New Comcast IMAP servers and email settings

[Crusak]

I found this link today, and I signed up for having my email switched over to IMAP.

https://xcsignup.comcast.net/onboardingapps/imap

The link states that my email account will be migrated over to IMAP servers in 24 hours, and I will receive a confirmation email.

What settings will I need to use for Windows Mail and my iPhone to make IMAP work?  Please let me know, thanks.

[Latoque · Accepted solution]

It's supposed to take 72 hours before it kicks in.  Once it does:

The IMAP Settings are:

Incoming server: imap.comcast.net
Outgoing server: smtp.comcast.net
Authentication ON

Incoming Port:  993 with SSL ON
Outgoing Port:
465 with SSL ON

[Crusak]

Thanks for the info.  Once the switch takes place I'll give it a try and post an update.

[Daisy2003]

Question: If I sign up to migrate my email account to IMAP, do I still have access to my email during the time it takes to migrate the account?  Thanks.

[Latoque]

I did.  In fact I had the same account enabled in both IMAP and POP at one point.  And you should have normal webmail access.

[Daisy2003]

Thanks very much.  I hope it works, as it's a better solution than switching to another email provider.

[Chicagomark]

How did it go.  Just signed up myself.

[Daisy2003]

I actually haven't tried it yet - I never got an email from Comcast saying that it was good to go; when I signed up it said "migration complete" but it also said I would get an email from Comcast in 24 hours with confirmation and instructions, and I never got that.  I guess maybe I'll go ahead and try configuring the IMAP settings and see what happens, but I'm a little hesitant to do that.  Does anyone have experience with this?

Thanks.

[dmeich]

I have tried the settings described below and it worked for a few days.  As of yesterday morning I could no longer reach the server.  I'm using Outlook on a Mac. Is it working for anyone else? I tried contacting technical support but they were of no help. 

Thanks in advance.

[Latoque]

I'm using it with Mac Mail.  I'm not having any trouble with it.

[Chicagomark]

I have had IMAP running now for almost a day.  Setup was a bit challenging, but it works fine so far.  I have it running on my iMAC with OS 10.9 (Mavericks).  Follow the directions they provide in the IMAP confirmation email.

Incoming mail server: imap.comcast.net

Outgoing mail server: smtp.comcast.net

I spoke to a tech rep for help.  Where we had a problem was with the port settings.  The recommended ones didn't work.  We had to use 993.  Once that was done it all worked.

[Daisy2003]

I never received the email confirming I could switch.  It's possible that it went to my husband's email address, as the account is in his name.  Do you think it's safe to switch anyway?

Thanks,

[Chicagomark]

I'm sure you can.  Try it.  If it doesn't work, just call tech support at 888-517-5296.  They should hook you up.

[Latoque]

---

Chicagomark wrote:------------

  Where we had a problem was with the port settings.  The recommended ones didn't work.  We had to use 993.  Once that was done it all worked.

---

I just want to mention, port 993 for the incoming server is what is recommended by Comcast.

[Daisy2003]

Question: when you had the same account enabled with both POP and IMAC, do you get receive two copies of every message or just one?

Thanks

[Latoque]

You would get two---one in the POP account and another in the IMAP account.  I had it running like that briefly in both protocols.  They showed up as two different accounts in Thunderbird, even though the email address was the same.  I recommend that you run only one or the other.  It avoids a lot of confusion.

[Chicagomark]

One thing I should mention.  You first have to "trick" Apple Mail.  To do this you have have enter a bogus email address and password.  It will then ask you to manually enter the info at which point to switch the protocol to IMAP.

[dmeichs]

An update to my issue: It seems to be limited to Outlook (2011, Mac).  I have been using Outlook for years with both my corporate Exchange account and my Comcast account using POP mail.  About two weeks ago my inbox started downloading the entire content of my inbox several times a day.  I ended up having a dozen copies of every email.  To get around this, I switched to IMAP.  This worked fine for three days.  After that I could no longer connect to the IMAP server, even though I did not change any settings.  I only want to run one email client. Does anyone know how to get Outlook to work with Comcast?  It works fine with my gmail account.

Thanks

[Crusak]

I had trouble at first getting the mail program in my iPhone 3GS set up.  I had to bypass the default setup in the phone, because it automatically assumes that your Comcast mail is POP3.  I temporarily input a fake email address in the email setup in the phone (xxxx@somewhere.net) and then went through the manual setup to create an IMAP account.  It was easy to go back and replace the fake email information with the correct email address. 

It's working fine.  Nothing like seeing hundreds of old emails downloading into your email lol.  But I deleted all of the old stuff.

[emaven]

I signed up and received a confirmation email in less than 24 hours.
I set up my account on my iPad before it was confirmed.
When it was still pending I got messages saying it could not connect.
Once it was confirmed I saw email in the account just appear.

In various tests, sending from the pop, imap, and browser email, they are not quite the same.
The sent box doesn't show the same results:
In the imap account, there is nothing in the sent box, except if it is sent from the web.
In the web account, it is in the sent box.
In the pop account, it is in the sent box, but not if sent from the web.
This seems strange to me.

[Latoque]

---

@emaven wrote:
I signed up and received a confirmation email in less than 24 hours.
I set up my account on my iPad before it was confirmed.
When it was still pending I got messages saying it could not connect.
Once it was confirmed I saw email in the account just appear.

In various tests, sending from the pop, imap, and browser email, they are not quite the same.
The sent box doesn't show the same results:
In the imap account, there is nothing in the sent box, except if it is sent from the web.

Does the client you are using have a setting for it to leave a copy of the Sent message in the folder in the client?  I know Thuderbird has it.  I think it's disabled by default, and you have to enable it when you are setting up the account.  It's there for both POP and IMAP.

In the web account, it is in the sent box.
In the pop account, it is in the sent box, but not if sent from the web.

This  sounds normal to me.  One of the downfalls of POP is that it doesn't do both, like IMAP does.

---

[emaven]

My account is set up as imap.
On the ipad, >settings, mail, the account, advanced, where The drafts, sent, and trash are all set to be on the server.

When I send from the iPad from the Comcast account, there is nothing in sent in the imap folder.. But it is there in the sent folder of the pop account.
If I do the same from a different imap account with the same settings, the email is in the sent folder of that account.
So I would expect the same behavior.

[Latoque]

In that case, try a little experiment-------go into the settings in the client and disable the POP account.  Send a message with the IMAP account.  Does the message now appear in the IMAP Sent folder?

[emaven]

So I now set up the account on my iPhone and turned off the pop there.
I sent a test email and it did appear in sent on iPhone and in browser after a short delay.
So later when I go back to iPad I expect it to be in sent there. Will let you know.

By the way, what does the thermometer mean under my name?

[Latoque]

Good question.  I think it just means to show what your posting history has been so far.  But I'm not sure.

[emaven]

I turned off the pop account on the iPad and read the mail in the imap account.
While the inbox shows all the mail, the sent box does not show everything that was sent.
Seems like the inbox works ok with imap, and the send box is still operating like pop.

[emaven]

I am now looking at these accounts with my Mac. 

Both the imap and the pop account have all the unread messages for several weeks.

But the imap account only goes back to Jan 15. The pop account has read messages in it that go back to September 2012. 

Since the mail prefs for the pop account never choose to remove copy from server after retrieving massges why aren't the same messages available in the imap inbox?

[rcclark88]

I have been using IMAP with no issues for at least a year.  Suddenly I cannot send emails, but continue to receive them.  I haven't changed the settings.  Any suggestions?

[banderson1962]

Same issue here, can't send email on either Outlook 2010 or through the web client. Tech support, predictably, was useless.

[emaven]

See if there is a password in the smtp settings. Sometimes these disappear.

[emaven]

I have had all kinds of trouble. Although it seems ok at first, if I quit mail, then upon launching it again it does not bounce in the dock.
And then the message that mail is not responding appears. If I force quit the same happens again.
Once I walked away from the Mac for quite a long time, came back and found mail working. But if I quit mail or shut off the MBP, the same happens again.
Also, since tricking is the only way to set it up, I have a problem there. In mavericks there are 2 places where you can enter the info. In sys prefs in the internet accounts tab, and in mail itself. So then in the internet prefs I have the trick name which doesn't agree with the real name. So in one of 4 comcast accounts I can't get to advanced. Each account has to have its own smtp settings.

[engrpas]

I have a question to the folks who have already signed up for IMAP -- do all your mobile devices also connect to the IMAP servers, I guess that's the whole point, right? So that any email sent from any device will show up on all the devices, including your main computers, is that correct?

Many thanks

Pete 

[emaven]

Yes, all my devices do connect. What I read on one device is shown as read on the other. But you do have to set up the accounts using the fake info as well on them.

[engrpas]

Thanks very much - I will go ahead and sign up too.

[TimCushman]

Here's a question on using IMAP instead of POP. I have a couple of emails now on Comcast for different members of the family Each one has their own computer and all use Mozilla ThunderBird for the email client. Currently I have everyone set up on the Comcast account using POP. (they all have other Gmail accounts as well but they are using IMAP for those).

Since there is only ONE Comcast account (but multiple email accounts), if I change MY email to IMAP but leave the other people on POP, will that work or do I have to go change all of them at the same time to IMAP and will it continue to work as before ?

[CCCarole]

Yes, you can change just your username to be using IMAP.

[legalowl99]

Does it change all the other email connections as well? Such as other computers, iPads, etc.

[Latoque]

---

@legalowl99 wrote:
Does it change all the other email connections as well? Such as other computers, iPads, etc.

---

Yes.  IMAP lets you make a change on one device and have it reflected on any other device you have the account enabled on.  If you delete a message on your iPhone, it should also show as deleted on your laptop or tablet, if you have the account set up on those devices.

[emaven]

But it changes only the info for that email address. If the family uses other comcast email address they will have to set up imap for those other email addresses.
Then everything would sync for their emails. The master account does not change things for the other email accounts.

[BLUEBIRD1028]

Good info. One question,,,,,so far,,,,LOL!

What if you have a primary email that is POP is enabled, you have created an "alias" in a program such as gmail and then switch to IMAP? if both the POP and Imap are enabled are both the primary and the alias email address affected?

[CCCarole]

Yep.  You need to change to IMAP in both.

[BLUEBIRD1028]

Then what happens to the POP account....it just goes away?

What I am thinking is retrieving older emails created in POP say 1-2 years ago?

[Latoque]

---

@BLUEBIRD1028 wrote:

Then what happens to the POP account....it just goes away?

What I am thinking is retrieving older emails created in POP say 1-2 years ago?

---

If you had an email client set up with that account, the old emails should still be in it.  Changing to IMAP has no effect on anything that's already on your computer, or on the server.  Making the change doesn't delete anything from the account.  It just allows a different way to access or view what's already there, and any future emails.

[Carlspack]

Is there a total storage limit for Comcast IMAP?  I've search around and can't seem to find a number.  Planning to convert to IMAP but would like to migrate all my old saved emails over.  Trying to determine if I need to purge or save some locally.  Thanks.

[CCCarole]

10 G is the limit for both POP and IMAP storage in XfinityConnect.

[chevysales]

i am new to mac with a late 2013 loaded haswell/crystalwell macbook pro 15"... having had iphones since 3G...now 5S....that said i have read this trick mac mail thing on so many threads to access settings (manual) when in fact i was able to do it for both comcast and outlook.com (hotmail) all i had to do was open mail and under mail got o  preferences then accounts on second tab and there are 3 tabs where all settings can be changed easily and cleanly.

I did this after spending a day or 2 trying to get my hotmail as imap so i could access all my folders from the mac mail app on macbook.

[emaven]

Yes those 3 tabs let you change the settings for the accounts. But not the type of account.
In order to get comcast to be an imap account you have to create a new imap account. And then you should delete the POP account.
But there is an easier way than tricking it to do so, as I have discovered.
Hold down the option key and it will change the Create button to be Next. Then you can choose the configuration of imap manually when adding a new Mail account.

[chevysales]

I setup my account on that page by clicking plus sign and it let me do imap right from start i didn''t make it a pop3 and then change it as I don't think that would be a clean way of inputting info... maverick 10.9.1

I am going to try your idea as that sounds simple enough.

thanks for the tip

[rscott788]

I have just signed up for IMAP and am waiting to receive confirmation.  Hopefully I will get this to work since I am a bit tired of having to open e-mails three separate times (computer, phone and tablet).  Here is my question, I am running Mac OSX 9 and iOS 7.  What happens to the old mailboxes once we migrate over?  I have kept old emails that are important.  Am I deleting the account and therefor the mailbox or am I editing it so that the content remains there, but am simply receiving the e-mail through a different protocol? At the end of the day, I assume I can move the important emails to my archive folder, but I'd rather not, espeically on the iOS devices since they don't have archive folders.

Thanks.

[CCCarole]

Everything stays intact.  You are just viewing email via IMAP servers instead of POP servers.

Try these settings now and see if you can set them up.

imap.comcast.net

smtp.comcast.net

Incoming- IMAP Port 993 with SSL ON

Outgoing- SMTP 465 with SSL ON

Under the server tab, This server requires Authentication must be checked.

Alternate outgoing Port is 587 without SS ON.

CC