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Email authentication failure, password/server settings NOT changed

Scenario: I've been using Thunderbird for years now to connect to Verizon and download my email. Server settings have always been:

POP3

incoming.verizon.net port 110

connection security none

authentication method encrypted password

SMTP

outgoing.verizon.net port 25

connection security none

authentication method password, transmitted insecurely (oops)

Suddenly when I try to get my email, it stops and tells me there's an authentication failure. I've seen this happen before with Verizon when a server is down or messed up or whatever (pretty poor message for a service interruption, but whatev). So I decided to wait it out, but when it didn't clear up after several hours, went to the website where I was able to log in (huh?) and decided to change my password for the hell of it. Guess what? New password doesn't work in the email client. Quelle surprise.

Sooo, I find THIS page (https://www22.verizon.com/Support/Residential/internet/highspeed/email/setup+and+use/questionsone/86782.htm#) which tells me a lot of malarkey about server settings. I tried changing the incoming to their recommended settings, and it looks like there's no server communications a-tall.

Can someone tell me what's amiss, and while you're at it, tell me where in a just and well-ordered universe a service provider changes server settings without notifying users well in advance? Extra points for creativity.

Comments

walt178

These are the new settings and they do work in Thunderbird.

Mail server settings

Incoming mail server (POP3) pop.verizon.net
Incoming Server Port Numbers: 995
Outgoing mail server (SMTP) smtp.verizon.net
Outgoing Server Port Numbers: 465
Connection security: SSL/TLS for POP & SMTP

The change you are probably missing as it wasn't on that page:

Make sure your Authentication method is set to "Normal password" for POP & SMTP

effzzz

Well, that's somewhat of an improvement, since apparently there's at least some interaction with the POP server now. However, I still get an authentication failure. With my old password, with my new password, with the password I used to log onto this site, whatever.

I hope by now it's clear that I'm not some dull normal who spaced out her password and who knows nothing about setting up an email client.

effzzz

Solved it myself, after much too long in live chat with a truly hopeless Verizon employee (dude, what good will it do you to look at my outlook settings when outlook isn't even configured, or possibly even installed?). What it required: deleting and re-adding the email config (and of course, various dancing around to make sure nothing was lost). Verizon, I'm not a fan.

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