Cannot get mail the connection to the server failed

Here's what worked for me. I went to "settings", "mail, contacts, calendar", in my case my company name, account, and then i just had to type in my current password for my email account, then "done". If i could figure it out, anyone can. Note: this was to restore email using an exchange server for company email, not a gmail or other email account.

I had the same problem until 15minutes ago. Apple could not fix, AT&T could not fix. Try everything that I've read on this forum. I finally got it to work by adding a another smtp server name. smtp.mail.yahoo.com. And now it works fine

if have recently migrated your exchange server to 2010 than make the changes to the account which has problem in configuring with iphone/ipad/smart phones --

Goto Active Directory - Users - Select the User - Security - Advanced - Add - Exchange Servers - Full Permission - OK

I have done research and found a solution for those who have tried everything to solve the "Connection to the server failed" problem and failed. You don't want to use Exchange to import your contacts from Google Sync. Instead you need to add a CardDAV account. Below are the steps to finally being able to sync your contacts from Google onto your iPhone/iPod/iPad running iOS 6+:

1) Open Settings->Mail, Contacts, Calendar->Add Account...

2) Scroll to the bottom of the Add Account... page and select Other.

3) In the middle of the page (under Contacts), select Add CardDAV Account.

4) For the server, type in google.com. Type in your FULL Google email address for User Name and your Google password for Password. Choose your own name for description (Ex: Google Contacts).

5) As soon as your CardDAV Account is verified, select your newly added account on the Mail, Contacts, Calendar settings screen. On the next page, select Advanced Settings. Switch Use SSL to OFF and set the Port to 80. Return to the previous screen and select Done at the top of the screen.

*IMPORTANT* If you get a notice saying "CardDAV account verification failed" select Ok, count to 30, and then check your contacts. They should be there. Let me know how this works out for everyone.

-Michael

I also forgot to clarify that if your iDevice says that your CardDAV account verification has failed, make sure that after you click OK, you select Done and then Save. That's when you count to 30. Lol.

I transferred google contacts to icloud.

I got the gmail app for my google mail.

I am still looking for a good app for google calendar but hopeful to find one.

That's the only thing I've found to work. If I can get the calendar working, I will have found a solution around all 3 problems.

See this article on transferring contacts to icloud: http://www.justin.my/2012/01/how-to-transfer-contacts-from-google-to-iphone/

Google have stopped supporting Exchange ActiveSync for new users as of 30th January 2013. Existing ActivSync users will be able to continue syncing Gmail, Contacts and Calendars using Exchange ActivSync on their iOS devices but new users have use IMAP for email, CarDAV for Contacts and CalDAV for calendars.

http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2716936

RavinduW, thank you so much for your reference! I kept searching around for solutions why my existing gmail accounts worked but the newly created one didn't work, and didn't even aware that google made the move!

You saved my time, thank you!

Hi there, I have had the same problem.

I have 2 hotmail email addresses and this started happening.

Go to settings, mail, add new account, Microsoft exchange, enter details and then it should work.

Believe it or not I have used one hotmail account on Microsoft exchange and 1 through hotmail and they now both work on my ipad and iPhone 5.

Oh and as I'm new hope this helps you all.

Hi there, I have had the same problem.

I have 2 hotmail email addresses and this started happening.

Go to settings, mail, add new account, Microsoft exchange, enter details and then it should work.

Believe it or not I have used one hotmail account on Microsoft exchange and 1 through hotmail and they now both work on my ipad and iPhone 5.

Oh and as I'm new hope this helps you all.

Thanks man. Ive been dealing with this issue for quite a while.

I was so fed up of getting the same error everytime that i would check my email that I decided to solve it. I looked it up everywhere and found useless solutions. until i came across your post. it was as simple as you explained. (Crap, why didnt i think of that months ago! )

Anyways, I agree with you, i think that somehow the account is re-associated in the device. Awesome!

Thanks again! 😉

Just out of interest my account that had stopped working just started again (in the last 10 minutes).

I'd added my @me account via "other" as I mentioned above. My iCloud account still showed in the email client but didn't work (when I'd click on it I'd get "cannot connect to server"). So I wasn't clicking on it, but it was still there. Just now I got two tones announcing emails & only 1 email was there so I checked the other account & all the lost emails are there as was the new one. Go figure!

I changed nothing, so something must've changed at Apple's end. I'm just annoyed their support weren't more helpful a week ago when I told them there was a problem. Hate to think how many people have been affected.

Thank goodness it's fixed...now I just have to remove the duplicate account I added to circumvent the problem.

Yeah, my icloud email account did the same again this week. I had to set up my work around again (from page 3 of this thread) - going through "other" & entering the mail server info manually.

Frustrating as it seems it's a software issue at Apple's end.

Hello there, this may "solve" our problem.

Google Sync is no longer available 😟

To keep using the mail app as we used to, we have got to download Gmail App.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/gmail/oGeHuvTPtRM/discussion

They say it worked, I didnt try yet...

Hope it helps!

I tried everything else suggested. Nothing worked. Tried my own idea, which was deleting all mail accounts and adding again. This worked for me. Thank God. I was getting very pee'd off with not being able to access my emails. Yay!!