My Email is not working.

by | Apr 18, 2018 | Performance

WiTopia provides SMTP mail relays at no charge so you enjoy unfettered use of your email while using the VPN. About 99.99% of the time, these require zero configuration and “just work.”

Still, sometimes your mail provider may block mail while you’re on the VPN because they cannot detect that you are on their network. If so, open your email software and try changing your SMTP outgoing port to 587 and see if this allows you to send mail.

Here’s how to change the port number in your favorite email client. Instructions below are for Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, Mac Mail and Eudora.

In Outlook
(NOTE: This how-to assumes you’re using POP/SMTP for email. It does not apply if you’re using Microsoft Exchange for email.)

  1. Open Tools > Account Settings.
  2. Select your Email account from the list. Click Change.
  3. Click More Settings.
  4. Check the “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication” box.
  5. Make sure that “Use same settings as my incoming mail server” is selected.
  6. Click the Advanced tab.
  7. Change the Outgoing Server field number from 25 to 587. (If this doesn’t work, repeat these steps and change the number to 465.)
  8. Select “SSL” from the “Use the following type of encrypted connection” pull-down menu.
  9. Click OK.
  10. Click Next until you reach the Finish button. Click Finish.

In Outlook Express

  1. Open Tools > Accounts.
  2. Click the Mail tab.
  3. Select your email account from the list (should be “user@emailprovider.com”). Click the Properties button.
  4. Make sure the “Include this account when receiving mail or synchronizing” box is checked.
  5. Click the Servers tab. Locate the Settings button below Outgoing Mail Server. Click it.
  6. Locate the SMTP Port field (it should say 25). Change the 25 to either 587 or 465.
  7. Make sure the “My SMTP server requires authentication” box is checked.
  8. Click OK. Click OK again until you’ve closed all windows.
  9. Restart Outlook Express.

In Thunderbird

  1. Go to Tools > Account Settings.
  2. Select Outgoing Server (SMTP) on the left pane of the Account Settings window.
  3. Select the SMTP server for your domain here. Click Edit.
  4. Change the number in the Port field to 587 (if this doesn’t work, follow the same steps and change the number to 465).
  5. Click OK.
  6. Click OK again to close the Account Settings window.

In MacMail

  1. Open Preferences in the Mail menu.
  2. Click the Accounts tab to locate your account. Open it.
  3. Open the Outgoing Mail Server window.
  4. Change the number in the Port field to 587.
  5. Set the Encryption Method to TLS.
  6. Check the “Use Authentication” box.
  7. Click Continue.
  8. Click Continue again. Close any remaining windows.

In Eudora

  1. Open Preferences.
  2. Locate the SMTP Port field. Change 25 to 587.
  3. For the “Secure Sockets when Sending” option, select “If Available, STARTTLS”
  4. Change “Use submission port (587)” to ON.
  5. Change “Allow authentication” to ON.
  6. Click OK. Close Preferences.

If this doesn’t fix it, or need assistance, please Contact Support.