Sky SMTP settings changed

I got a phone call from my parents today - they couldn't send email.
Everything was bounced with a 503 error.

Turns out they've turned off non-authenticated access to smtp.sky.com:25 and
you now need to use SSL against smtp.tools.sky.com:465 as well as
authenticate with your full sky username.

I can imagine the changes required being non-trivial for the majority of
users.




Grant

On Tue, 5 Feb 2008 19:26:25 -0000, Grant wrote:

> I got a phone call from my parents today - they couldn't send email.
> Everything was bounced with a 503 error.
>
> Turns out they've turned off non-authenticated access to smtp.sky.com:25 and
> you now need to use SSL against smtp.tools.sky.com:465 as well as
> authenticate with your full sky username.
>
> I can imagine the changes required being non-trivial for the majority of
> users.

AIUI the incoming email settings are/will be changed as well:
In Outlook Express: Check the box next to This server requires a secure
connection (SSL) under Incoming mail (POP3). The port will change to 995.

Sky seems to have outsourced its email service to Google.

Grant wrote:
> I got a phone call from my parents today - they couldn't send email.
> Everything was bounced with a 503 error.
>
> Turns out they've turned off non-authenticated access to smtp.sky.com:25 and
> you now need to use SSL against smtp.tools.sky.com:465 as well as
> authenticate with your full sky username.
>
> I can imagine the changes required being non-trivial for the majority of
> users.

Well I'm sure the majority of users will access their e-mail via the
website, in which case it's exceptionally easy. You just have to go to
http://www.sky.com/tools and there's your e-mail, and it's much easier
to use than the old web interface. Those people who took the time to
manually set up their POP3 and SMTP access via a mail client would have
been sent an e-mail explaining what changes needed to be made. If they
had been tech savy enough to set up their mail client in the first
place, the alterations shouldn't cause any problems.

I'm guessing in this instance that you set up the mail client for your
parents, and they ignored the e-mails telling them that they needed to
change their settings.

--
regards, James Luff
Gamertag: Lufferov
"There are 10 types of people in the world:
Those that understand binary, and those that don't."

James Luff wrote:
> Grant wrote:
>> I got a phone call from my parents today - they couldn't send email.
>> Everything was bounced with a 503 error.
>>
>> Turns out they've turned off non-authenticated access to
>> smtp.sky.com:25 and you now need to use SSL against
>> smtp.tools.sky.com:465 as well as authenticate with your full sky
>> username.
>>
>> I can imagine the changes required being non-trivial for the majority
>> of users.
>
> Well I'm sure the majority of users will access their e-mail via the
> website, in which case it's exceptionally easy. You just have to go to
> http://www.sky.com/tools and there's your e-mail, and it's much easier
> to use than the old web interface. Those people who took the time to
> manually set up their POP3 and SMTP access via a mail client would have
> been sent an e-mail explaining what changes needed to be made. If they
> had been tech savy enough to set up their mail client in the first
> place, the alterations shouldn't cause any problems.
>
> I'm guessing in this instance that you set up the mail client for your
> parents, and they ignored the e-mails telling them that they needed to
> change their settings.
>

The only additional thing is that you have to use the webmail access to
enable POP3 access in order to use a proper e-mail client :-(

--
PeeGee

The reply address is a spam trap. All mail is reported as spam.
"Nothing should be able to load itself onto a computer without the
knowledge or consent of the computer user. Software should also be able
to be removed from a computer easily."
Peter Cullen, Microsoft Chief Privacy Strategist (Computing 18 Aug 05)

> Those people who took the time to manually set up their POP3 and SMTP
> access via a mail client would have been sent an e-mail explaining
> what changes needed to be made. If they had been tech savy enough to
> set up their mail client in the first place, the alterations shouldn't
> cause any problems.

That would have been nice, and despite telling us repeatedly they were
looking to move to google mail, I was on holiday for a week when it
happened.

I had less than two days notice (while I was still away) - telling me
to change the settings - of course, I was on holiday, no computer
access, and didn't receive it.

I found on my return that I was unable to get any email - including
the one telling me to change the settings, as they'd already moved
platforms to one I could no longer access or get information on as the
email was stuck on the new platform...

Colin Wilson wrote:
>> Those people who took the time to manually set up their POP3 and SMTP
>> access via a mail client would have been sent an e-mail explaining
>> what changes needed to be made. If they had been tech savy enough to
>> set up their mail client in the first place, the alterations shouldn't
>> cause any problems.
>
> That would have been nice, and despite telling us repeatedly they were
> looking to move to google mail, I was on holiday for a week when it
> happened.
>
> I had less than two days notice (while I was still away) - telling me
> to change the settings - of course, I was on holiday, no computer
> access, and didn't receive it.
>
> I found on my return that I was unable to get any email - including
> the one telling me to change the settings, as they'd already moved
> platforms to one I could no longer access or get information on as the
> email was stuck on the new platform...

If you go to www.sky.com/tools the e-mail login is, I believe, unchanged
(it would be a nonsense if it were!). You should then be able to access
your e-mails (and enable POP3, if required). Note that, unlike most POP3
based systems, the client cannot delete mail on the host - you have to
let Google delete it when it's downloaded - a major retrograde step.

This tale, of course, shows the benefits of using a proper e-mail client
and downloading e-mails onto your own system. I do use web-mail as well,
as it's the only way to update spam filters on most systems :-(

--
PeeGee

The reply address is a spam trap. All mail is reported as spam.
"Nothing should be able to load itself onto a computer without the
knowledge or consent of the computer user. Software should also be able
to be removed from a computer easily."
Peter Cullen, Microsoft Chief Privacy Strategist (Computing 18 Aug 05)

I started getting errors when trying to send e-mails through Sky's
SMTP server yesterday (5th Feb 2008) and rang Sky's tech support line.
They informed me that all their e-mail server settings had changed and
I need to update the settings (which can be found on their website).
Fair enough - so I did that and still got errors. The errors were...

- None of the authentication methods supported by this client are
suported by your server
- The server responded 530 5.7.0...
- 503 Valid RCPT command must precede DATA

On ringing them again I had a conversation that went like this:

ME: "I understand I need to change my SMTP settings in Outlook, which
I've done, according to instructions on your website, but am still
getting errors"
THEM: "We've had a lot of complaints about this. What you need to do
is phone up Outlook"
ME: "Phone Outlook? How can I do that?"
THEM: "The error is with Outlook not us, so you need to phone them"
ME: "Outlook is an application on my computer - it doesn't have a
phone number"

.... Then a lengthy argument which ended in a more 'senior' technician
telling me actually I need to phone MICROSOFT, not Outlook.
Unbelievable.

Finally after trawling the web I managed to find some more useful
info. Because I use a different provider for my incoming mail and just
use Sky for outgoing, it was more awkward. In this situation, it seems
you need to...

- Set up the facility to send using a different (non Sky) e-mail
address in the Sky webmail interface:
http://mysky.sky.com/portal/site/sky...icleId=2674110

- Follow the instructions here for setting up the correct ports and
authentication, etc for the OUTGOING mail:
http://mysky.sky.com/portal/site/sky...cleId=11297903

- But ignore the settings for the incoming mail, which need to remain
as they are. I noticed also that their requirement for your username
has changed - from previously being everything BEFORE the @ sign of
your e-mail address, to now being the entire e-mail address (i.e.
including the @sky.com).

Now works again, without any phonecalls to Outlook necessary.






On 6 Feb, 09:34, PeeGee <tries...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Colin Wilson wrote:
> >> Those people who took the time to manually set up their POP3 andSMTP
> >> access via a mail client would have been sent an e-mail explaining
> >> what changes needed to be made. If they had been tech savy enough to
> >> set up their mail client in the first place, the alterations shouldn't
> >> cause any problems.
>
> > That would have been nice, and despite telling us repeatedly they were
> > looking to move to google mail, I was on holiday for a week when it
> > happened.
>
> > I had less than two days notice (while I was still away) - telling me
> > to change thesettings- of course, I was on holiday, no computer
> > access, and didn't receive it.
>
> > I found on my return that I was unable to get any email - including
> > the one telling me to change thesettings, as they'd already moved
> > platforms to one I could no longer access or get information on as the
> > email was stuck on the new platform...
>
> If you go towww.sky.com/toolsthe e-mail login is, I believe, unchanged
> (it would be a nonsense if it were!). You should then be able to access
> your e-mails (and enable POP3, if required). Note that, unlike most POP3
> based systems, the client cannot delete mail on the host - you have to
> let Google delete it when it's downloaded - a major retrograde step.
>
> This tale, of course, shows the benefits of using a proper e-mail client
> and downloading e-mails onto your own system. I do use web-mail as well,
> as it's the only way to update spam filters on most systems :-(
>
> --
> PeeGee
>
> The reply address is a spam trap. All mail is reported as spam.
> "Nothing should be able to load itself onto a computer without the
> knowledge or consent of the computer user. Software should also be able
> to be removed from a computer easily."
> Peter Cullen, Microsoft Chief Privacy Strategist (Computing 18 Aug 05)- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

James Luff wrote:
>
> I'm guessing in this instance that you set up the mail client for your
> parents

Bingo.

> and they ignored the e-mails telling them that they needed to
> change their settings.

Difficult to ignore something you never see due to;

a) them having their own domain for email rather than relying on their
ISP-de-jour's POP3 mailbox

b) Their Sky mailbox appeared to be dictionary attacked fairly early on as
it was full of the usual spam despite the address never having been
disclosed - they didn't know they had a Sky email address

c) Sky sent it to their @sky.com email address rather than the email address
on file for correspondence

Hi,

Sounds like they need to sort out their customer service and actually think
about how to support folks correctly.

Yet one more reason to avoid the larger UK ISP's and go to a smaller company
which values their customers.

Kind Regards

Simon

"andyb" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:e6f13036-f392-4799-a3b4-(E-Mail Removed)...

How to use sky broadband and sky email as some appear to have trouble
finding info..

http://mysky.sky.com/portal/site/sky...ntre/skyonline

http://mysky.sky.com/portal/site/sky...f-f57631d43f9c