E-mail server down?

[Jimjumper]

I can't seem to consistently receive e-mail. I've been with a tech and they will reset the server and I get 1 download of mail and then, after multiple attempts, again about 4 hours later. It's been 8 hours since the last time I was able to receive mail. Diagnostics indicates that the Hughes server is down. How would I confirm that?

[MarkJFine]

I've been receiving mail with no problem.

How are you accessing it, via webmail or through an email client?

If you're using an email client, recommend the following POP settings:
username: <use entire user name including '@hughes.net'>

password: <your password>

incoming server: mail.hughes.net, port 110

outgoing server: smtp.hughes.net, port 587 (changed from 25, 'cause that's not supposed to work)

I don't recommend using SSL for either connection, since it can be flakey.

Hope this helps.

[Jimjumper]

I've received e-mail with the same settings over 3 different devices for over a year and then this problem occurred, so I doubt that it's my settings unless Hughes changed their server settings. It's just so frustrating tha I have to go through all the hoops without knowing if the problem is Hughes server. Is there a way to discover whether the Hughes server is on-line and functioning properly before spending an hour wasting time with things that aren't the problem?

[MarkJFine]

I guarantee it's on line. I have a mail widget on my mac that pings it for new messages every 5 minutes. It usually gripes at me if it can't connect and hasn't done so in weeks.

[GabeU]

@Jimjumper

I can also confirm that Hughes' email server is up and running, as I've been receiving emails to it all day (though only notices from this Community (I don't use my Hughes email for anything else)).  With that said, I did just send an email from my MSN address to my Hughes address and it was received.  I also sent an email from my Gmail address and it was received, as well.    

Are these emails from a specific address or domain or is it just any and all email that you're not receiving?  

[MarkJFine]

I actually misspoke. The mail widget uses IMAP:

server: mail.hughes.net, port 993, with SSL.

Still works.

[Gwalk900]

For what it's worth and I think @Liz will  confirm  but port 25 is blocked now.

[MarkJFine]

Shouldn't be... just sent an email thru it.

Received: from smtp.hughes.net (smtp.hughes.net [69.168.97.48])

[Liz]

Port 25 is literally the only port we block, and have been blocking for a couple years. Please PM me any documentation/references I can escalate that shows otherwise. I don't see why we would suddenly stop doing this.

[MarkJFine]

Will do.

[Jimjumper · Accepted solution]

I turned the "SSL" boxes off on both the SMTP and POP servers and got mail right away. It appears to be working as it should now. I am going to go check what "SSL" is. 🙂

[MarkJFine]

SSL is an encrytion layer that depending upon how it's implemented may not be totally compatible with the way things are set up. Making matters worse, it's evolved over the past couple of years and there are several versions. It's basically hit or miss if you're using TLS1.0 or TLS1.1 for SSL at the moment, as most systems have moved to 1.2 (or even 1.3).

But regardless, glad everything is working now.