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I use BT email with Thunderbird and frequently have to re-input my BT password. The connection frequently fails or doesn't occur.

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I get error messages such as "connection timed out", "cannot connect to BT email"; the connection is often very slow and frequently am asked to reinput my BT email password, sometimes repeatedly every few seconds. If I come out of Thunderbird and then go back in, it sometimes works. I have a very slow broadband connection, max 1.8Mbps. Is this a Thunderbird or BT problem?

I get error messages such as "connection timed out", "cannot connect to BT email"; the connection is often very slow and frequently am asked to reinput my BT email password, sometimes repeatedly every few seconds. If I come out of Thunderbird and then go back in, it sometimes works. I have a very slow broadband connection, max 1.8Mbps. Is this a Thunderbird or BT problem?

All Replies (5)

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Have you tried turning off email scanning in your anti virus product.

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Thank you Matt. I will try it and see if the situation improves. Because the problem is intermittent it may take a little while to know.

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Last time I checked, btinternet.com email was still being routed through Yahoo. Here are the relevant headers from a message I just sent to my own btinternet.com account (from a different non-bt/yahoo account):

Received: from sonic.gate.mail.ne1.yahoo.com by sonic305.consmr.mail.ir2.yahoo.com with HTTP; Sun, 11 Mar 2018 11:24:59 +0000

Received: from 127.0.0.1  (EHLO rgin07.bt.int.cpcloud.co.uk) (65.20.0.12) by mta1011.bt.mail.ir2.yahoo.com with SMTP; Sun, 11 Mar 2018 11:24:55 +0000
…
Received: from mailbox.xxxxxx.co.uk (78.33.230.123) by rgin07.bt.int.cpcloud.co.uk (9.0.019.24-1) id 5A9D35180780C89C for xxxxxx@btinternet.com; Sun, 11 Mar 2018 11:24:54 +0000

So yes, bt email goes via Critical Path and Yahoo. Just how much more unnecessarily complicated could they make it?

I know this isn't exactly helpful, but Yahoo's service is truly atrocious. I have closed my yahoo.co.uk account now, after serious security breaches, but it too was one of the more problem-afflicted accounts I had.

My own btinternet.com account frequently fails to connect. It may be simply oversubscribed or under-resourced and so doesn't make a timely connection.

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Zenos, thanks for your reply. Very interesting and perhaps explains the problem.

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The problem has continued, despite turning off email virus checking (in AVG Premium). I have now switched it back on. Perhaps, as Zenos said, it is a problem specifically with BT.