topic Re: Anyone else having problems receiving emails? in Email

Anyone else having problems receiving emails?

Annie — Thu, 29 May 2025 10:58:28 GMT

Is anyone else having problems receiving emails via POP3? I can get them on IMAP and on webmail but am unable to download them to my PC via Thunderbird with POP3. I'm getting 'Connection to server mail.plus.net timed out' errors.

Re: Anyone else having problems receiving emails?

Annie — Thu, 29 May 2025 12:12:35 GMT

Following on from my previous post, I recently changed the settings in some of my Plusnet accounts to use STARTTLS using the settings at https://www.plus.net/help/email-guides/how-to-set-up-plusnet-email/

It seems that this is where the issue occurs. If I change the port back to 110 and no security then I can download mail. What might I be doing wrong to not be able to use STARTTLS on port 995?

Re: Anyone else having problems receiving emails?

MisterW — Thu, 29 May 2025 12:19:34 GMT

@Annie you can't use STARTTLS for POP on port 995, its only used for the outgoing server. You should use SSL/TLS there's a subtle difference...

Re: Anyone else having problems receiving emails?

Dan_the_Van — Thu, 29 May 2025 12:24:57 GMT

@Annie

It's possible to test your connection using the instructions here Diagnosing email server connectivity issues the guide

You'll be looking to use these settings

IMAP: imap.plus.net port: 993 TLS/SSL
POP3: mail.plus.net port: 995 TLS/SSL
SMTP: relay.plus.net port: 587 STARTTLS

Hope this helps.

@MisterW got there first.

Re: Anyone else having problems receiving emails?

Annie — Thu, 29 May 2025 12:33:55 GMT

@Dan_the_Van and @MisterW

Thank you both. I've changed to using SSL/TLS and all is working now. The instructions on that web page (https://www.plus.net/help/email-guides/how-to-set-up-plusnet-email/) didn't make it all that clear.

Re: Anyone else having problems receiving emails?

MisterW — Thu, 29 May 2025 12:36:31 GMT

The instructions on that web page didn't make it all that clear.

I'd have to admit that, they don't specify the encryption at all for the incoming server. Having said that, I thought most email clients would default to SSL/TLS using port 995 when POP is selected.

Re: Anyone else having problems receiving emails?

Annie — Thu, 29 May 2025 12:38:55 GMT

It's a while since I set up the email accounts in Thunderbird so I don't remember what it defaulted to.I had previously been using port 110 but thought it better to add some security which is where I went wrong. Ha ha.