Plusnet email moving to Greenby

[#1]

@BruceArden short answer - yes, I think there is now a way of using STARTTLS for a Metronet email address. I've just tested this on my test account in Thunderbird and IMAP and it worked. @Townman is working on some testing tools and I've just borrowed his commands:

curl -v imaps://mail.free-online.net -u 'username@metronet.co.uk:password'

And the output confirms it works OK:

<snip>

< A002 OK LOGIN Ok.
> A003 LIST "" *
< * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "." "INBOX.Sent Messages"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "." "INBOX.Sent Messages"
< * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "." "INBOX.Spam"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "." "INBOX.Spam"
< * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "." "INBOX.Drafts"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "." "INBOX.Drafts"
< * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "." "INBOX.Trash"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "." "INBOX.Trash"
< * LIST (\HasNoChildren) "." "INBOX.Sent"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "." "INBOX.Sent"
< * LIST (\Marked \HasChildren) "." "INBOX"
* LIST (\Marked \HasChildren) "." "INBOX"
< A003 OK LIST completed

curl -v pop3s://mail.free-online.net -u 'username@metronet.co.uk:password' works on POP3 too.

Longer answer - you will need to change some settings in your mail client to make it work. The Metronet mail server addresses don't have an SSL certificate and aren't configured for STARTTLS so they won't work, however the Free-Online addresses are set up and they point at the exact same platform, the full email address though is crucial in the settings otherwise it will think you're a Free-Online customer.

This is what I set up in Thunderbird:

IMAP/POP3 - IMAP

Incoming mail server: mail.free-online.net

Port: 993

Username: full Metronet email address e.g. username@metronet.co.uk

Password: normal password

Connection security: STARTTLS

Authentication method: Normal password

Outgoing mail server: relay.free-online.net

Port: 587

Username: full Metronet email address e.g. username@metronet.co.uk

Password: normal password

Connection security: STARTTLS

Authentication method: Normal password

I've not tested that this still works once the mail has been migrated across to Greenby as reading your post it only just dawned on me it might work (I've added it to the test plan) so if you try it please please note that if it stops working you might need to switch the settings back over to what they are today (probably worth taking a screenshot before you change or just try it out on a different client).

[#2]

Warning - the single quotes break the functionality if run in a DOS prompt. Next version will drop the quotes.

[#3]

4.

What if the customer has a current broadband product *and* a legacy free email service?

(This scenario is not an impossibility. I have been in that scenario.)

[#4]

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@dave wrote:

This is what I set up in Thunderbird:

IMAP/POP3 - IMAP

Incoming mail server: mail.free-online.net

Port: 993

Username: full Metronet email address e.g. username@metronet.co.uk

Password: normal password

Connection security: STARTTLS

Authentication method: Normal password

---

@dave 

For the avoidance of doubt should that be TLS/SSL on an inbound server or will STARTTLS indeed work?

Also in a Windows environment, it needs to be...

curl.exe -v pop3s://mail.free-online.net -u 'username@metronet.co.uk:password'

Full soup to nuts on this should be available by the weekend.

[#5]

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@grumble wrote:

4.

What if the customer has a current broadband product *and* a legacy free email service?

(This scenario is not an impossibility. I have been in that scenario.)

---

Has a current [Plusnet] broadband product = Is a Plusnet customer...

[#6]

Tried that last night (with imaps(993) and STARTTLS) on thunderbird without success. mail.free-online.net didn't even prompt me for a password.

I never saw any emails that I attempted to send via mail.free-online.net.

[The test was confused by an extraordinary long time for emails to get through plusnet to my mailbox: 40mins - it seemed to go through mail.enmail.co twice.  I'd reverted to imap.metronet.co.uk before I received it.  I was wondering if this was related to my test, but I couldn't see how]

[#7]

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@BruceArden wrote:

I never saw any emails that I attempted to send via mail.free-online.net.

I just got the test email sent via mail.free-online.net. Here is a summary of the Received mail headers:

               BST           From                      By
Date           Wed 19:57:07
Received       Wed 19:57:29  mail.enmail.co            smtp
Received       Thu 12:33:18  avasout-ptp-004.plus.net  mail.enmail.co
Received       Thu 12:33:19  mail.enmail.co            Plusnet Cloudmark Gateway
Received       Thu 12:33:19  avasin-peh-004.plus.net   avasin-peh-004.plus.net
Delivery-date  Thu 12:33:19

[#8]

I am confident that outbound servers (in this case IMAP Port 993) should user TLS/SSL not STARTTLS.

[#9]

Thanks @Townman.  Seems to work correctly with TLS/SSL.  (And no delays today to confuse things).

BTW what is considered best: imaps (port 993) with TLS/SSL or imap (port 137) with STARTTLS?

[#10]

Port 137 is nothing to do with IMAP - it is the NBNS port.

Port 143 is IMAP without encryption.

Port 993 is IMAP with TLS/SSL encryption.

[#11]

Did plusnet provide a URL for greenby?

[#12]

[#13]

@grumble - Already noted at message #7.

[#14]

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@BruceArden wrote:

BTW has anyone else experienced a sudden increase in junk mail recently.

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Yes. After literally years of receiving no Spam email whatsoever I recently received a total of 9 Spam/Fishing emails over about four weeks, between 17 February and 20 March this year. Took no action and everything seems to have now returned to normal.

[#15]

These things happen and has nothing to do with this activity beyond coincidence.  No mail accounts have been moved yet.