Contributor
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13 Messages
Cannot send email!
Has Comcast done something different in the past couple of days that has caused my email to stop functioning?
Cannot send email. No changes have been made to the computer except normal MS updates (Windows 10). It was working fine until yesterday when I began getting popups from my email program that authentication was not needed, or password not accepted, or whatever. The password is fine because I was able to log in and get all my Inbox email. I notice that it logs in but then stalls on authentication and keeps asking for the password. I click the OK box and it just repeats the process over and over again, never connecting with the server to Send the email.
I have tried different SMTP settings and they make no difference. I had been using 465 for the port, but since it stopped working I changed it to 587. That too made no difference. Both POP3 and SMTP have the boxes checked for secure connection. And the log in page has the box checked for "My server requires authentication. I even tried it by unchecking that and that made no difference. I changed the server time out to 90 seconds and that made no difference.
I have tried 4 email programs; the new Outlook Express, OE Classic, Outlook 2016, and Incredimail, all with the same results. I did see that Incredimail failed in its initial attempt to Send a message, but later was able to Send it. Outlook 2016 is set up to SMTP, not IMAP.
I have to resort to using my phone to send email which takes forever, or to sign onto my Comcast account on the web and do email from there. That is not acceptable, but that's what I am forced to do.
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
RKelly5327
Contributor
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13 Messages
4 years ago
I hadn't thought about the Security setting as described here. It is a good tip, but didn't reflect my situation at all. As some others found, Comcast did something to help and whatever it was, it cleared up the mess and my email started working again on its own. I just hope it doesn't start failing all over again because help with correct answers were not coming from Comcast at all. Thus that avenue does not offer much help in getting anything solved on this particular issue.
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leojn
Frequent Visitor
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10 Messages
4 years ago
Do not install the latest Windows update. I installed last night and now my Outlook is not sending again. Could be coincidental, but I doubt it. Tried from my iphone and it is working.
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RKelly5327
Contributor
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13 Messages
4 years ago
I have the latest update too, came in Monday, version 20H2, and my email is working fine. I'm certainly thankful for that! Now if they could only get the battery issue working. 🙂
rk
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pipesdma
Frequent Visitor
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7 Messages
4 years ago
There have been many good theories put forward in this thread, but there seems to be no verified cause or a solution that works for everyone. Something is definitely affecting Xfinity (Comcast) email service to third party email client applications running on Windows.
My wife and I use Outlook (latest Office 365 version) running on Windows 10. Our Comcast.com email service was working fine until yesterday (Nov 10). We lost service between roughly 8:30 am and 3:15 pm Eastern Time. Service then remained solid until late last night, but we could no longer send or receive email from Outlook early this morning and it has been out all day. We can still access email at Comcast.net in a browser or using email apps on our Apple phones (IOS).
I have seen postings on the internet claiming that security protocol registry settings in Windows may have been changed by a new OS release. Our service was fine until November 10, so I did a system restore to November 9. That had no effect. I also then installed the latest updates to Outlook and the Office 365 apps, and that didn't work, either.
There is some chatter that a Windows registry setting for the TLS 1.3 protocol needs to be enabled. There is no such node in our registry settings now, enabled or disabled. The fact that our service comes back intermittently seems to shoot down that theory - at least in our case.
I cannot call Xfinity customer support because we are no longer paying customers. After years of Comcast internet service, we continue to use Comcast email. However, I did spend over an hour yesterday on the phone with Microsoft technical support. The support rep was competent and very helpful. He tried everything he could think of and concluded that the connection problem is on the Comcast side. He even tried to reach Xfinity tech support on my behalf, saying that they would probably talk to him. (That's really going the extra mile. Microsoft Support sure has changed in the last few years.)
I know that the problem is not in our email account settings in Outlook, because those same settings work fine on two different machines when service comes back.
If any of you folks are paying Xfinity customers, I hope you will put the pressure on! 😎
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leojn
Frequent Visitor
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10 Messages
4 years ago
How did you retain your Comcast email account without being a paying Comcast customer? I have always wondered if there is a way to keep the email account without being a broadband customer.
And your analysis is spot on - there is something happening on the Comcast side and as customers we can do nothing but hope they resolve it. It could be connected to Windows updates but that is not a given. I have noticed that it seems to be attachments which block outgoing connections. If Comcast was a more efficient and well managed company there would be someone from the tech side monitoring this thread and interacting with us. And there may be but they apparently have to remain silent. This is NOT user error or a user configuration problem - it is too widespread and over too diverse an array of clients for it to be anything other than a Comcast SMTP originiating issue.
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pipesdma
Frequent Visitor
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7 Messages
4 years ago
Xfinity and most ISPs allow former customers to keep their email addresses and email service indefinitely without having an active billing account. I can actually log in to our old Xfinity account to see past billing information, but I cannot contact customer service by phone or chat. As long as there is no 90-day lapse in email activity, the email account will remain active.
Apparently, the cost of carrying those email accounts is offset by brand visibility (@comcast.com) and general goodwill.
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RKelly5327
Contributor
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13 Messages
4 years ago
I even wondered if pressure was being put on parties using email clients to do all their email from the web where it could be monitored better! I knew from the get-go that it was not a Microsoft problem. As mentioned earlier, I even tried sending email from my old Dell laptop with Windows 7 and it too did not send. It's working now, thank the Lord! and has been since the 3rd day after it quit- that's called resurrection! Worked on the 3rd day. 🙂
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JJMcVeigh
Contributor
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51 Messages
4 years ago
It is not just Windows users. I am having problems (gross delays in the handshaking process when sending mail and when receiving mail) with a third-party email program on my Macintosh computer. The problem is intermittent. Sometimes, it is completely gone. Then, without warning, it comes back, and stays for hours.
I have been a paying Comcast subscriber since ~ 2000. I signed up for service in my former neighborhood, and when I moved to my current residence, I paid Comcast a healthy chuck of change to run cable almost 1000 feet so that I could continue to enjoy high-speed Internet connectivity via Comcast.
These problems of grossly delayed handshaking and even of timeouts arose without warning several months ago. They come and go with no discernible pattern. Sometimes they last for some number of minutes, other times they last an hour or two or even several hours, and yet other times they last for days.
Very frustrating! Hardly Comcastic!
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RKelly5327
Contributor
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13 Messages
4 years ago
Comcastic- cute. 🙂 I Noticed that also about the slow handshaking process. Must be the Wuhan Virus. Yup. Has to be.
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JJMcVeigh
Contributor
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51 Messages
4 years ago
The Comcast web-mail is no substitute for a well-designed email client.
I use the Comcast web-mail portal when I have to do so.... e.g., when my email client cannot successfully complete handshaking with the Comcast mail servers. However, there are all sorts of things that I do with my email client that I cannot do with the Comcast web-mail portal. E.g., I have a number of mail boxes for email lists to which I subscribe, and for similar purposes, and I have constructed filters to route various email messages to various mail boxes automatically and with no intervention on my part, and the messages that those mail boxes contain remains readable regardless of whether I am on-line or off-line. Furthermore, with a simple mouse click, I can cause mail to be displayed in chronological order, in reverse chronological order, by sender, etc., etc. Unless I am overlooking something, the Comcast web-mail portal does not allow for such.
Also, my third-party email program has powerful Boolean seaching capabilities that allow me to almost instantaneously find an elusive email that I remeber having received from someone a couple of years ago that relates to a particular topic. Unless I am missing something, the Comcast web-mail portal does not do anything like that.
In no way to I consider the Comcast web-mail portal an adequate replacement for a well-designed, third-party email client.
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pipesdma
Frequent Visitor
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7 Messages
4 years ago
Well, here is some anecdotal information. We could not send or receive Comcast emails in Outlook today (Nov 11) until around 7:00 pm Eastern Time. Service returned about 3:15 pm yesterday.
It is interesting that the reported outages vary so much by dates and by symptoms. We are not seeing evidence of timeout errors, for example - only a failure to connect to POP and SMTP servers.
Also, since we are no longer paying Xfinity customers I could only fill out a web form to send a message with a compliment or complaint to the office of Tom Karinshak in customer service. Lo and behold, I got a reply and have been assured that they are "actively investigating" my concerns. Hang in there, everyone!
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BruceW
Gold Problem Solver
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25.9K Messages
4 years ago
Please see https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/email-only-faqs
and https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/using-email-only
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pipesdma
Frequent Visitor
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7 Messages
4 years ago
With regard to ...
Please see https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/email-only-faqs
and https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/using-email-only
Thank you for your kind response. I already know all of that, though. I have no problem with continuing to use the email accounts. However, I cannot get live or chat Xfinity support because I am no longer a paying customer. Those articles suggest that I can, but not true. I have to provide the last four digits of the payment method currently on file for my Xfinity account to reach phone or chat support. If there is a back door workaround I'm not aware of it.
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BruceW
Gold Problem Solver
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25.9K Messages
4 years ago
Please note that my reply was addressed to @leojn and was specific the question "How did you retain your Comcast email account without being a paying Comcast customer?".
You stated that you had reached office of Tom Karinshak. Information from that office is, in my experience, approximately as good (or as bad) as that supplied by the phone and chat reps. If you can't get help from that office, nor the phone nor chat reps, the only other thing I can think of is visiting a Comcast Service Center or Xfinity Store. Check locations and hours at https://www.xfinity.com/support/service-center-locations.
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JJMcVeigh
Contributor
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51 Messages
4 years ago
This topic has now been marked as "Answered," but we really do not know what the solution to the (widely) reported problem is.
It is good that you have received at least some form of response, and that the problem has, for you, gone away... at least temporarily, but hopefully permanently. For others of us, including paying subscribers such as me, the handshaking problems continue, and the mystery remains.
The response that you have received from Comcast does not answer the essential questions:
The problem is not limited to the use of one particular Operating System, or one particular email client. This clearly indicates that the cause of the problem that subscribers (and others such as yourself) are experiencing lies on the Comcast side of the communications link.
Finally, I respectfully suggest that whoever has denoted this thread as Answered remove that designation.
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