AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

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Code Name
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AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

Post by Code Name »

Wondering if anyone else is experiencing problems with email using AOL's servers not working in certain instances.

In 2017, Verizon retired its email provider for all customers and migrated to using AOL's servers. Many (maybe most) people that had @verizon.net email addresses (that elected to keep the @verizon.net email address have been using AOL's email servers for their @verizon.net email.

My wife and I (located in a suburb of Dallas, Texas) both use Thunderbird as our email client. We are both using Frontier Communication's FiOS service for our digital landline telephone, television and Internet services, which has always worked flawlessly for the many years we've had it.

For the past week my wife has been unable to receive or send emails using Thunderbird or her Apple devices. However, the AOL webmail works fine (when she logs-in to check her emails) - just not via her Thunderbird or her Apple iPad. All settings are correct and have not been changed.

I, on the other hand, with my PC located just twenty feet from her PC, have had no problem receiving or sending emails with my @verizon.net email account using Thunderbird or my Apple iPhone. Really strange!

I'm trying to figure out what the source of this weird problem is. I contacted Frontier tech support and was able to talk with a high-level tech and he said there is no work by Frontier being done that would cause just her email to be down - and he thought it was weird that only her email was down but not mine since we both have the same Frontier service. He said it sounded like an AOL problem.

I have a friend that lives about two miles away and he is experiencing the exact same problem my wife is having with no email (Tb user also) for going on a week!

In searching I have noticed that a lot of people (including around Dallas) are complaining that AOL is down and they [too] are unable to use email when AOL's servers are used for their @verizon.net email account. But why is my email successfully being received and sent using Thunderbird when my wife is on the same [Frontier FiOS] service? And why is her Apple devices not able to receive and send @verizon.net email, but my Apple devices are? Really strange!

Could the problem be that our email accounts take different routings to perform (carry out) the email service? I seem to recall a tech telling me one time that two computers in the same house could take different email routings in which (one of the two) might hit a problem area along the route and be unable to provide service.

Any ideas on what's going on to cause this? And, how to resolve it?
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tanstaafl
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Re: AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

Post by tanstaafl »

The iphone uses a cellular connection so the server name could resolve to a different host than what your modem/router connects to.

Its possible you just running into flakiness due to AOL server mismanagement or they using a load balancing router in front of thier mail servers (it connects you to the host that is least used). However try typing ipconfig on a console window. See what the default gateway is . That's the tcp-ip address used by the router to connect to the Internet. Do that on each PC. Are they all using the same address to connect to the Internet?

https://www.howtogeek.com/233952/how-to ... or-tablet/
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Code Name
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Re: AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

Post by Code Name »

try typing ipconfig on a console window. See what the default gateway is . That's the tcp-ip address used by the router to connect to the Internet. Do that on each PC. Are they all using the same address to connect to the Internet?

Yes, the IP address is the same...
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Re: AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

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I'm having all sorts of weird problems with email accounts that don't make any sense whatsoever and I cannot explain.

Outlook cannot connect to AOL's server to authenticate my wife's verizon.net email account, which doesn't surprise me considering Thunderbird can't connect either - even though my Thunderbird can connect to the AOL server to access my verizon.net emails. Both of us can log-in to AOL webmail and access our individual verizon.net accounts however.

On top of that, Outlook cannot connect to the Gmail server to access her gmail email account, which totally confuses me. Yet she can log-in to webmail for GMail and access her emails.

So many really strange events that are unconnected (independent) to one another.
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tanstaafl
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Re: AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

Post by tanstaafl »

How do you make a connection to the Internet? I.e. do you have a ethernet or wifi connection to a box? Is the box just a modem or is it a modem/router etc.

Does Thunderbird have any problem connecting to the Gmail server?

Webmail doesn't use your email providers pop/imap/smtp servers, it calls shared libraries instead. So webmail will typically be unaffected by problems with the mail servers.
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Code Name
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Re: AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

Post by Code Name »

tanstaafl wrote:How do you make a connection to the Internet? I.e. do you have a ethernet or wifi connection to a box? Is the box just a modem or is it a modem/router etc.

Does Thunderbird have any problem connecting to the Gmail server?

Webmail doesn't use your email providers pop/imap/smtp servers, it calls shared libraries instead. So webmail will typically be unaffected by problems with the mail servers.
Our PCs are both connected directly to the Frontier Communications router which is fed from the ONT (Optical Network Terminal), which has been working flawlessly for a very long time.

My Thunderbird client has no problem connecting quickly to the AOL server and the Gmail server for full access to both email accounts.
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Code Name
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Re: AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

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Here is what my friend, who also uses an @verizon.net email address, that lives a couple of miles from me said about the exact same problem that my wife is having:


Still not working. I am having to go to AOL Mail on the web for all of my verizon.net email. I have placed their logo shortcut extension on my desktop. I check thunderbird now and then to see if it is working, but so far it is not working. It has been down for me for almost 2 wks. I don't understand this. It really pisses me off.


-----Original Message-----
From: ME <xxxxxxxx@verizon.net>
To: XXXXX XXXXXX <xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@verizon.net>
Sent: Sun, Jan 23, 2022 1:48 pm
Subject: Re: Fwd: (Is your email service restored?)

Bill - I see that you forwarded this mail from your @verizon.net email address.

Did you get your verizon.net email service restored or did you use another email client that was somehow able to connect with AOL's server, or did you just use AOL Mail webmail?

XXXXX's @verizon.net email service is still down. However, mine has been working fine the entire time. She is a very unhappy camper!

Let me know what you did about yours...and how you sent me this email.
Last edited by Code Name on January 23rd, 2022, 5:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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tanstaafl
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Re: AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

Post by tanstaafl »

You didn't mention what error messages she got, just that "For the past week my wife has been unable to receive or send emails using Thunderbird or her Apple devices.". The full text of any error messages might help. I've been assuming she has been getting connection time-out errors. Temporarily uninstalling any anti-virus scanner / security suites and relying upon Windows Defender might help, especially since the problem came out of the blue. She might have gotten a automated update of her anti-virus scanner that didn't work with her existing configuration. McAfee is a frequent troublemaker.

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Te ... s_products

You could copy your profile to your wife's PC and see if you have the same problem using it there. If you don't that implies there is something wrong with her profile.
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Re: AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

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Well, now Thunderbird can't connect to my @verizon.net email account can't connect with the server. And my Mailbell email notifier suddenly can't connect eiither.
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tanstaafl
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Re: AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

Post by tanstaafl »

I don't understand the context. Do you mean that when you copied your profile to your wife's PC it had those problems or do you mean your PC suddenly started having problems?
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Re: AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

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Well, now Thunderbird can't connect to my @verizon.net email account can't connect with the server. And my Mailbell email notifier suddenly can't connect eiither.
tanstaafl wrote:I don't understand the context. Do you mean that when you copied your profile to your wife's PC it had those problems or do you mean your PC suddenly started having problems?
My PC suddenly started having the same problem that my wife and my friend that lives two miles away (and also uses a verizon.net email account) are having for the past 3 weeks.


I tried sending a Test message to myself and here are the two boxes I saw (see below) - first that the message was sent (but it wasn't!) The next box said the Outgoing Server Message Failed.

Image

Image

Before you ask - I checked the password and the Authentification of the Outgoing Server and made sure the settings were: smtp.verizon, Normal Password, Port 465, and SSL/TLS
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Re: AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

Post by sunclad »

AOL mail (Verizon.Net) has required a separate password for 3rd party programs such as Thunderbird for some time now.

You need to login via web browser to the account and locate the security settings screen. It may ask you to turn on "less secure" (in their opinion) programs. You then have to generate a specific app password that will be used to recognize TB or any other 3rd party program used to access their mail systems including Outlook, Betterbird, and others. Once that password is generated... and that will be generated by them as random alpha characters... you do not have a choice... copy that down or cut-paste it to a text editor to save.

Now access TB and navigate to the individual mail account that uses the AOL mail servers and use this NEW password in that location. Use it for incoming mail and also for outgoing mail. Also view their specific web page for verizon.net settings for server address, port, security.

When completed you will have two passwords. One to login to AOL itself via web browser or for their mail access that way, and one created specifically for TB or other program. Worth noting that Yahoo, which was also owned by Verizon at one point, does the same thing with their mail now.

Verizon sold off its Yahoo and AOL mail holdings a few months back to a company named "Global."

Which that prefix, for the last couple of months I have also been having problems accessing Verizon.Net mail on AOL servers. I have all of the IMAP settings correct as provided on their instructions page for ports and security. In fact these settings, including the 3rd party password had been working flawlessly until about 2 months back.

Now when I try to access my Verizon.Net mail on AOL servers, it will get refused at random times. I can usually populate my TB folders OK but when I try to move mail between folders, delete stuff from the junk folder, or empty the junk folder, there are connection problems. I get errors stating that TB is checking the server's capabilities (new one to me) and then the connection is refused.

However if I go back 10 mins later I can usually finish up what i was doing until it happens again. It is acting as if AOL's mail servers are purposefully limiting (throttling) third party programs such as TB. I have a copy of Seamonkey on a different system and that is experiencing the same problem, so it is definitely on the AOL end. When I log in using a web browser I do not have this problem.

So it is likely not TB or any other 3rd party program but a problem at the AOL end of things. If they do not fix it soon I expect that I will need to abandon them as will many others.
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Re: AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

Post by Code Name »

Thank you vey much for this. I strongly suspect this explains the access problem with the AOL server(s) we've been experiencing.

I guess I'll try to use the new random alpha characters password that AOL generates (AOL generates it, right?) for the Tb password so I can get back to using Tb to access to my mails. Once I enter the new random alpha characters password in Tb (for each account) and save it in the password manager, that will be the only time I'll need to enter a password for Tb, right? So, AOL will generate a new random alpha characters password for all email accounts to be used as the password for TB that use AOL servers, right?

How about Outlook and Gmail email accounts? AOL generates a new random alpha characters password for them too that must be entered in TB for those accounts, right?
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Code Name
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Re: AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

Post by Code Name »

I don't see Security Settings on the AOL web browser mail.
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Re: AOL for @verizon.net email account down for days

Post by tanstaafl »

"How about Outlook and Gmail email accounts? AOL generates a new random alpha characters password for them too that must be entered in TB for those accounts, right?"

No. Outlook and Gmail normally don't need a application specific password unless you configured their webmail to enable 2FA. And if you needed one you'd generate the application specific password using their web site, not AOLs.

https://www.google.com/landing/2step/ (gmail)
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/acc ... b4585e7eb4 (outlook)
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