Webmail timeouts and lost mail

[bfrederi1]

I have seen several topics here  with people complaining that Webmail times out when they are composing outgoing mail, and lose it when they hit send. However, none of these existing posts seem to have valid fixes or responses, and they all seem to be locked down to prevent new comments, so here is my two cents:

1. I have absolutely experienced the same thing. I've finally gotten into the habit of composing e-mail in an external editor, because I am sick and tired of wasting time recomposing lost e-mail.

2. The Verizon FAQ states two, contradictory policies, both of which are inaccurate:

http://www22.verizon.com/ResidentialHelp/HighSpeed/Email/Setup+And+Use/QuestionsOne/121965.htm:

Does Webmail time me out?
Webmail does not timeout due to inactivity.

http://www22.verizon.com/ResidentialHelp/HighSpeed/Email/Setup%20And%20Use/QuestionsOne/123344.htm

Does Webmail time out?
Due to security reasons, Webmail Basic does timeout after 20 minutes of inactivity. However, messages that were being composed before your session timed out will be saved in the DRAFTS folder.

The first one is outright wrong. Webmail absolutely, positively DOES time out.

The second one is wrong, at least in some circumstances. I have no doubt that this is their desired policy, but like many other customers, I'm here to tell you that under at least some circumstances, Webmai-l times out in as little as 5 minutes, and in these same circumstances, IT DOES NOT SAVE YOUR COMPOSED E-MAIL TO THE DRAFTS FOLDER. It simplay takes you to the log in screen, and when you log back in, your text is irretrievably gone. Verizon Webmail has not auto-saved anything for me in at least a year.

3. I have a theory as to what is going on here, and I am testing it today. Maybe one or two other folks can try this, too. I will report back whatever I find:

I access Webmail through an old bookmark which is defined as http://netmail.verizon.net/webmail/driver?nimlet=deggetfolder

However, I notice that if I login fresh from www.verizon.net and navigate to Webmail, I GET DIFFERENT SESSION COOKIES THAN I DO FROM THE ABOVE BOOKMARK. For example, I get a cookie called -_WL_AUTHCOOKIE_VZCSESSIONID which is not present when I log in using the old bookmark.. There are a couple of other variations, but this seems the most suspicious.

So, my theory is that those of us who often lose composed e-mail after ridiculously short time outs, are logging in from old bookmarks, and that things changed underneath us at some point during a Verizon Webmail update. I am going to try  usng Webmail today from a fresh login, after first clearing out all my existing Verizon cookies, and see if this results in longer sessions without timing out, and saved messages when it does time out.

[erica12]

I log in using a bookmarked page....www.verizon.net/central/vzc.portal.  I can read, compose and send with no problems.  However when I try to delete messages I run in to problems.  I get timed-out consistantly and am told that the message I am trying to delete does not exist. (That is usually on my second try of deleting)   I think those people who have Yahoo and Verizon webmail somehow connected have the worst problems.  I am not in that group. 

[bfrederi1]

erica12, I haven't seen the issues you're describing.

And I regret to report that my theory did not pan out.

After clearing out all my cookies and trying different login approaches (including erica12's URL), several times, I ended up with the same result: Webmail times out, and when I hit SEND, I'm brought to the log in page, and the text that I had composed is thrown into the bit bucket with no trace. Nothing in the DRAFTS folder, nothing retrieved if I try to use the BACK button. Gone.

BTW, I'm using FireFox 3.6.2 on XP SP3.

I give up.

[bfrederi1]

Oh, and don't even get me started on SEARCH for text within a message. This has never worked, from Day One.

All I ever get is "We were unable to perform your request. Please try again." SEARCH on header text, like Sender and Subject works fine, but apparently Verizon QA has never tested the other options on large mail inboxes.

I'm pretty forgiving and undersrtanding of minor glitches and shortcomings in software, but Verizon Webmail is one of the most unreliable utilities that I've ever encountered from a large company with a huge customer base.

[erica12]

Sorry my way of logging on did not work for you.  I was just in my email and everything seems to be back to normal now.  Time will tell.  One annoying thing that is happening now, and didn't previously, is that I get two different popup boxes asking if I only want to see secure content.  It's a pain in the rear.

[bfrederi1]

This problem continues.

It does seem to be much worse at work than at home, so I wonder if it is firewall-related.

It's very inconsistent -- sometimes I can go up to 15 or 20 minutes before it times outs, but at other times (like this morning, where I lost two composed messages in a row) it can time out in less than 5 minutes.

Usually I now compose my message in notepad before copying it into the Webmail screen, or I at least try to CTRL-C copy it before I hit SEND, but if I ever forget, or if I fool myself into thinking "This will just be a quick note; it can't POSSIBLY time me out this soon", POW! I get returned to the log in screen, no draft saved.

It really, really, really p*sses me off.

[brooklynboy1]

hello, I have the same problem. what the heck is going on. I don't even know what it means. Can I only be in my email a certain amount of time? is this what I pay for. Mine is not because of inactivity. It hapopens when I'm very active,HELP. I'm not computer smart----just what to read and respond to my email. Can anyone help me?

[Hubrisnxs]

This is your answer, it tells you exactly why its happening and what to do.

Q: I spent a long time composing a message in WebMail, and it was lost when I tried to send it. What happened?

A: Your session timed out. The WebMail server maintains a "session" with your browser, but the session eventually times out if WebMail detects no activity between the browser and the server. When you are composing or reading a message, you are interacting only with your browser, not the WebMail server. If this takes more than several minutes, the session will time out automatically. WebMail does this to conserve resources on the server, and also as a security measure in case you forget to log out on a public-use machine.

To prevent your session from timing out, especially when you are composing mail messages, display your INBOX in the main WebMail window. The INBOX is refreshed automatically every few minutes, which has the effect of keeping your session active.

Another option is to compose your email message in the text editor provided by the operating system:

Windows = Notepad Mac OS 9 = SimpleText Mac OS X = TextEdit

When you finish composing your message, cut and paste it into your WebMail message. This way, you can make sure that your message is exactly the way you want it without worrying about WebMail timing out on you. If you use a word processor like Microsoft Word, be aware that the message may lose its formatting when you cut and paste it. Your text editor should copy and paste the message exactly the way you want it to.

http://web.mit.edu/is/isnews/v19/n01/190108.html

[bfrederi1]

Hubris, would you please explain exactly what you mean by "display your INBOX in the main WebMail window."

When I'm composing a message in the Verizon web mail client, I can't simultaneously display my Inbox. I don't have "main" and secondary windows. You've posted this twice, the second time in bold and large font, so it must be important, but I don't understand what this means in the context of Verizon.

Thanks,

bfrederi1

[Hubrisnxs]

you may need to open two windows simultaneously if you are using the older classic view webmail.

one will only be on your inbox, the other window to type and compose messages,   when I see an email in my inbox, I usually right click and hit "open in new window" 

if you have the rich view, you'll notice that you have tabs.   for example if you opened two emails you should be able to go back and forth between them.  one of those windows should remain on the inbox, and then a 2nd or third email will be on a 2nd or third tab.

as long as the inbox is open, then it will auto refresh, and you should not get timed out with any kind of frequency. 

below is an example of what rich email format looks like.  if you were to click on conversations there, it would show you your email and then you would have tabbed email viewing.  and below that is an example of what the old classic view looked like.

   NEW 

  OLD 

[bfrederi1]

Thanks for the clarification. I'll try this out for the next several days days and see how it works.

[topdog]

I have had very good results by sending my complaint to Verizon via the feedback form found at the top of the E mail page.  I have even had them implement a couple of my suggestions for improving the site.  Give it a try,it can't hurt, and you may be surprised by the result.  Just be patient, it may take a week or two.  I, personally don't have that problem. 

Good Luck!!!

[bfrederi1]

Hey topdog,

I've tried your suggestion -- I logged a feedback comment with a pointer to this thread last night. We'll see what happens.

I saw on a related thread that you have just started encountering this issue yourself. Sounds like that was coincident with the Great GUI Upgrade. The GUI upgrade also aggravated my long-standing problem: now when it fails, it no longer goes to an error screen and informs me that I'm screwed, it fails silently and takes me back to my Inbox, looking like everything is just fine. So, for example:

  1. I spend 10 minutes composing an outgoing e-mail.

  2. I hit Send.

   3. The screen flashes and returns to my Inbox, just like it should. (At this point, it used to display a time out error, and I needed to log back in to do anything else. I was screwed, but at least it had the courtesy to tell me that I was screwed. Now it just acts like everything's fine and I can keep working, thinking that my mail has been sent.)

  4. If I go to the Sent Mail folder, I discover that my mail didn't actually go out. It's disappeared. And no, it has NOT been saved to the Drafts folder. It's gone. Non-existent. Off to the bit bucket. 

   5.  I hit myself in the face with a hammer for being so frickin' **bleep** to forget to save a copy of my text before clicking Send.

This does seem to happen much more often from work than from home (I have a laptop that I use both places), so I wonder if my corporate firewall has something to do with it. Time of day also seems to affect how long it takes my client to time out.

[topdog]

What was the "great GUI upgrade?"   Verizon mail does seem to be the worst I have encountered.  I have used AOL, Comcast and Google mail.  I keep the google account to use when Verizon is out.  I hate to change E mail providers again, but I can if I continue to have problems.  When I have a problem, I just bug Verizon until it is fixed.  I have gone as high as the CEO.  That was the quickest fix of all.  Those at the top don't want to lose customers, and if you are nice in your request, and patient, you will get help!! 

[NEO19591]

Same problem here.  Verizon is the most user-unfriendly email service I've seen.  I have emails going into trash without sending them there, I'm constantly getting timed out, there's so much stuff on the screen I can barely see my emails.  It is a pain in the neck!

[jgreg1]

I too have experienced this very same (VERIZON ARE YOU READING????)  HUGELY annoying timeout problem when composing Verizon email content, and it IS much worse (i.e. disconnects faster) when I attempt to use Verizon email from inside my company firewall.   My company has so much encryption, spyware, and controls on our web access, that I would not be surprised if they are causing part of this incredibly annoying problem.   This awkward crappy design of which the Verizon email gurus dare not speak must serve some practical function which serves Verizon, or the firewall owner...but what the heck is it?            

One approach I've tried recently is to compose the Verizon email content, and then BEFORE clicking on send (or save), highlight the entire message contents and copy it to the 'clipboard'.  Then go ahead, test your luck and click 'send' or save in Verizon email.   If you're lucky and Verizon hasn't timed out, you're done and all is well,  But if Verizon email has timed out and dumped your creation into oblivion (again) and, for your convenience, re-routes back to the login screen, then log in (AGAIN, **bleep** it), get back into that message being drafted, then paste the clipboard contents, and quickly click send (or save) pretty darn fast before Verizon slinks away unnannounced again.  

[Hubrisnxs]

FYI, This is a peer to peer forum, so while verizon will poke their head in threads from time to time, you mostly have admin's here that will simply keep the threads on topic and administer the forums.   If you need to talk to verizon directly then you'll either want to reach out to them via chat, or call them at 800-VERIZON.

BUT having said that, the same info below applies for verizon webmail.  I have at least had good luck and success using it as descibed below.

---

Q: I spent a long time composing a message in WebMail, and it was lost when I tried to send it. What happened?

A: Your session timed out. The WebMail server maintains a "session" with your browser, but the session eventually times out if WebMail detects no activity between the browser and the server. When you are composing or reading a message, you are interacting only with your browser, not the WebMail server. If this takes more than several minutes, the session will time out automatically. WebMail does this to conserve resources on the server, and also as a security measure in case you forget to log out on a public-use machine.

To prevent your session from timing out, especially when you are composing mail messages, display your INBOX in the main WebMail window. The INBOX is refreshed automatically every few minutes, which has the effect of keeping your session active.

Another option is to compose your email message in the text editor provided by the operating system:

Windows = Notepad Mac OS 9 = SimpleText Mac OS X = TextEdit

When you finish composing your message, cut and paste it into your WebMail message. This way, you can make sure that your message is exactly the way you want it without worrying about WebMail timing out on you. If you use a word processor like Microsoft Word, be aware that the message may lose its formatting when you cut and paste it. Your text editor should copy and paste the message exactly the way you want it to.

http://web.mit.edu/is/isnews/v19/n01/190108.html

---

[Lorena_VZ]

---

@bfrederi1 wrote:

I have seen several topics here  with people complaining that Webmail times out when they are composing outgoing mail, and lose it when they hit send. However, none of these existing posts seem to have valid fixes or responses, and they all seem to be locked down to prevent new comments, so here is my two cents:

1. I have absolutely experienced the same thing. I've finally gotten into the habit of composing e-mail in an external editor, because I am sick and tired of wasting time recomposing lost e-mail.

2. The Verizon FAQ states two, contradictory policies, both of which are inaccurate:

http://www22.verizon.com/ResidentialHelp/HighSpeed/Email/Setup+And+Use/QuestionsOne/121965.htm:

Does Webmail time me out?
Webmail does not timeout due to inactivity.

http://www22.verizon.com/ResidentialHelp/HighSpeed/Email/Setup%20And%20Use/QuestionsOne/123344.htm

Does Webmail time out?
Due to security reasons, Webmail Basic does timeout after 20 minutes of inactivity. However, messages that were being composed before your session timed out will be saved in the DRAFTS folder.

The first one is outright wrong. Webmail absolutely, positively DOES time out.

The second one is wrong, at least in some circumstances. I have no doubt that this is their desired policy, but like many other customers, I'm here to tell you that under at least some circumstances, Webmai-l times out in as little as 5 minutes, and in these same circumstances, IT DOES NOT SAVE YOUR COMPOSED E-MAIL TO THE DRAFTS FOLDER. It simplay takes you to the log in screen, and when you log back in, your text is irretrievably gone. Verizon Webmail has not auto-saved anything for me in at least a year.

3. I have a theory as to what is going on here, and I am testing it today. Maybe one or two other folks can try this, too. I will report back whatever I find:

I access Webmail through an old bookmark which is defined as http://netmail.verizon.net/webmail/driver?nimlet=deggetfolder

However, I notice that if I login fresh from www.verizon.net and navigate to Webmail, I GET DIFFERENT SESSION COOKIES THAN I DO FROM THE ABOVE BOOKMARK. For example, I get a cookie called -_WL_AUTHCOOKIE_VZCSESSIONID which is not present when I log in using the old bookmark.. There are a couple of other variations, but this seems the most suspicious.

So, my theory is that those of us who often lose composed e-mail after ridiculously short time outs, are logging in from old bookmarks, and that things changed underneath us at some point during a Verizon Webmail update. I am going to try  usng Webmail today from a fresh login, after first clearing out all my existing Verizon cookies, and see if this results in longer sessions without timing out, and saved messages when it does time out.

---

Verizon Webmail – Basic users may face session timeout issues.

Verizon encourages users to either use Verizon Webmail – Rich or convert to the new and improved Verizon Message Center. (Note: You can click on the link “Go to New Email Version” right from your email inbox to get started on Verizon Message Center.) Verizon Website - Rich and Verizon Message Center sessions do not timeout.

Regarding Lost Email, if you POP your email to another email application, you may not see the email within Verizon Webmail or Message Center unless you have chosen to save/retain the emails on the Verizon Email Servers for X days. This link provides some additional information on this topic. http://www22.verizon.com/ResidentialHelp/HighSpeed/Email/Storage/QuestionsOne/128012 

Additionally, you may be "losing" SENT emails unless you check the setting to save SENT emails automatically. You can adjust this "Save Sent Messages" Email Setting in the Settings/Email Settings tab in Verizon Message Center.

[bfrederi1]

Lorena, thanks for your response. I must have missed it when you first posted it.

I am going to very carefully test my environment over the next few days, because I believe that your statement "Verizon Website - Rich and Verizon Message Center sessions do not timeout."  is mistaken. I use the rich interface everyday, unless we have two different understandings of "Verizon Website -Rich".

Note: I would assume that an intentional and correctly-handled  time-out would be accompanied at least by an error message. In the cases we are complaining about here, there is no indication that the time-out has occured. It's more like a silent crash, and then the app recovers and behaves like nothing has happened. Except that your composed mail has disappeared into the bit bucket. (And yes, I have "Save Sent Messages" set.)

[bfrederi1]

I have some test results to report:

Lorena_VZ: I was wrong: I was not using the rich interface, I was using the basic/classic interface, with rich text in compose mode. So I tried switching to the rich interface.  It still times out. I think it is important to point out (again) that I am not talking about a clean time-out, where the interface comes up and politely tells me that a time limit has been exceeded and that I need to log in again. I'm talking about hitting Send, having the app pause, refresh the screen and come back up in the Inbox, as if it has sent the mail. Except that it hasn't. And it hasn't auto-saved a draft.

Hubris: I tried your technique of keeping the Inbox displayed in one window, while composing in a second. At best, it may have extended the active time by a few minutes, but ultimately, if I waited around 10 minutes, the Send would fail just like before.

[bfrederi1]

Let me append to my last comment to Lorena_VZ:

All day today I've been using the Rich interface, and it is even worse than the old Basic, to which I've now switched back.

I not only have seen the behavior that I've been describing here, but I have also seen the older behavior of the "traditional" time-out, where I'm thrown back to the login screen.

I guess the good news there is at least you know you've been reamed, but the bad news is it can happen within a few minutes of starting your session. In any case, the earlier statement that the "Rich interface does not time out" is categorically, demonstrably, absolutely, incorrect.