Sporadic e-mail Problem - Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit

gswetsky · ‎09-30-2010

From looking at the boards, I'd guess I'm the only one on the planet with this problem.....

Summary: About 65% of the time my password fails when trying to access AT&T e-mail servers from my workstation. The system comes back and asks for my password. If I wait for several hours, Thunderbird will download my mail. I have no problem sending or receiving the mail with my browser, but I prefer to use my client. And one more thing - My problem involves both sending and receiving mail.

Detail: This started about a week ago. AT&T has been out recently to change the outside box (new IP), but this problem predates that. I spent two hours on the phone with tech support yesterday and a specialist could not find a thing wrong with my setup. We have tried the new att.com mail servers as well as the old Yahoo servers. My mail client is Mozilla's Thunderbird.

Since I spoke with the specialist, who took control of my computer and found nothing wrong, I have tried to further isolate the problem. Today I:

Loaded Thunderbird on my laptop. Same problem. The laptop has a wireless connection to my LAN
Configured Windows Live Mail on my laptop. Same problem, so don't blame Thunderbird.
Drove six miles down the road and connected to a friend's LAN with my laptop. Same problem.

That's it. My conclusion? This is NOT my problem, however I have no idea whose it is. The thing to keep in mind is this is sporadic. Yesterday I had no connection till late in the day, then I had good e-mail service till I shut down. Today I had no connection until after I returned from my friend's and found my workstation had retreived new mail. Right now I cannot retreive my mail again.

That's it. I'm tired of spending time on the phone so I'm hoping someone out there will recognize this bug.

Please God, send me an angel!

Gerry

bilb0 · ‎09-28-2012

your hunch is probably correct, this is probably a server side problem and no amount of troubleshooting or steps caqn fix it on your side.

There are multiple reports of this problem but AT&T is either not interested in fixing it, or incapable of fixing it.

Either way, consumer complaints is the, albeit painful, solution.

However, you need to arm yourself with proof.

I suggest you enable logging.

The logs will provide you the proof you need to contact AT&T support and prove the problem is with the servers, not the client.

However, do not delude yourself into thinking they will listen.

Sadly, AT&T’s tier one engineers have not demonstrated any capability or interest in grasping the situation, and higher tier support engineers are not empowered by AT&T to care or to take action.

The standard procedure, as soon as third party client is mentioned, is to punt you off to Connect-Tech and charge you to tell you there is no problem with the client.

Still though, it can be an effective strategy, although not the way you might think.

If enough customer call in with the same problem, and HAVE PROOF, and escalate, it is possible this problem might get somebodies attention.

To enable logging is different depending on your client.

Where the log is stored, and its file name, may also be different depending on the client you are using.

Never the less, it will contain the proof you need.

Additionally, the exact errors you will log may be different depending on your client server settings.

Please see my posts in this tread for more information.

http://forums.att.com/t5/Features-and-How-To/Yahoo-keep-rejecting-my-email-password-Uverse-quot-fixe...

In the end, knowledge is, as always power.

When you are armed with the truth, you will have a completely different mindset in your discussions.

gswetsky · ‎09-30-2010

My conversation with upper level tech support verifies about everything you've said. I was told I was in a very small minority because I used an e-mail client at my location. I was told AT&T knows of no problems with their mail servers and finally my idea to switch my mail to gmail was applauded because, "It's a much superior e-mail service to what AT&T offers."

I just finished a rather long commentary in Facebook on what I think of AT&T. Mark my words, this mess is going to come back to bite them but good!

Gerry

gswetsky · ‎09-30-2010

Hopefully, this is the final update.

Made my third call to tech support. This time I stressed that as I see it, simply speaking with tech support is not going to do a thing to solve my problem. Further, I said I would really appreciate it if the tech support person would contact someone and tell them that there is an e-mail server or servers somewhere that doesn't contain my login information and when that server is selected, I cannot retrieve or send mail.

Apparently that did something because several hours later that day, my e-mail started working and hasn't failed since. By the way, there is one thing I failed to mention in my troubleshooting. I have two mailboxes under my bellsouth.net account and only one was affected. Server problem? You betcha. At least it's now history.

Thank you for reading this.

Gerry

gswetsky · ‎09-30-2010

Ignore the above! After 24 hours of perfect service, my problems returned,

AT&T SUCKS!

Gerry

aviewer · ‎03-11-2010

gswetsky - I would switch to Gmail. Oh, thats right. I already did.

gswetsky · ‎09-30-2010

Today, after losing it and using the phrase, "Can't you get that through your thick skull....", my AT&T technical support person kindly switched me to a third party "pay-for support" line who kept insisting the problem was with my client. This after #1) I already presented evidence that it couldn't possibly be my client and #2) Support had already taken blame for the problem!!

So apparently both Thunderbird and Windows Live Mail have a problem with gswetsky and not with lisbon5478 during the same periods on any computer and during random periods. She said, "Of course".

I have gmail. I don't want to go through the procedure of telling a thousand people and services my e-mail address has changed. Ymmd.

Gerry

aviewer · ‎03-11-2010

gswetsky - You do not need to tell anyone. Just go into your att account and set it to forward to the gmail account.

gswetsky · ‎09-30-2010

aviewer wrote:
gswetsky - You do not need to tell anyone. Just go into your att account and set it to forward to the gmail account.

Yes, and it would seem to me that action would fall victim to the same problem I'm currently experiencing! No thank you.

Gerry

JefferMC · ‎11-16-2009

gswetsky wrote:

Yes, and it would seem to me that action would fall victim to the same problem I'm currently experiencing! No thank you.

Gerry

I doubt that, actually. I think that some of the servers responsible for handling POP and SMTP clients have an authentication problem, for what ever reason. I doubt setting up a forwarding rule would have the same sorts of problems.

Some e-mail providers allow for POP retrieval from another mailbox. I could believe that this type of feature would have the same issues you're experiencing.

rebaerjr · ‎04-18-2013

I see this same password problem with windows 7 live mail( client mail) and uverse has existed for over a year. I have spent hours with various levels of tech support including Connect Tech and still don't have a solution. One fix worked for a week, the second didn't work the next day. What do we do??? I was going to cancel Uverse and they supplied Connect Tech service free twice but it is still not fixed. How do we put enough pressure on AT&T to solve the problem?? It is a shame we cannot get a company with their amount of resource to solve the problem.

I am beginning to think the only solution is to cancel Uverse and go back to DSL. Perhaps their sales department needs to get involved and put pressure on the right management people.

Bob

aviewer · ‎03-11-2010

rebaerjr - You do nt need to change ISP provider to change e-mail. End the agony - Open a g-mail account. From that gmail account download all your att stuff. In the att account settings - set it to forward your mail to the gmail.

If you have mail software like outlook or macmail set up the gmail account for access.

krishnaram · ‎05-17-2013

If you are using att.net email address, then please change the settings as follows. The Incoming Mail Server is inbound.att.net The Outgoing Mail Server is outbound.att.net The Incoming mail (POP3) should be port 995 and the server requires a secure connection (SSL). The Outgoing mail (SMTP) should be port 465 and the server requires a secure connection (SSL). If you are consistently asked to insert your password and user name, follow the below given steps. Please access the below site and login using the affected email address and password. http://att.yahoo.com/myaccount Now sign out from the site and launch outlook, if prompted enter the email address and password and check if the email is working. If you still need us, please chat back to us at https://pattta.att.motive.com/netagent/questionnaire_uverse.aspx or call 800-288-2020. ....