I have the same problem with Mac OS Sierra 10.13.1 Mac Mail.
Apple Mail times out waiting for the mail server to respond triggering a request to reenter the mail password.
Has anyone found a solution to this issue yet or has Apple addressed it?
TIA.
null-OTHER, macOS High Sierra (10.13.1), Mac/Apple Mail
No - this is Mac or Apple Mail accessing my Frontier.com/Yahoo mail account not iCloud. The Frontier servers routinely take a long time to respond so Mail times out.
There is nothing to try. Mail is set up correctly with the account and password and the Frontier mail suggested settings. I've deleted my mail account on the mac and recreated it from scratch with no change. My wife has the exact same problem. It is not a slow connection as we have 60Mb/sec. download and 10Mb/sec upload speed, verified by speedtest.
How do you know that it is not the Frontier servers fault, it is possible part of their infrastructure is having issues.
Do you have other email accounts setup in Apple Mail that also have the same issue?
There is still potential for it to be your connection as it can be how you are being routed to their servers. DNS can play a role in that, you could try setting a different DNS server to see if that alters it on one device.
http://osxdaily.com/2015/12/05/change-dns-server-settings-mac-os-x/
To be sure that this is an Apple mail issue you need to test the email on a device that is not using Apple mail, such as Linux/ Windows PC or an older OS X.
You can also setup another email app like Thunderbird, Opera Mail or MS Outlook to fetch Mail on your Mac - if that also times out you know Apple mail is not alone in the issue.
Apple mail has diagnostic tools, have you looked at those when the issue occurs…
Using Apple Mail's Troubleshooting Tools
Beyond that have you looked at Frontier's support or help site?
This is rather difficult for us to diagnose as we don't have Frontier accounts to compare
I guess I should have requested help with a workaround to this issue. I know it is not specific to Apple Mail.
In my case, It is most assuredly Frontiers servers having issues. This is an ongoing issue with Frontier. It has been happening for years.
Thanks for your help and suggestions Drew.
This issue occurs with other mail applications as well. MS Outlook Mail does the same thing.
This is a timeout issue with Apple Mail (the mail app that comes with OS X) and MS Outlook Mail as I searched Apple support groups and other people have the same issue.
I requested Apple add a feature to allow changing Mail's timeout setting to something other than the default.
Frontier support is useless. They walk you thru prewritten instructions and when they exhaust all the steps to try they say they can't help. When I contacted their upper tier support they said their servers get busy at times and I would have to live with the issue.
I switched to Spectrum, which is much more reliable and faster Internet access, but they have nothing to do with Frontier mail issues.
I have exhausted all the Apple Mail's troubleshooting tools with no change in behavior.
If this is an issue with other email accounts, I would second Drew’s comments about DNS. Are you using your ISP’s default DNS servers or something else? The is an app out there called netbench that I suggest you consider trying. It’s free and it can help determine which DNS servers will provide the best performance at your location.
That sounds bad & looking at Frontiers mail settings it appears that they only support POP not IMAP accounts?
You may already know this but in case you don't…
POP relies on the client checking for email, IMAP can allow the server to push new email to clients when it comes in. When you consider that people nowadays have several devices, each checking on their own schedule it is easy to see why POP can get overloaded and delayed if they do not have the infrastructure to manage it.
Personally I would examine the email in that account & start changing all the websites & contacts that use that address to another account (possibly the gmail). Then forward the frontier account to gmail & gradually phase it out.
The best option is to use your own domain so that you can move mail hosting provider if required but I understand not everyone wants to manage that.
I don't see any option to alter timeouts in Apple Mail, it seems others have asked over the years but it has never been possible. The only thing I can consider as a workaround is to launch Mail during periods when the servers are less busy. You can set wake schedules in the energy section of System Preferences but it is a horrid workaround.
By "Apple Mail" I am assuming that you are referring to your iCloud email account ... correct? Regardless, what have you tried, so far, to resolve this yourself?
Do you have any other email accounts? If so, do they work normally or the same as your Frontier account?
Thanks for your help.
I have a GMail account accessed directly thru Google so that does not help.
So, no I/we do not have any other email accounts.
Has anyone found a solution to this yet? Or, has Apple addressed it?
