It takes a long time for me to receive an Email

[Capricorn331]

I am not sure where my problem lies, with Talktalk or Chrome or anywhere else.

When someone sends me an Email it takes a long time to arrive - on my desk top computer, Android mobile phone and iPad.  Eventally I receive the same Email in all places at roughly the same time.

I have been trying to log on to a Supermarket from whom I have previously had a delivery.  I log in with my Email and password and immediately they send me an Email with a code to type in.  This code only has a valid time of ten minutes and I don't receive my Emails from this company for about forty minutes, by which time the Code has expired.

I have notified them but am still awaiting an answer.  I have asked that they send the Code to my mobile but never get a reply.

I would be grateful for any help.

[Capricorn331]

Glad to know this.  Thanks very much for your help.

[Gondola]

Mail messages direct to Gmail will arrive in real time and its the same for mail messages direct to TalkTalk Mail. So, you can get notifications of new mail messages. The 'delay' issues are just related to the collection frequency of already delivered mail to another mailbox and then browser display refresh.

Looks like you're doing all the right things.

[Capricorn331]

Good Morning Gondola,  I am not sure what has happened but I thought the following message had been sent to you last Sunday and I have been awaiting your reply, but I see that it hadn't.  Just to update, I've bought a new LG TV and had to register it and they sent me a OTC which was there instantly - I have registered the TV with my Gmail address   ...   ...@gmail.com.  Perhaps my problem lies with the "talktalk".net address.

"I understand what you say, but I always manually refresh particularly when awaiting a OTC.  I also, unfortunately, received umpteen unsolicited sales emails, so there are plenty to collected.

I used to have a Yahoo account and last night logged into it just to see if any emails were there (there were none).Of course my password needed renewing and once again Yahoo sent a OTC to my Talktalk account.  This was in my Talktalk Inbox within about five minutes and now my Yahoo account is reactivated (which I don't really need).  My Yahoo email address is not included in my Gmail account.  I can't try requesting OTC's go to Yahoo, because I've already input a Talktalk email address and can't get in to edit it."

[Gondola]

Hi Capricorn331 

The blue red yellow and green M followed by the word Gmail top left would suggest that you're using the Gmail desktop app.

If so you collect your TalkTalk Mail messages via a POP3 collection from the TalkTalk Mail Inbox. The default collection frequency is once every 15 minutes. So, mail arrives in the TalkTalk Mail Inbox. But because Gmail only collects automatically every 15 minutes it might collect a few emails together and some could be up to 15 minutes old. However, if when Gmail goes to collect messages and it finds no new messages it will slow the collection frequency. So it might collect just once per hour or longer. Then when you view those emails some may look old.  It's certainly not good to rely on automatic collection if you're waiting for a time expired link.

You can of course manually refresh the Inbox using the refresh icon. That's what you must do after requesting a link to be sent that you know will time expire.

TalkTalk Mail webmail has a shorter refresh time of 5 minutes but it's selectable from 5 - 10 - 15 or 30 minutes. There is also a manual refresh link to check emails more frequently .

So, does this explain the issue of taking a long time to see mail messages?

[Capricorn331]

Thanks for your reply.

The email domain is @talktalk.net.

I thought I was using Chrome, but I think it must be Gmail.  It has a big multi-coloured M as an icon.  Apparently Gmail doesn't have an version.

HTH

[Gondola]

OK, let's start with gather some information about the Windows 10 desktop.

What's the email domain for your TalkTalk email address - just the part after the @ symbol. I'm asking just in case you are using an alias address.

What email software are you using on the Windows 10 desktop? Type and version please. e.g. Windows Mail (soon to become Outlook for Windows), Outlook 16, Outlook 365 or Thunderbird 115 for example. 

[Capricorn331]

Thank you Gondola.  Sorry for the delay in responding but my monitor screen packed up (after 15 years!) and I’ve had to replace it.

 I am still having the same issues with emails taking up to forty minutes to arrive. If I send one to myself, it’s there instantly.

I am using Chrome as my email client.  It looks as though the email settings are correct for talktalk.

 I would appreciate any advice.  I am prepared to change my email client but would need advice as to which one to use.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

My mobile phone is an Android.  Desktop is WINDOWS 10.  Also I use an iPad.  All these devices are set up to send and receive emails.  The emails arrive at pretty much the same time on all devices. 

[Gondola]

Those settings do not apply to TalkTalk Mail webmail so that suggests you're using email software. Some email software will have the ability to send mail messages and have replies sent to a different email address.

This will have no impact on delivery time to the email address that is used for communications from the supermarket. i.e. their mail will go to the address you gave them when registering.

But if you're receiving their replies to another email address and then auto forwarding that on to your TalkTalk address then not only is that not reliable it adds delay to the delivery path. 

[Capricorn331]

I have had a look at my settings and had "Send all replies to gMail address" (or something like that) ticked.  The other option was to "Send all replies to the Email from which it was sent." I have now ticked this box and tried to log into Said Supermarket and the Code came back within 11 minutes.  Although there was a 10 minute expiry time, I was able to log in.  I am hoping that this adjustment I have made was the problem.  Only time will tell.  It might get quicker.

Thank you for your help.

[Capricorn331]

Thank you.  I'll have a look or get someone to help me and get back.

[Gondola]

I'm not seeing more than a couple of minutes of delivery path delay for fully authenticated inbound emails. A 40 minute delay tells me that either you're using an alias address e.g. an UKGateway.co.uk or screaming.net alias or dsl.pipex.com alias, for example, and therefore inbound emails are going via a rewrite server OR the mail is deemed suspicious and is therefore being deferred for scanning as a precaution.

Deferred for scanning should not be affecting every inbound mail. For example mail sent from any of the big mail services would be fully authenticated and so long as it doesn't have attachments ought to be delivered to an Inbox with no significant delay.

So, a little bit more information about your email address and whether the delay does affect all inbound mail would help in diagnosis.