SBC Yahoo!

I am also having serious problems using Mail 3.0 with AT&T Yahoo DSL (same as SBC Yahoo DSL). Often, I get an error message that the smtp server does not use authentication, when in fact it does. After I click the "try later" button, the same email will often go through okay using the same smtp server, with no changes to my configuration. AT&T Yahoo DSL tech support could not help despite at least two hours talking to both level 1 and level 2 support. Frankly, it seems that Mail 3.0 is buggy and does not play well with AT&T Yahoo DSL, for whatever reason.

If you figure out some way to make sending email work consistently well, please advise.

jamesfmarshall@att.net

I thought the problem might be the AT&T Yahoo DSL setup/registration program. However, I downloaded and used the following mail configuration tool, which created a correct account (unlike what the CD-ROM that came with my DSL modem did), but I still had the same problem sending email as with the existing accounts (which were created manually):

helpme.att.net/article.php?item=3990

Actually, the program has a link on that page.

The problem must be a Mail/Leopard issue. It has taken no more than 10 minutes to set up Thunderbird and Powermail to send and receive email with no problem. However, I do not like those programs as much as Mail, so I hope Apple is working on this and comes out with a real fix soon.

Hi! Try these settings: outgoing mail server (SMTP) smpt.swbell.yahoo.com:your email address. If yours is another bell you may have to change that part. Then click on the advanced pane and set the port to 999 and check the box that says SSL. Under authentication set that to Password. That's the way mine is and it works fine. Tom

I seem to have improved sending, if not altogether solved the problem.

I have a main account in my name and a subaccount for my wife, with different passwords. I wondered how both accounts could fetch mail at the same time without confusing (?) the server. Don't ask me why, but I decided to try leaving my wife set to smtp.att.yahoo.com while changing mine to 68.142.198.11 (which is the same location in IPv4). The only difference, as far as I can tell, is that my wife's email will be fetched at little later than mine because her fetch must be translated (?) through the DNS server. Sending seems more reliable.

I also added two more DNS servers to my DNS server list:

System Preferences | Network | Advanced |DNS | + etc.

This appears to have helped a little, in conjunction with the first change above.

How did I come up with these ideas? My grey Motorola DSL modem has a yellow sticker on the bottom, providing a URL for advanced modem configuration. This web page lists my connections, DNS servers, and allows me to ping other addresses. That (ping) is how I determined the IPv4 address of my smtp server. That is also where I saw that my DNS servers were different from those in the Network settings of System Preferences.

Perhaps others have a similar sticker on the bottom of their DSL modems? Your mileage may vary. Maybe sending won't work well later or tomorrow, but for now I am pleasantly surprised.

Message was edited by: Jim Marshall

Actually, with the changes that I described, my email has been sending perfectly for more than 24 hours. To repeat, I made the following changes:

1. I added my ISP's two DNS servers to the one that was already in the Network settings of System Preferences. For whatever reason, when I ran my ISP's installation program, those servers were not added. The one and only DNS server - before I added the two - was outside my ISP.

2. For my main account, I replaced "smtp.att.yahoo.com" with "68.142.198.11"; for my wife's subaccount, I left the "smtp.att.yahoo.com" alone.

You can run "whois smtp.att.yahoo.com" at a terminal command line, with the appropriate change for your smtp server, to get the numeric address.

I spent two hours on the phone with level 1 & 2 support of my ISP, and another one hour on the phone with Apple tech support, and no one thought to have me try these changes. The people who do this for a living should have figured this out before a dumb lawyer. Then again, they do not have my wife complaining about her email not working. 😉