setting up Outlook 2019 for first time

[#1]

Hi folks

wonder if anyone can helps with this....

I have windows 10 on a laptop, Office Home and Business 2019

I'm trying to get my emails set up in outlook 

I've looked at the plusnet help page

https://www.plus.net/help/email-guides/how-to-set-up-plusnet-email/

and found it lacking info

I looked at the sticky at the top of the forum, but it's not clear to me

1st hurdle : outlook wants an email address

   Is this of the form :-

1) postmaster@myusername.plus.com  OR

2) username@myusername.plus.com OR

3) other - if so please could anyone assist

Thanks to anyone who can assist

   FWIW I can log into my webmail with 'myusername' and 'mypassword', not in quotes naturally.

Thanks to anyone who can assist

[#2]

Hi there,

Your email address can be anything@username.plus.com, it’s what you’d want to use. An easy way to find out is at the top right of webmail once you’ve logged in there. 

There’s another way by going to Manage My Mail at http://www.plus.net/email which will also allow you to configure your email address(es).

There are other settings you’d need, but you should be able to find these Here

I hope this helps. Let us know how it goes. 

[#3]

@bladerunnerplus 

When setting up your account following @Gandalf  link pay attention to setting the port numbers correctly. Outlook defaults to secure channels not the unencrypted ones used by Plusnet.

[#4]

Thanks Gandalf

I tried postmaster@username.plus.com, using the settings in 

https://www.plus.net/help/email-guides/how-to-set-up-plusnet-email/

It gave an error

"The server you are connected to is using a security certificate that cannot be verified"

Continue using this server ? Answer Yes

Then outlook gives and error

"Could not login to the incoming POP server"

exited and tried again

I tried username@username.plus.com, after seeing it in the "manage my settings" section of my webmail summary tab

using the settings in 

https://www.plus.net/help/email-guides/how-to-set-up-plusnet-email/

Outlooks gives “security warning – security certificate cannot be verified”  as before

It brings up a dialogue box "something went wrong". We couldn't log in to the incoming (POP) server. Check your email address and password

clicked on ->Change Account Settings

within which is it says

Incoming mail : Server : pop3.plus.net, port 995 :

 "This server requires encrypted connection SLL/TLS is ticked

Outgoing mail : Server : smtp.plus.net, port 

Encryption method : SSL/TLS selected

all other options not ticked

So I changed the setting to as per email guide in plusnet,

I set the encryption on outgoing mail to Auto

Outlook claims "DONE" now !

SO all seems OK in principle. Not tried to go into my emails yet though.

However , I saw a thread on the forum "SSL on IMAP/POP3/SMTP (again)" 

This suggests SSL/TLS can be used for incoming and outgoing email if I read it correctly, which seems preferable regarding security ?

Should I change the setup to as described in that thread ?

Thanks again for assistance, much appreciated

[#5]

Thanks for your reply Baldrick1

[#6]

Hi Gandalf, 

wrt "Your email address can be anything@username.plus.com, it’s what you’d want to use. An easy way to find out is at the top right of webmail once you’ve logged in there. "

FYI It's of the form myusername@myusername.plus.com

thanks

[#7]

Hello @Baldrick1 your post says PlusNet has unencrypted email servers. My solution follows:- 

There are many free email providers and I use the highly recommended Microsoft Outlook Mail (outlook.com) which has encrypted email servers.

I also have Microsoft Office Professional Plus (year) which includes Outlook Office and this automatically installed my outlook mail account using the encrypted Microsoft Exchange Server settings. 

Kind regards. 

[#8]

@crimsom 

I am fully aware that there are alternatives. My post was directed at the OP who is asking advice on accessing Plusnet's unencrypted service.

[#9]

---

@Baldrick1 wrote:

@bladerunnerplus 

When setting up your account following @Gandalf  link pay attention to setting the port numbers correctly. Outlook defaults to secure channels not the unencrypted ones used by Plusnet.

---

… PlusNet's mail servers are not unencrypted.

[#10]

---

Outlooks gives “security warning – security certificate cannot be verified”  as before

It brings up a dialogue box "something went wrong". We couldn't log in to the incoming (POP) server. Check your email address and password

clicked on ->Change Account Settings

within which is it says

Incoming mail : Server : pop3.plus.net, port 995 :

 "This server requires encrypted connection SLL/TLS is ticked

Outgoing mail : Server : smtp.plus.net, port 

The problem here is all down to Outlook 2019 which guesses the server names and makes a hash of it.

The server names which are in the certificates are...

• imap.plus.net
• mail.plus.net
• relay.plus.net

Whilst the aliases POP3 and SMTP might work (route to the right place), they do not match the published server names against which the security certificates are issued.

[#11]

---

@Townman wrote:

---

@Baldrick1 wrote:

@bladerunnerplus 

When setting up your account following @Gandalf  link pay attention to setting the port numbers correctly. Outlook defaults to secure channels not the unencrypted ones used by Plusnet.

---

… PlusNet's mail servers are not unencrypted.

---

I was not suggesting that Plusnet’s email servers are unencrypted. However communication with these servers are by, for example, the unencrypted port 587 for outgoing emails, not the encrypted port 995. I don’t know about Outlook 2019 but the 2010 version that I use defaults to the encrypted version during the set up process., meaning that this setting has to be changed.

[#12]

Hello @bladerunnerplus  PlusNet email setup FAQ's can be found here and there are Outlook 2016 comments here that may offer further clarification with your Outlook 2019 dilemma. 

Having established a PlusNet broadband account it is convenient to use the PlusNet email account provided. However, it is a pain having to promulgate a different email address every time you change broadband provider. Many broadband providers change the pricing structure for their deals so that they become more competitive, e.g. PlusNet changes here. Many broadband providers also insist on taking over your telephone line and this complicates moving to a different broadband provider. In the long term it is prudent for a person to have an enduring email address that is not tied to any specific broadband provider, as discussed in message 7 (of this thread).  

Kind regards. 

[#13]

@Baldrick1 

I do not understand the point you are trying to make... "the unencrypted port 587 for outgoing emails, not the encrypted port 995"

Port 995 is for POP3 with encryption, which has absolutely nothing to do with outgoing emails.

Port 587 is the correct (preferred) for outgoing emails (SMTP) either encrypted or not, depending on the separate encryption settings.

Note that "Auto" encryption tends not to work on port 587 but does on the deprecated port 465 if configured on the provider's service (it is on PlusNet's platforms).  STARTTLS works on port 587.

So again I suggest that your previous statement "not the unencrypted ones used by Plusnet" is not accurate and is open to the incorrect interpretation that Plusnet does not support secure access to its mail servers, where in fact it does.

The issue reported here does not look like Outlook's presumption of using SSL / TLS and whatever port, but more likely its presumption on the server names, which do not match the security certificate details.

[#14]

Townman wrote : "The problem here is all down to Outlook 2019 which guesses the server names and makes a hash of it."

Yes, that was the impression I got !

Outlook2019 appeared to set it's own values which didn't match those in the plusnet email setup guide.

What I did was to change them back manually, then I got to the Done point.

[#15]

Thanks to all for their replies and links to other existing threads, I had not seen the outlook 2016 one.

My remaining question relates to a thread on the forum "SSL on IMAP/POP3/SMTP (again)" 

This suggests SSL/TLS can be used for incoming and outgoing email if I read it correctly, which seems preferable regarding security ? Should I change the setup to as described in that thread ?

To clarify (hopefully)

I currently have things setup, for POP, in outlook 2019 to

•   Incoming server   mail.plus.net 
•    Incoming port   110
•    Outgoing server   relay.plus.net
•    Outgoing port   587
•    SSL/TLS   Auto (?)

Should I change these to as indicated in thread  "SSL on IMAP/POP3/SMTP (again)" . I have not tried to download any emails yet though until I double check this point.  The details from that thread are :-

To receive I use:

     Server:  mail.plus.net

     Port: 995

     Connection security: SSL/TLS

    Authentication: Normal password

To send I use:

     Server: relay.plus.net

     Port: 465

     Connection security: SSL/TLS

     Authentication: Normal password

There was some toing and froing about using port 587 rather than 465,

also some about STARTTLS rather than TLS

It's all gobledegook to me !

Thanks in advance to all who read and take the time to respond, it's much appreciated