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Level 1

0 points

Mail Outgoing Server almost ALWAYS offline (ATT internet)

I realize this is a common issue (Google efforts were made before posting this), but solutions seem to be elusive. I have ATT internet (Uverse), and my Mail 4.5 outgoing emails won't go. They "spin" in the outbox for up to an hour before something clicks and they go.

ATT outgoing port is supported to be 995 with SSL. That's what I have set. Incoming port is supposed to be 465, but that's irrelevant here (because mail arrives fine, it's sending that's an issue, and because Mail allows you to specify the outgoing server port, but has no comparable entry for incoming server port anyways).

I can send mail is I use ATT webmail; it's Mail 4.5 that fails. Right-clickng on the ATT server in Mail shows that Mail regards that server as "offline."

Emails I want to send will, as previously stated, eventually go through if I let them sit for an hour in the outbox. That's no good for time-sensitive business, of course, and Apple's glitch with offline outgoing mail servers is quite famous.

Ideas? Fixes?

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Apr 11, 2011 9:46 AM

44 replies

Apr 14, 2011 9:19 PM in response to Glenn Leblanc

Glenn, thanks for the suggestions. I did the keychain magic with a smile and with fingers crossed for good measure. There were multiple entries in there for each e-mail address (using different ports, evidently), so perhaps this will smooth things out.

Cheers!

Apr 15, 2011 10:39 AM in response to Glenn Leblanc

Well, that didn't last long. I reset all Mail passwords in Keychain, verified outgoing mail server settings (custom, port 465, using SSL and password authentication), and a few hours ago had an outgoing mail hang with the message, Cannot send message using the server smtp.att.yahoo.com:[my address]@att.net. The SMTP connection to server "smtp.att.yahoo.com" failed. Edit message, Try again...

At least I was warned of the failure to send. And of course I opened the message from the outbox, hit Send again, and it went without incident.

Apr 15, 2011 10:48 AM in response to Carl Perkins

I knew it wouldn't fix the problem. I just suggested it to help stop the hangups of waiting a long time for the failure to appear. Hopefully, you didn't have to wait long for the message. I usually get the failure message within a few seconds. It will usually send on the second or third try.

Apr 15, 2011 12:27 PM in response to Carl Perkins

Seems to be a lot of general dissatisfaction with ATT from customers -- see:

http://forums.att.com/t5/Email/Email-problems-and-AT-amp-T-unresponsiveness/td-p /2699017

note the first comment by any ATT rep.

Ernie

Apr 15, 2011 12:40 PM in response to Glenn Leblanc

Yes, absolutely; thank you for that. Your fix worked just as advertised and the warnings thus far appear right away, as they should.

Apr 15, 2011 12:46 PM in response to Carl Perkins

Carl
Glad to hear it's helping you. That goal was to cut down the aggravation to you.

Ernie
Nice find. It seems that Windows users are having the same problem. That post from the AT&T rep shows it is an AT&T problem.

Apr 15, 2011 1:18 PM in response to Ernie Stamper

That is a nice find. And not too surprising; the way ATT's user website is laid out (jump through hoops to add new e-mail addresses, have to verify outgoing non-ATT e-mail addresses one by one, etc.), they don't give much thought to usability.

Apr 19, 2011 4:00 PM in response to Akicita

Folks,

Most of the problems describe have focused on AT&T. Just to show how wide spread this problems is I am having the exact problem with Comcast cable in Seattle. Have spent hours beating this dead goat, no luck.

Thanks for a lot of ideas I can pursue.

EricWeir

Level 1

41 points

May 16, 2011 7:16 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

I have been experiencing the problem for several months, and have sought help with it from an exhaustive range of services. Recently I decided to go looking for an alternative email client. I gave a couple a try, but one was missing a feature that is important to me, and I could not get a few important mailboxes to import into the other.

That said, not once did I experience the problem with the other clients, and one of them was used for several days. [There were things about it that I liked, and I'd decided to go with it -- till I discovered the missing messages in several mailboxes and couldn't get help with the problem.]

I've reinstalled Snow Leopard to see if that helps. Havent' had a hang-up, yet, but there hasn't been much outcoing mail, yet.

EricWeir

Level 1

41 points

May 16, 2011 7:31 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Ernie Stamper wrote:

Seems to be a lot of general dissatisfaction with ATT from customers -- see:

http://forums.att.com/t5/Email/Email-problems-and-AT-amp-T-unresponsiveness/td-p /2699017

note the first comment by any ATT rep.

Thanks, Ernie. Yes, a couple weeks ago an AT&T tech, with whom my technician was on the phone for at least 45 minutes trying to diagnose and fix the problem, acknowledged that there had been problems on the AT&T side in the recent past.

Yet there is the fact that I did not have the problem once with the two alternative email clients that I tried, one of which I used exclusively for several days.

TonyLima

Level 1

16 points

Jun 7, 2011 7:36 PM in response to EricWeir

I’ve been having the same problem: mail gets stuck in theMac mail outbox and refuses to send. I’ve tried rebooting, dragging the message onto the outbox, andeverything else I can think of. I use multiple SMTP servers and have tried just about all of them. Nothing has worked.

System details: MacBook Pro running Mac mail 4.5 (1084), OSX 10.6.7. After recenthousekeeping, about 100 gb disk space, 6gb RAM, Intel dual-core.

Mail details: Yes, we have AT&T as our ISP. We also have several AT&T e-mail accounts. In addition, the Mac has six different e-mail accounts through our ISP (Netfirms) and a couple of gmail accounts. On this Mac I use Mac mail exclusively. But on our Windows computers we use Outlook, Windows Live mail, and Forte Agent. Outlook (naturally) occasionally refuses to send mail. I don’t use Windows Live enough to tell for sure, but I’ve never had a problem with it. Forte Agent … well, if Forte made a Mac version I’d buy a copy in a flash.

So I have this message sitting in the outbox. I’ve tried sending it via half a dozen SMTP servers with no luck. Yes, I’ve checked the AT&T port settings – they’re correct. Any ideas? Thanks. - Tony

TonyLima

Level 1

16 points

Jun 7, 2011 8:35 PM in response to TonyLima

Update: I started to send the e-mail with Forte Agent. Mac mail must have noticed I was abandoning it, because it suddenly sent. Sigh. I'm still looking for advice about this issue. - Tony

EricWeir

Level 1

41 points

Jun 8, 2011 5:28 AM in response to TonyLima

TonyLima wrote:

So I have this message sitting in the outbox. I’ve tried sending it via half a dozen SMTP servers with no luck. Yes, I’ve checked the AT&T port settings – they’re correct. Any ideas? Thanks. - Tony

The problem has largely disappeared for me. I really can't say what removed it. I tried many things. (See this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3057308?answerId=15332394022#15332394022) None seemed to make a difference. Finally, in this connection and in connection with another problem, I was encouraged to try setting up a new user account. I did that, and both problems seemed to disappear, but when I went to make the new account my auto login account I lost all my settings, folders, and files. I asked for help in migrating over to the new account. Meantime, I returned to the old account. The help never came, I have remained on the old account ever since, and both problems have disappeared.

Occasionally -- on the order of once every, two or three days -- sending hangs up. When it does, a single click on "try with selected server," very rarely two or three, will cause the mail to go out. Another thing that's changed is that Mail now notifies me immediately when sending fails. I no longer have to wait, watching the wheel spin endlessly, for the notification. I can deal with the problem immediately.

At the end of the thread referenced above it was suggested that I set up a gmail account for use should the problem become serious again. I haven't done that, yet, but the person making the suggestion pointed out that there's an option on gmail to to have mail sent with an alternative address, so I could use gmail but have it sent with my usual email address. I don't know if that would be of any help to you, but I intend to give it a try.

EricWeir

Level 1

41 points

Jun 8, 2011 5:45 AM in response to TonyLima

P.S. I see that Lion will ship with completely redesigned Mail. Let's hope it addresses this problem.

TonyLima

Level 1

16 points

Jun 8, 2011 4:24 PM in response to EricWeir

Thanks, Eric. One more reason to upgrade to Lion a little earlier than I would have otherwise.

Tony

Mail Outgoing Server almost ALWAYS offline (ATT internet)