Alpine is to email software what Emacs is to text-editing software. I love it.

First, create a collection list — I think you may skip this part if you’re using pop instead of imap:
S L A
Nickname: any nickname
Server: my.server.net:port/ssl/user=my_username
If you’re not using ssl, write tls instead. You may not need to write a port number.
In my case, the username is my email address.
Exit the setup:
C^X

Enter password


E
Configure your account:
S C
Fill out the following:
User Domain: the text behind @ in your email address
SMTP Server: my.server.net:port/imap/ssl/user=my_username
If you’re using pop, just remove imap/ from the text. Also read the comments above about the server address.
Inbox Path: {my.server.net/imap/ssl/user=my_username}inbox
Not sure if you need to fill that field out if you’re using pop.
Customized Headers (find this field with the WhereIs command (W)): From: Name <emailaddress>

Let alpine remember your password by typing this from your home folder:
touch .pine-passfile