An e-mail notification system is provided. The e-mail notification system has
a remote e-mail service system and at least one local client device. The e-mail
service system is connected to the local client device via a primary communications
link, and a secondary relatively low-bandwidth continuous communications link.
The primary communications link is preferably bidirectional and has a relatively
high bandwidth. Because such links are relatively costly, the primary communications
link is not used continuously. The secondary communications link is preferably
a low cost unidirectional continuous link. The e-mail service system receives e-mail
messages for a user and sends e-mail notifications over the secondary communications
link. The local client device generates an appropriate indicator whenever an e-mail
notification is received. The local client device may automatically retrieve e-mail
messages for the user from the remote e-mail service system via the primary communications
link or may provide the user with the opportunity to manually obtain e-mail messages
from the remote e-mail service system over the primary communications link.
