Email Authentication Failed

[#1]

Hi guys,

For sometime now I've been getting "Authentication Failed" errors.

I use Thunderbird, and I am seeing this on a daily basis, reconnection is usually established fairly quickly.

It is probably due to the issue mentioned under "Email" on the  "Service Status" page, which has not been updated since 14.2.18

Any chance of an update please?

Quote: "When will the next update be?

• 6 March 1:00 PM

Thanks

Billl

[#2]

Hi Bill,

I would much more suspect an internet connectivity issue. Have you noticed any other browsing issues recently / at the same time as this issue?

[#3]

Hi @billbo

I have tested your broadband service which appears stable for 22 days, please turn your router off then back on due to the length of time it has been connected.

Does the issue occur on web-mail and if not are you able to test this connection with an alternative email client?

As of yet, unfortunately we have not been provided an update on the service status. The only advice I could provide is to check it periodically.

Thank you.

[#4]

Hi @Jubby & @Townman

This issue is not new and has been around for weeks certainly far longer than 22 days

I have several email accounts with several different providers and the Plusnet connection is the only one with this issue.

So it it very unlikely that my broadband connection is an issue.

As I said, reconnection is usually fairly quick and there are probably more fails than I actually notice.

I do think that the service status is overdue an update, if only to say "work still in progress" and set another date for an update.

As it is, it looks like the work on the problem has been a abandoned.

One would have thought six months of "working on it" would have produced some clue to the problem, even if a fix has not been found.

Communication, communication

And it would have saved time in trying to tract down the problem at my end and posting in the forum

[#5]

I use Thunderbird for one of my Plusnet accounts (but only recently) and just the other day Thunderbird presented a dialog box saying it couldn’t connect to the Plusnet server. As this isn’t an ‘authentication’ error as described in the OP it may not be related but the reliability of the Plusnet email server isn’t, to me at least, what it should be.

[#6]

Hi @billbo

If you are using non Plusnet emails, then the issue on our status page won't apply to you. An authentication error is when your provider isn't accepting the user name and password. This isn't anything that can be done from our side.

Please can you let us know who your email providers are, and can you get us a full dialog of the error that you are receiving.

[#7]

---

@deank wrote:

Hi @billbo

Please can you let us know who your email providers are, and can you get us a full dialog of the error that you are receiving.

---

@billbo  Said:

This issue is not new and has been around for weeks certainly far longer than 22 days Wink

I have several email accounts with several different providers and the Plusnet connection is the only one with this issue.

[#8]

I am aware that he has used multiple different providers, but I am wanting to know which providers so that we can see if there is anything else related to them on our side. A full dialog of his error code could also help us work out where the issue is located as well.

[#9]

Hi,

Late reply but I've been on holiday

The failed authentication applies to my Plusnet email account, I'm not seeing this on my Google or Gridhost accounts.

Update: I've have also seen this issue on my mobile using WiFi at home and at different locations while on holiday. (I don't use mobile data!). I use K9 on my mobile.

Remember that this is an intermittent issue and as it's transient I probably do not see all the failures - conversely I might see them all

Cheers

Bill

[#10]

Hi @billbo

Whilst I appreciate the issue is intermittent, could you attach a screen shot of the authentication error when it's occurring to this post. This is so we can ensure we are reporting it correctly.

The issue on the service information page is for mail collection issues rather than an error with authenticating on our mail server.

Thank you.

[#11]

Hi,

Back with an update.

I have not seen the "Authentication Failed" error in the last couple of weeks.

No changes at this end.

I said it was intermittent

I'll post again if the error should return.

Cheers

Bill

[#12]

What is the first letter of your account name please?

[#13]

Hi @Townman,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, but I was not receiving "notifications" - now fixed

The answer is "b".

I had just dropped by with an update.

Over the past 10 days or so, in different locations (all WiFi - I don't use data) I had 3 or 4 notification on my mobile - "Authentication failed for name@bill***.plus.com. Update your server settings".

Clicking the notification takes me to "settings".

If I ignore the notification - authentication completes without any input form me.

To recap I'm using IMAP & "K9" on Android 5.1

I have not "noticed" any recent failures using "Thunderbird" and Windows 10 - "noticed" being a key word

This is more of a puzzle than a frustrating issue.

Cheers

Bill

[#14]

Hi Bill,

If you are noticing this only on your phone, this could be a WiFi performance issue. Do you have both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands using the same SSID? That can cause issues with some devices flip flopping between the bands. A frequently suggested remedy is to distinguish the two SSIDs (add 5GHz to the name).

[#15]

Hi @Townman @Jubby @deank etal,

You will see from my earlier posts that I first encountered the issued on my desktop using Thunderbird - Windows 10 and a LAN connection.

Not seen the issue on the PC in a while now - but that could be because I'm not looking at that right moment and Thunderbird obviously does a retry and connects without any input from me. I don't get a pop up that I can screen shot - just a notification on the task bar.

As to a WiFi connection on my phone - it is not capable of connecting to a 5Ghz band signal and in any case both bands do have different SSD's.

Although my plusnet router offers the duel band, I can't speak for the hotels or O2wifi etc where I've also encountered the problem.

Both my PC and phone when re-syncing authenticate with a few different mail servers not only the plusnet server.

Is it not a case of temporary/transient congestion at (one of) the mail server(s) or even a gateway?

Arn't intermittent issues a PITA

Cheers

Bill