Push vs. Pull Email
Reader Todd Neumann writes:
Can you explain to me the big deal about push vs pull email. I have read about the differences. But I really don’t see what the big deal about having your computer or phone “pull” or check your account every 5 minutes.
Todd – on my iPhone, I have three accounts setup. I have my work account, should I want to check on my work email on the go, my Gmail, personal account, and my Yahoo! account. The first two are IMAP-based, and I manually check them each time I launch the Mail application on iPhone.
The third account from Yahoo! is “push” enabled, meaning, the phone will buzz or vibrate the instant the message is sent. This way, even if I’m not in an e-mail checking mood, someone can still get a message to me, just the same as if they had sent a text message.
Some prefer the push method because they will be notified as soon as things arrive. I honestly don’t use the Yahoo! account much, so I can’t speak for its necessity. I prefer to get messages on my own schedule, so the IMAP-based account is preferable for my needs. I think the push-model is preferred for folks who don’t use, or don’t pay for SMS-based messaging services.
You mention just having the phone check, via the pull method, often. I’ve found this is not very good when your coverage is poor: you’ll get errors, etc., that it can’t reach the server. It also taxes the server, just the same aggressively-set RSS newsreaders do.