suddenly cannot receive email with BT

ALANGR · 13 Dec 2020

Hi; I think that what I have is a BT problem but am coming here to see if my issues are recognised by anyone on this forum.

I am a BT customer for broadband and email and all has been working well for several years. I use MS Outlook for email and POP not IMAP. Suddenly last week I could not receive email and had the message:

Task 'my email address - Receiving' reported error (0x800CCC92) : 'Your email server rejected your login. Verify your user name and password for this account in Account Settings. The server responded: -ERR Access denied'.

From the morning when all was working OK I had changed nothing. Receiving stopped then and now I still cannot receive emails. I can however compose and send emails in Outlook and can also use webmail OK.

I have checked the incoming and outgoing servers and port numbers to no effect (they are as specified) and also spoken with BT help, all to no avail ("if webmail is OK then.....").

I guess that it should not matter but I am coming in from Greece. So, in order to cover all bases, I am checking with my Greek ISP as well.

Does the problem sound familiar to anyone and are there any clues on how to move forward to a solution?

Thanks

Alangr
winver: 2004 (OS build 19041.685

Try3 · 13 Dec 2020

Alan - Delete your email address from your post - it can be harvested and abused. Denis

Try3 · 13 Dec 2020

Alan,

I had the same problem once but in different circumstances, different ISPs to you.

I was staying in a hotel & using their WiFi as my ISP. It turned out that they blocked particular port numbers.

I already knew I had left my port numbers at their old settings so I changed to the new ones & all worked correctly.
- Back home later, I tested both the old & new port numbers again and they both worked with my normal ISP.

Perhaps BT gives you some alternative port numbers you can experiment with?
Perhaps your Greek ISP can give some comment on allowed/denied port numbers in their system?

Best of luck,
Denis

Samuria · 13 Dec 2020

Often you are allowed in because your ip is a bt one if its from another isp it often doesnt work plusnet is the same and thats part of bt

ALANGR · 13 Dec 2020

Thanks Denis; email now withdrawn.

Thanks also Samuria; look as though I get on to my Greek ISP as a first stop now. Then...maybe BT will offer other port numbers...

Alan

ALANGR · 01 Jan 2021

Well, after a long time the issue with BT is now resolved. For 'reasons of security' as I was coming into the BT site from 'abroad' (read outside the UK) access to the BT server for incoming emails was now barred as a policy for anything except webmail. So no clients such as Outlook, Thunderbird. etc. were now allowed.

OK, this is a real pain when it suddenly appears after several quite sound years of use but one would have thought that users like myself (I cannot believe that I am the only one a affected) would have been given some warning about the change some days in advance of its implementation. But no, just pull the plug!

Many thanks for the helpful comments when I raised my problem. As I have now become a Greek resident I will use my local ISP email and let BT fade away!

All the best for 2021

Alan

Paul Black · 01 Jan 2021

Hello @ALANGR,

ALANGR said:

Well, after a long time the issue with BT is now resolved. For 'reasons of security' as I was coming into the BT site from 'abroad' (read outside the UK) access to the BT server for incoming emails was now barred as a policy for anything except webmail. So no clients such as Outlook, Thunderbird. etc. were now allowed.

OK, this is a real pain when it suddenly appears after several quite sound years of use but one would have thought that users like myself (I cannot believe that I am the only one a affected) would have been given some warning about the change some days in advance of its implementation. But no, just pull the plug!

Many thanks for the helpful comments when I raised my problem. As I have now become a Greek resident I will use my local ISP email and let BT fade away!

Thanks for sharing the outcome. I am sure that others coming to this thread with a similar problem will find this very interesting.

jimbo45 · 01 Jan 2021

ALANGR said:

Well, after a long time the issue with BT is now resolved. For 'reasons of security' as I was coming into the BT site from 'abroad' (read outside the UK) access to the BT server for incoming emails was now barred as a policy for anything except webmail. So no clients such as Outlook, Thunderbird. etc. were now allowed.

OK, this is a real pain when it suddenly appears after several quite sound years of use but one would have thought that users like myself (I cannot believe that I am the only one a affected) would have been given some warning about the change some days in advance of its implementation. But no, just pull the plug!

Many thanks for the helpful comments when I raised my problem. As I have now become a Greek resident I will use my local ISP email and let BT fade away!

All the best for 2021

Alan

Hi there

solutions -- Use a VPN - things like nordvpn work fine -- you might like to use something like that if you want to watch things like SKY SPORTS if you like UK football (to USA folk -- football is the ROUND ball where you really KICK the thing), or get yourself a cheap domain with email which should work planet wide. !!!

BT is what even my UK colleagues call B/S telecomm !!!!! -- one thing though I miss from my UK colleagues is now from today (Jan 1 2021) is that although I can still get in Iceland lovely Dundee fruit cakes (great with Gluwein / brandy etc) but imports now of raw ingredients to make the wretched things is now not allowed by EU / EEA regulations (end of the transition period).

However I'm not getting involved in this debate -- UK people voted in their referendum way back when - some things have now changed since today (Jan 1 2021) including Telecomms, security systems and a whole slew of other stuff which only time will tell . That's up to their electors to sort out.

BT though I don't think are upgrading their systems for non business users to 10 gbs yet !!!!!! - small northern countries aren't always behind in things like Broadband etc. !!!

Happy New year though to everybody and do stay safe.

Cheers
jimbo

ALANGR · 02 Jan 2021

Thanks for your comments, Jimbo. I do use nordvpn and have tried to get into BT but incoming mail is still blocked. However, I tried again just now and all was OK so I was clearly on a server that thaey had not yet blocked - when I spoke with BT about the access problem it was clear that VPNs were an issue for them and that they were aiming to block as much access from outside the UK as they could.

A personal domain with email is an interesting one but I would want to be sure about the security/reliability aspects of any hosting agency. I will have a look at some available options options.

As for 01/01/21 etc....enough said!

have a good 2021 all and stay safe

Alan

suddenly cannot receive email with BT

suddenly cannot receive email with BT

Long delay!