email setup on Mac Mail

[allanS]

Why can't I get a BT premium email address (perfectly accessible over the web) to set up on a new MacBook pro? There is no option to manually set the settings once I have been quoted  "unable to verify account name or password" my Gmail account set up easily.

[stevebrass]

So you have gone mail-preferences-add account-other provider?

[allanS]

Thanks for responding Steve - YES I Have.

What has happened is that I moved to a house with another broadband provider in situ, so didn't need BT broadband, but wanted to retain my BT email address, so I signed up for Premium.

Before that change-over I had some of the (not unknown) issues with sporadic inability to access BT mail via Macmail, which were usually solved by resetting the password for my account and even by deleting and re-adding the account in Macmail.

On this occasion, none of the above helps. In fact, I can't get any further in the add account set up than "unable to verify account name or password", and there doesn't seem to be a way to manually set the SMTP settings etc.

Is this an unpublished disadvantage of not having BT broadband any more?

Obviously I can access my account via the web but now lack the convenience (?) of the Macmail application..

[stevebrass]

I’m not aware of any specific premium  mail issues. 

Is it possible if you have changed the Mail password that the Mac is remembering an out of date one?

[allanS]

Thanks, I don't think so but will check once again.

[gg30340]

Log onto your MyBT and go to "Your Products" then "Mail manage" and check that your email account has been changed to  "Premium"

If it has not been changed, it could be that your email account has been downgraded to the "Basic" email service when you let BT.

The "Basic" email account can only be accessed using webmail and not with an email client/app.

See link

 BT Email products | Types of BT Emails | BT Help

[allanS]

Thanks for the advice - I have just checked and it does state "Premium"

[licquorice]

In which case it is exactly the same as normal BT email except you are paying for it. There are no technical differences at all.

[gg30340]

You can check and change the email server settings as per these links.

Change preferences in Mail on Mac – Apple Support (UK)

Change Server Settings in Mail on Mac – Apple Support (UK)

The correct settings are as per this link

What are the settings for outgoing and incoming BT Email servers? | BT Help

If that does not work, while I would not normally suggest this because I think it's a useless app, but have you tried setting up the BTMail app or another email app rather than using the one supplied on your Mac to see if it is the Mail app that is causing the problem.

[allanS]

Thanks for the advice. I am no further forward so I will think about another app. The really annoying thing is that the Gmail accounts I use were no problem to set up in Macmail. Maybe the answer is to just give up and change them all to gmail!