Looking for a new trustworthy POP3 email provider; Preferably free

Compumind said:

@Wobitancrawfodi -
I suggest Protonmail. No POP3 but you can do IMAP.

Indeed. It was the first provider I tested :)

Reasonable pricing. Seems like a good service.

I have very simple old fashioned needs, but I don't want to get into a philosophical discussion about my beliefs.

Very simply, I will only use a desktop client. many of the people I converse with use desktop clients.
I just want to send an email to one or more people, have that email arrive in their desktop client and for them to be able to do the same. Sounds easy right?

Not so! IMAP leaves messages on the server. I don't want that. I have no mobile technology. I don't need it because I'm disabled. There are some ways around that, but deleted messages go to trash on protons servers which could be retained for 7-30 days unless I log on periodically every day to delete them. Crazy stuff

IMAPs selling point is that it can be synced across multiple devices. I have only one device, and most of my contacts don't use/need sync either.

Proton has a product called "Bridge" which is required to be able to get emails from/to my desktop client (Thunderbird). It has its own set of issues.

But that's not the killer. Proton to proton is E2E encrypted, which is great. But from proton to non-proton the recipient receives an email with a password linked to the email on the proton servers. The recipient never actually gets the email into their client. Most people I've spoken with said if they received an email like that they would delete it immediately for fear that it was malware or such. If the recipient is using untrustworthy service like (shudder) GMail they still never get the actual email into their mailbox. It remains on the proton servers, and is deleted when proton want to delete it, not when I or the recipient want to delete it.

Also, if the recipient misses the email it's deleted after 30 days. I would never know the recipient had not received the email unless I asked about each email as the delivery receipt doesn't work in such cases.

As if that wasn't bad enough, unless I use a static password for emails (which is just plain dumb), then I have to pre-share the email password with them so they can open the link. If I have no mobile devices how would I do that? Send them an email? That won't work. But even if I did have a cell phone, that's just dumb. To send an email I have to SMS a password to every recipient. SMS is the least secure form of communication on the planet. Not my first preference for sending passwords.

Hence the need for pop3. Emails are just delivered to the recipient. No muss. No fuss.

For security I can use S/Mime or OpenPGP both of which are supported by most desktop clients and some webmail services, not that I need all emails encrypted.