Is there a free e-mail which does not require one?  Allowing me to dead end a search...  
skb

How silly.
skb

It doesn't matter as long as you pick one... The most important thing (yahoo and gmail) is to disable their social networking features (gmail's is called buzz).

that all now require that...Google for some time required a phone #.

I've had two gmail accounts shut down for unspecified violation of terms.  I was a light user, didn't send out spam, and my emails avoided explicit lingo. I do prefer the gmail GUI over yahoo and hotmail.