Basic Email Hosting is available via POP3 or IMAP email hosting. Mail servers that are used for processing email are very simple to understand.  They work diligently in the background in order to route the emails that are sent from the sender to the recipient.  This is how they are designed to work (in the simplest sense):

The need to have an email client on the machine that will be accessing the internet is essential.  There are two basic types of email client Post Office Protocol (POP) and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP).  Each is processed differently in terms of mail server actions.

With the email client in place, the mail server will need to be able to create a connection and be accessed by the client.  In POP mail clients, the client will send a request to the server to access to account and download the mail to the email client on the device (such as a computer or mobile phone).  The mail is saved to the device and can be accessed even after the internet connection is lost because it is stored locally.  In IMAP mail clients, the client will access the server but the server keeps the mail on the server.  This makes it possible for users to access their mail anywhere that they can gain internet access with their IMAP client enabled device.  Usually IMAP clients can be accessed through web browsers and mobile devices.

When sending mail to the server and ultimately to the recipient, both POP and IMAP use the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).  SMTP basically sends the mail to a route which will reach its destination.  SMTP is used for sending messages only and is very efficient at forwarding the messages to their final destination.  When the destination cannot be reached, SMTP will alert the server and the server will then use SMTP to send a message back to the original sender saying that the mail was not deliverable.

This is where the differences between free and paid email services are different for the users of the services.  Most free email services are very extremely limited in what they can send and receive.  They will usually be designed to work in IMAP to make it simpler for the accessing users to have access.  A paid email service will more than likely use POP services while some have been observed to use IMAP as well as a hybrid of these types as well.  Free options are more likely to have fewer options in usernames because they are accessible by everyone.  Paid options will be more likely to allow access to usernames which are closer to your real name because fewer people have access to the service.

Mail servers perform a large amount of tasks that are usually not possible by people.  Hundreds of thousands of messages are sent every minute and are managed through these servers and efficiently made to reach their destination.  Users of such mail servers can really take advantage of what they have to offer when they understand what goes on behind the scenes.

Exchange hosting is a hosting service that caters to the exchange line of products from Microsoft.  The use of the server system is controlled by programs and applications such as Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, and other email systems.  The server also allows the use of other shareable objects such as shared folders and calendars, contact lists and more.  The server is easy to set up and can be integrated with the appropriate software for immediate use.

It is important for exchange servers to make use of Microsoft validated, tested and approved platforms before using.  This will help to not only protect your data, but ensure that compatibility is possible between the platform and the software that will be connecting to it.  If the exchange hosting is supposed to be a dedicated server, it is important to look into the uptime guarantee that the company has to ensure that there are no problems with your exchange software and system.

Most exchange hosting options will be solely used for exchange servers.  It is possible that a variety of the options will be available for use with additional services such as hosting on the side or other types of non-specific hosting.  This is not a good thing to do when the server is meant to be used for a specific purpose but is being outsourced to another purpose.  This slows down the server and makes it less possible to get the exchange processes completed and may actually slow down the server for other things as well.

Exchange servers need to be an adequate size to really make a difference in how they perform.  Most of the options that are available will usually have a generic amount of bandwidth and storage which is okay in several of the applications for the servers.  The true test for the servers comes when they are actually uses.  A test should be performed to ensure that the quality of the connection is actually useful enough to make some email conversations possible as well as testing out a few more of the exchange hosting functions as well.

The ability to look into the available options for users is important as well.  A large exchange server will be able to accommodate a few hundred people easily.  Very large options are not necessary unless there will be a very large group of users on the server.  It is important to create policies and rules for the groups that can access the server to ensure that no one gets out of line or makes changes on the system which could cause damages to the server databases.

Whatever the case may be, it is also important to remember that support is always very important with Microsoft products and services that are based on them as well.  The selection of exchange servers should be researched with support options to understand whether or not this type of service is useful for an exchange hosting option that a company can use to connect to.