has multiple copies.

Send mail at your convenience

• You can send e-mail anytime that you want 
• User can keep an "address book" of their usual correspondents

Address books & abbreviations
All e-mail programs provide some form of address book to save the addresses of your regular correspondents. They also provide an "abbreviation" or "alias" feature so that you do not have to re-type the full address each time that you send a message.

Import Message Text
You can type the message into your e-mail program, or import text using your computer's "cut and paste" capability. A courteous correspondent will keep their e-mail messages short, and restrict them to a single topic, allowing you to quickly address the same topic in your reply.

Delivery time is faster than postal mail
"Snail Mail" is the Internet term for regular mail. Messages are usually delivered within minutes to anywhere in the world. Occasionally network problems will delay a message for a few hours. If a message is not delivered, the system will usually tell you.

Forward messages to another person
You can forward any message that you receive to someone else – so be careful what you say in a message, in case someone else forwards it to others.

The same message can be sent to a group of people
All e-mail programs allow you to create personal mailing lists. This is a very useful feature if you need to share information with a group, such as a committee.

Mail can be encrypted for security
Any e-mail message can theoretically be intercepted as it passes from computer to computer on the Internet. Purchasing additional software that encrypts the message can prevent this. Your correspondents must use the same encryption system in order to de-code your messages.