I'm looking into getting a Hosted BES. I looked at both Exchange My Mail and Link 2 Exchange. I have a couple questions about both...

Link2Exchange says they require a VPN connection to use Outlook on your computer to connect to the email server. Does ExchangeMyMail require this as well?

I talked with a sales rep from ExchangeMyMail, and they told me they don't really support Vista yet. Does anyone know how either service will work with Vista and Outlook 2007, specifically if a VPN connection is needed to use Outlook?

I use MailStreet and have always been pleased with both their service and support. They allow access from Outlook via HTTP, which is supposedly more secure and less of a hassle.

You can chat with them directly from their website to ask the compatibility questions. I don't see anything there that specifically addresses it.

I know ExchangeMyMail does RPC over HTTPS for their service, but they claim you can't do it with Vista. Not sure how true that is. I plan on using Vista Ultimate and Outlook 2007.

Well I used office 2k7 beta with link2exchange and no problems, I think it just inherited my settings from office 2k3 (granted this was a while ago). Going back to 2k3 was slightly buggy. Anyway, I should be upgrading to regular 2k7 and vista when I get the chance (have the discs). 2k7 should connect via the RPC HTTPS stuff no problem, the only issue/benefit is that it should be easier and less settings (supposedly is more intelligent based on some of the launch presentations) as it is supposed to figure out you're doing rpc-https by itself to some extent.

I am another MailStreet user and I recommend them to everybody. Their prices are competitive, and their service is fantastic. Their tech support is really good, located in Florida (and speaks English as a first language), and follows up on requests. I always feel like with the few issues I have had, they were genuinely interested in making sure these got fixed ASAP, instead of just trying to get me off the phone ASAP.

Also, they don't require a VPN connection. Just a secure authenticated connection via HTTPS that you can configure within the Outlook mail account setup parameters.

I synce to my MailStreet account from work, and from home, and with my BlackBerry. Spo everything is always in sync with very little effort from me to keep it in sync. I am very happy with this setup.

I don't know about Vista/Outlook 2007 support, but my experience is that MailStreet always has the latest stable versions of software running on their servers. Their pre-sales staff is also pretty good and can probably answer this for you, or they will transfer you to a technical staffperson if they don't have the answer in presales. I am also pretty certain they give you a 30 day free trial of the service. So you can go ahead and configure your software and actually see if it works with no risk.

I have been a Mailstreet customer for many years, and highly recommend them. I have not used the others and cannot comment on them. Mailstreet does not require a VPN. It has Outlook 2007 available. I am running Outlook 2007 and Vista, and have no issues. The last time I checked, I think Mailstreet was slightly more expensive than others, but still competitive, because they give a smaller mailbox (100MB). You have to pay for larger.

Chris Gengaro