Email Client Access No Longer Works

[RigaMortice]

I'd been successfully operating my talktalk.net email using Outlook 365 until the morning of 21st April when it stopped working with a login failure. It's still failing today.

Initially I assumed it was an Outlook issue but then downloaded a copy of Thunderbird to check and found it fails the same way.

My webmail still works, although it's not great to use.

I'm using the recommended IMAP settings from this page:  Email settings | SMTP, IMAP & POP3 | TalkTalk Help & Support so I hope that page is up-to-date.

I've already had some long conversations with support but all at a fairly superficial level so would appreciate a closer look at my account to see what might be stopping me using Outlook/Thunderbird to access my email.

Thanks

[nameunknown]

@RigaMortice 

I have just done some testing (with an @talktalk.net email address).

Using Thunderbird with STARTTLS and port 587, messages fail to send. However changing the settings to SSL/TLS and port 465, messages send.

Using Outlook 2007, messages send using TLS and port 587, or SSL and port 465. STARTTLS is not an option in Outlook 2007, so i cannot repeat the test with STARTTLS.

So, try using the settings that work in the tests that I conducted.

[ferguson]

This:  "For those who continue to be TalkTalk broadband customers, there is no such thing as  'migration'"

 The rest is irrelevant. 

[Billx]

I am not sure. what needs clarification by staff. I made more than 1 point.

[ferguson]

So you are contradicting what the TalkTalk team have just said previously? It will be helpful to get this clarified. By them, not you I mean

[Billx]

Hi, @RigaMortice 

About TalkTalk Mail Plus - TalkTalk Help & Support  is an old TalkTalk article. Not all the details in it are correct.

It was a time when TalkTalk broadband customers who changed broadband provider, could continue using their existing TalkTalk email addresses, by opening a different account, 'TalkTalk Mail Plus' , so they could manage and pay for, just their TalkTalk email address/es. Because, it's an old article, you can ignore that bit. The link to 'Manage webmail' in that article is now false. To 'Manage webmail' now, one needs to go here, https://apps.talktalk.co.uk/myaccount/?#/login, which is now separate from 'MyAccount'.

Currently, if a TalkTalk broadband customer, stops being a broadband customer, and wants to continue using his up-to-now TalkTalk email addresses. he has to migrate to the Everymail email service, which is run by the same people who run TalkTalk email service. For those who continue to be TalkTalk broadband customers, there is no such thing as  'migration'

Bill

[sabelo-TT]

@RigaMortice, I understand your concerns about whether your account is set up correctly. The OX migration does indeed affect all customers, including those with TalkTalk broadband services. This migration is part of an upgrade to our email platform, and it is important for all users to transition to ensure continued access to email services.

[RigaMortice]

I note that it's all gone quiet - but just want to clarify something:

I've had my talktalk.net email address for years as part of my broadband package. But on the Email help page for MailPlus (About TalkTalk Mail Plus - TalkTalk Help & Support) it says for existing broadband customers "Don't Forget: Make sure your email addresses have been added to your list of mailboxes within the "Manage Webmail" section of My Account to continue enjoying a free service".

I know that MailPlus shouldn't apply to me but that note refers to broadband customers, who (I think!) wouldn't be MailPlus users.

The "manage webmail" link in MyAccount takes me to a page that doesn't include any mention of email/webmail, as below:

Does this mean that my account isn't set up correctly?

I thought I'd read that the OX migration was only for email accounts without Talktalk broadband or other services, but I've always had broadband so wanted to check that I'm not waiting for something that shouldn't even apply to me.

Should I be waiting for the OX Migration or not?

Thanks.

[sabelo-TT]

Pleasure however communication will be shared once this is over. 🙂 

[RigaMortice]

I'd never heard of the OX migration until it was mentioned on this chat so it's something of a surprise that it's (possibly or probably?) preventing client access to my email.

Thanks anyway.

[nambuso-TT]

We hear your concerns however we kindly ask for your patience with this migration as we will take things from there. 

[RigaMortice]

I've been having this problem since the end of April, so it would be nice to know at least:

1. if my problem looks to have been caused by the OX migration. Or at least do the symptoms and timing fit?

2. when will this be fixed - or the migration completed? While I'm sure there will be some uncertainty in the migration schedule, "as soon as possible" is as vague and open-ended as it can be. Are we talking days/weeks/months/years?

My concern is that I could continue to wait for the OX migration to complete (whenever that is) only to find that my problem isn't related to the migration. More clarity would be nice.

Thanks.

[sabelo-TT]

@RigaMortice, so basically, due to OX migration, all email activity in MyAccount has been suspended. We will provide further updates to this, and we will update all client's as soon as possible.

[RigaMortice]

Hi again @sabelo-TT 

If you agree that my mail settings (pictured in my earlier post) are correct then I'd suggest that something is actually restricting my mail access to webmail only.

One thing that strikes me is that I can't see anything in MyAccount that refers to my TT email address, ie connects my email address to my actual TalkTalk account. Just recently I found that the email address listed for access to MyAccount wasn't actually recorded against my account, even though it was shown on my dashboard as being my login email. That issue was fixed last week. But could my TT email be similarly orphaned/disconnected from my TT account and would that cause my mail to be restricted to webmail-only?

I now see a number of posts like this one: https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Email/Link-mailboxes-to-broadband-account-please/m-p/3117405 that suggests that email accounts can be orphaned in the way I've suggested.
Could this be the cause of the problem that I'm facing?

Thanks.

[sabelo-TT]

Thank you for confirming this to us @RigaMortice, as we are currently investigating the issues with emails. We will provide further updates to this, and we will update all client's as soon as possible. 🙂 

[RigaMortice]

Yes it is still the case. However I now check state using Thunderbird because it allows me to save account details even when those settings don't work. This saves me having to re-enter all of the settings from scratch every time I want to check whether this has been fixed.

[sabelo-TT]

@RigaMortice, correct we are. I understand that you are currently unable to accessing your emails using the Outlook App. If I may kindly ask, is this still the case?

[RigaMortice]

Does anyone from TalkTalk support look at these posts? Or is it better to contact TT support by phone?

[Billx]

Thanks for your additional comment.

One of the things I have found re Thunderbird that I really like, is that it allows one to  display the full contents of the From header. I.E. the full email address between the '<' and the '>' and everything else before the '<'. Some clients, or even most in some cases, omit the actual email address.

Cheers

Bill

[RigaMortice]

Hi, @Billx,

I'd hoped/expected that you wouldn't see any issue with my settings, and I'm running the same version of Thunderbird as you. I installed it specifically to (possibly) help with this problem and have added the account multiple times already, always with the same outcome.

My own feeling is that something changed for the account itself, given that it was fine one minute and then just stopped working with no changes by me. I did wonder if my password was too simple (which it was) and I'd been blacklisted for that. I've changed my password a few times (for different reasons) since this began and it's now long and quite complex. And works in webmail.

If I'm right then someone at TalkTalk needs to look at the account, but I think it's probably a struggle to get past the idea of a likely user error.

But thanks anyway for looking at this. My struggle goes on!

[Billx]

Hi,  @RigaMortice 

Thanks very much for sending such a clear picture.

Yes, that looks exactly the same as my version, except as you say, you have omitted the initial-part of your email address, which is not an issue.

I don't know what to say. I was guessing that there might be a small difference.

All I can suggest is remove the email account and re-add it.

Then in the extreme uninstall Thunderbird and reinstall Thunderbird

But again there could be bigger problems at TalkTalk.

My current Thunderbird setup is working nicely. (Version 139.0.2)

Good luck

Bill