Hotmail and MobileMe

[Slone]

I'm considering getting a MobileMe subscription and I was wondering how reliable the push function of MobileMe is. I'm assuming it has a genuine push function so I'll get emails instantly but after searching the forum I saw a few posts about people complaining about the app being unstable. Has it gotten better recently and is it worth the $23 a year?

Does anyone use hotmail and MobileMe? Do you get the emails at the same time as you would on a desktop and what do you think about it?

[macgirl]

First and foremost, MobileMe costs $99 per year, though it can be had for cheaper on eBay and Amazon (I usually can find an annual subscription code for around $60). If you are seeing a lower price on eBay, it's probably a sub-account code and is not a true full account (and is against the MobileMe TOS).

Using MobileMe through your browser isn't the most pleasant experience. I just use the applications with which it syncs on my Mac – Mail, Address Book, and iCal – and I have no problems with it that way. Push email works very well on my iPhone - my mail almost always gets to my iPhone before I get it on my computer (which is set to check for new mail every 5 minutes).

Do you have a paid Hotmail account? As I understand it, you must have a premium Hotmail account (at $20/year) to be able to forward it to another account, which you would need to do if you want to have it pushed to your iPhone through a MobileMe email account.

[Slone]

First and foremost, MobileMe costs $99 per year, though it can be had for cheaper on eBay and Amazon (I usually can find an annual subscription code for around $60). If you are seeing a lower price on eBay, it's probably a sub-account code and is not a true full account (and is against the MobileMe TOS).

Using MobileMe through your browser isn't the most pleasant experience. I just use the applications with which it syncs on my Mac – Mail, Address Book, and iCal – and I have no problems with it that way. Push email works very well on my iPhone - my mail almost always gets to my iPhone before I get it on my computer (which is set to check for new mail every 5 minutes).

Do you have a paid Hotmail account? As I understand it, you must have a premium Hotmail account (at $20/year) to be able to forward it to another account, which you would need to do if you want to have it pushed to your iPhone through a MobileMe email account.

Thanks for the info about the sub account, and I do have a premium hotmail account.

At the $60 price I'm not sure if it's worth it because I'd probably only use the mail feature and now I only wait 3 minutes to get my mail anyway. How usable are the other features? I watched a few videos of the iDisk app and it looks impressive but how well does it work?

btw, thanks for answering.

[FlwrPwer]

I paid full price ($99) for Mobile Me and love it. I love that everything is sync'd automatically. I use it mainly for calendar and contacts. I also have the idisk app and the few times I've opened it, I've been impressed with how well it works.

I love that my Air, iMac, and iPhone are all sync'd together. I also sync'd my widgets from my iMac to my Air which is also useful....especially since I put stickies to remind me of everything! Now, whichever computer I use, I have those stickies.

[naviwilliams]

I've had MobileME for almost a year (Oct 10), but I've only been using it solid for about 3 weeks. I've already paid for 2010's renewal, and it's worth it.

Am a BlackBerry BES user, an thus am use to that instant update of everything, Calendar, Email and Contacts...

[acosmichippo]

my mail almost always gets to my iPhone before I get it on my computer (which is set to check for new mail every 5 minutes).

why don't you push to your computer?

[acosmichippo]

anyway, i've been using mobileme since they announced it, and love it. The syncing over-the-air is my favorite feature, but the push email is really nice too.

And it just keeps getting better.

[Slone]

I'm getting it then, thanks for the help

[macgirl]

why don't you push to your computer?

Because it doesn't do that. ;) MobileMe only advertises push email to iPhones (and iPod touchs). Contacts and calendar stay in synch automatically over-the-air. I can only choose the frequency with which my Mac checks my email (between every minute and every 1 hour), including my MobileMe email. I don't think push is really a feature or benefit for a computer that's capable of constantly checking for email on its own, unlike a mobile device like a cell phone.

[shutter13]

If you set it up imap on your computer, it's the same as push on your phone. I receive email in outlook pretty much the same instant as on my iPhone with mobileme set up on both.

[macgirl]

If you set it up imap on your computer, it's the same as push on your phone. I receive email in outlook pretty much the same instant as on my iPhone with mobileme set up on both.

I set up my MobileMe account as IMAP as well, but this isn't technically the same as push. I could set my computer to check for my email every minute instead of every 5 minutes, but I'm not in that much of a hurry to get it. It does get annoying when my iPhone beeps with a new message that hasn't shown up on my computer yet, though. Then I can't wait the few minutes for my computer to get it and I force it to check for mail. Hell - I guess I should get it to check every minute. :dft011:wicked_smile

[shutter13]

See, that's odd to me, the only time I set up a fetch schedule is for pop accounts. Like I said, I receive them both at the same time, outlook and iPhone.

[acosmichippo]

Because it doesn't do that. ;) MobileMe only advertises push email to iPhones (and iPod touchs). Contacts and calendar stay in synch automatically over-the-air. I can only choose the frequency with which my Mac checks my email (between every minute and every 1 hour), including my MobileMe email. I don't think push is really a feature or benefit for a computer that's capable of constantly checking for email on its own, unlike a mobile device like a cell phone.

hmm... i have my mail fetch frequency set to "manual", and i get email at the exact same time as on my phone. maybe i'm just lucky...

[acosmichippo]

I set up my MobileMe account as IMAP as well, but this isn't technically the same as push. I could set my computer to check for my email every minute instead of every 5 minutes, but I'm not in that much of a hurry to get it. It does get annoying when my iPhone beeps with a new message that hasn't shown up on my computer yet, though. Then I can't wait the few minutes for my computer to get it and I force it to check for mail. Hell - I guess I should get it to check every minute. :dft011:wicked_smile

yeah, i'm pretty ssure when i set up my mobileme stuff, i used this button to have all my devices synced. no checking schedule needed, as you can see.

http://img.skitch.com/20090818-kmqeb5a3wm8e34ca5hb9ggutfg.png

[RossMc]

If you don't know if its for you try it before you buy it Apple give you a 60day free trial

http://www.apple.com/mobileme/

[macgirl]

yeah, i'm pretty ssure when i set up my mobileme stuff, i used this button to have all my devices synced. no checking schedule needed, as you can see.

http://img.skitch.com/20090818-kmqeb5a3wm8e34ca5hb9ggutfg.png

You know, I have always had Mail set to check every 5 minutes and never tried the manual only setting. Glad to hear that MobileMe pushes despite that. :ok:ok

[impaler]

Because it doesn't do that. ;) MobileMe only advertises push email to iPhones (and iPod touchs).

This is NOT true. MobileMe uses IMAP IDLE, and pushes email to Mail in Mac OS X, Outlook on Windows, etc.