Get more from Pobox with personal domains!

This article was originally published as part of the Pobox blog. Pobox was acquired by Fastmail in 2015.

We’re pleased to announce a great change for people who use or want to use personal domains (MyPobox) with their accounts.  Effective immediately, we’re eliminating the charge for additional addresses (the addresses formerly known as aliases).  While the number of addresses you can have at Pobox domains is still capped, we’ve greatly expanded the number of addresses you can specify at your own domain.

The new limits on incoming Pobox addresses, by account type, are:

Pobox Basic: 20 addresses (3 at Pobox domains)
Pobox Plus:   40 addresses (6 at Pobox domains)
Mailstore:    100 addresses (6 at Pobox domains)

The price for using AllMail, which allows you to accept mail sent to any not-specifically-assigned address at your domain, has been reduced to $10 (from $30).

This change also means that we will now be tracking mail volume limits.  Virtually all of our accounts are well under even the smallest of the volume limits.  However, if your account is not, you will be contacted via email.  (Just interested in how much mail you’ve been receiving?  Check our new Statistics page to see how much mail you receive daily, monthly and yearly.)  The volume limits, averaged monthly, are:

Pobox Basic: 1,000 messages a day
Pobox Plus:   2,000 messages a day
Mailstore:      4,000 messages a day

Why did the Pobox address charge exist for so long? In the past, the alias charge was a stand-in for email volume.  Our billing system was written LONG in the past, and didn’t have a way to track metering information.  As you may know, we’ve been transitioning to a new billing system over the last few months, and this is one of the changes that the transition has enabled.

What happens if you exceed the volume limits? We will never bounce mail for exceeding volume limits.  If you are one of the fewer than 30 accounts whose current usage exceeds the limit for their existing account type, you will receive an email within the next two days informing you, and asking you to upgrade to the account type whose volume you are currently using. Should your usage remain at that level, we will automatically upgrade you to the appropriate account type.

What if I’ve already paid for additional addresses or AllMail? Good news! You’ll see your account expiration date automatically extend as a result. You’ll receive an email in the next two days telling you about what’s changed on your account.
Does this mean I can invite 19 friends to share my account with me?  No. A single account is still designed for, and intended to be used by, a single person.  While some Pobox Plus and Mailstore account holders use delivery groups to redirect a small amount of mail to another person (I, for example, have addresses we give to my daughter’s school, doctor’s office, etc. that send copies to my Inbox and my husband’s account), the increase in addresses available to an account does not mean they are “shareable.”

What if I’m already using more addresses at Pobox domains than my account type permits? Accounts already using between 3 and 9 Pobox-domain addresses (which have always been capped at a maximum of 9 per account) will keep those addresses, at no charge.  Many of you are among our oldest account holders – thank you for your many years of support, and continuing to choose Pobox as your email solution!

Are you changing the limits on forwarding addresses? No.  No address can forward to more than 5 addresses; no account may have more forwarding addresses than incoming addresses.  Please note that messages that are forwarded to multiple destinations have those messages count multiple times towards their volume limit.  So, if you get 10 pieces of mail forwarded, but you forward to 5 destinations, that counts as 50 messages.

Is there a limit on the number of domains I can have on my account? Accounts are still capped at a maximum of 100 addresses.  Since every domain must have at least one address, 100 domains is the cap.

Is there a limit on the number of Pobox accounts that can use my domain? You may share your domain with as many other Pobox customers as you like.  You may also add as many accounts as you like to your billing group.

We hope you’ll find this change a great reason to move or add a personal domain to your Pobox account. As always, if you have any questions about this change, please let us know.