Unable to receive / send email using dsl.pipex.com

[Bill73]

I paid my annual D/D £50.00 Pipex legacy bill (TalkTalk Mail) on 31st October 2024. A few days later I noticed I wasn't receiving any new mail on my POP3 Pipex account on my primary PC . At first I assumed it was "theconnection" and didn't fiddle but after several more days of waiting for service to resume I started looking at the incoming and outgoing server settings. I changed just about everything possible that was shown on the recommended settings - incoming server from pop.dsl.pipex.com to mail.talktalk.net, ports from 995 to 110, outgoing server from smtp.talktalk.net to smtp.dsl.pipex.com, ports from 587 to 25 and even 465. Encryption methodSSL/TLS or START TLS. Always the answer comes back "Something went wrong; we couldn't connect to the incoming (POP) server using the specified encryption method. Please check the incoming (POP) server encryption method and try again" I even, in a fit of frustration, deleted the account and tried IMAP but received the same message but regarding the IMAP server. Meanwhile my mobile and tablet both continued to receive pipex emails without fail so as an experiment I changed first the tablet and then the mobile from POP to IMAP using the recommended webmail settings and they both worked without a hiccup......................
Have you any idea what the problem may be ? I did wonder after reading other vaguely similar posts if TalkTalk was blocking my account somehow but that didn't explain why I was still able to receive POP derived emails on my phone and tablet and why I could successfully use the recommended IMAP settings as well. I am using Windows 10, Microsoft 365 and Outlook V2410 on the PC, and as I said at the begining all was fine until I paid my annual subscription !

[Ady-TalkTalk]

Thanks for letting us know Bill73.

Ady

[Billx]

OK @Bill73 

(You need only have mentioned 'abc12@dsl.pipex.com' and not 'alias@dsl.pipex.com'. I got totally confused.)

Greetings to you as well.

Bill

[Bill73]

Ady-TalkTalk,
It was good to know that "Your mailbox is full active so you should have working mail once you've got the correct settings in place." And, yes,  my mailbox works normally at https://apps.talktalk.co.uk/appsuite.
What I have discovered after much searching is that Microsoft, bless them, have recently removed the ability to connect new third-party accounts such as a Gmail account and sync existing connected accounts from within Outlook.com. This must have occurred around the time that my TalkTalk subscription was renewed, hence my thoughts in my OP. The article goes further - "While you can no longer add or sync third-party accounts as a connected account to Outlook.com, as long as that third-party account is supported, you may still be able to add the account to other Outlook versions, such as Outlook mobile, the desktop versions of Outlook for Windows or Mac, or by forwarding those emails to another Outlook.com account." I did mention in my OP that " I am using Windows 10, Microsoft 365 and Outlook V2410 on the PC" but that was probably missed as a significant fact 🙂
Herewith the page reference for you and others that may have the same issue:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/getting-started-with-the-new-outlook-for-windows-656bb8d9...

All that I needed to do was enter my pipex email address in the appropriate box, add the password and hit connect - and hey presto all was IMAPed, even all my emails downloaded as well. I am now very happy!!
Thankyou for you advice as always
Kind Regards

Bill

[Bill73]

Billx, thanks for your handy hints once again although it does seem from your comments that you are as much in the dark as I. As I mentioned in my reply, I tried usernames in the format "abc12@dsl.pipex.com" and "alias@dsl.pipex.com" to avoid advertising my full email address for the rascal element to learn free of charge! I certainly wasn't guessing.
Meanwhile I have solved the problem myself - and it was nothing to do with erroneous settings...........................but thankyou anyway.

Seasons Greetings
Bill

[Ady-TalkTalk]

Hi Bill73, any settings that differ from the settings in the Email Settings help article will not work. It doesn't matter if you've got old settings on old articles the current ones are the only valid settings. Your mailbox is full active so you should have working mail once you've got the correct settings in place. Does your mailbox work normally at https://apps.talktalk.co.uk/appsuite?

[Billx]

I've never used 'Outlook V2410 on the PC', @Bill73 

Does Outlook have a "Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA)" setting? Is that for Outgoing mail server? If it has and is, I would enable it.

I would have thought the setting for Outgoing mail server Encryption Method should  be 'SSL/TLS?

My settings on Microsoft Mail, which is a cousin of Outlook, are:

Incoming

'Require SSL for incoming email'

Outgoing

'Outgoing server requires authentication'
'Require SSL for outgoing email'

As far as your email address at Pipex is concerned, you have to know it, not guess it.

Why are you trying to guess it?

I never use anything like alias, I always use my real email address.

Bill

[Bill73]

Billx - Many Thanks for the rapid reply. I have a copy of the referenced article (amongst several other variations some of which indeed mention using ports 110, 25, or 465) but even when using those parameters the response is the same whether or not the "Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA)" box(es) is ticked  : "Something went wrong.  We couldn't connect to the incoming (IMAP) server using the specified encryption method. Please check the incoming (IMAP) server encryption method and try again".
Also I have tried usernames in the format "abc12@dsl.pipex.com" and "alias@dsl.pipex.com" plus your suggested settings without success. Both tablet and phone are happy using "alias@dsl.pipex.com".

[Billx]

From: https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Articles/Email-settings-to-access-TalkTalk-emails/ta-p/2204399
Incoming mail server:mail.talktalk.net     Server Port (IMAP):993    Encryption Method:SSL/TLS
Outgoing mail server:smtp.talktalk.net   Server Port:587                     Encryption Method:STARTTLS

Your username must be the full Pipex email address followed by the Pipex password.
For Outgoing mail server Encryption Method, I use SSL/TLS and that works as well.
There is no mention of ports 110, 25, or 465 in the above article.
I use Windows 10 and Microsoft Mail

Bill