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MTS changing email service soon

92K views 120 replies 32 participants last post by  no123one 
#1 ·
Well, I guess there's no worry of getting heck for mentioning this since MTS has a press release about it on their website (August 7th)

MTS is phasing out their in-house email service, and switching to Microsoft Windows Live.

http://www.mts.ca/portal/site/mts/m...nnel=ed7c8dca20041110VgnVCM1000001342a8c0RCRD

"New customers will be able to take advantage of this new service starting August 17, and existing customers will be contacted by email with directions on transitioning to Windows Live services starting in October. Once the customer completes the transition, their existing emails and content in the customer's current MTS Webmail online account will be transferred to their new Windows Live account all within a few minutes."

So now it'll be the customers responsibility to set up their email, main reason being privacy laws. I could see a lot of people being upset by this, but it sure makes the installers job a lot easier, as people often want multiple email addresses, which can be a PITA using the MTS Webmail.

It sure seems odd that an internet provider won't have their own email system anymore. I guess it's just part of the evolution of the internet. Wonder who will follow suit.

What are your thoughts?
 
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#27 ·
First most email programs, use a different extention then MSN, they use eml, so Thunderbird etc. will not work without a add-on to decipher the " eml " extention to the format used by Tbird.
The second thing I would like to point out is that us poor folks that live out in the "sticks" and have no access to highspeed are really hurting. Just to open each email we have to sit and wait for our browser to contact the live mail site. I already spend far too much time on the internet, updating my security programs etc.
I usually ( Tbird user) download my email and then open my browser and while I am waiting for pages to open, read my email.
Also when "replying" to an email in live mail, there is no way to see all the questions that were brought up in that email. When I use a thunderbird the copy of the email I am replying to is included so I can check to see any points I may have missed.
Also all my address have to be moved.
I would certainly like to know whose bright idea this was at MTS. Did they simply forget or maybe don't care about dial-up customers.
 
#28 ·
Well it seems that I am wrong you can indeed use Tbird for Live, I had it working one way and then I lost that ( not sure what I did) . I think it has something to do with username and account name. If anyone has it working I would appreciate knowing how. I have all the port numbers etc and "ssl" "tsl" so I think I am close.
I will be working on it myself and will post back if successful.
 
#34 ·
I still get the odd customer who is getting MTS TV but keeping their shaw internet because of their "10 year old" shaw email address. I don't get it. It's only an email address. Things do change.
 
#36 ·
dm_4u, if you go to http://www.mts.ca/internetsupport/, you'll find most of the info you need. For example under Windows Live Email, Technical Support:
Can I still use my @mts.net email address?
Yes.

Your Windows Live account comes with a new log in ID of username@[B]mymts.net[/B]. Your username@[B]mts.net[/B] email address will still be active and emails sent to that address will appear in your Windows Live account.
Will I lose my existing emails?
No. If you have email stored on our Webmail system, it will be moved to Windows Live and you'll be able to access it following the email transition process (Email Transition Wizard) if you follow all steps.

If you are using an email program (e.g. Outlook Express, Windows Mail), your downloaded emails will remain in place as you complete the move to Windows Live. You will need to update the settings on your email program if you want to send and receive emails after completing the Email Transition Wizard steps.
The support site also has detailed instructions for setting up Outlook 2003, 2007, etc. I can't remember where I read it, but somewhere on the MTS site I saw that email would be migrated automatically in March.
 
#37 ·
Macman...when changing the settings in Outlook 2007 to the new live format...do other people still send to @mts.net?
Yes

Also...do we lose the e-mail we already have or is it seamless?
It stays with outlook, if you mean the MTS online site, that will move when you activate your live mail
What happens if we don't do anything?
As I understand it on the date that MTS deems the dead line ( some time in March.) They will move you to live mail, I would do this myself if I were you.
Because live mail is MSN and outlook is MSN you should be able to follow the directions given at the MTS site.
Let us know how you make out. Live Mail wants a mixed letters and number password so have one ready when you activate. Good luck!
 
#41 ·
I have a solution for this, I created a Gmail account, I have my MTS email forwarded it to that, I have Gmail set up on my Outlook 2003, I can receive my MTS email no problem, plus when replying to it it goes through Gmail and not Windows Live so you don't get those problems with confirming it is not spam, etc. Plus the nice thing is you can tell people to use your @mts and you don't have to worry about notifying all your email contacts that you have a new email address (Shaw).
 
#42 ·
How very strange,people are having problems, once I figured out how to get my Thunderbird setup I see no difference from getting the mail from MTS or from livemail. I open TBird and it connects to livemail, logs in and downloads my mail! I don't know of anybody personally that is having problems.
I have to admit that at first I was quite angry. Especially since livemail is an MSN service and I was using Tbird which is not an MSN program for my email. I was thinking of using the MSN email program that comes with Vista, but I gave Tbird a try and eventually got it working. 2 Days later after complaining to MTS, they sent me an email with a link showing how to set up Tbird. Obviously they cared enough to figure it out for us.
No complaints here now.
 
#43 ·
What a pain that was - I finally decided to switch over this morning. Took about 2.5 hours to do all four e-mail aliases I had with MTS. I now have four different accounts on Windows Live, one for each e-mail address I had with MTS. I'm not sure if that is how it is meant to work, but that seemed to be the only option in migrating over. It would be simpler to have one Windows Live account that contains all my MTS e-mail aliases. Maybe there is a way to do that, I'm not sure.

For two of the four e-mail addresses, after doing the migration, Windows Live wouldn't let me sign in with my new account and I had to wait, and wait, and wait. It said it could not access my account. At one point I placed a call to customer service at MTS, but the call back time was 1.5 hours, so I eventually figured it out myself. Sometimes, patience solves your problems.

Getting the outgoing server to work in Thunderbird was trouble until I remembered the settings for smtp were in a separate folder view, and not associated with each account folder.

Tested everything by sending messages to and from gmail from all accounts and it all seems to be working.
 
#44 ·
so, setting up email on a new system then...

Just switched to Mac, so planning to use Apple "Mail." It seems that I don't want to set up the account with the pop3.mts.net and smtp.mts.net, right?

I would like to avoid going Windows Live for everyday use, so thinking about setting up through GMail like another poster mentioned...can you advise how I go about doing that? He/she mentioned putting the pop and smtp addys in GMail but won't they eventually stop working?

Please help, desperate to get my new iMac working and MTS refuses to help me since I didn't buy it from them :mad:
 
#45 ·
cluelessinWpg, if you are an existing MTS internet customer who signed up before August 17th, and still haven't migrated your email to windows live, you can still use the "pop.mts.net" and "smtp.mts.net" server settings in Apple Mail. It's not difficult to set up, but if they're phasing out their in-house email, there might not be much point.

But if you still want to, read here on how to do it. (Their page says it's for 10.3, so it'll be slightly different if your Mac is new.) I don't remember if Mac's are shipping with Snow Leopard (10.6) or just Leopard (10.5) still :confused:

If you're MTS account is already through Windows Live, read here on how to set it up in Apple Mail.

My personal suggestion would be to forget about MTS email. I know that's easier said than done, especially if everyone has that address. If you ever cancel your MTS internet (regardless of it being before OR after migrating to Windows Live) you lose that account, so why not just abandon your ISP's email address and setup your own Windows Live (or gmail, etc).

I have my Gmail setup in Apple Mail, but as IMAP instead of POP3. I have to say, it works pretty slick compared to POP3, which is more of a one-way service. I had to fart around to get it working just right. Apparently there are some extra tweaks that the Gmail team haven't figured out yet.

HTH :)

EDIT: forgot to mention that yes, you can setup Gmail to retrieve POP3 emails. It will only stop working when MTS shuts down their in-house email servers (I forget when) at which point you could migrate to Live and modify Gmail to Live's server settings.
 
#46 ·
Thanks for your valuable advice, Macman.

Because they have been offline for a few weeks, I migrated their mail (grrrr) and setup MacMail for Windows Live. Will deal with getting away from MTS later.

In the meantime, and sorry to take this thread off the track, would you think that they would require a different modem from MTS if switching from an old PC to a brand spanking new iMac? WHY can't I see a link on the MTS list for setting up a new DSL connection with Snow Leopard (only PPPoE and PPP)?

http://www.mts.ca/portal/site/mts/m...toid=1acc07731918b010VgnVCM1000000408120aRCRD

If it's there, please tell me which link to follow. Gosh, I always get such great help from digitalhome, so I am very sorry to sound like such a boob.
 
#47 ·
Wait - something just dawned on me... I have 4 of my possible 10 email addresses in use right now. Can I still use the other 6 once I get switched over to Windows Live?

I still can't believe MTS is discontinuing their email service and forcing us to a free alternative. It's about as horrible as it can get.
 
#58 ·
They fixed that almost 100% . . . . UNLESS YOU ARE A SPAMMER . . . and by spammer, I mean ANYONE who sends crap / useless / junk / forwarded emails to people that don't want them.

Just FYI, if you use Win Live Mail, and FORWARD a message to other people using Win Live Mail, if a percentage of those people click on JUNK, you will be prompted to do that security question. It doesn't happen if ONE OR TWO people click on Junk, but if multiple people click junk, then that means that it was probably a useless e-mail, and it's trying to deter you from bothering others.


JUST FYI.
 
#49 ·
Not happy about it but once I configured Mail it now works like it used to although the email address I used to access through mts webmail I now get in Mail as well. I refuse to use Windows live until I'm away from home.

It was interesting to me that when I did the change the only email programs supported for Macs were outlook and mail IIRC, but I gather thunderbird is now supported.
 
#57 · (Edited)
I guess we have no choice but to use an internet based email program. I am not happy about this, but I guess what can you do? It sure gets them off the hook as far as security goes.
They were never "on the hook" for security. PEOPLE, not ISP's or Email providers are the ones that download or allow virus's. MTS would have referred you to your computer vendor / computer professional.

If you use web based e-mail services you are MUCH LESS prone to virus's and spam. And you can't send spam, so all of your friends / associates will be much happier.

Wait - something just dawned on me... I have 4 of my possible 10 email addresses in use right now. Can I still use the other 6 once I get switched over to Windows Live?

I still can't believe MTS is discontinuing their email service and forcing us to a free alternative. It's about as horrible as it can get.
Yes, you can . . . nothing changes there. And you still get 3 Alias's per e-mail . . . for a MAXIMUM of 40 e-mail addresses, using 10 accounts. That's for HSI customers only, dial up only get 1 account.

Like I said, lots of companies do it, they didn't really have a choice.


Has it occurred to any of you that your email will now be stored on a server based in the USA and subject to the "Patriot Act".

You no longer have any right of privacy whatsoever!!


"What: The Justice Department asks a judge to approve Patriot Act e-mail monitoring without any evidence of criminal behavior.

When: Decided Feb. 2, 2006 by U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan in Washington, D.C.

Outcome: E-mail surveillance approved."​
SERIOUSLY?!

If you are using e-mail / cell phones / blackberries / home phone / internet, then you've given up your ability to assure 100% privacy . . . there is always the possibility someone can get your info.

This is nothing new.

Blackberry's . . . ALL EMAIL AND INTERNET GO THROUGH THEIR SERVERS IN THE US . . . . SO, just fyi . . . if you were using a "Canadian" server on your blackberry, then you already gave up that privacy.

Again . . . this is NOTHING new.

Everyone should simply cancel and move to Shaw...(and make sure to tell them why)...then we'd see if they change their minds.
Oh come on, shaw's prices / TV / Speeds / Promos / Customer Service is crap compared to MTS.

Just fyi . . . every time you call MTS it's logged, and they can quickly and easily pull up any account history about previous trouble.

I've called shaw on numerous occasions and said "do you have information about the last time I called" . . . they've said No.

I once called trouble in about my phone service to Shaw, ended up calling 4 times, everyone acted like it was the first time and took trouble reports. On the 4th call, they resolved my issue. Took a while but whatever . . . . . well, doesn't end there. A week later I got a call saying "we just fixed it" . . WTF? . . . a month later I got a call "we're still looking into it" . . WTF? . . . almost a month and a half later (this is after the problem was already resolved), someone calls me to ask if my problem was ever resolved because there was still an open ticket . . WTF? Seriously?!!


****************

I'm not sticking up for them, I do think that it could have been done differently . . . but these are accurate / valid answers.
 
#51 ·
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