free-online pop3 server not working since Monday night (April 7th)

[#1]

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@Townman wrote:
The business has it working with Thunderbird and another client (I think K9) environment not confirmed.

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Correction: Magic Mail, not K9.

My working settings for Microsoft 365 Outlook:

Inbound

• Server: mail.free-online.net
• Port: 995
• Encryption: SSL/TLS
• UserID: Accountname

Outbound

• Server: relay.free-online.net
• Port: 587
• Encryption: STARTTLS
• UserID: as inbound

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Update: A mitigation for the eM Client (in POP3 mode) failure has been implemented and verified.  That should stop the eM Client's deviant behaviour preventing POP3 access to the mailbox.

[#3]

I wouldn't speak too soon.

eM Client appears to now work. However one of my email boxes refuses to work with the same settings as the rest.

I'll have a try with outlook later - Windows 10 with Office 365 and eM Client - all latest updates.

I tried it earlier after someone said they had a work around and I tried the classic outlook to setup POP3 with no joy.

I even tried with IMAP and no joy yet it recognised GMail with no problem.

Last time it was something to do with the security protocol but latest updates on Plusnet suggest various different ports for POP3 - 995 instead of 110 and 587 instead of 25.

[#4]

Ignore what you read elsewhere - the correct settings for POP3 free-online are those in post #16.

IMAP is on port 993, the other settings being the same.

[#5]

@Townman  I'm just using Gmail,  to download my metronet.co.uk emails, pop3, leaving the message on the server.  Everything else working fine.   About 1% of emails get downloaded,  and (worryingly) it looks like the message gets deleted from the server as it's not visible via IMAP/Thunderbird.   Hope that's making sense.   I'm not a techie.  

[#6]

@pwberry 

If I understand you correctly, you are using Gmail to HARVEST your free-online emails using POP3?

If they are disappearing from the server then you need to look carefully at the Gmail harvester settings.  POP3 is not a user friendly tool ... especially for those "not a techie".

Personally I would not let POP3 nor Gmail anywhere near anything I valued.

This is a step on from the reports of POP3 not working at all for some.

[#7]

Admittedly not an ideal situation but everything was completely stable for 3 years until tuesday's pop3 issue;   I can't see anything untoward in the [untouched] Gmail settings.   I do notice though that there's a GMail settings error message "Authentication error - mail from this account has not been retrieved since Apr 7",  and a log behind it with a series of "server returned error "login failed" " messages.  What's bizarre is that a very small handful of messages,  1 a day perhaps,  do get harvested/downloaded,  and deleted from the server in defiance of the leave-a-message-on-the-server check. 

At this stage TBH I'm just petrified of losing stuff so I'm deleting the Gmail link.  I've had my email from Plusnet saying they're offloading everything to Greenby,  so I'll just hang tight for the next few weeks (and take daily backups of everything...)

[#8]

eM Client still not fully accessing all my mailboxes. One says temporary issue try again later yet all setting for that mailbox are the same.

Setup Outlook classic on Windows 11 with office 365.

Outlook would not connect to free-online using IMAP no matter what ports I selected. 

Did manage to connect to one account using POP3 however ports were:

incoming mail.free-online.net port 995 not 110 as per eM Client

outgoing relay.free-online.net port 587 not 25 as per eM Client.

As for the statement

"Update: A mitigation for the eM Client (in POP3 mode) failure has been implemented and verified.  That should stop the eM Client's deviant behaviour preventing POP3 access to the mailbox."

It would be interesting to know what cludge they made to their email system to allow a program that has worked successively for many years to work again, security protocol work around or port settings. Also given the fact of their rigorous testing why doesn't classic outlook 365 work with IMAP settings and New Outlook work with POP3. They both work with my GMail account without me having to go in and adjust the settings, so obviously they have not properly tested the system or have added a new security feature that has not yet been included in other email clients.

Sorry for my diatribe but this has come at a really bad time for me as I am trying to arrange my wife's funeral and this does not help!.

Also as an engineer I know that if it isn't broke don't fix it.

[#9]

@K5Hall

Sorry to learn of your loss which makes this more of a challenge.

It would help if you can give exact details of the error. The settings provided before are absolutely correct. Are you trying to change an existing configuration or set up afresh?

Microsoft 365 Outlook should configure fine.

“Outlook” the free product would be anyone’s guess.

eM Client on widows is fine for both IMAP and POP3.

If you cannot get this working at all, then maybe the issue is something else being masked by the email clients. Microsoft 365 is particularly poor at being clear about what is wrong.

When I’m back at my desk, I will post some command line diagnostics to try.

As an engineer I’m sure you’ll appreciate that systems do need maintenance - broken or not and they also need to be defended from insecure operation.

[#10]

@K5Hall 

Here is an extract from something I have in development elsewhere...

Brand: Free-Online - encryption supported: Yes

• IMAP: imap.free-online.net port: 993
• POP3: mail.free-online.net port: 995
• SMTP: relay.free-online.net port: 587

curl.exe -v imaps://imap.free-online.net -u 'userID:password'

curl.exe -v pop3s://mail.free-online.net -u 'userID:password'

curl.exe -v smtp://relay.free-online.net:587 -u 'userID:password' --ssl-reqd

These are the correct server settings; IMAP and POP3 should use TLS/SSL encryption and SMTP STARTTLS with authentication.

Try running each of the above curl commands in turn in a terminal window, replacing userID with your email address and password with your password.

Understand the results

These diagnostic tests deliver a useful amount of useful information which will clarify the real issue being encountered. WARNING: The information returned contains the following information which would be unwise to share on a public forum:

• Your IP address - possibly not too much of an issue if it is dynamic, but a static one you will probably want to keep secret
• The encrypted versions of your username and password (long strings of text) which can easily be decrypted - NEVER share these here
• Plain text versions of your username and password - NEVER share these here

Though the detailed output for the various servers is different, they all have a similar structure:-

1. Identification of the server and the target port number
2. The IP address resolution (IPv4 and IPv6)
3. The selected IP address for the test followed by the connection confirmation
4. Server greeting and capability statements
5. Log on dialogue
6. Success / failure indicators

SMTP

SMTP returns a 235 or 535 response with a clear indication of the status, such as:

• 235 ... authentication succeeded
• 235 2.0.0 OK
• 535 ...authentication rejected [userID / password wrong]
• 535 ...authentication rejected as source IP has a poor reputation
• 535 Too many SMTP auth failures. Please try again later

A poor reputation issue arises from historic abuse of the allocated dynamic IP address.  Resolution requires a forced change of the allocated address - switch the router off for two hours and try again.

Too many failures means you have made too many attempts to get the credentials right - give it a break and try again after a couple of hours.

IMAP

If the IMAP connection fails (Access Denied) then check the userID and password.

Following a successful connection, a list of the folders in the mailbox will be displayed.

POP3

POP3 is fairly clear with its reason for the failure … however that is not the same as the cause of the failure:-

• -ERR Login failed - check userID and password
• -ERR internal server error - needs further investigation - post a sanitised copy of the response text

A successful connection will produce a numerical list referencing each mail item in the inbox folder.

[#11]

Thanks for this please find the diagnostic output below . Let me know your conclusion.

By the way emClient works if you use:

• port 110 and 25 with Force usage of SSL/TLS
• port 995 and 587 with Use SSL/TLS on special port (legacy)

C:\Users\Keith>curl.exe -v imaps://imap.free-online.net -u 'hallsres@xxxxxxxx.free-online.co.uk:xxxxxxxx'

* Host imap.free-online.net:993 was resolved.

* IPv6: (none)

* IPv4: xx.xxx.xxx.xxx

*   Trying xx.xxx.xxx.xxx:993...

* Connected to imap.free-online.net (xx.xxx.xxx.xxx) port 993

* schannel: disabled automatic use of client certificate

< * OK IMAP4 ready

> A001 CAPABILITY

< * CAPABILITY IMAP4 IMAP4rev1 UIDPLUS AUTH=PLAIN

< A001 OK completed

> A002 AUTHENTICATE PLAIN

< +

> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx=

< A002 NO Login failed.

* closing connection #0

curl: (67) Login denied

C:\Users\Keith>curl.exe -v pop3s://mail.free-online.net -u 'hallsres@xxxxxxxx.free-online.co.uk: xxxxxxxx'

* Host mail.free-online.net:995 was resolved.

* IPv6: (none)

* IPv4: xx.xxx.xxx.xxx

*   Trying xx.xxx.xxx.xxx:995...

* Connected to mail.free-online.net (xx.xxx.xxx.xxx) port 995

* schannel: disabled automatic use of client certificate

< +OK POP3 ready <56311623.1744789801@mail.enmail.co>

> CAPA

< +OK Capability list follows

< TOP

< USER

< UIDL

< SASL PLAIN LOGIN

< .

> AUTH PLAIN

< +

> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx=

< -ERR Login failed.

* closing connection #0

curl: (67) Login denied

C:\Users\Keith>curl.exe -v smtp://relay.free-online.net:587 -u 'hallsres@xxxxxxx.free-online.co.uk: xxxxxxxx'--ssl-reqd

* Host relay.free-online.net:587 was resolved.

* IPv6: (none)

* IPv4: xx.xxx.xxx.xxx

*   Trying xx.xxx.xxx.xxx:xxx...

* Connected to relay.free-online.net (xx.xxx.xxx.xxx) port 587

< 220 mail.enmail.co ESMTP ready

> EHLO DESKTOP-FTCCKVV

< 250-mail.enmail.co

< 250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN

< 250 STARTTLS

> STARTTLS

< 220 2.0.0 Start TLS

* schannel: disabled automatic use of client certificate

> EHLO DESKTOP-FTCCKVV

< 250-mail.enmail.co

< 250 AUTH PLAIN LOGIN

> AUTH PLAIN

< 334

> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx=

< 235 2.0.0 OK

> HELP

< 214-This is smtp ESMTP service help

214-This is smtp ESMTP service help

< 214-To contact postmaster send email to postmaster@plus.com.

214-To contact postmaster send email to postmaster@plus.com.

< 214-For local information send email to Postmaster at your site.

214-For local information send email to Postmaster at your site.

< 214 end of HELP info

214 end of HELP info

* Connection #0 to host relay.free-online.net left intact

Hopefully this helps.

[#12]

Hi Keith,

Would I be correct in reading your response as you now have eM Client working with POP3 and thus do not have an operational issue impeding you doing the things you need to address?  If you still have marked issues, then I will ask for an escalation for you.

There are differing combinations which might work, the test commands use the correct and best available options.

Assuming no typos in userID / password between the commands, there is something very odd happening here.  Your feedback is potentially most helpful to my development of a general purpose diagnostic tool.

The redaction of the server IP addresses is unnecessary - they should be the same for everyone and the possibility that they are not needs to be considered.  Can you please rerun the IMAP and POP3 tests and post the preambles - I want to be sure that the correct server addresses are being resolved.  They should look like these...

* Host imap.free-online.net:993 was resolved.
* IPv6: (none)
* IPv4: 91.204.208.193
*   Trying 91.204.208.193:993...
* schannel: disabled automatic use of client certificate
* Connected to imap.free-online.net (91.204.208.193) port 993

* Host mail.free-online.net:995 was resolved.
* IPv6: (none)
* IPv4: 91.204.208.193
*   Trying 91.204.208.193:995...
* schannel: disabled automatic use of client certificate
* Connected to mail.free-online.net (91.204.208.193) port 995
< +OK POP3 ready <1971003327.1744805464@mail.enmail.co>

Are there any special characters in your password, if yes what are they please?  There are various reports of issues with some special characters in passwords with cURL, however documentation suggests that using single quotes around userID:password eliminates those issues ... you might be proving that to be incorrect.

Can you please try this variant of the commands (latest iteration)...

curl.exe -v imaps://imap.free-online.net -u 'hallsres@xxxxxxxx.free-online.co.uk'
curl.exe -v pop3s://mail.free-online.net -u 'hallsres@xxxxxxxx.free-online.co.uk'
curl.exe -v smtp://relay.free-online.net:587 -u 'hallsres@xxxxxxxx.free-online.co.uk' --ssl-reqd

These commands seek to eliminate entirely that risk and will pause, requesting your password which IS NOT ECHOED to the console.  Type the password and press enter.

[#13]

Hi Townman,

POP3 is now working. It does look as though this has been due to an increase in security level. I have fixed the one email box that was not working by changing the first 3 letter to lower case. Before they were capitals and this worked fine - so obviously more rigorous checking.

Password for the email box tested only consisted on letters so no issues with strange characters or even numbers.

Here are the test results from the 3 commands. Note on the smtp one I assume that there is no gap beween the end quote mark and minus sign as if there is one the response is different.

C:\Users\Keith>curl.exe -v imaps://imap.free-online.net -u '<Redacted>.free-online.co.uk'

Enter host password for user ''<Redacted>.free-online.co.uk'':

* Host imap.free-online.net:993 was resolved.

* IPv6: (none)

* IPv4: 91.204.208.193

*   Trying 91.204.208.193:993...

* Connected to imap.free-online.net (91.204.208.193) port 993

* schannel: disabled automatic use of client certificate

< * OK IMAP4 ready

> A001 CAPABILITY

< * CAPABILITY IMAP4 IMAP4rev1 UIDPLUS AUTH=PLAIN

< A001 OK completed

> A002 AUTHENTICATE PLAIN

< +

> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx=

< A002 NO [AUTHENTICATIONFAILED] Authentication failed.

* closing connection #0

curl: (67) Login denied

C:\Users\Keith>curl.exe -v pop3s://mail.free-online.net -u 'hallsres@hallsres.free-online.co.uk'

Enter host password for user ''<Redacted>.co.uk'':

* Host mail.free-online.net:995 was resolved.

* IPv6: (none)

* IPv4: 91.204.208.193

*   Trying 91.204.208.193:995...

* Connected to mail.free-online.net (91.204.208.193) port 995

* schannel: disabled automatic use of client certificate

< +OK POP3 ready <844897286.1744810061@mail.enmail.co>

> CAPA

< +OK Capability list follows

< TOP

< USER

< UIDL

< SASL PLAIN LOGIN

< .

> AUTH PLAIN

< +

> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx=

< -ERR [AUTH] Authentication failed.

* closing connection #0

curl: (67) Login denied

C:\Users\Keith>curl.exe -v smtp://relay.free-online.net:587 -u '<Redacted>s.free-online.co.uk'--ssl-reqd

Enter host password for user ''<Redacted>.free-online.co.uk'--ssl-reqd':

* Host relay.free-online.net:587 was resolved.

* IPv6: (none)

* IPv4: 91.204.208.193

*   Trying 91.204.208.193:587...

* Connected to relay.free-online.net (91.204.208.193) port 587

< 220 mail.enmail.co ESMTP ready

> EHLO DESKTOP-FTCCKVV

< 250-mail.enmail.co

< 250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN

< 250 STARTTLS

> AUTH PLAIN

< 334

> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

< 235 2.0.0 OK

> HELP

< 500 5.5.2 Error: command not recognized

* Command failed: 500

* shutting down connection #0

> QUIT

< 221 2.0.0 Bye

curl: (8) Command failed: 500

Moderator's note:
Personal information removed from a public forum (to an area that staff can see).

[#14]

There definitely should be a space between the quote and the ssl required option.
It’s odd that it’s accepting login with SMTP but not for IMAP or POP3.
How about trying the usual “account+mailbox” username instead of email address?

[#15]

Hi Keith,

Thank you for your perseverance.  Something is a tad odd here.

• SMTP test - there should be space between the user name and the --ssl-reqd otherwise the latter is treated as part of the user name (see the password prompt)
• Your test results differ from mine... they both fail, but they fail differently

I am going to escalate this.

For the avoidance of doubt...

• Are you connected to the Plusnet network
• If yes, do you have a static IP address

I guess that the password rules on free-online are different to those with Plusnet which requires at least one of each of CAPITALS, lowercase, 12345 and %$*() etc.