(27 votes, average: 5.74 out of 6)
Loading ...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
- Open OUTLOOK
- Select TOOLS
- Select ACCOUNT SETTINGS
- Highlight the account in question and select CHANGE
- Select MORE SETTINGS
- Select ADVANCED
- Change from PORT 25 to PORT 587
- Save everything and restart Outlook
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:
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.
April 19th, 2009 at 11:45 am
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.
May 16th, 2009 at 5:46 am
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!
October 3rd, 2009 at 7:41 am
Many thanks for this post Daniel. It helped resolve an email problem that was causing me some frustration. Easy when you know how!
January 9th, 2010 at 3:13 am
Great post!!
I was also facing the same kind of problem in my laptop when I travel to other countries than i'm.
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February 4th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
Thanks a ton! ATT couldn't even figure it out.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Thanks a lot! Comcast was of no help a all (big surprise)
March 8th, 2010 at 12:07 am
Thanks so so much..
June 27th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooooo much ! It worked.
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………………
November 28th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
Great!!!! It works!!!! All I did was to change from Port 25 to 587. Thank you.
December 16th, 2010 at 4:59 am
awesome! thanks
February 25th, 2011 at 11:44 pm
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!
February 28th, 2011 at 5:43 am
good job!!!!!!!
February 28th, 2011 at 5:44 am
i've been trying to figure out what to do you save me from alot of pain tnx alot!!!
March 29th, 2011 at 9:15 am
I was really getting frustrated. Thanks so much for a good quick fix!
July 13th, 2011 at 6:19 am
Port 587 doesn't work with Mac. I've tried 993, 465, 25 and now 587. Any suggestions?
August 5th, 2011 at 8:15 pm
this was great, thank you! Worked perfectly!
September 2nd, 2011 at 5:18 pm
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!
September 2nd, 2011 at 11:43 pm
I am very interested about it, will you share more detail? Like source of this story
September 7th, 2011 at 11:34 pm
Thanks for your sharing, I like your article, looking forward to your next to share.
September 15th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
thankyou very much, big pat on your back from me!!!! back to business!!!
November 23rd, 2011 at 4:52 am
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
January 11th, 2012 at 7:09 pm
thx macha
January 16th, 2012 at 11:46 pm
For all the people in the MAC world, the port that worked for me was 26.
January 16th, 2012 at 11:48 pm
No, you don't have to change it back.
January 16th, 2012 at 11:49 pm
the port that worked for me was 26
February 3rd, 2012 at 6:29 am
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
February 3rd, 2012 at 2:13 pm
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?
April 17th, 2012 at 2:44 am
The screen shots used in this how-to are my actual settings and they work just fine with SpeakEasy and ATT.
April 18th, 2012 at 12:22 am
Almost all mail client program send e-mail using port 25, which is also the port
April 19th, 2012 at 1:58 am
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
April 27th, 2012 at 10:05 pm
You connect to the internet using ATT and send mail through the ATT server – no problem.
April 28th, 2012 at 2:12 am
As a result, many ISPs are restricting its use
April 28th, 2012 at 2:38 am
You connect to the internet using ATT and send mail through the ATT server – no problem.
April 30th, 2012 at 11:07 pm
You connect to the internet using ATT and send mail through the ATT server – no problem.
http://www.escentual.com/a-derma/
May 17th, 2012 at 1:39 am
Fantastic Fix! Many Many Thanks Daniel
August 29th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
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.
September 4th, 2012 at 1:01 pm
YEAH! It worked, every other site had 465 or 25 or something else!
January 8th, 2013 at 2:17 am
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
January 23rd, 2013 at 10:25 am
Worked for me. Excelent ! Thanks !
January 30th, 2013 at 1:27 am
It worked for me but mails all bounced.
February 8th, 2013 at 7:24 am
Best advice I received….worked like a charm
March 8th, 2013 at 2:46 am
bro you great it works perfectly thanks alot
March 8th, 2013 at 11:14 am
Thank You! Perfect!
March 17th, 2013 at 9:39 am
This has been bugging me forever. THANK YOU!
March 26th, 2013 at 10:27 pm
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!
March 31st, 2013 at 1:54 am
not find that
April 15th, 2013 at 4:10 pm
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.