Way to Russia Talk Lounge

Rufus1 · Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:05 pm Post subject: E-mail Problems

For about the last year and a half I've been exchanging E-mails with my Girlfriend in St Petersburg.

A few months ago a problem started to occur because messages began to arrive blank without the words she'd written. To start with this happened occasionally but now it seems to happen all the time and it's become rare for me to recieve an E-mail that works.

Has anyone else experienced this problem and if so can anything be done?

scottso69 · Frequent Guest Joined: 07 May 2008 Posts: 19 Location: usa

Hello, That must be very frustrating.I am in the united states and for the past year also communicate with my friend from stp via e-mail.Im sorry i cant help you-we have never had a problem at all.You didnt mention,does she have her own computer?My friend e-mails me from a caffee,her e-mail is set up with Rambler.ru-like i said-not a glitch yet-even with photos.Good luck.Scott b.

Rufus1 · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 10:17 pm Post subject: Thanks

Scott, thankyou very much for your reply. As you say what's happening certainly is frustrating especially as I've increasingly had problems with the phone link too.

In answer to your question my Girlfriend does have her own computer. When she was first in Stp she used to write from her computer at work and there were no problems. About a year ago she got her own computer and she used some sort of pay as you go internet service. The problem was she regularly used it for to long and it was costing a lot of money. To put it into context the cost of one months worth of internet use was equal to 3-4 months worth of the broadband contract I pay in England. On this system a fair proportion of the E-mails worked but not all.

Two months ago to save money she went onto an internet contract that allowed her to use the Internet for 2 hours a day for a set price. It's not good value as I know it (and probably you too) but is better. However, it's since that time that hardly any of the E-mails have got through.

I hope your luck will remain good for your communication. All the best, Rufus

Varrah · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:42 pm Post subject:

Well, you should try another email server for your contacts.
May be there's a problem in connection between the two email services you are using (I remember there were some troubles with e.g. mail.ru and yandex.ru interconnections - mails were delayed for a dozen of hours or more, but with all other services both of them worked fine).

Try to use some free mailing services, like GMail - it's safe and reliable and both of you can use it.

As to the internet connection services in SPB (or STP if you like it more, yet locals do call it SPB) - she just need to seek for a solution. Nowadays almost every city house is connected to at least one broadband ISP (like http://avangard-dsl.ru/ or http://tvoe.tv) which provide internet connection starting from less than 10 euro/month.

Rufus1 · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:04 pm Post subject: Thnakyou

Varrah,

Thankyou ever so much for your helpful information. It sounds like it is possible for myself and my Girlfriend to communicate successfully and cheaply.

In relation to the internet connection price I feel a little disturbed. I actually pay for the connection and the figure I pay is much, much more than 10 euro/month. My girlfriend is from Ukraine and I'm just hoping that the price I pay is at it is because she hasn't had very good advice about which internet company to be with.

Thankyou once again. All the best,

Rufus.

Varrah · Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:39 pm Post subject:

So, she is living in SPB but she is not a resident here, right?
So, then, I assume that she is renting an appartment here somewhere. This can make things a bit more complicated, since the owner of the appartment must agree to connect an appartment to the internet. But usually they agree... So, try it. She has to pay attention to the bulleten boards they had placed in each house's entrance/stairway - most ISPs place their ads there as soon as the house is connected.