can not send or receive emails
Att email is [email]@att.net. Usually download emails to my hard drive using Thunderbird. When trying to download today (3/22/21) received the following message: "sending of password for [email]@att.net did not succeed. Mail server inbound.att.net responded--server error--please try again later." When I try to send emails received the following message: "login to server outbound.att.net failed." Have not changed Thunderbird settings, which are as follows:
Email protocol Inbound server Inbound port SSL Outbound server Outbound port POP3 inbound.att.net 995 Yes outbound.att.net 465
Have internet access (Verizon/Fios) and can log in and see new emails on the att.net website. Called att and they said the problem is with TB.
Any assistance would be much appreciated. Pls reply to [email2]@aol. Thank you.
Modified by Andrew
Chosen solution
You need to generate a secure mail key at AT&T and use that in place of the password in TB.
https://www.att.com/support/article/dsl-high-speed/KM1010523/
Remove the passwords in Saved Passwords in Options, restart TB, enter the key when prompted for a password.
Read this answer in context 👍 3All Replies (4)
Chosen Solution
You need to generate a secure mail key at AT&T and use that in place of the password in TB.
https://www.att.com/support/article/dsl-high-speed/KM1010523/
Remove the passwords in Saved Passwords in Options, restart TB, enter the key when prompted for a password.
Dear Sfhowes,
Thanks for your prompt reply. Your suggested solution worked perfectly. I have email send/receive capability back. The funny thing is in Oct 2019 at&t sent me an email saying I should create a secure mail key. I did so but nothing ever happened and I kept sending and receiving emails in the usual way. I used the key I created in 2019 per your instructions and it worked perfectly. Why at&t decided to start requiring the secure mail key in March 2021 when they told me to create one in Oct 2019 is a mystery to me. One additional question: let's say my at&t password before this was hello1234. Is that still my password or is my password now the letters/numbers combination from the secure mail key? I ask because when I go to the att.net site to look at emails it logs me in automatically. Since I don't have to enter an id or password, I don't know if the password changed. Thanks again for your help! Joel H.
The mail key is needed for desktop apps like TB and Outlook, but just use the regular account password when logging into the AT&T site. The account password may also be sufficient for mail apps on phones or tablets, but that depends on the provider, e.g. AOL requires 'app passwords' for Outlook on my phone, which is similar to a secure mail key.
Modified by sfhowes
Thanks again. You know your stuff!