I want to say thank you for this blog. I had the same problem with comcast exactly one week ago and after spending 1.5 hours online with comcast tech support, the problem resolved itself. The tech guy claimed that he did not do anything but I am not stupid and I know that he did since I did nothing different.

I use 3 computers with 5 different email address and use each email accounts pop3 and smtp info and have never had a problem before. I used outlook 2003 and XP for years until I upgraded to outlook 2007last year. I never had a problem sending email ever until 1 week ago.

I use comcast to connect to the internet, located in chicago, but do not use comcast for email at all. I have my own domain with 4 email address and another private email account that I use for all email.

I spent an entire Friday evening last week trying to figure out what was wrong (I knew it was not my email address) but thought it was my equipment (router, hub, cable modem. When that did not work, I called comcast and the guy was nice but was useless. I think he just reset my system and ended the call.

According to comcast website, they disable your email send capabilities for 24 hours if they sense that you are sending more than 1000 emails a day. I have no virus and do not send anywhere near 1000 emails a day.

I thought all was well until I tried to send email out last night. It was a no go. Could not send from any email address or computer. I could send if I went directly to the web based email but not from outlook. I thought it would fix itself but after 24 hours it did not. I tried shutting down the network and let it reset itself but that did not work either. It has been a week since the previous fix but I was not going to spend another friday night online with comcast.

So my search in google brought me to your site. I tried changing the outgoing port to 587 but that did not work so I kept reading and found port 465. OMG. It worked. The incoming port stayed 110, outgoing changed to 465 and I picked SSL under the “use the following type of encrypted connection” drop down. I did not check the “this server requires an encrypted connection” box.

So again I must say thank you so very much. I am up and running again.

Barbara from Chicago.

I checked Outlook and Express and have the pop3 and smtp same on both so that’s good at least. But after many calls to them and online, they only send me to MS which I will not pay $40 per session to find out what’s wrong. Everything was working then stopped and I had not added anything different to my pc. I also disabled NIS and NAV and still get same problem…oh! btw, I have my HD partitioned so I reinstalled XP Pro, Norton’s etc on C: drive so this is also a very fresh install with all the updates and still same problem.

I just find this very strange

- For me, in downtown San Francisco, port 25 was the one that worked. 465 didn’t

- The agents on online “chat” are MUCH BETTER than the imbeciles on the phone. Click “chat now” on http://www.askcomcast.com/contactus.asp

- If you didn’t get an @comcast.net address originally, you have to to sign up for one for the SMTP credentials. Processing this takes 30 minutes to 48 hours. You’ll need to ask for a ticket # and contact them later to get the email / password.

Undoubtedly, after 2 week in Boston, they’ve encountered others like yourself and can recommend another port to try besides 587.

(or, move your hosting to Comcast - yikes!)

I’m using a Mac, OS X 10.5.2 and Eudora 6.2.1. Past settings of smtp.comcast.net and NO Authorization used to work fine. I’ve played with checking the “Use submission port (587)” but no luck. Any advice from others struggling and/or succeeding in the area?

I’m guessing your nephew was familiar with your domain, so that’s why he knew that.

This is certainly not to imply that he’s not well qualified though, and please, nephew Steve, tell us more about why port 465 worked for your uncle? (if you do, I’ll fix the email address that your uncle nicely posted for the spambots

I welcome your input…

THIS FIX IS GOOD FOR COMCAST IN THE SF BAY AREA. GO TO MAIL PROPERIES TABS. UNDER SERVERS TAB CHECK THE BOX FOR “MY SERVER REQUIRES AUTHENTICATION”… UNDER “ADVANCE” TAB EXCHANGE THE DEFAULT OUTGOING PORT 25 WITH “465″. THEN CHECK BOTH BOXES FOR OUTGING MAIL “THIS SERVER REQUIRES A SECURE CONNECTION (SSL) AND INCOMING: “THIS SERVER REQURES A SECURE CONNECTION (SSL)

TRY IT NOW …. IT WORKED FOR ME FINE
GOOD LUCK

PS
MY BRAINY 38 YEAR OLD NEPHEW IS UNEMPLOYED IN SAN JOSE, CA. AND WILLING TO EXCEPT ANY WAGE… “ANY WAGE”… AND ANYONE WHO WANTS TO OFFER HIM A JOB MAY CONTACT HIM AT steve_w.morgan (at) sbcglobal.net YOU WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED… TRY HIM OUT
SINCERELY,
“59 YEAR OLD UNCLE” JOE BIELEFELD, CUPERTINO, CA

ed. - Scott fixed the email address for Steve