POP3 Post Office Protocol

In computing, local email clients use the Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), an application-layer Internet standard protocol, to retrieve email from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. Nearly all subscribers to individual Internet service provider email accounts access their email with client software that uses POP3.

Full definition of POP3 at Wikipedia

POP3 is used to retrieve your Email. When you have an Email sent to you, it will reside on the ISP or hosting server until you retrieve it. It will then be downloaded to your computer and deleted from the server.

We often get asked "How do I configure my Email client?"

POP3 is used to retrieve your mail, and a protocol called SMTP is used to send Email. When configuring a mail client such as Outlook or Outlook Express, you will need this information from your ISP. Normally, the POP3 and SMTP will be something like "mail.aol.com."

So no matter what your ISP, you can configure any mail client to retrieve and send your Email with very little configuration.

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