I don't see too much relevancy unless you're running your own mail
server. I don't know of _any_ ISPs that still require that you log in
via SMTP to read your mail.
You can't login to SMTP to read mail. The SMTP server delivers the mail locally and your mail client/pop/imap server allows you to read it. Also, its very relevant as all the email you send goes through this process.
Either you use POP3 or IMAP4, depending on
how brave your ISP is ( and just try designing and running a 4 million postbox IMAP server if you don't think an ISP is being brave! )
Steve
