Bellsouth POP3 email problem

Factual Questions
1

I am trying to help a friend whose Bellsouth POP3 outgoing email stopped working some months ago. Maybe, by hints I collect online, it happened when Bellsouth was taken over by ATT.

Incoming email works fine. Web email works fine both in and out. It is only POP3 outgoing which does not work.

I have spent over two hours on the phone today with Bellsouth customer service which was entirely a waste of time as we went through all sorts of irrelevant things for no results. I have configured dozens of POP3 accounts in the past and this should be fairly easy.

So, here is what I have:
Both outgoing and incoming servers: mail.bellsouth.net
My server requires authentication: checked
Standard ports 25 & 110
Correct account name and password

Can receive email but cannot send. Trying to send produces the error:

The customer reps kept trying to find the fault at my end: internet connection, firewall, antivirus, etc. But the fact is that the problem is months old and spans computers, connections, etc. I have about a dozen POP3 accounts configured in my Outlook Express and they all work fine except this one.

Finally their diagnostic was that I needed to reinstall Outlook Express. I said no way. It is obvious that the problem is not with OE.

After talking to a Supervisor he found another excuse: Since I am not connecting right now to the internet using Bellsouth I cannot send emails. I need to connect using Bellsouth. I pointed out that this is just plain ridiculous. I can only send emails from the home Bellsouth ADSL connection? That sounds preposterous but he was adamant. Since during the two previous hours I was battling a guy who knew close to nothing and was just reading from the prepared script I just do not trust these guys.

My recent experience with different tech customer reps is that they are a total waste of time. Maybe for people who have absolutely no knowledge they can help but the guys I talked to just had a script and had no clue about anything outside the script.

So, Bellsouth has pretty much told me that their email is worthless unless you are at home and using their connection.

I opened Hyperterminal and tried to connect to ‘mail.bellsouth.net’ and I can connect with port 110, incoming email, without problem but when I try to connect with port 25 I get an error message “Unable to connect to mail.bellsouth.net port 25”.

It seems the server does not even respond.

So, what can I do next? Any ideas?

2

AT&T blocked port 25 outbound about a year ago. I managed to get my own domain whitelisted with them, but good luck getting to a tier 2 representative who can make the change. You almost certainly won’t get far with [del]Habib Gupta[/del] John Smith over in India, unfortunately.

I also believe there is a domain authentication process that you can follow from their help pages that should let you connect to the SMTP server, but I can’t find it for the life of me. If I recall correctly, there was a URL provided the error message their server returned after they enforced port 25 getting blocked.

ETA: Upon review of your problem it seems the latter could be the next route for you to try.

3

Also, try using smtp.att.yahoo.com and see if that works

4

He was telling you the truth. Bellsouth has blocked port 25 unless you are directly connected to their network. This is done to prevent email relaying, which is how spammers spread their “goodies.”

If you are connecting to a non-Bellsouth network, you simply can’t send POP email from an email client program, unless you switch to an SMTP server on the network to which you’re actually connecting (which is often simply not possible, since you probably don’t have an account on that network).

Bellsouth, unlike some other ISPs, does not provide any alternative (like another port with user authentication). The only option is to use webmail if you’re not connected to the Bellsouth network.

Here’s Microsoft’s writeup on the subject. It’s a page about Outlook, but it applies equally to OE, of course (and Thunderbird, etc., etc.).

5

When AT&T blocked 25, I changed to port 587 and it worked fine.

6

Worth a try, but I can’t find anything that indicates that Bellsouth supports port 587. Can’t hurt to plug it in and see what happens! Just make sure “user authentication” is turned on, using the same login credentials as the POP (incoming) side. (Note that this is NOT the same thing as *password *authentication, which should almost certainly not be turned on.)

7

Thanks. Now I know with certainty the cause of the problem. I do not understand how Bellsouth / ATT would not provide a way of authentication which would enable the sending of email. Using webmail is OK for one or two emails but it is just ridiculous to pretend that is is anywhere comparable to an email client.

It is not my Bellsouth account but if this is not resolved I am going to recommend that she close it just as a matter of principle. Email is a basic part of the package. I find it important to have a personal email which is not a free, hotmail-type, email so I am going to insist with Bellsouth/ATT on this issue.

What would be the options? What should I ask for?

8

I just tried that but it still does not work.

9

You’ll probably get exactly nowhere with Bellsouth, if my experience with ISPs is any guide. “That’s our policy” will be repeated to you, like some kind of weird mantra.

One option is to set up a gmail account (free), which you can set up as POP or IMAP. Nice to have, since it won’t change if you (well, your friend, in this case) move to a different ISP.

The other option is to sign up with a web host, and register your own domain (a nice personalized touch). Typically $7 a month, but sometimes as little as $4 a month on an introductory offer. There, too, you’ll get email that you can access from anywhere, addresses that can stay the same even if you switch ISPs, and usually the ability to create an almost unlimited number of addresses. I routinely set up a sacrificial email address if I need to post an address somewhere, like contact001@example.com. When it starts attracting too much spam, I can just delete it, and create another one, like contact002@example.com.

10

If you have telnet installed on your computer you can check to see if the port is open.

Just go to the command prompt then type

telnet mail.bellsouth.net 25

and that’ll test port 25. Then you can test port 587 or whatever port you want

I really am thinking with the mergers and such they changed the address FROM mail.bellsouth.net to something else and the customer service people weren’t updated.

11

I would definitely try this. In particular, did your friend recently (well, several months ago) “upgrade” her webmail to att.my.yahoo.com instead of the old webmail.att.net? Because doing that will mean she has to switch her outgoing server from mail.bellsouth.net to smtp.att.yahoo.com as mentioned by IAmNotSpartacus. I managed to hose up OE e-mail for a bit when they finally hounded me into switching over the webmail to this Yahoo thing; check this page for the settings info she’ll need.

12

I ran into this problem. What I found was that the in the server section it asks for information for the incoming mail first and then the outgoing mail. But when you go to the advanced section to change server ports the listing is reversed. You enter the outgoing mail port FIRST. I think you also have to check the “requires a secure connection” box which shows up under each port setting and also the “my server requires authentication” under the pop/smpt address window.

13

att.my.yahoo.com will not accept the username and password.

I think I’ll just accept that there is no solution to this problem but it just seems totally ridiculous to me that with Bellsouth-ATT you cannot use your email if you are not connecting through your home connection.

14

Rather than using Outlook, Thunderbird, etc., you can access your ATT/Bellsouth e-mail via a web browser. It remains your personal e-mail account, but you get to it by using Firefox, MSIE, etc., and going to mail.bellsouth.net and logging in. I would list the details but I’m 25 miles from my notes – call Customer Service (not Tech Support) at ATT Internet and ask how to access your e-mail account via a web browser.

15

My AT&T outgoing is smtp.att.yahoo.com

Can you try this.

I HAVE heard of some ISPs not allowing you any ability to send, and you have to use a third party SMTP. Now I haven’t heard of that in like 5 or 10 years, because with competition it just means the party will go elsewhere.

If you try telnet and you can get through to the ports, the it’s an issue with your address. If telnet isn’t letting you through at all. Try port 80 that’s gonna be open.

Also one thing I can’t reccommend a free program called PopPeeper. It is the greatest little email program ever. It does Pop, IMAP, webmail (like Hotmail) and you retreive it all through this speedy little program. It’s great. If you’re reading this and sick of Outlook, try it.

Because it’s lightweight it doesn’t have 100% of Outlook’s complicated stuff, but 99% of what you need email for it rocks

16

As is mine. I have to believe something simple is not typed correctly if you’re getting incoming mail.

my outgoing mail port number is 465 and my incoming pop is 995.

17

Those are typically the port numbers for SSL connections. If the ISP doesn’t support SSL (mine, Charter, certainly doesn’t, nor does my web host), you can’t use them.

18

It was my impression from the emails I got from ATT that this is why I had to change in the first place.
They required a secure connection.

Going back to my original post, I was pulling my hair out trying to get my outgoing emails to send until I realized I had the ports switched. For some reaon the outgoing port is listed first which is opposite of the way the server addresses are listed.

19

Yeah, I remember that about Outlook. All part of its charm. :wink:

Then again, I use Thunderbird, and the incoming and outgoing server settings are in entirely separate places - they can be damned tough to hunt down if you haven’t waded into it recently.

20

“Secure” as in requiring a username and password. Not “secure” as in encrypted :\