P2PA can host your e-mail on our server -- we do all the administration work for you! Your domain e-mail is set up using aliases.

ALIASES
Aliases work like this: a "real" user/mailbox is created on the P2PA mail server, with a generic company name (we'll use the Widget Company, widget.com, as an example). An alias is an e-mail address that points to that mailbox. For instance, the user "widget01" is created on the server. Now an alias is created, "fred@widget.com". Any e-mail sent to fred@widget.com is directed to the widget01 mailbox. Fred logs onto our server as user widget01 and fetches his e-mail from that mailbox using his assigned password. When Fred sends e-mail, he gives his e-mail address as fred@widget.com; no one but he ever sees the widget01 username.

You can get fancy with aliases, too: more than one alias can point to the same mailbox. This means that Fred can use multiple e-mail addresses: "fred@widget.com", "fscuttle@widget.com", "sales@widget.com": all valid e-mail addresses, all pointed using aliases to the widget01 mailbox, where Fred retrieves e-mail sent to those addresses all at once. One trick is to use this ability to catch frequent typos: "anderson@widget.com" and "andersen@widget.com" pointing to the same mailbox, for instance.

Aliases can even point to an e-mail address not hosted by P2PA: "mary@widget.com" can point to "mary2468@aol.com", if that is desired.

What aliases do not do is forwarding, where an -email is received and then transferred to another e-mail address, sometimes retaining a copy (in other words, one e-mail going to multiple addresses). Aliases can only go to one mailbox. A forward can be set on that mailbox, however; that is a separate procedure done by P2PA staff as requested, for a small fee.

USERNAMES AND PASSWORDS
P2PA will assign usernames and passwords. The rationale behind generic usernames is this: if a user were assigned by actual name ("fred"), when another Fred from another company came along, he would have to be "fred1", and so on; it is much more practical to assign a generic company-related username. If Fred ever leaves the company, his alias is removed, and the password for his username changed; his replacement will then get the same username, a new password, and a new alias pointing to that same mailbox. If a username is not active (Fred is not replaced), P2PA billing is notified so you are not charged for a mailbox you are not using.

Passwords are randomly generated. We do not allow the user to choose his own passwords; experience has shown that these are much more liable to be cracked by hackers, and the account used for malicious purposes. In practice, the password is entered once in the e-mail client, and need not be remembered.

SENDING AND RECEIVING E-MAIL
When setting up the POP e-mail client, several items will have to be entered:

CHECKING E-MAIL WHEN OFF-NETWORK
Receiving mail via POP is authenticated with your username and password. You can check your mail from anywhere. Sending mail is not authenticated; when you are on a P2PA network that is not an issue: we allow anyone on our network to send e-mail via our server. However, to guard against spammers, P2PA (and most ISPs) will not allow the server to accept outgoing e-mail from off-network. What can you do when at home or on the road with your laptop, short of changing the Outgoing Server in your settings at each location?

P2PA provides POP-Before-SMTP. When you check your e-mail, authenticating with your username and password, our server remembers the IP address you are using (for 30 minutes). It will then allow you to send mail from that IP address. So, anywhere you are connected, you can send e-mail via our Outgoing Mail server-- as long as you check your e-mail first. In practice, some e-mail clients such as Outlook Express have a "Send and Receive" button: it sends any mail in the Outbox first, and then checks for incoming mail. If you are off-network this will result in an error: you are trying to send mail via our server before you have used POP to authenticate. Just hit the button again-- now you have checked your mail, and outgoing mail will be sent without a problem.

QUESTIONS?
Contact us at ops@p2pa.com.