Telstra launches Telstra Mail email service

Telstra has announced the launch of Telstra Mail, a revamped email system for home broadband customers currently using BigPond or Telstra.com mail services.

Telstra Mail will allow for 10GB of mailbox storage -- double the capacity of Telstra's current Outlook-based email services -- and is available on Windows, Mac, and all mobile devices and tablets. It will also have "advanced" spam filtering and security settings, Telstra said.

Customers will be migrated onto the new service over the next few months, and will experience only a "minor interruption" in services as they are transitioned over to the new email system.

"New Telstra customers can receive a free Telstra Mail service as part of their home broadband plan, and in the coming months we will be moving all our existing BigPond and Telstra.com email customers onto Telstra Mail. Your existing emails and contacts and email addresses will be moved and your email address will stay the same," Nick Ruddock, Telstra Mobile Products director of Product Programs and Operations, wrote on Telstra's Exchange blog.

"We'll write to you when your service is scheduled to be moved with all the information you need to know, and we'll make the changes overnight to minimise disruption."

Telstra added, however, that customers' existing email, contents, and calendar content will remain on Microsoft's servers, with the latter to "automatically remove the content as per their mail ageing policy over time".

Telstra Mail customers can have up to 15 email addresses, with all emails to be hosted within Australia. Unlike the previous Telstra Outlook services, customers will now get product support from Telstra; however, they lose access to cloud storage via Outlook, although they can still access this service through a Microsoft account.

"Rest assured you'll still be able to continue to use services such as OneNote (Notes), Tasks, OneDrive, Messenger, or Xbox from the Microsoft site as usual," the company said.

According to Telstra, there will also be no advertising banners on Telstra Mail.

Telstra Mail is included in the plans of those on an existing Telstra service on a contract, as well as for those on SIM-only month-to-month plans.

Customers on prepaid Telstra services will need to sign up for a yearly subscription for paid email, although the telco is giving away the first 12 months for no cost. After this, Telstra charges AU$79 per year for a 12-month Paid Mail subscription.

Telstra has not yet provided information regarding what platform the new mail system will be built on.