Unable to send emails beginning on 10/31/23

Hello, I am able to receive emails from my Spectrum email account which comes with Spectrum Internet. But SENDING results in this ERROR message: Server Error: 550, Error Number: 0x800CCC78 The FULL ERROR MSG IS BELOW with my email removed for privacy: The message could not be sent because the server rejected the sender's e-mail address. The sender's e-mail address was '****'. Subject 'Testing', Account: 'pop-server.san.rr.com', Server: 'smtp-server.san.rr.com', Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: '550 5.1.0 <****>sender rejected. The email address you are sending as must match the email address you used to auth. Please check your SMTP settings. AUP#Out-1500', Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 550, Error Number: 0x800CCC78 I have not changed my email client settings which have worked flawlessly for over 20 years. And I can receive email using the same credentials. Customer support could provide no help whatsoever except to say that "engineers have been working on the email system." I think reliable email, although supposedly "free" is a feature that Spectrum customers depend on. Thanks for any information on what to do or how to fix the problem.

Best Answers

Hello Everyone, Thanks for trying to help me. I finally figured out what I needed to do by trial and error. I left everything as it was, same incoming mail pop-server, same outgoing mail smtp -server, etc. However, I needed to make these changes. The outgoing port needs to be 587. (The incoming port of 110, which is the default still works for incoming mail.) The incoming mail server Account Name has to have the FULL email address. Mine did not have the @san.rr.com part. The outgoing server requires authentication box HAS TO BE CHECKED. Under settings for this if you have that option, I checked the box which says "Use the same settings as the incoming mail server." Now I can receive AND send emails again. I hope this note helps anyone else who has this problem using Outlook or Outlook Express.

Answers

Hello @socalgail
Welcome to our community! Are you using a third party app such as Outlook, Thunderbird, Apple mail, etc? If you log in to the website, do you get an error sending there as well?

Not unexpected, all things considered. Start with incoming. If account settings in the email app has a stand-alone user name field, that's probably now going to need to be your full email address just like the email address field. The email server hostname will probably now need to be mail.twc.com in your case. Don't change from POP3 to IMAP unless and until you know the ramifications but make sure the POP3 port is 995 and the encryption protocol is TLS (any problems, try SSL instead, depending on how old the email app is.) For outgoing, stick with same as incoming if such default is prevailing and then go into advanced settings and make sure it's still SMTP and change the port to 587 and the encryption to TLS. In any case, the username and email address and password and hostname need to be same as for incoming. 🔗https://www.spectrum.net/support/internet/mobile-email-setup

I am experiencing this same issue, can receive Emails but not send from 4 different Android devices. The problem only occurs when connected to a network other than Spectrum. When connected to the Spectrum network at home, I can receive and send fine. Can connect and receive/send fine with other Email providers such as Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft. Just Spectrum Email is the problem, will not work using an Email application with a Spectrum SMTP server configured. This just started occurring within the past couple days. The only way to send Emails is thru one of the other Email providers.

I am connected to the Spectrum network when I experience the problem. Could you please post the error message you get when you try to send an email and fail. My email client allows me to see the Details of the error message to be seen. I posted this error in my original post.

Hello @Renee_T , I think I did mention in my original post that I can login directly to the Spectrum email webpage and send messages. I am also able to receive message both on the web page and also in my email client running on my desktop.

Hello @Txhikingturtle , Just repeating my reply but using your handle so you will see it. I am connected to the Spectrum network when I experience the problem. Could you please post the error message you get when you try to send an email and fail. My email client allows me to see the Details of the error message to be seen. I posted this error in my original post.

I have tried the Samsung Email and Microsoft Outlook apps and get this error message when checking the Outgoing SMTP server. "Couldn't verify account. Server does not support authenication"
I have tried different Spectrum SMTP servers using POP & IMAP: mail.twc.com & smtp-server.tx.rr.com and ports 465 and 587 and get the same result. I have 7 Spectrum Email accounts and all have the same problem. Problem only occurs if I am connected to a network other than Spectrum. It would appear fromt the error message returned from GMAIL, Spectrum is blocking some connections to their SMTP servers. I have Email connections to Gmail, Yahoo & Microsoft that worked fine, this problem appears to be related to Spectrum, not other network providers. I have also tried using 2 VPN connections I have and get the same problem. From reading previous posts on Google, this problem has occurred many times in the past.

@Txhikingturtle , The first thing you need to do is to ENABLE Require Signin. In your setup, it is off or unchecked. You will need to ensure that this is on for sending and that your full email address and password are entered correctly. I assume that would be on the "NEXT" page. The smtp port must be 587. The outgoing server depends on the part of your address after the user name. e.g. username@san.rr.com. Here the domain is san.rr.com. You need to look at this page (URL below) to find out the right setting. 🔗https://www.spectrum.net/support/internet/mobile-email-setup At the bottom, see what your domain is and click the down arrow to see the required server names. That should resolve the matter. If not, show additional screen shots so we can be of further help. Good luck!

Hey @Txhikingturtle i can confirm that your AT&T Mobility IP address is lacking of a reverse DNS pointer record aka PTR which many email providers will bounce for spam mitigation purposes. E.g. Google Gmail is going to start doing so, come February. 🔗https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126 ↳ Requirements for all senders So just curious if your AT&T Mobility internet service is enterprise-grade or what.

Followup on problem. Friday night around 11pm CST, Email started working both send and receive. I did not change any Email settings, it just started working. I have 2 Samsung android phones, 1 iPhone, and 2 Samsung android tablets that all had the same problem sending Email when not connected on the Spectrum network. I have Email accounts on Gmail, Yahoo and Microsoft which had no problem. Only the Spectrum Email gad problems. I have ATT cellular but also tried connecting using 2 different VPN connections and from my work guest network that uses Verizon and had the problem on all 4 networks. Also tried 3 Email apps which had the same problem only with Spectrum. Using my computer at home on the Spectrum network or connecting my phone/tablet to my home network on the Spectrum network there was no problem, only when connecting using another network provider than Spectrum. Tested Email again Saturday morning at 8:15amCT on ATT cellular and Email is sill sending and receiving fine. I have seen other posts where others have said this problem resolved on its own only to reappear so will have to see if the Email continues to work over the weekend. For now the problem resolved itself.

I have the exact same issue which started on 10/31/23 also. Spectrum must have changed something with their outgoing Server. I receive mail but cannot send. I can't even send email from Spectrum Webmail (smtp.biz.rr.com). Shows up in the sent folder but does not reach recipient. Thoughts?

@Dloope, If you cannot send email from the Spectrum email web interface, you should call Spectrum support since this is all part of Spectrum and they should therefore be able to answer your questions. I never lost the ability to send mail from the web interface, just from Outlook. You can read above how I solved this issue from my Outlook client. Spectrum provided no help by instructing me to contact MS since Spectrum does not assist with third party email clients. @TxHikingTurtle, This is not surprising since it is very likely that Spectrum was being deluged by people seeking support for the outgoing email problem. They did report that they were making "upgrades" and probably had to roll those back for the time being at least. So far, the changes I made are working for outgoing email, although I notice that there is a slightly longer delay for messages in the "outbox". This is not surprising since there is now a security handshake in place whereas before it did not revalidate security once the connection on the inbound side was established.

Update. Sending Emails since Saturday morning has been sporadic throughout the day. I can send an Email and it fails and then send resend the same email and it is successfully sent. For now I am sending Email thru another Email provider, maybe Spectrum will fix their problem. From reading current and past posts, this is a reoccurring problem for Spectrum. Maybe Spectrum will do what Verizon did and transition their Email to a reliable Email service provider. Maybe Spectrum is hoping their customers will get frustrated and transition their Emsil from Spectrum to another Email service provider which most likely would cause Spectrum to lose customers. The reason I keep Spectrum Internet is because I have Spectrum Email accounts for a very long time, if I don't have Spectrum Email accounts it would be easier to change to another Internet provider. If problem still exists on Monday, will waste some time talking to Spectrum support on this problem.

@Txhikingturtle There is no other ISP in San Diego which has sufficient bandwidth for streaming besides Spectrum. Federal law allows these localized monopolies everywhere in the US. On Spectrum, at the most basic level, the bandwidth is 300 Megabits per second. Spectrum internet service is very reliable. The next closest is on 25 MBS and the prices are the same or higher. I also keep Spectrum because I have used the same san.rr.com email address for 25 years or more. To change this across hundreds of accounts would be a real burden. But I did investigate it and found some good alternatives which support the POP3 protocol here: www(.)hostingadvice(.)com/how-to/best-pop3-and-imap-email-providers/ (remove the parentheses to use the link since this discussion board does not allow you to post a link to an external website). Since Spectrum seems to be making a good faith effort to preserve their email service, I will not go this route for now. Even logging in to the website has been on-and-off today. So the changes are still a work in progress. Stay tuned!

Thank you for your help. Will wait and see what happens. At least I am not the only one experiencing this problem.

I have had my TDS email account since 2016 and having used Outlook for sending and receiving my email since then. Since November 8, 2023, I am no longer able to send using outlook. I am able to login to the Spectrum email site and send email from there. Just can’t send from my TDS email using Outlook. When I try, I get the below error: “Task 'mail.tds.net - Sending' reported error (0x80042109) : 'Outlook cannot connect to your outgoing (SMTP) email server. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP).'” I have tried the setting suggested by socalgail and it did not help. I had those settings except for the server authentication box checked. Checking the box and following the directions did not help. I continue to get the same error. In addition to the socalgail suggestions I have tried pretty much every possible combination of settings in Outlook without success. Sending from Outlook just died on November 8th. I use a POP3 account. I tried setting up a new IMAP account and continue to get the same error for sending due to the same problem of unable to connect with the outgoing SMTP email server. This is on a desktop computer, so when using Outlook, I am always connected to the Spectrum ISP. I have tried several times daily since November 8th and have not once successfully sent an email through Outlook Any other thoughts or suggestions appreciated.

@MarkVan Just a couple of things since you did not call them out specifically The smtp port must be 587. Be sure that your server authentication tells where to get your password. Your server id must be your FULL email address, e.g. markvan@san.rr.com, not just markvan. And it can specify that the password is the same as the incoming POP3 server password or you can enter the password again for the outgoing SMTP server. I do not have Outlook but Outlook Express 6.0 on an XP virtual machine. If this does not help, perhaps you can post a screen shot here with all you personal stuff left out.

I have experimented with the type of encryption on outgoing. Have used: none, SSL/TLS, and auto. Same result: unable to cannot connect to your outgoing (SMTP) email server. Incoming works with port 110 unencrypted or 995 encrypted.

I have Outlook 2019 client on a Windows 10 home computer on the Spectrum network and have no issues. I had to set encryption to STARTTLS to connect to the SMTP server. I have had this setting for several years with no problems. See below. The only issue I have with the Spectrum SMTP server is frequently when I am using my Cellphone connected to a non Spectrum network, I cannot connect to the Spectrum SMTP server. I had issues over a week ago with that issue but cleared up after a few days. Spectrum may be trying to make updates to their Email servers to minimize the amount of SPAM could be the reason for things not working, hard to know as Spectrum would not tell me anything when I called them when I had the problem over a week ago when I asked if they were making updates to their Email servers. You might try changing the Outgoing SMTP encryption to STARTTLS. May want to change the Incoming Server back to using Port 995 with SSL/TLS encryption for security.