AT&T (SBCGlobal) settings change and security?

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Level 1

58 points

AT&T (SBCGlobal) settings change and security?

I have used sbcglobal.net as my ISP, which is now ATT Yahoo. I have received repeated e-mail messages stating that I need to activate SSL for the e-mail to be secure. I have been hesitant to change this because of all the fishing and bogus messages that are floating around, but I have decided this is real (I hope).

If I just check the SMTP - SSL setting (without doing anything else), I can't send e-mail because I get a message that: “This message could not be delivered and will remain in your Outbox until it can be delivered. The SMTP server "smtp.sbcglobal.yahoo.com" doesn't support TLS (SSL) on port 25. Please check your account settings and try again.”

The full links that are provided by the AT&T Yahoo e-mail give detailed instructions which include changing both the POP and SMTP settings to att.yahoo.com AND changing the incoming and outgoing mail ports. The problems are that: (1) First, the instructions say that the Incoming Mail Server must be set at POP3. My Mail program allows account settings for POP, but not for POP3. (2) Second, the instructions say that I must (a) select SSL for the incoming (POP) e-mail AND (b) select a certain port for that e-mail, but my Mail program does not appear to have (or I can't find it) a setting option for either doing (a) or (b).

My mail version is 2.1.3 (753.1). I install Apple Software updates regularly when received, but this seems to be somewhat old (??), and the AT&T Yahoo messages suggest that older mail applications might be a problem.

Am I right that the AT&T Yahoo message is real?

If so, how do I deal with the fact that the account settings do not seem to allow setting for POP3?

Thanks!

iMac (Intel), Mac OS X (10.4.8), Mail version 2.1.3 (753.1)

Posted on Jan 4, 2009 2:50 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 4, 2009 4:29 PM in response to Eliot Hudson

Hi! I'm using the same mail version as you.

Try this:

Open the pref pane for mail and click on the "accounts" icon at the top.
Then click on the account in the left pane.
There are three tabs (account information, mailbox behaviors & advanced)
Click on account information.
Enter your information under account type (description, email address, full name)

Then under incoming mail server it should say something like pop.sbcglobal.yahoo.com

User name must be your full email address in this section and enter your password.

Then under outgoing mail server (smtp) click on server settings

Set server port to 465 and check the box that says "use secure sockets layer (SSL)"

Under authentication it should be set to "password"

User name should be your full email address

Click ok

Then back on the page of the pane that has "account info, mailbox behaviors and advanced" at the top click on advanced

Make sure the "enable this account is checked
make sure the "include when automatically checking for new mail" box is checked

at the bottom of that pane set the port number to 995 and check the "use ssl" box

then set authentication to password

Then close the mail prefs, quit mail and restart mail

it should work then

At least that's they way my swbell settings are set

Tom

Message was edited by: Thomas Bryant

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Answer 2

Eliot Hudson Author

Level 1

58 points

Jan 5, 2009 12:45 AM in response to Thomas Bryant

This seems to be working, with the addition that I had to change the POP and SMTP server name from the old one (sbcglobal) to att.yahoo, subject to one limitation and one concern.

First, the account type is still POP, whereas literature from my ISP suggested that it should be POP3. I don't seem to have the POP3 option.

Second, when I try to test by sending myself an e-mail, it seems to send (i.e., nothing is in the Outgoing mailbox and the test e-mail is in the Sent mailbox), but I do not receive the message. I can, however, send to and receive from my changed home account to my work e-mail. I also was able to "forward" to myself a previously "sent" e-mail that was in my changed home account. I suspect that the inability to send and receive the same message in the home account may be a server restriction????

When I first tested the chanes by sending, I got a message that the server did not have a certificate for an SSL setting, but the server listed was my old ISP outgoing server (sbcglobal.net). I thought I had changed that server setting. In any event, I checked the account settings to be sure that they are changed to att.yahoo.net, and I am not getting that message now.

I will try it and see what happens.

Thanks for your help.

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Answer 3

Jan 5, 2009 10:34 AM in response to Eliot Hudson

Hi! Glad it's working. You can't send an email to yourself using the same email address. That's why I use yahoo, gmail and a secondary swbell email accounts to send myself stuff from one computer to another. Tom

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