MobileMe mail offline for 'some users'... again

What is there to say about it, really? The cloud that thinks different appears to be unresponsive on webmail and POP/IMAP connections for some unknown fraction of the userbase, and it's been having issues since the morning hours today. Mel noted a long slow period yesterday, and also spotted some downtime about three weeks ago. As of 2:30 pm ET, it looks like mail is beginning to flow again for POP users, although IMAP and webmail are still shaking off the jitters.
While monitoring services like Netcraft don't help to track MobileMe email uptime (since the website keeps responding even though mail isn't flowing), it's hard to shake the sense that this $99/year service is costing us more in aggravation than is strictly necessary.

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MRCUR said 2:23PM on 11-10-2009
This is really obnoxious. I pay Apple $99/year for this "service", yet millions pay Google NOTHING for Gmail and I guarantee it's down FAR less often than MobileMe.
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Bender Bending Rodriguez said 2:50PM on 11-10-2009
Then use Gmail for your email. If you are using MM specifically to feel cool by having a me.com or mac.com email address then I feel bad. I, like many others, use free email services like Gmail but find the many other features of MM to be compelling at $65/year.
CHRiS said 3:12PM on 11-10-2009
an interesting fact is, Apple outsources the email spam filtering to Gmail, I wonder if they outsource the whole thing to them too? Anyway, I agree, if you don't like it, don't renew and speak with your wallet.
jguzicki said 3:49PM on 11-10-2009
yup. mine's down.
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Jonny Freshlines said 2:31PM on 11-10-2009
Boo Hoo Hoo - MobileMe is a lot more than just mail. What a bunch of whiners. If you don't like it, don't pay for it.
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Oomu said 2:35PM on 11-10-2009
"This is really obnoxious. I pay Apple $99/year for this "service", yet millions pay Google NOTHING for Gmail and I guarantee it's down FAR less often than MobileMe.
"
gmail is not magical and it's mail in a nice website. it can break (a lot) and you can say NOTHING : it's free.
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C said 2:43PM on 11-10-2009
For 99.00, I am growing REALLY frustrated that MobileMe is down. This is the second time in 2 days, and mine hasn't been working for about 4 hours. Apple better get their ducks in a row real quick, or next time I won't be re-subscribing.
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Jack Chance said 4:30PM on 11-10-2009
you really shouldn't be paying $99 for mobile me.
http://www.amazon.com/MobileMe-Individual-Updated-2009-Version/dp/B001AMLRU4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1257888625&sr=8-1
Jordan said 8:39PM on 11-10-2009
You still shouldn't even be paying $65. There are many nice, WORKING, free replacements
Eeeed said 2:37PM on 11-10-2009
There are nice free replacements.
Dropbox for file syncing, fruux for calendar, contacts and bookmark syncing and finally Google Apps for IMAP email (even with my own domain).
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Ron said 2:39PM on 11-10-2009
WOW...$99.00 a year, what a bargin!
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ron said 2:44PM on 11-10-2009
"Boo Hoo Hoo - MobileMe is a lot more than just mail. What a bunch of whiners. If you don't like it, don't pay for it."
I'm gonna defend paying for this 'service' no matter what..I spent 99.00 and i'm no fool! "MobileMe is a lot more that just mail."
hahahahha
Andy said 2:55PM on 11-10-2009
I've had issues with "back to my mac" today as well. When I finally did get it working class was over before the file I wanted could transfer.
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MattH said 2:53PM on 11-10-2009
Was down from around 11am to 130pm CST. Was down only for the Mail.app access (didn’t try web interface) and was getting mail on my iPhone just fine.
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Andre Visockis said 2:56PM on 11-10-2009
hehehehe
I am making printscreens of all the fail screens and messages I get, I think it'll make a nice MobileMe desktop background...
I simply can't believe this, thanks God I got Gmail. Just gotta make sure next time this "service" is working, to send me a copy of messages to the gmail address this way I dont get all this lost....
y'day I tried to cancel my account and get my money back, but they'll discount the days I've been using. They dont give me extra days for days like these, where I simply can't do anything with my e-mail....
Dropbox, Gmail are good replacements, gotta find one for the 'find my iPhone' service....
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Drifter71 said 3:18PM on 11-10-2009
There's a dropbox app for that.
bhaveshbshah said 2:56PM on 11-10-2009
I really want it to work smoother. MobileMe is great, and it's great with my Mini at home, MBAir on the road and iPhone on the go, except when it does this. Very frustrating.
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KomputarGuy said 2:58PM on 11-10-2009
I really like MobileMe when it does work. Last couple days have been a bit crappy with it. I am glad I bought mine off eBay for about $50.
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paul.bianco said 2:59PM on 11-10-2009
Not sure the extent of everyone's problem, but my problem was a port connection issue. I had no problems accessing my mail via WebMail and everything worked fine there. (However, I didn't loose service yesterday)
I have no real complaints about my MobileMe service. Every email account I have whether it's IMAP, POP, Gmail or MobileMe will have a down time now and then. Slightly annoying - sure. But I don't think this bit of downtime justifies not paying to continue service. I also think we put a very high standard on Apple and when things go down/bad. And from my IT experience in general, people are way too quick to freak out when email goes down.
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simpson.mike said 3:12PM on 11-10-2009
Gotta love the "Some MobileMe members are intermittently unable to access MobileMe Mail using a desktop email application, iPhone or iPod touch. Access to www.me.com/mail is unaffected. We apologize for any inconvenience." right below the message also stating problems with web access...
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