Unable to send emails using Apple Mail Ap

[Scarboj]

Several weeks ago I found my outgoing Virginmedia emails blocked when using Apple Mail. I can send when using Virgin webmail. Noted a similar problem posted earlier with another user but its unclear how it was sorted. Appears that Virgin may be blocking my outgoing mail because of suspicious mail activity but have had no such notification and there seems to be no way to contact a human being to help. 150 routes me to the online help section which has no useful advice. Who do I contact for help please?

[ahrbee · Accepted solution]

I use Apple Mail but without issues at present. If your Virgin Webmail is working properly, it might be worth checking that the e-mail settings on your Apple device are all still correct and not corrupted in any way. If so, you would need to clear the current entries and re-enter them. You could use Apple support for guidance to do this if necessary.

I once had my e-mail blocked temporarily by Virgin when it suspected the e-mail address was being used to send out spam. This affected the whole use of the e-mail address, though, including Webmail. The advice for this was to run a virus scan and change the password for the affected account. Once that was done, it was necessary to update the password all devices using that account such as my Apple Mail.

[Scarboj]

Thanks I’ll follow up your advice today and reset the passwords. Webmail is working fine thank goodness. I did wonder if my wi-fi router has been hacked so causing it to be black listed but the fact that I can get to webmail makes that unlikely. Thanks again. 

[Scarboj]

Thanks again. I discovered yesterday that my iPad Mail Ap works perfectly using a public Wi-Fi locally without any changes to passwords etc so it definitely looks as though my Virgin router is blacklisted. I have reset it several times without any effect. The only unusual device attached is a TV that uses my Wi-Fi. 
I'll continue investigating. I wasted a lot of money on a local expert who recommended upgrading one of my older iPads because Virgin does not support older devices using iOS 12, because of security concerns. Seems unlikely but who knows, in this ever more complex world of network security!

[ahrbee]

If you haven't already done so, you might try strengthening your router password. In June 2021, Virgin emailed me to do so, presumably because it was aware of an issue with routers of a certain age.

I also found that, on my new Apple devices, I get 'weak security' messages on my iMac and iPhone. I have taken this up with Virgin Media who claim there is no such issue with VM if the router has a strong password. There is a message on this subject on the 'Networking and Wifi' forum from a Virgin Media contributor.

Good luck with this and if you find an answer, please let us know.

[Scarboj]

Thanks to everyone for messages of advice. The problem is still unresolved partly because I haven't got an etherlink connection from the router to a laptop to allow me to change the router password. I'm very reluctant to dabble anyway just in case things get even worse - I have no ambition to become a networking nerd. I can quite believe that this is an Apple specific problem. Apple is now just as bad as Microsoft in constantly upgrading hardware and software and adding complexity. The difficulty in getting real support from virgin on email issues is also a problem. Didn't intend to whinge quite as much! Thanks to all who helped.

[Kath_F]

Hi Scarboj, 

Thanks for coming back to the community and updating the thread on this. 

We're sorry that the Community were unable to help and that the issue has been ruled as an Apple fault. 

In terms of resetting the router password, if you have already set a password then you can revert things back to default by doing a PIN hole reset. 

Let us know if you need further help. 

Thanks,