Bellsouth "send" e-mail issues

Question

Bellsouth "send" e-mail issues

I am having a Bellsouth send e-mail issue that has cropped up in the past couple of weeks (no changes in settings on my side). Don't know if it has anything to do with Bellsouth's conversion to AT&T or not.

Basically, I can receive e-mail and send newly created, blank e-mail. However, I am unable to send e-mail with attachments or reply to e-mails received or forward e-mails received.

I tried a suggestion of changing the port number from 25 to 587 to no avail. I confirmed my Preference setups with Bellsouth tech support and they say everything is configured OK. Thinking it might be Apple Mail, I downloaded and used the Thunderbird e-mail client, but that exhibits the same problems noted above (similar message about problems with the STMP server or the server is unavailable or is refusing STMP connections. Again, this only happens with certain types of sent e-mails noted above).

I am at a complete loss and don't know what to try next. Any suggestions????

PowerMac Dual 1.8GHz (Rev. A), Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Aug 19, 2007 6:22 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

smenge

Level 1

10 points

Aug 19, 2007 7:14 AM in response to Robert Daddario

Robert Daddario wrote:
I am having a Bellsouth send e-mail issue that has cropped up in the past couple of weeks (no changes in settings on my side). Don't know if it has anything to L"*_ with attachments or reply to e-mails received or forward e-mails received.

I tried a suggestion of changing the port number from 25 to 587 to no avail. I confirmed my Preference setups with Bellsouth tech support and they say everything is configured OK. Thinking it might be Apple Mail, I downloaded and used the Thunderbird e-mail client, but that exhibits the same problems noted above (similar message about problems with the STMP server or the server is unavailable or is refusing STMP connections. Again, this only happens with certain types of sent e-mails noted above).

I am at a complete loss and don't know what to try next. Any suggestions????

I had problems when I converted to Mac last Spring, and most of the problems came from the DSL Tech Support Team.
Please make sure that your settings haven't changed from the following.
Go to Mail - Accounts
POP Acct Incoming Server: mail.bellsouth.net
SMTP - Outgoing Mail Server: mail.bellsouth.net
Click on Server Settings:

Sever Port Should Be: 25
Make sure SSL - Secure Sockets Layer Is *NOT Selected*
Click OK
Select Addvanced on the upper right of the Accounts Tab.

Port should be : 110
*Do Not Select* Use SSL

Make sure the following are selected:
1) Enable This Account
2) Include When Automatically Checking For New Mail
3) Remove Copy From Server After Retrieving A Messagee

Hope this helps.
I work for at&t - formerly BellSouth, and we haven't done any email transformations for our FastAccess customers, and I'm sure that when we do a Transformation, you will have Dual (bellsouth -at&t) emails for a while so you can advise Family and Friends.

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Answer 2

Aug 19, 2007 9:04 AM in response to smenge

Thank you for replying to my message. I verified that my settings are as you outlined and I haven't changed them since being with Bellsouth.

My e-mail "issue" just started a week or so ago and prior to that I never had any issue. As I mention, I can send a newly created, blank e-mail without issue. The problems arise only under three scenarios, (a) replying to an e-mail, (b) sending an e-mail with attachment(s), and (c) forwarding a received e-mail to someone.

Working for AT&T/Bellsouth, would you know of any reason why the outgoing server might reject these three types of e-mail, but allow a newly created, blank e-mail (without attachment) to go thru effortlessly?

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Answer 3

Aug 19, 2007 9:15 AM in response to smenge

Forgot to mention, but the issue also arises if I cut and paste something into an e-mail and try to send. It doesn't necessarily have to be a pure attachment. The text/image can be copied into the body of the e-mail and that will cause the outgoing message to "hang" too. Just wanted to clarify that point about attachments.

In fact, I just tried it now to verify and, indeed, a message pops up saying "Cannot send message using the server mail.bellsouth.net" and then it sugguests using the pop up menu to try a different outgoing server (of course, I need to use the one I tried, so this message doesn't help).

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Answer 4

smenge

Level 1

10 points

Aug 19, 2007 9:38 AM in response to Robert Daddario

The only other thing that I can think of, and you may have already done this, is to physically rebuild your mailbox.

To do this select the inbox of the account you are having issues with and select Mailbox - Rebuild from the menu bar.

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Answer 5

ggalat

Level 1

4 points

Aug 19, 2007 12:16 PM in response to smenge

I am having the exact same issue as Robert, although it happens using any mac based email client. If I use boot camp and boot to my Windows XP partition and use Outlook Express (I tried as a test) I can send and receive attachments, replies, etc. From either Entourage (which is my client) or Apple Mail which I tried it on, I get a timeout when i try without authentication. With authentication, I get a message that "the authentication type is not supported by Entourage".

ATT/Bellsouth tech support has been useless.

Message was edited by: ggalat

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Answer 6

ggalat

Level 1

4 points

Aug 19, 2007 12:16 PM in response to ggalat

By the way, this just started, it has always worked for me (I have had this machine for 1 year), and my Gmail POP email (using 587 and Gmail's SMTP) works fine.....as does my Yahoo POP account.

Message was edited by: ggalat

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Answer 7

Aug 20, 2007 4:24 AM in response to smenge

Does rebuilding the mailbox pose any possible threat to existing e-mail messages stored in the box (i.e. could they be erased, deleted, etc.)?

As the other poster mentioned, I too have not experienced these issues with my Gmail mailbox within Apple Mail. Using Apple Mail, I can send any type of e-mail using the Gmail mailbox. Only with my Bellsouth account mailboxes do I have problems sending e-mail. That leads me to believe this is a Bellsouth issue, not an Apple Mail (or other e-mail client) issue.

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Answer 8

Aug 20, 2007 7:03 AM in response to Robert Daddario

Add me to the list of having the exact same problem.

What are the best alternatives to Bellsouth/AT&T?

It looks like time to switch service providers.

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Answer 9

Aug 21, 2007 9:42 AM in response to jazzjoint

I too started having this issue a few weeks ago. Here is the strange thing, I just tested with Eudora and it works fine sending emails... Apple Mail will not send about 99% of the time for me...

I should add that I do not actually use a bellsouth email account, just for outgoing smtp..

I have a email into Bellsouth support, we'll see what they say..

Message was edited by: John Knee

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Answer 10

littleTC

Level 1

0 points

Aug 21, 2007 1:14 PM in response to John Knee

add me to this list as well...

i spent two hours writing a very important email this morning, saved the draft, then sent it, only to have it send a blank file...

extremely frustrating...

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Answer 11

Aug 24, 2007 8:19 AM in response to littleTC

Ok i have an update

1: Bellsouth is staffed by Morons.
2: see 1.

there website *****, what surpise, I sent them and email no reply, I tried an online chat, did not work on my mac, I tried a chat on windows, the agent was.. and I'm being kind a moron.

I called and was told by someone only slightly more helpful that they were having "migration issues" and "everyone" was having problems...

And they would be resolved in the next "24-48" hours//

yeah I'll bet they will...

time to set up my own smtp...

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Answer 12

Aug 25, 2007 11:27 AM in response to Robert Daddario

I just spent almost two hours with tech support for BellSouth. NOTHING! He kept telling me everything was working and I was watching the clock spin on my outbox. Any email I tried to forward or attach (even a 24K pdf) just sat in the que. He mentioned nothing about transferring files, if he had I probably would have ended the call there.

I should have because following his advice, I erased the old account and rebuilt it. Upon doing that I lost ALL my sent mail, ALL but about 3 weeks of Inbox and ALL my drafts. So now I not only have an email that wont send, but I've lost a lot of files.

Can anyone give me some help with either issue?
Thanks,DSB

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Answer 13

Dr Fergy

Level 1

0 points

Aug 25, 2007 11:08 PM in response to Robert Daddario

In the last couple of weeks, I have seen the same problem. In addition to Bellsouth, I use sprint mobile broadband and I do not have the problem on the Sprint network. I tried to send a message with an attachment on the Bellsouth network, and it gave me the error message: Cannot send message using the server (null). I changed to the Sprint network, and the same email went without a problem. I think there is a problem with the bellsouth Network.

I don't know whether this issue stems from the transition to AT&T or from my account upgrade. This situation happened to me right after I upgraded to the faster DSL service. Did anyone upgrade, as I did, and have the problem occur?

Please reply so we can dialogue the patterns of this problem. I don't think we are going to get much help from Bellsouth Support unless we have a handle on the causes of the problem.

Thanks.

Dr Fergy.

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Answer 14

Dr Fergy

Level 1

0 points

Aug 27, 2007 7:18 AM in response to Robert Daddario

This is Dr Fergy again. I solved my problem. It is not Bellsouth, but the problem is with my Airport extreme router. I unhooked the ethernet connection from the Airport extreme router and plugged the modem directly into my laptop. The mail (attachments, reply, and forwards) went through everytime without a hitch. Hope this fixes your problem.

Dr Fergy.

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Answer 15

Aug 29, 2007 2:17 PM in response to John Knee

Well some progress here. It would be really nice to actually get someone at Bellsouth who has a clue.. but nevertheless..

I was not using my Bellsouth mail account for incoming, so setting up to check that seemed to enable me sending through mail.bellsouth.net from my other accounts..

(except for attachments.. go figure)

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