POP server flaky today
wdg_pgh
Newbie

The POP 3 server has been failing intermittently throughout the day.  When login fails the server reports an incorrect ID or password, but later it works correctly with the same ID and password.  I am in Pittsburgh.  One other user has reported this error on usenet (not sure of his location).

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mclemens1
Newbie

This has happened to me A LOT recently, but today is the WORST.  I am in MA.  Nothing seems to work to resolve it.

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wdg_pgh
Newbie

Actually, I haven't seen this happen much in recent times (although I have seen it in the past).  I noticed it first on my phone (Android), but the same thing is happening on the PC with Thunderbird.

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markstvn
Newbie

Just in case others are trying to find out what is happening, same problems here in Maryland.  Actually is is not working much more than it is.  I have had mostly incoming mail problems, but outgoing as well.  I'm sure somthing is broken on Verizon's end.

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Holly1
Contributor - Level 3

To:markstvn 

I am also from Maryland and yesterday started getting messages to sign in or that my password had been changed on my android phone. That was fixed yesterday.

Today I now figured out what was wrong with my not being able to send email from my Verizon phone account. One little check mark made the difference. I don't know how it had been changed, either accidently by me or because I had installed some updates on my phone or if it was done by Verizon. However, since you had the same problem it was probably not because I accidently changed something.  If you ae still having problems sending emails from your Verizon email accont on your phone let me know and I will let you know what I did.

Holly

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markstvn
Newbie

It had nothing to do with your settings. My small office is 35 miles away and my secretary on a different computer but also using Verizon email had the same problems.  It was fixed within 4-5 hours.  It happens periodically, but not that often.  It was more prevalent a few months ago when Verizon switched their email servers to the AOL servers.  Verizon service isn't great, but their email works as good as any other major ISP.  Every one of them have some problems from time to time.  I've seen this enough to know what it was pretty quickly after I saw the symptoms.  

When this happens web based email still works.  So you can always login through your browser to see your mail, it is the mail server that is effected not the mail.  It is a bit inconvenient, but it does the job.  My experience has been that this problem is usually resolved within a half day to a day.

I've had plenty of headaches dealing with verizon service particulary when I have had problems with my dsl line which is on the phone lines, not in my system.  Trying to get a technician to the lines is impossible, you deal with an offshore rep.  My experience with mail problems is pretty similar, generally the "technicians" if you get one on the phone or in chat don't know about the mail server issues, it is a waste of an hour or so to call them.

Usually checking the forum shows somebody like you posting, which allows you to deduce that it is a system problem, not your computer or internet connection.  It would be nice if Verizon posted something somewhere as soon as they were aware of a problem to avoid all the guessing as to what the problem could be.  From what I have seen, that isn't going to happen.

So, the best course of conduct is to check this formum first, use the webmail and wait until it is fixed.  It is almost always a waste of time to tinker with settings that were working yesterday.  I would also recommend getting a good second or third email account like Gmail and set it up using your email client like Outlook, etc.  At least that way if you want you can forward your email from  the web-based mail to the other account and use it in your client if you dont want to waste your time using the webmail.  Personally I think the webmail is confusing and not user friendly, but I don't use it very often.  It works in a pinch however, and the forwarding option from the web interface to a non-verizon account does work.

Verizon support is terrible, but this is one of those things that happens to every ISP.  If I had it all to do over again, I would have started my email history with my own domain or with gmail.  I could switch since I  now have two other addresses, but sometimes people contact me on my verizon account which I have had for 15 years.  Switching email now after the long history of the verizon.net email is a headache.  I started the switch once, but ended up going back to using Verizon.  Had I started with Gmail or my own server life would be easier now, and I'm just plain too lazy to do a complete switch.

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Holly1
Contributor - Level 3

To:markstvn 

I'm sure the part of the problem askig me to sign in and that my password had changed etc. was a Verizon problem, but I changed one setting on my phone email account as far as the Outgoing Server. I checked the Require Sign in box and then was immediately able to send email messages from my Verizon phone email account. So I think the setting might be important. Maybe you tell me what setting you have for your Verizon phone email as far as the Outgoing Server is concerned. Is the box checked or unchecked? I suppose I could uncheck the box to see what happens. I don't remember unchecking it so it could have happened because of something Verizon did or maybe as the result of updates. Also do you know the purpose of the Outbox on the phone emails?

Holly

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markstvn
Newbie

I'm checking email from a computer using microsoft outlook.  The server was up and down and you could have had an additional problem with your setting.  I don't know what you are referring to.  Even if everything on your phone was correct there were sporadic problems with the server.  You could have had two problems, or it could be a coincidence that the server starting working around the same time you made the change.

The outbox is nothing but the place a message temporarily resides after you press send.  Usually it is only there for the short time that it takes to send your message, then it is gone.  If you have connectivity problems, or there is a server issue, or some setting wrong with your mail settings, that is where it stays until either the server is fixed, you fix your email settings, or get an internet connection.  It waits and retrys from the outbox until everything is good, internet connection, server working, and correct settings to send and receive.  As soon as it is gone, it appears in the sent folder, the outbox is generally a very temporary place.  If you see stuff in your outbox, something is wrong.  You hit send, they go to outbox, and as soon as sending is done, the message appears in the sent folder.

As an aside, most of the problems the other day were with inbound mail, not outgoing.  I believe you probably had an incorrect setting in your outbound mail, as well as the inbound server being up and down.  

I know there is a verizon information page listing exactly what settings you should have to send and receive from your phone, I don't know what kind of phone you have so I can't answer that

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Holly1
Contributor - Level 3

To:markstvn

 Thanks for the info about the Outbox on phone emial. I have an android phone and found the page for Verizon Incoming and Outgoing Servers, The check mark is required for Sign In on the Outgoing Server and mine somehow got unchecked. So now I will check if I ever have a problem sending so I will know if that somehow got changed. Good info to know.

By the way from the other message you sent about it  being a good idea to have more than one email account I have had gmail and aol for years and if I have a problem with one I can send myself an email to another of my email accounts to see if it went through. 

Thanks again,

Holly

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Lani3
Newbie

All afternoon I've been receiving notices on my laptop to enter my verizon password, and sometimes my email program (Apple mail) shows that it is offline.  Still, I have been able to send and receive email.  Totally screwy!  I'm in southeastern PA.

Could it be that some bot is collecting our passwords?  But why ask for it over and over again?

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TerryP4
Newbie

How do we get a Verizon rep to contact us with the expected time that they will have the matter resolved.  I see now that Verzon no longer offers tech support agents for chat support and are asking for money to communicate with them.  Less service, charges for tech support and no Verizon rep to tell us when they will have the email server problem resolved.  Terrible.

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wdg_pgh
Newbie

I just had a chat session with "Adil" who says that they know about the problem and are working on it.  I didn't ask when it would be resolved, as I wouldn't expect a definite answer.

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LawrenceC
Moderator Emeritus

Please visit our Support page for a variety of ways to contact Verizon, including “Ask Verizon,” our virtual chat agent, and customer support phone numbers.  There is no charge for online or phone support.

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TerryP4
Newbie

What happened to the option for online tech support in a chat window with a living, breathing human being?  Also, why is there not a single company rep who could monitor the forum live and respond in real time?  I'm sure Verizon can afford that...  One rep could handle a lot for users in the forum.

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Holly1
Contributor - Level 3

I haven't had problems with my computer but on my android phone I kept getting messages today that my password had been changed,which it hadn't, and couldn't receive emails on my Verizon email phone account but could on my gmail phone account.  Then suddenly I got lots of old emails that had been deleted long ago.  Now I am receiving emails to my Verizon account on my phone. However, I still can't send emails from my Verizon account (phone only) . I don't know if I should get in touch with the company handling my android phone or just wait and see if this is fixed too.

 The ones I try to send from my phone just go to the OUTBOX (which I don't know what the purpose for is), and if I try to send from the OUTBOX the message I get is  "Failed".

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Holly

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