This story keeps coming up. When you pay for email, you get a customer status. This entails a SLA and a bunch of other rights, which you most likely never get from a free service provider. I hope if those reading these comments still use free email service instead of hosting their own (or paying for it), strongly consider making the switch.
I switched to my hosted email, it is not so difficult to manage, and I feel very free.
Also I have created accounts for my children, my wife with very little costs. The magic? This very well supported project: