I think Gmail is the best free e-mail service available.  It offers more storage space than any other service.  They are currently offering over 2GB of storage space.  You have a better opportunity to get a good screen name since it has not been around for as long as some of the other services.  It has a very user friendly interface.  You don't have to delete any e-mail and you can quickly search through all of your archived mail.  They have a very good spam filter.  The text ads are very unobstructive.  And the best thing is that they are always improving this great service!
Is Gmail the best free email service available currently?