Mentor
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106 Messages
Severe Problems With Outlook Email Authentication And Both Legacy DSL & U-verse
I'm an IT consultant who has worked with Outlook since the earliest versions and with AT&T since it was Southwestern Bell, and I have never seen a problem as bad as this. This problem has been plaguing me and several of my clients for 2 or 3 weeks now and it's about to run us all nuts (some, like me, have "legacy" DSL and some have U-verse). The maddening thing is that it happens intermittently, not constantly and with no rhyme or reason. For reasons unknown, the AT&T mail server suddenly stops "authenticating" the Outlook client, either for the logon, password, or both and that accursed window pops-up asking for your logon & password. However, no matter how many times you put them in (verifying that they are correct first) and check the "Save Settings" box, the authentication fails over & over again, and then just suddenly starts working out of the blue. I have checked and double-checked all the settings and they are correct per the AT&T online documentation. I've even run the online-based configuration tool and the same thing continues to happen on a totally random basis. One of my clients spent a couple of hours on talking to (overseas) tech support and they only made the problem worse, causing him to get a totally new email address and change his password multiple times. He also told my guy that AT&T has "mandated" that your password be changed every 3 months, but to the best of my knowledge that's only if you use the Webmail product, not the SMTP based method with Outlook. This is happening with Office 2007, Office 2010 & Office 2013 products, right across the board. I keep telling my clients that if I could solve the problem I'd do it for me first but that is not assuaging their frustration. This has to be on the AT&T end of things due to the nature of the problem but they do not seem to want to acknowledge it. Any insight as to 1. why this is happening on such a protracted basis and 2. what AT&T is doing to address it would be appreciated. When it happens to this many people over an extended period of time there's definitely something "rotten in San Antonio"... Thanks
DD™
Teacher
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24 Messages
9 years ago
Same exact problem here, on 2 different computers (both use Thunderbird) in 2 different geographical locations (WI, FL), all in the last 2 weeks. Inbound authentication errors seem to occur about 20% of the time, outbound is fine.
Strangely, while my Thunderbird email client is having these problems, the AT&T/Yahoo Webmail seems to work fine.
DD
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Travis_Lloyd
Mentor
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106 Messages
9 years ago
The AT&T Webmail does, and always has work(ed) fine; it's only Outlook (& now apparently, Thunderbird, despite what you may have heard or read to the contrary) that has the problem when it's utilizing the POP3 protocol. I am currently dealing with this problem on an hourly basis over many days now, as are my nearly-hysterical customers, all of who use Outlook versions ranging from 2003 to the current 2013. They have all tried the various fixes mentioned in this long thread and NONE of them have had the least bit of success. The fact that the problem invariably comes & goes over time proves conclusively that it's on the AT&T mail server side and not the individual computer desktop (aka client) side; none of these poor put-upon people are doing anything to adjust their settings from one time to the next (mainly because it makes no difference whatsoever). As I asked earlier, what's it going to take to get Ma Bell's attention here, a Class-action suit? It's happened to better companies that AT&T and guess what? They lost! I mean, all we're asking here is for them to fix a well-known and longstanding problem with their POP3 mailservers; that can't be too much for people to ask who are paying a small fortune for their Internet services, can it?
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DD™
Teacher
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24 Messages
9 years ago
Seeing now that this problem is not an isolated, recent one, it got me to thinking...I'm sure AT&T would prefer that all of their Internet Services customers use their AT&T/Yahoo Webmail for obvious reasons (i.e., because of the advertisements contained therein), as opposed to customers using their own email client (such as Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird, which obviously free from ads).
Perhaps that might explain why this problem has been ongoing for so long...perhaps it just is not a high priority for AT&T to provide a solution, given their preference to have everyone using their AT&T/Yahoo Webmail (because of the potential ad revenue it might provide to both AT&Tand Yahoo)??
Just a thought. I certainly hope I'm wrong about this, but my conspiracy cap gets put on very easily nowadays.
DD
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Travis_Lloyd
Mentor
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106 Messages
9 years ago
That is one possibility, but seeing as how everybody I know (including me) is paying a hefty price for AT&T Internet service, that more than covers the cost of POP3 email maintenance and what-not. The ads you see in their Webmail program is just "gravy" revenue for them anyway...
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tadraw
Teacher
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16 Messages
9 years ago
I used to use DSL but moved to TW Cable in both cities where I have a computer. When I did, ATT offered to continue servicing my Outlook 2003 account FREE. I did so and have been grateful till the latest barage on popups. I've experienced the same problem as everyone else lately. It's almost impossible to use the machine with those popups having to be closed to continue. Untill it settles down, I just close Outlook until I want to check email, then reopen it, use Tools - Send/Receive All, check on messages, etc., then close Outlook till the next time.
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meglhaden
Scholar
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112 Messages
9 years ago
Problem still exists. Has the Community Manager reported this problem yet?
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DD™
Teacher
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24 Messages
9 years ago
Fortunately for me as a Thunderbird user, I do not get the authentication error notices I used to receive using Outlook, even though the problem is happening for me Using Thunderbird on 2 machines. Thunderbird is quiet in the background when problems like this occur, which I appreciate, because the authentication error notices used to drive me crazy when I used Outlook.
FYI, I was able to ID this problem by performing manual send/receive requests. I guess I'm somewhat obsessive in regards to my PC's functionality, having dealt with this issue in the past.
DD
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davidzzzz
Teacher
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15 Messages
9 years ago
This problem is very frustrating. What's even more frustrating is that no one from ATT/Yahoo has seen fit to respond to the many frustated customers in this thread to say that they are aware of the problem and will devote the resources necessary to fix it.
I think I'll switch to Time Warner cable. I'm tired up putting up with this major irritation year after year. Good-bye ATT. I'm so done with you.
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tadraw
Teacher
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16 Messages
9 years ago
Guess what? I use T/W on two machines in two cities and it makes no
difference as long as ATT is providing your Email service. I switched from
DSL to Time Warner and was dreading getting used to another Email protocol.
ATT volunteered to continue providing the server for FREE enabling me to
continue using Outlook. It's been worth it in spite of the "popup"
agravation.
Tom [edited for privacy-please do not post personal or unique information such as but not limited to full names, employee ID numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, account numbers, etc.]
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davidzzzz
Teacher
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15 Messages
9 years ago
Good point, Tom. The only way to solve this problem is to change my email address and thereby change my POP3 server.
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