The most common reason for this would be that your service provider does not accept the connections when you are not using its network. That would be to protect against spamming.

Does your service provider offer any information about extra steps you have to take to send mail through its servers from outside its network?

If you want to mention which company it is, a volunteer might be able to find help articles that you haven't already discovered -- if they're public, sometimes help articles are only visible after you log in.

My provider is Time Warner Cable. What still puzzles me is why the iPad works remotely and the Thunderbird does not. As far as I can tell the settings for all my computers and IPad are the same. I think the service provider at my son's house is Cox. But any info on Time Warner and other providers would be appreciated.

You need to compare the SMTP settings in Thunderbird with those on the working device. Something is not the same.

Do you use the same connection protocol for your account on both your iPad and Thunderbird, meaning both POP3 or both IMAP? If not, please don't switch anything without finding specific steps to migrate messages, but let us know which one is working.

This support article only lists the insecure connection methods:

http://www.timewarnercable.com/en/support/faqs/faqs-internet/e-mailacco/incoming-outgoing-server-addresses.html

According to posts on TWC's forums, there are secure options:

Incoming

Account Type: IMAP Mail Server: mail.twc.com Security: SSL/TLS Authentication Method: Normal password Port: 993

Account Type: POP3 Mail Server: mail.twc.com Security: SSL/TLS Authentication Method: Normal password Port: 995

Outgoing

Mail Server: mail.twc.com Security: STARTTLS Authentication Method: Normal Password Port: 587

Inbound & Outbound User Name: Enter full email address, for example:

johndoe@[division].rr.com johndoe@roadrunner.com johndoe@twc.com

If you haven't been using a secure connection method, you may want to change your password after updating your settings.

Ok, thanks. I will take some time to check out all the suggestions. I am encouraged that there may be a solution and I may learn something more about how the email works.

Thanks, I will post my results.

I'm not sure why jscher2000 is asking about POP or IMAP.

Sending is done by SMTP and the issue here is that you need to be able to connect to twc's SMTP server from other people's connections. Some ISPs actively block connections to other service's SMTP servers. So, for argument's sake, we might surmise that cox don't allow connections to the twc SMTP server.

Alternatively, the twc SMTP server might refuse messages being sent via a cox connection. However if the twc SMTP server requires a password from you, this is unlikely to be your problem; the password implies that it is prepared to allow messages sent from you over any viable connection.

I'd check that you're using 587/STARTTLS, with a password - but since that is the recommended setting I'd be surprised if you were using anything else.

You could try googlemail, hotmail/outlook.com, gmx etc as alternative email providers with whom you are unlikely to have these problems.

Thanks for all the helpful comments. I will be traveling this week for the Thanksgiving holiday and will be able to test the proposals. As of now I checked the out going server name. On the iPad it is: mobile-smtp.roadrunner.com This one works

on my windows 7 box it is: SMTP-server.rochester.rr.com This one does not.

Since they are different I will try the different settings when traveling.

Thanks to all.

It would be more related to SMTP port numbers and authentication methods. Compare those also. The setting listed above should work since they are from your provider.

"mobile". Pretty strong hint there! ;-)

Yes, I think Mobile is a clue. What I learned is that there appears to be an area where different outgoing servers can be listed and chosen. I am traveling this week and will get a chance to test all of these suggestions. I appreciate all the help and will post how it all works out.

Thanks to all.

I would try this:

Create another Outgoing Server (SMTP). see first image below as aid. 'Tools' > 'Account Settings' > 'Outgoing Server (SMTP)' click on 'Add' Enter details mentioned by jscher2000

Description : Travelling Server Name: mail.twc.com Port: 587 Connection Security: STARTTLS Authentication Method: Normal Password User Name: full email address. click on OK

click on OK to close and save account settings

Then when you want to use it: Alter the outgoing server for the mail account. see second image showing where this would be located. Select: Travelling - mail.twc.com It will probably prompt for password the first time, so input and select to remember.

Then you could try swapping outgoing smtp servers when travelling.

Thanks. I will try these and respond on how it works out.

The Key was the port used when setting up the outgoing server. It needed to be 587 and it was set at 25, The 25 works at home but not when traveling.

Thanks for all the help. It is now working fine.

Good to hear all is now working ok.