Unable to send emails

[#1]

@RPMozley  Thank you for your input...  Yes the problem does seem to be the same... and reading the whole thread does not give any clues as to how, or if, it was eventually solved, ( as far as I can see )

Finding all the passwords was not easy... it is actually on Accout Settings, and then in the bottom of the left hand menu ( which lists all the mailboxes below "Account Actions" is Preferences... this is where you can find the passwords needed by Thunderbird.

I have checked mine and have used the one that is listed for the mailbox .plus.com but I can still only receive emails on that mailbox, and still get the same password request box as mentioned in the original intro to this thread.

Setting up temp email address for me is a no go, because I am no longer a PlusNet customer.

[#2]

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@shutter wrote:
... I am no longer a PlusNet customer.

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And herein could lie the problem.

Unless something has changed since I was last aware, non-subscription/free accounts outside of the 'mail only' product we used to offer do not allow SMTP authentication 'off network'. The only way you would be able to send using relay.plus.net would be to do so without authentication and whilst connected to the Plusnet network.

Further evidence of this would be if you are able to log into Webmail and successfully send a message from there.

I recognise you have said you cannot log into Webmail, however that makes little sense to me if you're able to receive email via Thunderbird. Webmail is just a web-based client and it authenticates against the same mail collection servers that Thunderbird does.

[#3]

@bobpullen Something must have changed - I am happily using a 'mail-only' account created ~14 months back on a non-PN connection.

[#4]

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@jab1 wrote:

@bobpullen Something must have changed - I am happily using a 'mail-only' account created ~14 months back on a non-PN connection.

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Which is fine.

Assuming I'm looking at the relevant account, @shutter does not have a mail only account. Instead, they have a legacy non-subscription account.

@bobpullen wrote:
non-subscription/free accounts outside of the 'mail only' product we used to offer do not allow SMTP authentication 'off network'. 

[#5]

@bobpullen  Well, yes, I "understand what you are saying, BUT,... and its a BIG BUT.. I did send an email FROM my shutter.plus email address on 23rd JUNE 2022 and prior to that ( checking back on my "sent" folder have had no problems sending from that address. Furthest back dated email is 10/4/2019 and according to the count there is 383 messages that have been sent since that date !.

So I am not conviinced that it is because I am no longer a customer. ! that this problem has suddenly appeared since 23 JUNE 2022.

[#6]

ooops, sorry @bobpullen , I didn't know @shutter had the legacy non-subscription model.

[#7]

@bobpullen, from 2019 all non-subscription accounts should have access to our SMTP servers.

NetOps made a change to make it so when the 'new' billing system removed the £1.06 charge for mail only accounts. 

This pretty much levelled the playing field since that it was no longer possible to charge for mail. 

[#8]

@shutter fair comment.

As I alluded to, things may have changed since I was last versed in the mail platform.

In fact, it seems I can use authnentication via one of my own non-subscription accounts whilst connected to the Vodafone LTE network: -

$ telnet relay.force9.net 587
Trying 212.159.9.104...
Connected to relay.force9.net.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 avasout-ptp-004 smtp relay.force9.net
ehlo relay
250-avasout-ptp-004 hello [148.252.132.246], pleased to meet you
250-HELP
250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN
250-SIZE 104857600
250-PIPELINING
250-8BITMIME
250-STARTTLS
250 OK
auth login
334 VXNlcm5hbWU6
[REDACTED]
334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6
{REDACTED]
235 ... authentication succeeded

Is your Thunderbird install configured to use port 587 for sending via relay.plus.net?

I would suggest getting to a point where you can reliably log into Webmail and send an email. That confirms that the credentials are 100% accurate.

Assuming this test passes, then it is possible to test authentication directly against relay.plus.net via command line as I have done above with relay.force9.net. 

1. From a command line enter 'telnet relay.plus.net 587', minus quotes and press enter

2. Type 'ehlo relay', minus quotes and press enter

3. Type 'auth login' minus quotes and press enter

4. You now need to enter your email username in Base64. To get the Base64 version of your password, enter it into the tool here (I hold no responsibility for this site, so you do so at your own risk) and click the encode button.

5. Press enter after typing the Base64-encoded username

6. Repeat the process to get the Base64-encoded password, enter that, then press enter

If all is well, you should be met with '235 ... authentication succeeded'. If you're met with any other response, then you can rule out the client/your settings from being a contirbuting factor. Failure would then point to a config issue with your account at our side, or something to do with the policy associated with your account type.

[#9]

@bobpullen  OK... that sounds a lot of complicated stuff, and I`m not on Windows  ... I use Linux Mint 20.3

On my Thunderbird settings ( for registering a new email account)  Usaing POP3 protocol, incoming port is 110 and outgoing port is 587

The confirmation email  saying the new email address had been setup was sent at 15:18 and it is now 15:56 well over 30 minutes but Thunderbird still says "Thunderbird failed to find the settings for your email account."

All fields were pre seeded and show connection security as Auto Detect and Authentication Normal Password.

Several "Re-Test" still give the failure notice.

[#10]

@shutter  you don't need windows, just open a terminal window and bob's commands will work.

As an aside , Thunderbird will not automatically get the settings for a PlusNet account, but forget the additional email.

Try with bob's commands and report back

[#11]

@shutter @I know nothing about thunderbird so this may not be relevant.

If I receive an email though my force 9 account and I reply I change the from address to my usual one and it goes out through the normal account.

[#12]

Indeed, it's probably easier on a *nix machine.

If telnet isn't installed then a simple 'sudo apt install telnet' should sort that.

[#13]

Should be installed by default on Mint

[#14]

@bobpullen  OK.. so after many attempts at doing the Terminal stuff. I think I have managed to get a "good run" completed. here is a screenshot of the result.

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Image removed as it contained ersonal information .

[#15]

Thanks @shutter - the problem is definitely not being caused by your client configuration; our relay server is rejecting your credentials for one reason or another.

I don't know what that reason is though if the policies are as stated by @Gandalf above.

It will probably need referring to our Infops team to take a more detailed look.