Can't Access My Verizon (AOL) Email Over Cellular Connection

[BigbirdPhila]

I migrated my Verizon email address to AOL.  I have two phones: a Samsung Galaxy and an iPhone.  Both are configured to access my email using POP3.  Both can send & receive email when connected to WiFi at my home.  My ISP is Verizon.  But, when I try to connect via 4G LTE cellular data, both fail.  Can neither send nor receive email.  My cellular provider is AT&T.

The Android phone doesn't present any error messages.  When trying to get email the iPhone says "The mail server pop.verizon.net is not responding".  When trying to send it says "Cannot connect to smtp.verizon.net".

It's not a login ID, password, port #, or other configuration problem because both phones work when using WiFi.

I tried sending email using my gmail.com and yahoo.com email accounts to my verizon.net account.  That worked on both phones.   Outbound mail to those accounts fails like mail to any other account.

I think it's related to the fact that I'm using an AT&T cellular connection to access an AOL email server that's servicing Verizon domain names (verizon.net).   I had to pay to talk to an AOL Technical Support person.  Spent 3+ hours on the phone with them and they are stumped.

Any help from the community would be most appreciated.

[BigbirdPhila]

Is anyone successfuly using AT&T cellular on their phone to access their migrated Verizon POP3 email account?

[BigbirdPhila]

Through other forums, I have narrowed it down to probably using a prepaid MVNO (like Tracfone or Cricket) for cellular service.  I have located several friends using postpaid AT&T and Verizon to access their migrated Verizon email accounts and they're not having any problems.

Not 100% sure of this, but am eager to hear from anyone using a prepaid wireless service to access their migrated Verizon email account.  Either successfully or unsuccessfully, but  especially if you're doing it successfully.

[Mel210]

I am having this problem on my iphone 7 and I have Sprint.  I really don't want to switch to IMAP so I have been dealing with it.  I can usualy get mail one time after I'm off WIFI and then it doesn't work again until I get back on WIFI.  It doesn't sound like IMAP fixes the problem anyway? Have you found anything that fixes this?

[Blaz2]

I have been having this problem too (cannot access Verizon POP3 email over Consumer Cellular, although it works over WiFi). I last tried this weeks ago. I tried it again today, and it now seems to work properly. Hardware was iPhone 6.

Before this fix, I was able to get Verizon email by first launching a VPN before opening the Mail app. That should no longer be necessary though.

[LisaS12]

I have had this issue since I got my iphone 6 a year ago - I am with consumer cellular - I have gone round and round with consumer cellular, apple (which helped more than anyone) and verizon. - Verizon is blaming it on moving to AOL but that's not the issue - this has been happening for a year now - same as you I have all passwords, data on, etc. - This is only when I am away from my wifi - I can get on the internet and any other application that I tell to use data when away from wifi. My next step is to reset my phone (aarrgg) - any help would greatly be appreciated - I am beating myself over the head with this and verizon is no help whatsoever 

[BigbirdPhila]

More confirmation of my theory.  Do *not* waste your time resetting your device.  That is not the problem.  It is a software issue with either AT&T or AOL (or partially with both).   AOL's pop.verizon.net machine rejects connections coming from an AT&T reseller (a prepaid cellular service) like Tracfone, Cricket, or Consumer Cellular (your provider) on port 995.  Somehow a reseller connection is being detected (I don't know how) by pop.verizon.net.  I know this because if I configure my email account on someone's phone who has wireless service directly with AT&T everything works fine.   In fact, you don't even have to use email to encounter the problem.  You can see the connection rejection with a TCP client utility app that merely tries to open port 995 on pop.verizon.net.  I have an exhaustive description of this here (you can try the utility for yourself):

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r31408469-Can-t-Access-POP3-Email-Over-Cellular

AT&T Technical Support will not talk to people who have their accounts through resellers.  They say "contact your provider".   I have not been able to get Tracfone to present the problem to AT&T Level 2 Technical Support.  The AT&T Level 1 people say "the account looks properly configured, it should work" and Tracfone tells me I should accept that.  If we could get AT&T to stop what it's doing differently to reseller messages or get AOL to change pop.verizon.net to not be sensitive to it, our problem would be solved.    I have an extensive description of the problem registered with AOL.  AOL has "escalated" my problem to their Level 2, but for over a month NOTHING has happened towards a solution.  And, they're charging me for this "technical support"!

It my understanding that AOL has been maintainig pop.verizon.net for over a year.  Ever since the migrations started, even though a particular customer's account hadn't been officially transferred to AOL.  So, it doesn't surprise me that you have been seeing it for a while.  I didn't get my phone until January and never noticed it until I started paying close attention to how things were working when my migration happened in early April.

Try to get Consumer Cellular to escalate the problem to AT&T Level 2 if you can.  Use any info in my dslreports post that you want.

[auvEE]

BigbirdPhila, I understand that you have moved on from this problem. For the sake of others, I will report that I have also had this problem accessing Verizon mail for the past year or so, starting from before the I was told to switch to AOL, and continuing after. My circumstances: Android phone (Moto G LTE, a few years old, running Android 5.1, no more upgrades offered) Service through Consumer Cellular (an AT&T reseller) Using POP3 Android mail client is AquaMail. Servers: pop.verizon.net/995/SSL(Strict)/Auth:Choose Automatically smtp.verizon.net/465SSL(Strict)/Auth:SASL Login Mail works fine through WiFi, but is VERY intermittent over any cellular data (LTE, H+, H, etc.). By intermittent, I mean it connects perhaps one time in 20 tries. I do not have automatic polling set, so it only polls for mail manually. In this mode I can force a poll a couple of times/second, until it finally connects. Once the connection starts, it can download all the mail without further trouble. I don't have much occasion to send email on cellular data, but I think it usually says that the message is queued until the next poll, so I just poll a lot until the message gets sent. I have my work account, hosted by my employer's servers, also configured in AquaMail, and also using POP3. I NEVER have any trouble connecting to my work email. I have confirmed Blaz report that verizon email, through Consumer Cellular always works through VPN. This is true both when VPN'd through my employer and also when using the commercial VPN service: NordVPN.

[auvEE]

I have changed my servers from pop.verizon.net and smtp.verizon.net to pop.aol.com and smtp.aol.com, with no other parameters changed. I can report that the connection probability is much higher, perhaps 50%, though certainly not 100%.

[BigbirdPhila]

You can get an even higher percentage connection probablility with imap.aol.com and smtp.aol.com if you want to go the IMAP route.  Sometimes it fails for a long period of time, though.  Sometimes it will work for a long period.  I have not been able to discern a pattern.   Definitely not reliable if you depend upon your email when away from WiFi.  I closed my TracFone account and went with the $30/mo plan from MetroPCS.  Metro uses the T-Mobile network.  Problem went away.

[auvEE]

BigbirdPhila: Yes, thanks. For my own reasons, I prefer POP over IMAP. It just better fits my "work flow".

[BigbirdPhila]

Yes, I prefer POP also.  Many people don't realize that if they use IMAP and then start deleting emails off their phone to "clean up", they are also deleting them back on AOL's server (the one where AOL claims to give us "unlimited storage").  Poof.  There goes their email history.