Munich - Programs like Outlook and Thunderbird are useful for sending and receiving e-mail messages. Another option is to sign up for an e-mail account with one of the many services on the internet. All correspondence can then be handled fully online. The same services often offer a pay-version alongside the cost-free ones, promising extra functionality in the process. Are the extra services worth the cost?

One thing is certain: becoming a paying member of Yahoo! Mail Plus, freeneet Mail Power or any of the other free services is unlikely to blow a hole in your budget. "The current price models cost somewhere between 2 and 5 dollars per month," says Tobias Weidemann from Munich-based PC Welt magazine. In many cases, a 6-month or year-long contract is required.

Test accounts are available for those who are uncertain about whether to pay. Caution is advised, though: if the contract is not cancelled by the user in a timely manner, it almost always automatically turns into regular one - and hence is no longer free.

"It's too easy to forget to cancel the contract, so I'd just as soon stay away," says Peter Knaak, computer expert for the German consumer testing organisation Stiftung Warentest in Berlin. "All or nothing," he recommends as a motto.

So what do the pay versions have to offer? "In general there are no ads on their interfaces," Weidemann says. Users may see banner ads when logging out at times, but the e-mail messages themselves are ad-free.

"That's important if you intend to use the account commercially or for professional purposes," says Christiane Hornig from Hamburg-based Computer Bild magazine. The free versions often attach a small advertising message onto the bottom of each e-mail they compose.

More important for many users is the expanded storage space that the fee-based versions offer, as well as the option to send larger attachments. The 5 euro fee to German free-mail service Web. de Club even buys unlimited space for e-mail messages, photos, and other files. Attachments can be up to 50 megabytes (MB).

"Our normal free-mail offers 12 MB of storage space and 4 MB for attachments - at present only Club members can send 50 MB attachments," says spokesman Michael d'Aguiar in Karlsruhe.

Elsewhere the differences between storage space are less drastic. The free GMX post box is already one gigabyte (GB) in size, compared with the five GB offered for the pay version. Then again, the 2.99 dollars required for membership are also less than at Web. de. freenet's Mail Basic comes with 50 MB of storage, while its Plus version 
(2.49 dollars) offers 5 GB. But that's also sufficient to use the mailox as a sort of virtual server for photos and other files that are accessible from any computer.

Another benefit of the pay version is better spam and virus protection. "The spam protection often provides settings that users of the cost-free service simply don't have - such as medium or high levels of security," says Christiane Hornig. The virus guards, by contrast, can often only be switched on or off.

"There are often additional extras like free SMS or faxes," Horning says. Web. de allows its pay users to create an additional 19 e-mail addresses delivering to the club mailbox. There are also parental control options: youngsters can only receive e-mail messages from those addresses previously vetted and approved by the parents on a "whitelist."

Does the jump to a pay online e-mail service make sense? "The bigger providers do offer some value for the money," says Tobias Weidemann from PC Welt. Users whose free e-mail inbox is perpetually overflowing and who like to send e-mail messages with large attachments may well also find the few dollars per month to be well spent.

Even so, the experts see a downside, too. The virus protection is only of limited use, Horning feels. "You shouldn't be relying on your e-mail provider." Other extras are also available elsewhere too, and for free. "You can store your photos at Flickr or Picasa." And a virtual hard drive, known as a Smartdrive, is available for free as well at sites like Humyo. com. "In general it's fair to say that you should consider carefully whether you need to pay money for a mailbox. "

INFO BOX: Google takes another tack

Google Mail is sticking to its no-cost-only approach. "We are currently at seven GB of storage space, and it's getting bigger every day," says spokesman Stefan Keuchel in Hamburg. The company is often criticized for what is called extensive spying on its users' habits.

"We scan the content of the mails and then a suitable ad for that content appears on the right edge of the screen," Keuchel comments, adding "Every e-mail worldwide is scanned. The difference is that we state it openly," Keuchel says. (dpa)