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Level 1

8 points

SMTP not working for Mail. Works on iphone and smartermail.

So my SMTP server randomly stopped working today. It claims "Cannot send message using the server.. The server "smtp.xxxx.xxx" cannot be contacted on the deafault ports"

I have tried deleting the SMTP server, quitting mail, reopening mail, re-setting up the server and but haven't had any results.

I can still send mail on my iphone and I can still send mail using SmarterMail (webmail.xxxx.xxx) using this same smtp address.

iOS 4

Posted on Mar 7, 2011 11:05 AM

71 replies

Mar 30, 2011 6:57 AM in response to mccarlson

Mccarlson

You need a little more info. Who is your provider. Have you looked through the posts and what have you tried. Have you checked your settings and passwords?
What have you done when your problem started that may have caused it?

If your problem is similar, put your info. If it's completely different that the original poster, then please post a new question.

Dino1956

Level 1

51 points

Apr 13, 2011 10:56 AM in response to Glenn Leblanc

Glenn, it looks like your suggestion has helped me the most. The last 10 Minutes, all is good. Sent a lot of TEST emails. Seems better. THANKS!

Message was edited by: Dino1956

Apr 13, 2011 11:29 AM in response to Dino1956

Dino1956 wrote:
Glenn, it looks like your suggestion has helped me the most. The last 10 Minutes, all is good. Sent a lot of TEST emails. Seems better. THANKS!

The suggestions I gave will help speed up the process if other problems exist, but will not solve the problem. The AT&T outgoing servers still fail from time to time. Some days, it works fine.
If my emails fail to send, I know within a few seconds and they usually go through on the second try.

Several different threads on this problem exist, and so far I see no solution.

Dino1956

Level 1

51 points

Apr 13, 2011 11:47 AM in response to Glenn Leblanc

Thank you for the response. I won't get my hopes up. 🙂 It has to be an AT&T issue. Any other Mail client including AOL/AIM did not have this problem.

Apr 13, 2011 11:55 AM in response to Dino1956

That's correct. I have tested it many times and I have never had a failure on the SMTP GMail server. Just the SMTP AT&T servers. The problem is a failure of AT&T servers to recognize the user and password to log in.

Apr 13, 2011 5:00 PM in response to Glenn Leblanc

Frustratingly so, the AT&T technicians (I spoke with a Level 2 person recently) INSIST that this is an Apple Mail problem and their 'proof' is to ask if I can log onto my att mail account at the Yahoo web portal and send mail from there successfully (I can).

The tech claims that this is one in the same SMTP server and, thus, Apple is the problem.

Do you think att and Apple will ever talk directly to one another?

Apr 13, 2011 5:11 PM in response to KatieOConnell

No, they will never talk. If it is an Apple issue, it would have something to do with the way Apple transmits the information to the server. If there is too much of a delay, possibly that's why it times out before it will accept the user.
Of course it will work through the yahoo-att website in webmail. You're already logged directly into the account. When using mail, it logs in everytime you check and send mail.

The problem is that the ATT Server does not recognize the user account as being from AT&T. That's why it gets kicked out.

I just don't know why this is happening. If we could find out if Windows users are having the same issues, then we could pin the whole thing on ATT.

Dino1956

Level 1

51 points

Apr 14, 2011 7:31 AM in response to Glenn Leblanc

Well at least the .smtp box does not come up with every email I send. It still takes 30 seconds to send an email. I read on here about changing the smtp to AT&T specific Servers. And I looked up the servers and tried that & it helped to send email Instantly, but I was getting a lot of emails sent back, as if I had typed in the wrong email address. But I know I did not. So I changed it back.

Apr 14, 2011 8:22 AM in response to Dino1956

If you're going to send through AT&T servers, you have to use "smtp.att.yahoo.com". As far as I know, that's the only server they will accept now.

If you have a different email account elsewhere, you can use their server to send mail. Your from address will probably show that account though.

Dino1956

Level 1

51 points

Apr 14, 2011 6:34 PM in response to Glenn Leblanc

And I bet everyone of us is using that server. I know I Am. But it does not seem to help.

Apr 14, 2011 10:26 PM in response to FSPjon

I am now convinced, too, that it is entirely an AT&T problem.

May I just say that I really resent that AT&T requires its customers to use its crappy server, which screws up for me at least once a day, and sometimes many times a day?

I think I will go back to Time-Warner cable. I'd get rid of AT&T entirely if I were not stuck with them because of my iPhone.

Dino1956

Level 1

51 points

Apr 15, 2011 11:55 AM in response to mccarlson

A bit off topic, but I bought a Pogoplug Plus device and if someone or myself would be downloading something from me, it would practically make my Internet Connection, that of Dial Up Speeds. I upgraed to their extreme Speed which is 6.0 & it still was not much better. So I unplugged the Pogoplug & now it's in my Closet. 🙂

Sopop

Level 1

129 points

Apr 15, 2011 3:27 PM in response to FSPjon

Same problem here, but only with the account from my local provider (not ATT, I´m in Europe). Error message comes up immediately - "Cannot send message using the server smtp.xxxxxxxx.xx". Connection Doctor shows all greens.
Sending mail using me.com works fine.

Apr 15, 2011 6:21 PM in response to Sopop

I am having a similar problem with my primary Comcast Account. While I can send/receive mail on all my other accounts, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, WindowsLive, MobileMe, and my secondary Comcast accounts, for some reason my primary Comcast Account has not been working for the past week with Mail. No problems with Thunderbird or webmail.

Apr 17, 2011 10:35 AM in response to Glenn Leblanc

@Glenn - I opened a GMail account and starting sending my outgoing emails via that SMTP server and -VOILA! - no hangups or error messages. I thought this was THE answer until I realized that - regardless of the email account I was sending 'from' (myself@mydomain.com) the message showed up with myself@gmail.com in the "From" field.

This totally negates all the plusses of using the GMail SMTP server since I cannot have that 'from' address when sending official messages from my business.

Why does it do that anyway? More importantly, is there a workaround? Like hiding the 'from' line (if that's even possible) and just specifying the 'reply to' address?

SMTP not working for Mail. Works on iphone and smartermail.