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ricecgr
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5 Messages

Saturday, January 6th, 2024 7:48 PM

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smtp.comcast.net connection fail

Having reset my password, email is coming into my Mac Mail app, but sending gives 'Connection  to outgoing server failed ...'. Using the terminal, I cannot ping smtp.comcast.net either (

Request timeout for icmp_seq 0).

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8 months ago

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user_f10f29

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5 Messages

11 months ago

We are having the same issue and we spent 4 1/2 hours on the phone with Xfinity yesterday and they basically told us that we need to call Apple and Microsoft because they don't get paid enough to work on this.  Everything was fine until we changed our passwords.  I thought I got it working last night, it seemed fine this morning and now nothing works again.  It has to be their servers.

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XfinityAlex

Official Employee

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881 Messages

11 months ago

If you have a Mac, you should try "telnet smtp.comcast.net 587".  You can try to install a Windows telnet client and do the same with Windows.  We're currently seeing quite a bit of mail going outbound, so it's not a platform-wide issue. 

If you've recently changed your password, ensure you can login via the webmail.  If you're trying to use a third-party email client (Thunderbird, Outlook, mobile clients), ensure you have the option to allow third-party access checked in your settings.

Some clients require passwords to be changed in multiple places.  You would need to change it for your IMAP/POP settings, and then for your Outgoing Server (SMTP) as well.

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ricecgr

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Could you be more explicit about 'try "telnet smtp.comcast.net 587"'? I tried that as a command in Terminal - it was not recognized. I tried it as 'Outgoing server: Host Name' in Mac Mail and it was not accepted.

11 months ago

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XfinityAlex

Official Employee

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881 Messages

@ricecgr​ 

That would be a terminal command.  I didn't realize OSX didn't include a telnet client by default anymore (I haven't used a Mac in a while).  However, normally, it would look like:

$ telnet smtp.comcast.net 587
Trying 96.103.145.179...
Connected to smtp-p.gslb4.comcast.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 resomta-a1p-077252.sys.comcast.net resomta-a1p-077252.sys.comcast.net ESMTP server ready

That's the initial portion of an SMTP conversation.  If it doesn't return the "server ready" portion, that means either our systems rejected the connection (we emit a message when we do that), or there's a network issue preventing the connection.  If it's the latter, you can also test to "smtp.gmail.com" for example to test if it's a blanket block on port 587, or if perhaps it's specific to our platform.  This is one part of troubleshooting.

11 months ago

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ricecgr

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5 Messages

11 months ago

Thanks for the messages. Turns out, email goes out when disconnecting from our home (xfininty cable-based) network and connecting instead through an iPhone as a hotspot. This works on both iPad and MacBook. (Yes, I can access email on the web-interface. Yes, I changed the pwd both places.)

I'll look into the telnet.

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user_z2puk8

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I've been having the exact same issue. Connecting through my iPhone's hotspot has allowed me to send mail also. Hopefully whatever's causing the problem gets fixed so I don't have to do that forever.

9 months ago

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XfinityJohnG

Official Employee

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1.3K Messages

Thank you for reaching out to us here @user_z2puk8. If you are still having issues with your email service send us a direct message with the full name and complete address for your service. 

To send a direct message [private message]:

   Click the "Direct Message" icon or  https://forums.xfinity.com/direct-messaging

   Click the "New message" (pencil and paper) icon

   The "To:" line prompts you to "Type the name of a person". Instead, type "Xfinity Support" there.

   - As you are typing a drop-down list appears. Select "Xfinity Support" from that list.

   - An "Xfinity Support" graphic replaces the "To:" line.

   Type your message in the text area near the bottom of the window

   Press Enter to send it

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

9 months ago

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ricecgr

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5 Messages

11 months ago

As of 20:30 hrs, email successfully sent using normal internet connection. I think (hope) Xfinity fixed something.

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user_ntl394

1 Message

8 months ago

april 2 2024 having same issue with smtp.comcast.net

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ricecgr

Visitor

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5 Messages

We finally concluded that xxxfinity has some kind of slow update/change sharing across systems/servers for permissions or whatever. Wait a day or 2 would be my suggestion.

8 months ago

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claudialohnes

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1 Message

Having this issue as well on April 2.  Changed my password, which didn't seem necessary and it didnt affect anything.  

8 months ago

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