There are alternatives. The simplest one is an Offline Reader such as BlueWave - these are programs which you use to download a whole bunch of messages. With BlueWave you still log in like a normal use r, but when you go to the message areas, you use a special option for BlueWave mail, which bundles up all the new messages you haven't read, and sends them to you, as well as your side transmitting to the BBS whatever you have written. Points call the BBS, but with a special program that does all the interaction for you. The sysop set up a point from his end, assigning message areas that you want to import, and each day, when your front end program connects with the BBS, you are sent a compressed bundle of mail, dealing with all the areas you are interested in.
Points can also request lists of available files, and the files themselves.
Generally people call live. There are lots of people using Bluewave, and a limited number of Point systems. This 'network' of BBSes is called Fidonet. It consists of many BBSes, all sharing information with each other during the overnight mail processing hour. This is where the concept of echomail transit time comes in.