Does Bell supported WiFi block POP3 Videotron Email access?

[montreal]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to configure my new FIDO Nokia C6 smartphone to connect to my Videotron email account when the phone is offline and connected to a private or public Wi-Fi network.

If I use the Nokia wizard to setup the client mailbox, I most often will be assigned IMAP default settings for Videotron. Sometimes the configuration jams and I end up with a default noname POP3 mailbox which I have to manually edit to Videotron settings.

I am currently using the POP3 mailbox.

When I do this setup I am at home and my secured wireless router is connected to a Videotron cable modem.

If I take my phone to my friend's house and set her WiFi access point at the top of the list, I can access my Videotron email as if I was at my home. She also has a Videotron cable modem.

However if I go to the shopping mall where there is a free access BELLHotSpot wifi cafe or to another family member's house where there is a secured Bell wireless router/modem, then I can't access my Videotron email. If I reconfigure a new mailbox on either Bell WiFi network, it doesn't work either.

My phone's Opera browser works everywhere, so I am left to conclude that the phone's email connection is sensitive to the ISP broadband network that the connection passes over.

In otherwords, when Bell sees my offline (unlocked Fido branded) phone trying to send or receive emails from the Videotron POP3/SMPT mail server via the Bell broadband network, it blocks the access.



I can always get access to my email using VideotronWebMail, but I prefer the phone's email client compared to my browser page.

Does this make sense that Bell would block Videotron emails, and if so is there a workaround?


Thanks

[grog]

It's more than likely Videotron that's doing the blocking, not Bell. For security reasons most ISPs only allow access to their mail servers from inside their network. That's why it works from your friend's house because they are also on Videotron's network.

If you want to get at your email from an external network you may be able to setup a VPN on your router and connect to the VPN from your phone first. Then you will be connecting to Videotron via your home network so it should allow it. Your router may or may not have VPN capability though.

The other option, and the better option in the long run, is to switch to a public email service like Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc. which you can access from anywhere. Plus, you don't have to worry about losing your email address if you ever want to switch ISPs.

[montreal]

Thanks GROG for your update.

Your point is well stated and makes sense.

I have such a small screen on my cellphone (3.5 inches) that I would like to avoid web page email if at all possible.

I will ask Videotron if there is any way to get them to accept my POP3 login passing over the Bell server.

Even GMAIL has what is called an application sensitive password that helps a pop3 client on a cellphone to access email.

http://support.google.com/accounts/b...&answer=185833

It would be great if Videotron would have the same type of convention.

Thanks again.

[JamesK]

For security reasons most ISPs only allow access to their mail servers from inside their network.

SMTP port 25 is often blocked, but I've never heard of POP or IMAP being blocked. If it's SMTP being blocked, another port may be available, such as 587, as used on Rogers. It works on all my computers, as well as my smart phone. I don't use port 25 at all.

[montreal]

Thanks JamesK for your post.

Whenever my phone has failed to reach the Videotron server via the Bell broadband network for either sending or receiving emails, no error message has appeared on my phone.

All I know is that messages to be sent from the phone don't get sent until I return to the Videotron network

And messages to be received by the phone don't arrive until I return to the Videotron network.

When I activate the mailbox on my phone and request a WiFi connection, I always get a small green ring appearing at the top of the screen to confirm that there is a connection. But this never happens on the Bell wireless network.

At the moment, my outgoing mailbox configuration has the User authentication set on and security is off and the port is set to default (but 25 displays in the box should I ever choose to override it manually).

My incoming settings have security set at off and APOP secure login set at off and the port is set to default (but 110 displays in the box should I ever choose to override it manually).

587 was the IMAP default SMTP port, but this value didn't work on Bell.

GMAIL works well but the text is very small and has to be constantly zoomed.

VideotronWebMail disconnects me within a minute of connecting which doesn't allow me enough time to compose and send a message.

I am going to check out a product called SMPT2GO which is supposed to solve this problem, but at a price.

Thanks again.

[JamesK]

^^^^
This makes me wonder if it's an address configuration issue. You may be able use short names when on the ISPs network, but have to use the fully qualified domain name when elsewhere. Can you use WiFi elsewhere to see if it's a Bell issue or not? If you can use WiFi on other than Videotron network, but not Bell, then it's a Bell issue. If you can't it's likely a configuration problem or Videotron is doing the blocking. Can you tether a notebook computer to that phone? If so, it'd make testing a lot easier.

[montreal]

(1) I am using pop.videotron.ca for the incoming server and relais.videotron.ca for the outgoing server so I can't imagine how these names could be restated in a longer format.

(2) I am not sure who else besides Bell offers public Wi-Fi hotspots in the Montreal area. I haven't come across a Telus hotspot nor a Rogers yet, but I will look for them the next chance I get.

There seems to be other players who lease the Bell twisted pair or Videotron cable infrastructure, so there could be non-Bell and non-Videotron Wi-Fi hotspots nearby to try out.

Unfortunately I don't have a laptop to tether to the phone. I imagine that if the laptop has a wireless card and its email is configured to look for the Videotron POP server, then it could have the same problem like the phone to access Videotron email over a Bell Wi-Fi link. After all, both the phone and the laptop are wireless devices hosting a client mailbox that doesn't belong to the HotSpot's ISP.

Thanks for your update.

[JamesK]

^^^^
It doesn't have to be a public hotspot. Just someone with an Internet connection from other than Videotron. You don't even have to configure an email program. You should be able to at least test the connection with "telnet pop.videotron.ca 110" to see if you can reach the POP3 server or port 587 for SMTP.

FWIW, I just tried both 110 and 587 and was able to connect to both from Rogers. Also, if you can install a Telnet client on your phone, you should be able to test those ports that way.

[Ed7789]

I have a Bell connection at home, and I have checked Videotron network settings, using a good old Telnet connection:

telnet> open pop.videotron.ca 110
Trying 24.201.245.36...
Connected to pop.videotron.ca.
Escape character is '^]'.
+OK Messaging Multiplexor (Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 6.3-5.02 (built Oct 12 2007))
quit
+OK goodbye

So the POP3 connection works using the default settings, however the SMTP connection is blocked by Bell. As far as I know, they block any outgoing TCP port 25 access.

telnet> open relais.videotron.ca 25
Trying 24.201.245.36...
^C

They seem to also support SMTP over port 587, as it can be seen below:

telnet> open relais.videotron.ca 587
Trying 24.201.245.36...
Connected to relais.videotron.ca.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 VL-VM-MR005.ip.videotron.ca -- Server ESMTP (Videotron Ltee)
QUIT
221 2.3.0 Bye received. Goodbye.
Connection closed by foreign host.

So I would suggest that the outgoing port be changed to 587. Also, make sure that authetification is enabled for outgoing messages.

As for Rogers hotspots in Montréal, there are some. Generally, Second Cup has some.

[montreal]

Problem solved.

Thanks JamesK and Ed7789 and grog for your support.

Yesterday, I changed my SMTP port from 25 to 587 at the request of Videotron.

Today I was at the mall and I was able to send and retrieve emails via WiFi at the Videotron qiosk, and at the Apple Store and at the JavaU. I don't know who is the ISP behind the Apple Store and JavaU.

The unlocked Rogers in-store Wi-Fi did not work because they said it was paid for by Apple and was only unlocked to Apple devices.

Initially the Bell hosted Starbuck's connection did not work because you need to open the web browser first and accept the conditions on the web page before email will pass. As long as the phone (or browser) holds the WiFi connection open, the email will continue to be allowed.

When I last tried my phone on my friend's Bell wireless router, I was using 25 as the outgoing port number and the connection never went through. On my next visit, I'll try again with port 587.

Bell tells me that their WiFi is present at most McDonalds. I'll try it soon.

Next week I'll be buying an Italian SIM card (TIM) and I will see if the unlocked phone can access my Videotron email via public WiFi. I may have to reconfigure the SMTP port to the TIM settings for outbound messages if Italian WiFi ISPs don't like a Videotron outgoing port. And if necessary, I can use VideotronWebMail for inbound messages if the POP port doesn't work with TIM.

I'll report my findings here.

Thanks again to all who helped me.

[BobWilliams]

I travel a lot, do a lot of work sitting in Starbucks and in airport lounges, have more than one email address - a couple of work addresses corresponding to different parts of my work life, a couple of personal addresses - so this was often a problem for me. A solution that I found at a forum somewhere discussing email blockage problems on Telus and Shaw, is a little application with an odd name - called Loa PowerTools. It runs on my laptop and always works. The nice thing about it is that it preserves whatever email address I'm wanting to send from, so people don't reply to one of my other addresses (if you know what I mean) and I don't have to resort to webmail. I have used it in North America, France, the UK and Turkey always over WiFi. Their site is at http://www.loapowertools.com.

PS: I now remember where I originally found this. It's on a blog with the interesting name "Peter's Useful Crap" at http://www.theblog.ca/shaw-telus-smtp