# Hotmail **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 26, 1999, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail/12284 "1999-12-26T02:23:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Neil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/839c29/32.png) [@Neil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neil)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 1999, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail/12284/1 "1999-12-26T02:23:00Z")
Anyone else have trouble getting into Hotmail today? I haven’t been able to check my email all day. ☹ Neil ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 1999, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail/12284/2 "1999-12-26T02:29:00Z")
Oh my God, it’s the Y2K larva! ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 1999, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail/12284/3 "1999-12-26T03:41:00Z")
I just tried mine - no problem with it. ---
**Author:** ![Globe-trotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cab0a1/32.png) [@Globe-trotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Globe-trotter)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 1999, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail/12284/4 "1999-12-26T03:42:00Z")
Still can’t access mine. * * * Some drink at the fountain of knowledge…others just gargle. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 1999, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail/12284/5 "1999-12-26T05:12:00Z")
me neither! argh. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 1999, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail/12284/6 "1999-12-26T05:32:00Z")
I can’t get in either ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sealemon88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 1999, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail/12284/7 "1999-12-26T14:25:00Z")
I’ve had problems with Hotmail ever since I signed up for it about three or four months ago. It won’t let me in for two weeks at a time sometimes. I finally changed it into my Send Junk Mail Here drawer. * * * You say “cheesy” like that’s a **BAD** thing. ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Fortune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Commander\_Fortune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Fortune)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 1999, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail/12284/8 "1999-12-26T15:01:00Z")
No problem with it yesterday, today or ever - I guess I’m one of the lucky ones. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 1999, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail/12284/9 "1999-12-26T16:35:00Z")
Hmmm. Probably flooded with all the people & their new computers logging in. Anyone agree with that? ---
**Author:** ![HeadlessCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@HeadlessCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadlessCow)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 1999, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail/12284/10 "1999-12-27T06:26:00Z")
I’m going to venture a guess and say that some ISP’s name server is down. It’s the server that takes the URL that you type in and locates the correct server to connect to. This would explain why some people can get to it and some can’t because it would only affect the people who are using the ISP(s) with the downed server. Either that or some ISPs are blocking the hotmail website for some unknown reason. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 1999, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail/12284/11 "1999-12-27T06:37:00Z")
Yay! it’s back up. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 1999, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotmail/12284/12 "1999-12-26T21:14:00Z")
At work a while back, students suddenly couldn’t get to Hotmail through our Novell network, and our comms guys traced it to a change in the ‘port number’ that Hotmail was using. MSN hadn’t changed at the time, so it it worked for a while. ## Most services (the Web, email, ftp, …) use more-or-less standard port numbers for transactions, and firewalls or other security software allow those through. Non-standard port numbers are often blocked. Bob the Random Expert “If we don’t have the answer, we’ll make one up.”