Mail via AT&T's dialup service and BT?

[ricktakagi]

Hi all,

I can't for the life of me get my POP mail from ATT.net to come through on my Axim via a BT connection. I can get to my .mac mail just fine which is just a basic pop account. Any help would be greatly appreciated if your able to pull this off.


Rick

[Ed Hansberry]

You have to have SSL support (google for a program called STUNNEL) and the ability to change your SMTP and POP3 ports to non-standard ports.

The only way around this is to RAS directly into AT&T's ISP using your phone as a modem.

[Janak Parekh]

Just to explain a bit more - AT&T limits POP access if you connect through another ISP (like a GPRS provider over BT) to SSL connections only.

Inbox doesn't support SSL directly, so there are hacks (http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~mgilbert/S_Imap.txt) involving a program called stunnel.

Some more detail (although not well-explained) is available on AT&T's site (http://help.att.net/docs/use/email/msole/prb_ie5_w95-3x_cfg-eml-any-isp.htm).

--janak

[ricktakagi]

Wow...sounds like a major hassle. Thanks Ed, I appreciate your help. I think I'll just forward everything through my .mac account.


Rick

[PetiteFlower]

I wish AT&T would make its webmail site mobile-friendly. But oh well, I'll only be using them for another few weeks :)

Seems like I can get mail from Comcast through another connection but not send....but according to Comcast's site they don't support SSL at all except through their connection. That's not that big of a deal though, reading mail while on the go is a lot more important to me then being able to send....that can always wait till I get home :)

[Janak Parekh]

Does Comcast support authenticated SMTP (SMTP AUTH)? If so, you might be able to set that up.

--janak

[ricktakagi]

At&Ts dialup service is still part of AT&T...I think. You would think that setting up a simple POP account through your PPC would be easier. I couldn't find any way to configure my Dell Axim in order to create a SSL. My struggle continues!


Rick

[PetiteFlower]

From Comcast's site:

Can I check my E-mail with Outlook Express when I'm not connected with my Comcast cable modem?

Comcast does not currently offer SSL (single socket layer) connections for subscribers wishing to access POP mail outside of the Comcast network. Notice will be posted on this site if this situation changes. Comcast encourages all subscribers to utilize Comcast Mail for email delivery when not connected to the Comcast High-Speed Internet network. To access Comcast Mail, log in to the Comcast High-Speed Internet home page at http://www.comcast.net and click on the My E-mail link in the left navigation.
**********
I don't think they support SMTP AUTH either.

[ricktakagi]

wait...does this mean that even the dialup service is switching to comcast? And also, if they don't support SSL then shouldn't a simple pop server work? I'm confused now..

All I want to do is check my mail on my PPC via BT....that's not possible if ATT is the dialup service...is that right?


Rick

[PetiteFlower]

Sorry to confuse--*MY* service provider is switching from AT&T dialup to Comcast cable modem :)

As far as I knew, you couldn't dl AT&T messages unless you were connected by dialing up to an AT&T number. Janek now shows there is a way to do that, but it requires SSL which Pocket Inbox doesn't natively support. If you don't want to mess with the hacks(I probably wouldn't either) then no, there's not really a way to do it unless you use the BT to connect to a BT cell phone, which you then use to dial up to an AT&T service number.

Clear as mud?

[ricktakagi]

clear as mud is right. I just forwarded my AT&T mail to my .mac account and is works great. I guess I'll stick with that for a while.


Rick

[Janak Parekh]

Clear as mud?
Perfectly clear for me... but then of course, I deal with this stuff for a living. :)

Comcast certainly doesn't support SMTP AUTH from their response. What I really want Sprint, T-Mobile & co. to do is to have their own SMTP servers available when you're connected through a cell phone. Most of them are pretty obstinate about not doing this, so far.

--janak

[PetiteFlower]

Heh apparantly you're not technically supposed to even be using your Sprint phone as a modem for a PDA or a laptop; they only technically support this with their data cards/plans. So I wouldn't hold my breath there :)

[Janak Parekh]

Heh apparantly you're not technically supposed to even be using your Sprint phone as a modem for a PDA or a laptop
True, but they sell PC cards for this, and they still don't provide an SMTP server. And there was also the pre-Vision days when they sold a serial cable...

--janak