Email issues on wifi

[Capd3380]

Suggestions please

On Monday 10th January I discovered that my wife, my daughter and I were unable to send emails from any of our devices whilst connected to Virginmedai WIFI.  The devices were a Macbook Air, 2 windows laptops and 3 android phones.  I could send emails from my web account but not 3rd party apps.  If I turned the wifi off, all three androids can send emails using data, If I turn the phones into a wifi hotspot using data the laptops send emails,

The Devices all send emails when connected to another wifi.  A friend device that sends emails over their wifi won’t send when connected to my Virginmedia wifi

When I try to send an email on virginmedia wifi I get the error message that it can’t connect to the server and puts the email in the outbox until the connection is complete.

I have removed and reinstalled the email accounts and get the error message “Couldn’t verify account. Server does not support authentication.”   If I switch off the wifi off and use data the account verifies.

 On Monday 10th I rebooted the router but no success I then reset the router no success.  On Tuesday 11th I rand virginmedia and was informed there had been an outage and it had affected the server at their end and they were working on it and it should be repaired by about 330pm and if I was still having issue to ring back.  

I have made several calls to virginmedia re this and usually end up being passed in circles and getting cut off. 

I have spoken to numerous “technicians” who have tried to say it’s a device issue but all the devices work elsewhere other than on my viriginmedia wifi.  Other  peoples devices that work else where don’t send emails on my wifi.  Similarly I have been told its an app issue and as such not a virginmedia issue as they are 3rd party apps  but they all work when not connected my wifi at home.

 I have done numerous resets and reboots at the request of technicians.  The last call was on Thursday 20th January when I was told the issue would be passed to the technical dept again as it was an ongoing connection issue.  I have not heard anything yet.

I believe this is a router issue as the devices and apps all work elsewhere and the internet works fine, I can receive emails over wifi but cannot send them

[用心棒]

It would be helpful to see what, if any, VM error code is returned by the SMTP server in this situation. Open the Terminal application and enter the following where username:password is replaced with your email address and password, i.e. richard.branson@virginmedia.com:Y54kpX5g:

curl -v smtps://smtp.virginmedia.com -u username:password 2>&1 | grep "214\\|VM"

The resulting output for success will be similar to:

⋮
214-2.0.0 This is cmsmtp ESMTP service help
214-2.0.0 To contact postmaster send email to postmaster@virginmedia.com.
214-2.0.0 For local information send email to Postmaster at your site.
214 2.0.0 end of HELP info

and for failure:

< 535 5.7.8 Authentication Credentials Invalid (VM300)

Can you post just the failure resulting output here or just the VM error code shown.

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[jem101]

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@Capd3380 wrote:

Suggestions please

Snip...

On Tuesday 11th I rand virginmedia and was informed there had been an outage and it had affected the server at their end and they were working on it and it should be repaired by about 330pm and if I was still having issue to ring back.

Actually no, the person you spoke to had no idea what you were talking about, couldn't find a suitable answer on their list of scripted responses and so just made something up. Par for the course really. Still, got you off the line, they chalk up another closed call and it becomes someone else's problem!

I have made several calls to virginmedia re this and usually end up being passed in circles and getting cut off. 

Yep, see above, but at least this time they cut you off rather than spinning a lie, so that might be an improvement.

I have spoken to numerous “technicians” (no you haven't, they are poorly trained script readers) who have tried to say it’s a device issue but all the devices work elsewhere other than on my viriginmedia wifi (what all of them? But they mysteriously fix them themselves when elsewhere? Your house isn't built on an ancient sacred burial ground and you have angered the spirits by any chance? Damn, should have said that the call centre staff will suggest it as a fix in future).  Other  peoples devices that work else where don’t send emails on my wifi.  (See angry spirits - it's the only possible explaination) Similarly I have been told its an app issue and as such not a virginmedia issue as they are 3rd party apps  but they all work when not connected my wifi at home.

 I have done numerous resets and reboots at the request of technicians.  The last call was on Thursday 20th January when I was told the issue would be passed to the technical dept again as it was an ongoing connection issue.  I have not heard anything yet.

And you never will; believe me

I believe this is a router issue as the devices and apps all work elsewhere and the internet works fine, I can receive emails over wifi but cannot send them

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Actually no, it's not a router issue, or a server issue or malignant forces from beyond, for some reason or another, your IP address allocated by VM has found its way onto a blocklist (infected device on your network sending out spam, possibly). As such VM actively blocks outgoing connections; devices don't really know what the issue is and just cough up a generic password or unable to connect.

We'll really need to see the exact error code being generated, so if you could follow the advice from @用心棒 above, we can advise accordingly.

Incidentally, these things can sometimes be transient and just fix themselves after a time as the address ages out and drops off the list - don't rely on it though.

[Capd3380]

How do I get into the terminal application

[用心棒]

On:

• MacOS,  press ⌘ + Space bar to show Spotlight search field, type Terminal and select Terminal application to launch
• Windows,  press ⊞ + R to show Run dialogue, type cmd and select Run

[Capd3380]

Your comments in blue made me chuckle as they reflected my true thoughts but had to give a description of what had occurred.