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IMAP login failing

17K views 22 replies 10 participants last post by  lungdoc 
#1 ·
Got an emergency phone call from the in-laws that they were having Sympatico problems.

I noticed that IMAP logins were failing on all 3 devices. Did Bell screw up e-mail again?

When I did some searching, I saw some references to "changes are coming in 2016" to Bell e-mail.

Are the problems related to something Bell did in the last 1-2 days?
 
#4 ·
Been using the same settings for months. Only difference is that I had them set to use IMAP which uses servers at outlook.com. Bell normally only gives instructions for their POP servers. I'm guessing the migration somehow affected the IMAP servers.

I can't count the number of times Bell has screwed something like this up.
 
#6 ·
It was working fine on 4 devices until today. Whatever Bell did, none of the 4 devices can connect to imap-mail.outlook.com using the Sympatico account and password.

All of Bell's help pages tell you how to connect to their POP servers, which I believe are the ones that are being migrated to, I presume, outlook.com. No way to know.
 
#9 ·
As per the link in your post.

If you are currently using IMAP or Exchange ActiveSync, you will need to change your settings to use Bell’s new IMAP service instead.

Incoming mail server (IMAP):
IMAP Server: imap.bell.net
Port: 993
SSL required: Yes (Select This server requires a secure connection (SSL) or Use SSL.)

Outgoing mail server (SMTP):
SMTP Server: smtphm.sympatico.ca
Port: 25 (or 587 if port 25 does not work)
Authentication required: Yes
TLS/SSL required: Yes (Select STARTTLS or TLS if available, if not, select SSL.)
 
#10 · (Edited)
I was on a support call to Bell, for the same issue, when I read this post!

I've been dealing with probs like this for six months. I asked the support rep. if they've noted an upsurge in calls re; this prob. She said she answers a dozen calls a day about this and it's been like that for months.

I did the server change myself [ long time Mac owner] according to Bell web site instructions - didn't work, The next day I asked 'support' to help. We set the port to 587, it jumped back to 995 a number of times. We went with port 25 because it was static, and usable according to Bell site. Didn't work.

Tried support again this morning. We reset what was needed port 995 was re-instated]. She said, "it should be good." We sent the 'outbox' e-mails that could not be sent previously and none bounced back. For some reason I hadn't ended call/ or she called back[??] about 10 mins later and all emails had bounced back again. She fixed it, again. So far all is good. She will be calling me back tonight to see if it held. Good service but wish I didn't needed it!!!

I'm still using the POP server for incoming mail, even thought I was told on a previous support call the they were migrating to IMAP???
 
#11 ·
Bell seemed like amateurs

The whole experience left me wondering why anyone would use Bell for e-mail:
  • Agent first said we recommend POP mail
  • I said why would I want to have to delete messages on 4 different devices?
  • I was then told that Bell was migrating to their own IMAP servers
  • The incoming server we configured over the phone worked, but not the outgoing
  • The CSR even had to enter the IP of the outgoing server to get it to work
This is not the first time Bell has done one of these migrations; at least 2 or 3.
 
#13 ·
Yes. We set them in Windows Live, but I had to leave before we could fully test them so I'll follow up with my relative who stayed on the phone with Bell. Later, I'll have to set them on his iPad, iPhone etc, but he's 86 and shouldn't have to be going through these migrations.
 
#14 ·
I've been through this Bell server migration for 2 email address with mail synced with several android devices using IMAP. I use the Gmail app for android, and Windows Live Mail on PC (which allows me avoid the awful Bell webmail interface). It all works (finally). You do NOT want the IMAP incoming server setting to be pointing to imap-mail.outlook.com. You need to change that to imap.bell.net (for both sympatico.ca and bell.net email addresses). Bell's support info does include the various server settings for IMAP here: How to use Bell Mail : Using Bell Mail with an email program
I did have a recent issue where email permanently stopped synching via IMAP, and the solution was to remove the IMAP email account from Gmail on the device, then add it back in and configure.
Frank
 
#15 ·
Any further problems with this?

I've just noticed in the past 1-2 weeks that my Macbook (using Mac Mail) doesn't sync consistently with the Bell IMAP server.

I can delete or move messages on my iPhone but the Mac does not consistently record those changes. When I log into BellMail via the web, the server picks up all the changes but the Mac doesn't pick them up. Even when I delete or move on the Mac the server may just show the message opened but not move or delete it.

Very frustrating. I've spoken with Bell Tech Support a few times and nobody has an answer, other than 'it must be a mac problem'.

I even deleted the mail account from my Mac and reinstalled it but it is no better. Actually it failed to reload a few of my folders and they are empty, but still have all mail on the server. Every so often it will show that it is downloading messages but nothing comes in.

It also sometimes shows an Alert - There may be a problem with the mail server or network.Verify the settings or try again. The server returned the error : connections to the server "imap.bell.net" on the default ports timed out.

I've checked the settings, and so has Bell, and they are correct.

Any advice?
 
#16 ·
When I was finally forced to migrate my mailbox from Microsoft servers to Bell 2 weeks ago (was ignoring countless reminders until it finally stopped working), I was having tons of errors with the new IMAP servers. Constant timeouts on my iphone and I couldn't even connect via IMAP via outlook 2016 on my PC. (I refuse to use POP, since I want to synch mail across multiple devices). I had tried all possible options and always got errors. Today I decided to try again, it started working. So I recommend trying again if you were having issues around your migration date.
 
#17 ·
They told them they were escalating the issues and I found last week that the sync was much better although I still see messages that I've deleted or moved to a folder still sitting in my inbox on bell.net but still are in the proper folder.

On my phone and mac there are ok and in the right spot.

I was migrated a long time ago so I'm not sure what they did, but it seems to have worked. I guess I was lucky and finally got the right CSR to push it through to a real technician.
 
#18 ·
I had migrated to the IMAP and smpthm servers a couple of months ago on both Android (Outlook or Gmail apps both worked) and Outlook app for PC. Working fine. Today can't get the Android apps to work, doesn't recognize the username/password no matter what settings I tried. Called support who were useless, saying "some Android devices" incompatible which seems nonsense, as depends on the app not the device.

In any case working fine with "Bluemail" email app (free at Play store) which seems like a good email app anyway with extensive features. Figured others may want to know.

There seems to be a "question and answer" aspect to setup on the server where the app sends basic info and gets the detailed info, as Bluemail only asked for address, account type (Imap) and password, not server specifics. On Android the Gmail app and the Outlook App, at least today, can't seem to do that and manual detailed info not working. In past had one similar glitch where removing and re-install of Outlook app fixed it but it did not do so today.
 
#19 ·
Yes, crazy that their CSR's are either unaware of real issues or simply play dumb because they don't have an answer. I would certainly appreciate honesty if they acknowledged there was a problem and that they were working on it, as opposed to making things up.

I was in an Apple store the other day and when they asked for my email to send a receipt he asked if I had trouble with Bell mail on my phone. Funny you should ask I said. He admitted that they are asked constantly about mail trouble with @bell.net accounts.

Finally I got a CSR a few weeks ago who acknowledged the issue and escalated it. I don't know what they did but a few days later I noticed by IMAP account was syncing properly between Apple devices again. Although if I log into bell.net and look at my inbox, it is still full of messages I have since deleted or moved. Odd thing is that the moved messages still sit in that inbox but do correctly reside in the folder I moved them too. It just doesn't clean out the inbox properly.
 
#20 ·
I've settled on using POP on my home PC with the checkboxes set in properties to leave a copy on the server when I read it. This allows me to use IMAP on my devices and still have access to the emails. Bell.net has certainly had problems since about February when they did their switchover.

Definitely one thing that doesn't appear to work very well now is their SPAM catcher. I receive a ton more SPAM than I ever use to. Anyone else have trouble with SPAM now? I never use to ever get SPAM.
 
#21 ·
Thanks for the "Blue Mail" app suggestion. I tried a bunch of email apps (i.e Outlook, myMail) and couldn't get any to work on my iPhone. Blue mail works and was super easy to setup. BTW - I hate Bell for making this change. Huge pain and I miss using Outlook as my main site for email via a PC/Mac.
 
#22 ·
If using the Outlook Android App(probably IOS too), you need to specify the port number but there is no place to insert it. So the way you do it is add it right at the end of the server address after a semi-colon, so for instance the incoming e-mail server would be as follows:

imap.bell.net:993

Outgoing:

smtphm.sympatico.ca:25 (or 587)
 
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