Oh, these problems connecting to SMTP & POP are intermittant, but daily -- I have to wait & keep trying. Very annoying.

https://help.aol.com/articles/verizon-move-to-aol-mail-faq

Did you choose to migrate to aol ?

Are you able to logon to AOL webmail using your full verizon.net email address, including @verizon.net, as your user name for AOL Mail ?

yes, yes, gone thru this routine already. I am using the correct server addresses per AOL: https://help.aol.com/articles/cant-send-or-receive-email-third-party-application

https://help.aol.com/articles/how-do-i-set-up-other-email-applications-to-send-and-receive-my-verizon-net-mail

I need to see the connection attempt log to get info on what is going wrong. I think their servers are just effed up. They are trying to get out of their email obligations.

The problem being intermittant, I can't verify that anything I try helps or hinders.

I did just switch my DNS address from the Verizon default to Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 and its working fast again. But I'll have to let a couple days of use go by.

Back to connecting to SMTP & then timing out after 60 seconds. So its not the DNS address.

Sending of the message failed. The message could not be sent because the connection to Outgoing server (SMTP) smtp.verizon.net was lost in the middle of the transaction. Try again.

Try changing the IP address on router.

If you have a reset button on router, use it.

Or try switching off router, wait a while and turn back on.

Located a youtube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnVDzc6fiWY

Yea I cycle the router, but that's not a solution. If it was the router, then I would not be able to open web pages either, right ? I can always get to the Web while the email is effed up.

It was really bad yesterday.

I know Thunderbird can log, but I don't know the details of how to set it up. Google found me this:

https://www.lifewire.com/pop-imap-smtp-traffic-thunderbird-1173156

You might want to set up a batch/script/shortcut/launcher to avoid having to open a terminal each time.

Not a terminal competent person...

One Verizon told me to switch to using the smtp.aol.com server. That keeps rejecting my password.

The problem turned out to be that the aol server wants my FULL email address, not my username only. But I find nothing about this in the aol setup instructions on the web. had to think of trying it myself.

smtp.verizon.net === USERNAME only, in the Tb smtp setup area smtp.aol.com === USERNAME@verizon.net

Of course tomorrow the problowm might come back...

This Mozilla Tb doc is wrong -- or at least does not explain why & when you might need to use the whole domain name:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/manual-account-configuration > As another example, a Gmail account is configured as follows:

   Server Name: smtp.gmail.com
   Port: 587
   Use name and Password: checked

   User Name: your gmail user id without "@gmail.com" extension (for example, if you email address is brian@gmail.com, then your user name is "brian"). If you are using Google Apps for Domains, use your entire address (for example, "billsmith@yourdomain.com").

But that decision is made by the operator of the service. There is no generic "right way" to do it. And as you have found, even operators don't get it right. What chance does an outside agency like Thunderbird have? All we can do is share experiences.

re :The problem turned out to be that the aol server wants my FULL email address, not my username only. But I find nothing about this in the aol setup instructions on the web. had to think of trying it myself.

Just in case someone else needs to locate info:

• https://help.aol.com/articles/how-do-i-set-up-other-email-applications-to-send-and-receive-my-verizon-net-mail

quote: Configure POP and IMAP settings for Verizon.net AOL Mail accounts Update server settings Most email software and applications have an account settings menu where you'll need to update the IMAP or POP3 settings. When entering your account info, make sure you use your full email address, including @verizon.net, and that the SSL encryption is enabled for incoming and outgoing mail.

• https://help.aol.com/articles/how-do-i-use-other-email-applications-to-send-and-receive-my-aol-mail

quote: AOL Mail POP and IMAP settings Most email software and applications have an account settings menu where you'll need to update the IMAP or POP3 settings. When entering your account info, make sure you use your full email address,including @aol.com, and that the SSL encryption is enabled for incoming and outgoing mail.

RE: Gmail I have had some people using gmail who had to change their username to = the full email address in order to receive emails again.

I also have a gmail.com email address and need to use full email address as username.

So it would seem gmail did use only first part and some people may still get emails, but current advice is to use full email address.

• https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229?hl=en

Quote: For: 'Account Name, User name, or Email address' Enter: Your full email address

regardless of the instructions, the service just stinks. Cannot download from POP right now because, once again, the service is "temporarily effed up" according to the error message:

Sending of password for user xxxx did not succeed. Mail server pop.verizon.net responded: [SYS/TEMP] Server error - Please try again later.

But only for my _secondary_ email account. The primary is downloading. So they have effed up something having to do with the fact that the secondary is/was "linked" to the primary. (The original verizon deal was you got IIRC up to 6 more usernames, somehow subordinate to the "master" primary username. This was more than a decade ago).

And yes, I've changed the SMTP to the aol server but not the POP server.