Email on public wifi

If u have a a mobile me account use webmail http://www.me.com

If not check with your email provider if they also do webmail.

Marc Bracken wrote:
I would still like to know why the Windows computers are able to connect directly to their email accounts though...

It's not that simple unless the Windows machines in question are accessing accounts with the exact same email provider using the exact same settings.

It could be that for whatever reason the Wi-Fi servers are blocking the ports used to access the MobileMe/.Mac IMAP or POP servers.

When you fail to connect, is a particular error message given? What does Connection Doctor (from within Mail, select Window -> Connection Doctor) have to say about it?

More on Connection Doctor:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mail/3.0/en/10018.html

That's because POP with SSL uses port 995. IMAP with SSL uses port 993.

Have you double-checked ALL your settings (type = POP or IMAP, server names (pop.gmail.com vs imap.gmail.com), SSL or not, port nos.) against this? Actually , I like this one better because it details port numbers more clearly, even though it was written for Tiger Mail. But the info is still all good. I think that if you want an IMAP, you have to tell gmail on some account configuration page that you want the account to be IMAP.

At any rate, the fact that you have specified a pop server with an imap port number leads me to believe that this could be the cause of your gmail problem.

Couldn't find much for mobileme. Found some PC setup stuff here, server info the same, as is the case for port numbers, regardless of platform, but it didn't delve into port numbers. Generally speaking, port numbers are usually:

Receiving mail
IMAP with SSL: 993
IMAP without SSL: 143
POP with SSL: 995
POP without SSL: 110
Sending mail
SMTP with SSL and/or with authentication: 587 or 465 or 25 (provider's choice)
SMTP without SSL or authentication: 25 (usually requires you to be on the same network as the mail provider because they will authenticate your identity off your IP address)

I'd be surprised if turning off SSL does anything for you. About the only time I don't see SSL as being required is if you are (a) connected via an already protected VPN (or ssh) connection, or (b) you are connected on the same network as is the mail server (i.e., corporate or ISP-owned).

What happens if in Terminal you type telnet imap.gmail.com 993 and telnet pop.gmail.com 995?

When I do that, I got a connection set up. I got

Mac-Pro:~ jv$ telnet imap.gmail.com 993
Trying 64.233.183.111...
Connected to gmail-imap.l.google.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
^]
telnet> quit
Connection closed.
Mac-Pro:~ jv$ telnet pop.gmail.com 995
Trying 216.239.59.109...
Connected to gmail-pop.l.google.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
^]
telnet> quit
Connection closed.
At least you'd know whether you can even reach the servers