Visitor

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3 Messages

Tuesday, December 9th, 2025 2:01 PM

POP3 Server Not working

Unable to retrieve email on outlook since December 8th.  Getting error operation timed out waiting for a response from the receiving (POP) server.  Please help.

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Visitor

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1 Message

2 days ago

I am having the exact same issue (started Dec 8) with Outlook trying to receive email via POP3 server

Visitor

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1 Message

@dnelso21​ I am also having the same issue with both Outlook and my android phone.

Official Employee

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1.8K Messages

Hello dnelso21! Thanks for joining our Xfinity Forums community and sharing the trouble you are having with the pop3 server through outlook. I'm very sorry that we are having trouble with receiving email through outlook. I know how vital email is for our daily lives and I would love to help correct the issue. Are you still able to send email through outlook? Are you having any trouble with accessing your email online at connect.xfinity.com? A more common thing I am starting to see as well is our migration to yahoo mail. Have you received a notice or prompt to move your email account to yahoo mail yet?

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Visitor

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2 Messages

@XfinityPaula​ Hi Paula - as stated in my post, I am able to send mail via Outlook (to the SMTP server) and I can still access via connect.xfinity.com.  I agree that it may be related to the Yahoo migration but I have not received any notice or prompt to change my account/server settings for that. I'm happy to try if you have the appropriate info.

Official Employee

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2.8K Messages

 

We have recently been alerted that access to Xfinity Email via 3rd party applications is currently offline. Our engineering team is working on the issue, and we hope it's resolved soon. In the meantime you can access your Xfinity Email directly from the Xfinity Email Web Portal.

 

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Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
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Visitor

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2 Messages

2 days ago

Having the same issues as of this morning.

Visitor

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15 Messages

2 days ago

Trust me here.  I have wasted MANY hours on this thinking I had [Edited: "Language"] up my Thunderbird client 

It has become abundantly clear to me that the fault lies 100% with Comcast pop3 servers. 

I SUSPECT it has to do with their changeover to Yahoo.

I could get relief from time to time by using a VPN and trying to retrieve emails with Thunderbird from other towns.  It actually worked now and then.

I HOPE I'm good now without having to "move" to a different town.

This is a pathetic situation and I feel really sorry for folks who need their Comcast pop3server to work.

Hopefully things will return to normal soon.

Comcast is horrible.

I will report my Thunderbird pop3 settings that are working at the moment in a few minutes.

(edited)

Visitor

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15 Messages

2 days ago

Take it all back.

Accidentally closed Thunderbird.

Back to VPN land

New Poster

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3 Messages

2 days ago

I am having the same issue, seems a DNS issue did the IP address change on xfinity side for pop3.comcast.net?

Visitor

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15 Messages

2 days ago

Well, I surrender.  It asked for my password (not sure why) and the new messages magically appeared 

Here are my settings, for what they are worth.

Your results may vary.

I am going to try to install Thunderbird on another computer to see if the defaults recommended by Thunderbird are the same as my settings.

Server Type: POP Mail Server

Server Name: pop3comcast.net  Port 995

UserName:

xxxxxx@comcast.net

Connection security:

SSL/TLS

Authentication method:

Normal password

Outgoing Server Settings

Description:

Comcast

Seerver Type:

SMTP Outgoing Server

Server Name:

smtp.comcast net  Port 465

User name:

xxxxxx@comcast.net

Authentication method:

Normal password

Connection Security:

SSL/TLS

Visitor

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15 Messages

2 days ago

Fresh install on another computer now downloading 12,168 files.

Only difference from my Server Settings is this Thunderbird default.....

Server Name:

mail.comcast.net

AND outgoing server

Authentication method:

OAuth2

Can't decide if I should change my settings.....

If it ain't broke.......

Visitor

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15 Messages

2 days ago

One last suggestion.

After I changed to the default, I had to turn off my computer, reboot, and then open Thunderbird.

It then required a password, and I think the default settings will (hopefully) work.

Can't explain how or why that worked.

New Poster

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2 Messages

15 hours ago

Having the same issue, what is going on Comcast?

Visitor

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15 Messages

15 hours ago

Right now, everything (POP3 with Thunderbird) and (IMAP with my Android phone) is working fine for me.  At this moment that is.  That is constantly subject to change.  Both types of server seem to go out of service at the same time for me.
I highly doubt that there is anybody to blame here EXCEPT COMCAST.  I don't understand why more people aren't on this forum complaining.  

Official Employee

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445 Messages

14 hours ago

Good morning @user_g9jyqu, and thanks for posting to the Xfinity forums, I hope this message finds you well. As someone that uses email for both work and personal use, I can understand how frustrating it can be to lose access, but you have come to the right place for help. How do you access your email? Is it through the Xfinity website, or a third party app such as Outlook?

Visitor

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15 Messages

8 hours ago

My apologies ‼️‼️

Glad to know you're a human 😊 

I prefer POP, and my outages occur concurrently with pop3 on my computer and imap on my phone.

This failure is all on Comcast.  Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't.

Has to do with the server (be it POP of IMAP) not "answering calls."

Bouncing around on VPNs will let me find one that works.

System wide failure related to moving to Yahoo is involved I bet.

Official Employee

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2.4K Messages

@Nat_IV We haven't needed to open a widespread ticket for this type of issue since a lot of this IMAP/POP settings problems are being resolved with these basic troubleshooting steps. Do you by any chance know if you're having this same problem when accessing our website?

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Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
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Visitor

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1 Message

Raul,

Maybe you should open a widespread ticket for this issue because people from a widespread area are all having the same problem with your pop3 servers. I personally have wasted far to much time checking email parameters in Outlook that I didn't change because of your simple scripted support responses that don't address the underlying issue.  Please fix whatever you changed to cause this problem. Stop trying to put the blame on your customers email settings.  The exact same settings that have always worked in Outlook for pop3 mail still work randomly when using a VPN to connect to different regions.  It is obviously some issue with what you are doing to your pop3 servers.

Visitor

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15 Messages

@XfinityRaul​ Website has been pretty much bullet proof.  I think it's an issue of some of the pop3 servers (and IMAP) simply not accepting requests.  Too many people have had this problem.  We can't all be doing things wrong. :)
I agree with Sisterray37 above.  I have literally wasted HOURS trying to figure out what I might have done wrong.  Finally figured out it was NOT me.

(edited)

Official Employee

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2.3K Messages

We greatly appreciate you taking the time to share your experience regarding the Xfinity Email service through some third-party email clients/programs @Nat_IV. There may be a known issue which is affecting access to the Xfinity Email through these apps/clients/programs. The Xfinity Email can still be accessed using our Xfinity Email web portal.

Alternative, you may visit https://www.xfinity.com/email which may prompt to transfer your Xfinity Email to Yahoo for our email transition program. From there, you can use Yahoo! settings and support to use your email through other email programs. More information can be found on our 'Upgrade your Comcast.net email experience to Yahoo Mail' support page. 

Please let us know if there is anything further we could assist you with regarding any Xfinity products and services.

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick
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