Windows & iOS | Outlook Issues | IMAP Servers Not Responding

[Proph]

On January 2nd, my iOS & Windows mail apps (Outlook & native iOS) stopped working with BT's email service.  IMAP servers not responding is error message.

Online Chat claim BT don't support any email Clients!!!!!

Webmail continues to work.

Anyone else having same issues?

[gg30340]

When BT Customer Services state that BT do not support email clients, what they mean is they can not offer any help or assistance if the email clients don't work. There are far to many different email clients/apps for them to be able to support all of them. As far as BT is concerned if your email works via webmail, it is working.

My advice would be NOT to delete the email accounts from your devices nor change any settings if they are correct. If your email works via webmail there is obviously nothing wrong with the password or the account.

Check you do have the correct settings and not the Yahoo settings as per this link.

https://www.bt.com/help/email/manage-email-account/manual-settings/what-are-the-settings-for-outgoin...

EDIT: I note that you have previously posted about this problem and were given the same advice as regards not doing anything so I assume you will not have deleted or changed anything.

[marchv]

I'm having a similar problem.

Starting from today, 6th January, my email client, Thunderbird 68.3.1 running on Windows 10 wasn't working (although working yesterday, 5/1) The error message is "Sending of username did not succeed. Mail server mail.btinternet.com responded: Invalid user name or password"

So I checked web mail, that's working.

Then I checked the email client running on my Android phone, and that's not working, similar error message!

So I'm a bit confused; webmail is recognising my email address and password, but two diverse email clients aren't succeeding with the same password.

I'm inclined to suspect BT here...

[Andy_N]

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@marchvwrote:

I'm having a similar problem.

Starting from today, 6th January, my email client, Thunderbird 68.3.1 running on Windows 10 wasn't working (although working yesterday, 5/1) The error message is "Sending of username did not succeed. Mail server mail.btinternet.com responded: Invalid user name or password"

So I checked web mail, that's working.

Then I checked the email client running on my Android phone, and that's not working, similar error message!

So I'm a bit confused; webmail is recognising my email address and password, but two diverse email clients aren't succeeding with the same password.

I'm inclined to suspect BT here...

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This is a BT fault. It has nothing to do with a specific email client, hence if you tried others it would also fail. Email clients pretty much all have the same type of access, whereas webmail is different.

The usual thing is to sit it out and do no changes to anything. You could stop the devices from auto-checking if that's set, and then perhaps try one device every hour or so - but only try once. The issue can last a few hours to a few days, and in the latter circumstance a password change can fix the issue (but not necessarily permanently). When altering password, wait at least 20 minutes before trying one device only.

Over the years, some users have reported waiting longer, even up to a day for the password change to sync across "webmail and client" access.

[marchv]

Very interesting reply, but I'm now getting "Sorry something has gone wrong. It's not you, it's us - if you try again it should work. If you keep getting this message please let us know." when I try to log in to web mail.

It would be better if BT fixed the underlying fault(s), or better, prevented them from occurring, rather than relying on users trying once (but only once) every hour, fiddling with password changes, and so forth.

[Andy_N]

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@marchvwrote:

Very interesting reply, but I'm now getting "Sorry something has gone wrong. It's not you, it's us - if you try again it should work. If you keep getting this message please let us know." when I try to log in to web mail.

It would be better if BT fixed the underlying fault(s), or better, prevented them from occurring, rather than relying on users trying once (but only once) every hour, fiddling with password changes, and so forth.

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Please note it's only my suggestion, I have nothing to do with BT. It's also based on previous reports and suggestions from regular posters in this forum.

[Proph]

Today is the sixth (6th) day without IMAP connectivity.

Yesterday I received a call from BT's 2nd line support, who trotted out the same message e.g. because Webmail works, there is no issue at BT's end.  Clearly just a coincidence that spontaneously 6 separate iOS applications, plus one Windows (Outlook) program all stopped connecting to BT's IMAP servers at the same time.

I have followed advice on this forum and not deleted any accounts but am trying to wait until the issue resolves itself.

It would be good if someone from BT actually acknowledged that there is an issue without trying to pass the buck.  

[gg30340]

Some people have found that when this does happen and it does not resolve its self after a few days that changing their password can help although this is not guaranteed.

If you do decide to do that you should stop your devices/email clients/apps from checking for email.

Once you have done that, change your email password and check that you can access your email via webmail (on a browser).

If that works you should wait at least 30 minutes to an hour and then add the new password to one of your devices and again check it works. If it does then move onto the next device if you have one.

If you are setting up a new account or one that has been deleted from your email client/app  on your device you are best to set it up manually, using "other" and ensure that you are using the correct settings as per this link.

https://www.bt.com/help/email/manage-email-account/manual-settings/what-are-the-settings-for-outgoin...

[Proph]

Day 7 - still no resolution.

I did have a call back from BT's 2nd line support, whose only advice was to make sure that I was using the correct password!!!!!  They have promised another call back later today!!

Still, BT don't accept any issues with their IMAP servers.  I will revert to a password change later today if still not joy, having delated all iOS & Windows accounts first as advised.

Shame that BT don't monitor these boards and realise that not all their customers are muppets and they should recognise their issues and resolve.

[Proph]

It is now day 8 without IMAP email access.

I have follwed advice given here and changed my BT Password.  This new password works and I can access email via webmail.  I also deleted all BT account on my iOS and Windows devices. I waited over 12 hours before trying to reinstall these accounts but neither an iOS account or Windows account are able to access my @btinternet.com account via IMAP.

I am now at a loss as to how to proceed.  BT's 'help' desk are absolutely useless having failed to call back as promised but I'm sure they will continue to say that there are no issues with their systems when clearly my account on their IMAP servers has an issue.

Anyone in Community land, or even a BT employee, have any ideas?