[Gllug] (OT) linux e-mail via BT home hub

[Alistair Mann]

John Winters wrote:
>  On 01/11/10 22:44, Alistair Mann wrote:
> > Don Williams wrote:
> >> This is simply a request for warnings/advice on what to watch out
> >> for in setting up/using Evolution e-mail via BT's Home Hub (wired
> >> - Infinity 1) - just in case a GLLUG member has any relevant
> >> experience. Currently running Ubuntu 10.04 but will be installing
> >>  Debian 6 once it's out. Humble TIA. Everything seems OK at the
> >> moment, with the exception that the connection seems to
> >> die/disconnect most nights. Don
> > A number of my clients have been caught out by the appalling
> > BT/Yahoo email service: should you check for email too often, it
> > appears to put you in a time-out loop during which additional
> > checks are automatically denied with a "username/password
> > incorrect" response from the MUA. To the user, the password which
> > is correct suddenly becomes adamantly wrong, so they try all the
> > other passwords they've ever used, which of course are still wrong.
> > Solution thus far is to walk away and try again after half an hour
> > with the original password.
>
>  I have endless problems with BT/Yahoo customers complaining that they
>  haven't received e-mails.  This seems to happen on a completely
>  unpredictable basis.  Examining mail logs demonstrates that the
>  relevant e-mails were accepted by BT/Yahoo's servers but then just
>  disappear into the void.
>
>  I've tried taking up a sample case with BT/Yahoo.  I filled in a very
>  detailed problem report giving exact dates and times and message
>  references.  In response I got an auto-generated e-mail asking me to
>  send all the same information again - to a false e-mail address.
>  When I sent the data a second time my e-mail just bounced with a "no
>  such user" error.
>
>  There are major problems internally with BT/Yahoo's e-mail, but their
>  attitude unfortunately is, "We're big enough and important enough
>  that we don't need to bother".

Their service was cursed from the get/go: the weeks following the 
migration from BTs own service were stuff with confusion as a) they 
hadn't appeared to have informed anyone what they were doing and -- 
which may be relevant to you, John -- b) the BT/Yahoo service includes 
prefiltering email for spam: many false positives turned up only if the 
user knows to check the webmail spam box. This remains the case.

This is only marginally better than AOL's service. Corporate support at 
AOL actually have Clue, as a short conversation reveals (I believe 
they're were also 3rd line residential support just after the 
millenium.) But even they couldn't help with what happens to email 
disappearing within their own system, with date/time/IP address and 
MsgIDs to play with.

>  Avoid BT/Yahoo as an e-mail provider.

God, yes!
-- 
Alistair Mann


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