Daniel Curran on April 4th, 2009
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Almost all mail client program send e-mail using port 25, which is also the port used by mail servers to talk to each other. But port 25 is widely abused by malware to spread worms and spam. As a result, many ISPs are restricting its use.

Hang on – it will make sense in a second:

Most people having a setup where they are on an Internet Service Provider (ISP) like ATT and have an email address like “MyEmail@ATT.net”  You connect to the internet using ATT and send mail through the ATT server – no problem.

But if you have your own domain email address or an email address from another ISP you may hit a snag. In these cases you are connecting to the internet through your ISP (like Comcast, SpeakEasy, ATT, etc) and trying to send email through your third party host like “MyEmail@SuperCoolWebsite.com”

Your ISP says “Hey! There is someone on my network trying to send email through someone elses address! This might be spam or malware!” You can receive mail, but you can’t send mail.

Recently ATT and Verizon both made changes that affected outgoing mail. Here’s the fix:

If you cannot SEND MAIL

  1. Open OUTLOOK
  2. Select TOOLS
  3. Select ACCOUNT SETTINGS
  4. Highlight the account in question and select CHANGE
  5. Select MORE SETTINGS
  6. Select ADVANCED
  7. Change from PORT 25 to PORT 587
  8. Save everything and restart Outlook

port-587

Other email programs will have similar settings. Look for PROPERTIES or PREFERENCES and find the outgoing mail server option.

One other option to check is that you are authenticating before sending. In other words. logging in with your username and password to both check and send email.

In Outlook the options window looks like this:

port-587-2

This tells Outlook to send your username and password before trying to send mail. If you have problems try enabling or disabling this setting.

The screen shots used in this how-to are my actual settings and they work just fine with SpeakEasy and ATT.

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  • 48 Responses to “How To Fix Your Port Settings If Cannot Send Mail From Outlook”

    1. Wow where did you get this info from. It works, but those people from ATT who aren't even in this country keep on telling me to use 465 which doesn't work. Thanks again.

    2. Thanks for the quick reference! I'd found a site with this information some time ago, but did not bookmark it. I appreciate the screenshot, and enjoyed your explanation of the issue! :)

    3. Many thanks for this post Daniel. It helped resolve an email problem that was causing me some frustration. Easy when you know how!

    4. Great post!!
      I was also facing the same kind of problem in my laptop when I travel to other countries than i'm.
      Then I got a miracle solution which really worked for me.
      To get that solution please <a href="http://1f30flwpo0qdea3qusvusfe.....&quot;
      target="_top">Click Here!here.

    5. Thanks a ton! ATT couldn't even figure it out.

    6. Thanks a lot! Comcast was of no help a all (big surprise)

    7. Thanks so so much..

    8. Thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooooo much ! It worked.

    9. MUSTAQUEEM HASHMI
      July 21st, 2010 at 5:08 am

      my outlook receave but not send mails
      incoming mail (pop3)is 202.138.97.97
      outgoing smtp is 202.138.96.26
      & this same settings work proper in other pc
      but not wirk in default pc………………

    10. Great!!!! It works!!!! All I did was to change from Port 25 to 587. Thank you.

    11. awesome! thanks

    12. Thank you very much! This worked for me with Qwest MSN email and I've spent hours trying to open port 25 on my new modem/router. Yaaaa!

    13. good job!!!!!!!

    14. i've been trying to figure out what to do you save me from alot of pain tnx alot!!!

    15. I was really getting frustrated. Thanks so much for a good quick fix!

    16. Port 587 doesn't work with Mac. I've tried 993, 465, 25 and now 587. Any suggestions?

    17. this was great, thank you! Worked perfectly!

    18. Nice to be visiting your post again, it has been months for me. Well this article that I’ve been waited for so long. I need this article to complete my assignment in the college, and it has same topic with your article. Thanks, great share!

    19. I am very interested about it, will you share more detail? Like source of this story

    20. Thanks for your sharing, I like your article, looking forward to your next to share.

    21. thankyou very much, big pat on your back from me!!!! back to business!!!

    22. Awesome….The only question I have is, "when i leave the at&t network at my house, do I have to switch back to Port 25 at my office

    23. thx macha

    24. For all the people in the MAC world, the port that worked for me was 26.

    25. No, you don't have to change it back.

    26. the port that worked for me was 26

    27. THANK YOU!!! I've been trying to figure this out for the past 2 months. Had to use my ATT email account to send messages. It was a pain going back and forth from Outlook to ATT, copying and pasting. Plus the emails would come out with different fonts, I wasn't able to insert pics into the body of the email…. ugh! Your settings helped so much. Feel free to use this as a testimonial for your services… Gabrielle Talley

    28. I am trying to set up on an android tablet with AT&T email and I am using
      username: myemail@att.net
      password: my password
      pop3 server: att.net
      port: 587
      and its not working….what am I doing wrong?

    29. The screen shots used in this how-to are my actual settings and they work just fine with SpeakEasy and ATT.

    30. Almost all mail client program send e-mail using port 25, which is also the port

    31. Almost all mail client program send e-mail using port 25, which is also the port used by mail servers to talk to each other. But port 25 is widely abused by malware

    32. You connect to the internet using ATT and send mail through the ATT server – no problem.

    33. As a result, many ISPs are restricting its use

    34. You connect to the internet using ATT and send mail through the ATT server – no problem.

    35. You connect to the internet using ATT and send mail through the ATT server – no problem.

      http://www.escentual.com/a-derma/

    36. Fantastic Fix! Many Many Thanks Daniel

    37. I have a MAIL.COM email account that I cannot access on my phone with the constant error message "Unable to connect to server". I have tried the incoming server security of SSL (Accept all), with port No, 995, 993, 587, & also 26, but none of them are allowing me access.

      My outgoings server security is SSL (Accept all), with port No. 465, but again I have tried several other port numbers, but nothing I try is playing ball, so any help/assistance that you can provide will be gratefully appreciated please to use with the Android mobile phone email settings of my Mail.com account.

    38. YEAH! It worked, every other site had 465 or 25 or something else!

    39. Your feed back on Authenticating before sending works great ,not even my ISP (Comcast) Tech support was not able to correct the issue,they are using a Third party -Tech Support called Advance Tech Support if you ask for the Service you will be charge a one time feed of $55.00.your knowledge puts all of them to shame my Outlook is working fine after following your steps -thanks once again Curran JR

    40. Worked for me. Excelent ! Thanks !

    41. It worked for me but mails all bounced.

    42. Best advice I received….worked like a charm

    43. bro you great it works perfectly thanks alot

    44. Thank You! Perfect!

    45. This has been bugging me forever. THANK YOU!

    46. I’d like to thank you for this reference, I actually work for a U.S AT&T department and lately we’ve seen this issue pop up more often. My first customer was frustrated and I used this to help come to a resolution and it worked like a charm. I’ve referred a few customers to this website just in case this problem comes up in the future and they’re so happy. A lot of us are using this so we don’t have to send customers to another department that charges a fee to help.

      Again, thanks a ton!

    47. not find that

    48. Dude you rock! I just fixed my Outook after wrestling with it for 3 days. Comcsst guys had zero idea how to help. Thank you! My only wonder is why this suddenly became a problem for me. Well, anyway, I am now happy.

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