Can't send emails via outlook - Gmail app fine

[Keiranjf]

Hey everyone having a bizarre issues where I can't send emails on my main pc via outlook. Checked all settings and everything is fine, if I send via my phone I have no issue but I'm doing so via WiFi, so it can't be that my IP has been blocked (as others have reported when looking online).

Now I'm not actually being told that the emails aren't sending. They're just sitting in my drafts, no notification stating an issue. I wouldn't have know it it had not been for the fact I needed to email something to myself to have on my phone. 

I can read, go through other inboxes and load emails from months ago no issue.

I've tested sending to myself and as mentioned above but they just say  "waiting to send" in drafts. If I go on Gmail I can send without issue using my VM email. Also noticed I have around 30 emails which are in my drafts showing which I'd assumed had gone through in the last three months but only just seen they've not. Yet others sent around them have successfully been sent no issue as I've had replies etc. 

[Kath_F]

Hi Keiranjf, 

Thanks for taking the time to contact us via the Community. It's lovely having you on board with us in the Forums. ⭐

We're sorry to hear that you've been having an issue sending emails via your Outlook client. As they are sending from an app on your phone, this would suggest the issue is with Outlook as opposed to your account. 

It may be worth removing the email from Outlook and resetting it up. Have you already set up the new multi factor authentication? If not, please so that ASAP as this will also resolve any issues you're having. Please follow these steps to complete that: 

Please log in to My Virgin Media here > Click on Account settings > Virgin Media Mail settings > scroll down to the App password section and click the Generate new App password button.

You should get a pop up message asking you to verify your email address and you'll need to use a 3rd party email address to continue. You'll be sent a one time passcode to enter on the next page to verify it's you. Once verified you'll then be given an app password which will look something similar to: mail-horse-yellow-panda and you should note this down.

To get things working on an email client or app again, you will need to enter the new mail password in the settings. If you need to remove the email account from the mail client or app completely and re-set it up as fresh then please ensure you use your VM email address as the username and the newly generated app password.

Keep us posted on how you get on. 

Thanks, 

[Keiranjf]

Hi that wasn't the issue. It was the same as everyone else. Turns out my IP had actually been blocked. 

I'm on an ntlworld email and had it for over 20 years. I followed the reported links on other users complaints which have the exact same issue. Received an email stating it had been unlocked but logged for spam, this is the same excuse being used for everyone with older accounts.

There is absolutely nothing I can do about someone spoofing my IP address or email and having that logged as you won't allow people to change their static IP addresses.

[Molly_T]

Hi Keiranjf 👋 Thanks for getting back to us! 

Sadly we are a little limited with what support we can provide for email issues with specific 3rd party client mailing apps. 

If the email service is accessible, and working via our Webmail service 👉 https://virg.in/webmail  there is likely an issue in how the app settings are set up. 

If you have had the email locked at some point, you may need to reset the password and generate a new 3rd party mailing app password just to avoid any further issues. Please let us know once you have tried this! 

When you say your IP had been blocked - does this mean the IP had been blocked specifically for the outlook mail app? Are there any other issues you are experiencing that your IP is blocked?

Let us know if you are still needing support so we can offer help. All the best. 🌞

[Keiranjf]

That is not the issue, as I've said above - you had blocked my IP address and said it was blacklisted for spam, which is exactly what your company is saying to all customers using older email addresses. Ntl & Blueyonder emails are all suddenly having this issue, it's not a coincidence.

I contacted the link provided on other posts having the same issue and received an email from your tech stating it had been blocked. 

People are spoofing IP addresses and you're penalising them for an issue outside of their hands. 

A couple of years ago I was being cc'ed in with hundreds of @ntlworld emails that were spam. That showed someone had a list of us somewhere. 

The blacklist database is supposed to prevent spam reaching our accounts not the other way. Blocking your customers emails and preventing them from sending or recieving when it's outside of our control is a complete joke.

You're making it harder and harder for us to use our emails which we've had for decades. 

[John_GS]

Good morning @Keiranjf 

Thanks for coming back to the thread.

I appreciate what you're saying but I can assure you there's no issue with emails as it's working for you on our Webmail service. 

If you think your IP has been blacklisted, you can check here - https://check.spamhaus.org/.

My colleague is correct, with a third party client, we do have limited help that can be offered so we'd refer you to this - https://www.virginmedia.com/help/broadband/manage-email-account which has all settings etc.

Best wishes.

[Keiranjf]

I don't think anything. It is a fact that my IP had been blocked. Exactly like everyone else on our email addresses.

Following email was received -

Dear €¢¢¥¢€¢€¢¢€

We have now unlocked your IP Address, your IP was locked due to suspicious activity detected. Please ensure you check all devices for potential malware and infections.

What does blacklist mean?
Blacklists are registers of email or IP addresses that have been penalised for sending spam. Most providers use public blacklists to help limit the amount of spam being sent on their networks by blocking IP addresses that appear to be engaging in malicious activities.

To protect users from these kinds of attacks, we set rules in the server software or the Hub that recognise this kind of malicious behaviour. When malicious behaviour (like a spam attack) is recognised, the email or IP address sending the mail is added to a blacklist and prevented from connecting to the server until the issue can be resolved.

Why is my IP address blacklisted?
If your IP address has been blacklisted, it means a device on your network has been sending spam mail. Don’t worry, it’s not likely to have been you. However, it does mean one of your devices or you network might have a virus.

How does blacklisting affect me?
If your IP address is blacklisted, any emails you send will bounce back until you’re removed from the blacklist. That means you won’t be able to contact anyone by email until you’re able to resolve the issue.

If you’re just an individual, being blacklisted could be very inconvenient. It’ll mean you can’t answer any emails, or contact anyone using your email account. This can be very annoying if you need to reply about an interview or if you’re trying ! to send back a recent purchase.

If your company’s account has been blocked and you rely on marketing emails to grow your customer base, this can be very damaging. This can lead to a reduction in business until you can get the issue fixed.

If you’ve sent emails to a number of different addresses and they’ve bounced or been rejected, then it’s worth checking if your IP address has been blacklisted. If it has, you’ll want to resolve the issue as soon as you can.

Virgin Media

This is beyond a joke considering there's page after page with this issue on older emails.

[Gareth_L]

Hello Keiranjf.

Thanks for replying.

The reason we block IP addresses especially if (the findings originate from suspicious emails) Is to keep customers accounts safe.

You mentioned you have noticed this more and more on our community with old webmail accounts.  We did use to supply a free email account for new broadband customers. A lot of these are unused and can easily be attacked by hackers, if a customer has and uses a 3rd party email address instead, then they tend to not check the free email account with us.

We are sorry if you are unhappy with the blacklisting, But we can assure you it really is a way of keeping accounts safe.

Gareth_L