If email messages are an integral part of your online communication with business associates or relatives, you might be better off using a mailbox with your own domain and a provider that supports the POP3 and IMAP email delivery protocols, instead of using a web-based email service that entails restrictions in regards to the maximum size of the attachments. In this way, you will be able to check your mailboxes on any desktop or mobile device using any software program – Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, and so on. With the IMAP email protocol, you will be able to see the email messages locally at your end, but they will be on the server at all times, while with the POP3 protocol, all email messages will be downloaded onto the device, unless you choose a copy to be stored on the mail server. On top of that, you’ll be able to use a lot of other useful options – calendars, contact groups, and so on, not to mention that in case there is a temporary issue with your Internet service, you can still check your email messages since they’ll be on your desktop or handheld device.