Plusnet IMAP Service very Slow with Microsoft Outlook 2016 IMAP

[#1]

I can get in with Outlook/IMAP this morning and I am currently cleaning down my mailbox...

@JonoH and @bobpullen  Is the issue resolved now or are you still investigating?

[#2]

Hi @neilhobbs, I'm pleased you can finally get access to your emails however the problem with webmail remains open, once it is fully resolved we will post an update on our service status.

Thanks

[#3]

@JonoH What is going on?

The Service Status page hasn't been updated since the 11th of January 2017 at 17:33...  there is no mention of the outage yesterday, what you are doing now or when you will update your customers next.  This is going back to the conversation that we had in December - where you weren't updating customers...

Can we please get some clarity on this?

[#4]

@JonoH My Outlook/IMAP access has halted again...  the last e-mail I can see in my Inbox is 10:39am...

I can get into Webmail, but it took over 10 mins to display the contents of my Inbox and I can see later e-mails...

What are you doing to resolve this?  This is impacting me considerably now!!!

[#5]

@JonoH My Outlook/IMAP access has temporarily returned to operation...  the service is becoming unusable...

What is going on?

[#6]

Is anyone else seeing the "Downloading folder order" progress box in Outlook (foot of window) on a VERY regular basis, perhaps on every interaction? When it shows seems to be associated with the system not responding.

If yes, and it is doing this for everyone, then no wonder things are slow, and I hope this helps Plusnet to diagnose the problem. If not, I'd better try the various fixes suggested online, but I don't fancy sitting here for hours while they respond.

[#7]

That's exactly what I'm getting...  the issue is with Plusnet to resolve..

[#8]

Well, that's interesting. I tried this as advised in a Microsoft post.

Right click to get the IMAP query on any Outlook email folder. Run a blank query. You should see all your folders listed. Unsubscribe to all your folders except Inbox. That seems to have speeded up my Outlook, but can't yet say how much.

When you need to see one of the other folders, do the same thing, but Subscribe.

Not an acceptable long term solution because email management becomes difficult, and the Plusnet Webmail interface is a rubbish substitute. But it might help just for Inbox management.

[#9]

The progress bar still appears and the improvement isn't much, if any. You do get a better response by opening Outlook in Safe Mode. (Hold Ctrl when you click to open Outlook, and accept the dialogue box). You don't see message previews.

[#10]

Hi Malcolm,

In terms of my Outlook/IMAP connectivity performance, I get either the 'Send and Receive' process completing or failing to complete - with the progress bar at around 50%.  When the progress bar halts at 50%, I either have to close Outlook and re-open it as standard (not in Safe Mode) to get the 'Send and Receive' progress to complete or it is as it was.

In regards to the message previews, as long as Outlook can locate the  message on the server - it displays both the two line preview in the message list pane and the e-mail itself in the Preview Pane.

I don't use Safe Mode unless I have a specific reason to open Outlook like that.

As of just now (13:30, on the 27th of January 2017), Outlook is able to make an IMAP connection to the Plusnet servers.

I should also clarify that I sent out going mail (all SMTP traffic) through SMTP2Go (http://www.smtp2go.com), as they provide a reliable SMTP service that Plusnet have never.

As I say, the issue that both you and I are experiencing is due to Plusnet's IMAP servers not being accessible.  I also use another version of Outlook on another machine which is configured as a POP3 client and it was struggling to connect to Plusnet's POP3 servers this week.

[#11]

@JonoH @bobpullen

Has anything been done with the IMAP and POP3 services?

[#12]

I have just noticed that the Outlook/IMAP access has stopped working again!

I can log into my mailbox using Webmail (shock horror) and I can see 7 e-mails that Outlook is not able to present after a 'Send and Receive'...  Outlook is showing me everything in my iCloud mailbox that I also access using IMAP...

So Plusnet's IMAP Service is offline again!!!

@JonoH @bobpullen - Guys seriously what is going on???!???

[#13]

Hi Neil, as the problems with email are not yet fixed we know that at times the service will be slow or difficult to use, as discussed once we have an update we will provide on via the service status.

Sorry for the inconvenience .

[#14]

@JonoH You haven't discussing anything with me, you aren't telling me anything - you are continuing to withhold information...  the Service Status updates don't tell us anything...

It's about time that you and Plusnet are open and honest...  this withholding information is completely unacceptable!!

What is the issue, what you are doing to fix the issue and what is the timeline for this?  If that doesn't work, what is the Plan B?  These are the questions that a professional ISP would be providing openly...

You don't sound sincere in any of your communications...