Your email service provides two distinct email functions, transmitting email messages and receiving email messages. Internet email is based on an internet standard, SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol.) SMTP describes the standard mechanism for forwarding internet email from one location to another, via multiple relaying servers. SMTP does not describe acquiring an email message from a sending user or the final delivery of an email to a recipient.

A typical internet email user initiates and receives email using an email client program such as OUTLOOK, EUDORA, PEGASUS. For YAHOO, HOTMAIL and AOL users, their email program for exchanging outgoing and incoming email with their email server is on the vendor web site.

Two email problems are sometimes overlooked or misunderstood, lost email and delayed email. The majority of email issues are attributed to server and server administration issues as opposed to losing email data in-transit. In the networks that cascade email servers, we observe lost and significantly delayed email. This service provides an un-biased comparison of the major email providers, measuring email delays and a count of lost email.

EXAMPLE: The following graph displays SMTP server delays 288 email messages encountered on 1/20/2004. The emails were sent from Dulles, VA (VERIO) to Austin, TX (Time Warner RoadRunner). The 288 emails were sent every 5 minutes for a 24-hour period. The email path from Dulles to Austin encounters one VERIO SMTP server and 3 Time Warner RoadRunner servers. In this example, an email sent at approximately 7:00pm CST was delayed for approximately 90 minutes by the first of three cascaded Time Warner SMTP servers. The SMTP delay times do NOT include any user delays encountered from reading the email. The red marked delay encountered at approximately 4:00am CST was attributed to VERIO's SMTP sending server.

For a more in-depth explanation of email, please check out: HOW STUFF WORKS.