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We had a switch to fibre optic with Bell Canada 2 weeks ago. Everything works as before except outgoing mail is very slow

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A Problem Sending E-mail Through Sympatico with Thunderbird

On September 10, Bell Canada came into our home to hook up their fibre optic network, replacing their copper network that had been serving us well for many years. The old network brought in their signal that serviced through hard wire, our 2 telephones on the first floor, 2 telephones on the second floor, and 1 telephone in the basement. It also connected (hard wired) to a modem and wireless hub located on the first floor and these serviced (through WIFI) a TV on the first floor plus a second TV on the second floor as well as our 2 laptop computers and printer located on the second floor, as well as handling a tablet and 2 cell phones through the WIFI. We had no problems using Thunderbird on the laptops to send e-mail out to the Sympatico server.

When the technician left, everything seemed to be working properly. We had tried the laptops and they were able to connect to the internet. We had tried to download mail from the Sympatico server and that worked. We had not tried to send any mail until the next day.

I tried to forward an e-mail that I had received, to my wife’s computer. It took between 45-60 seconds of looking at the “sending” message, before it “copied” the e-mail to my “Sent” folder. My wife also said that she had noticed the long delay when she had tried to e-mail a friend.

I found some speed tests on-line and used them to check the upload and download speeds of our new equipment. They indicated that we had a good, high speed connection. I contacted Bell and their representative was able to conduct some remote testing on our modem and hub. She said that they appeared to be working properly and at a good speed. She suggested logging in to Sympatico through the internet rather than using Thunderbird, but that seems to by-pass the problem since the internet and google seemed to work fine. Also, I would rather use Thunderbird because it allows me to save some things directly on my own computer. She also suggested that the problem seemed to lie with our 2 computers.

I would think that if there was a hardware problem (faulty WIFI card?), that we would have received some sort of message.

I have moved my laptop closer to the hub with no change.

I have looked on-line but have not been able to find anyone else experiencing the same problem.

I have checked/re-checked the account settings and they have not been changed.

I do recall receiving an e-mail from Microsoft Outlook regarding a change in their authentication software; they changed from “Basic Authentication” to “Modern Authentication”. They provided a link to an article telling me that my third-party mail program (Thunderbird) would be okay and that the outgoing server may need some re-configuring. At the time, I ignored this e-mail because I did not have or use an Outlook account. When I look back at this e-mail, the date of the change corresponds to a week after Bell had come and done their conversion, and I started to wonder if there was a connection; but I was not trying to connect to Outlook’s mail server. Regardless, I tried their server settings. They recommended changing the SMTP Server’s Connection Security to STARTTLS and Authentication Method to OAuth2. This authentication method did not show up as an option. Their second suggestion was to delete my existing mail account from Thunderbird and re-create the account using Thunderbird’s automatic mail server recognition. I tried this and it too, left me with the same result, a very slow outgoing mail.

I have tried looking on-line but have been unable to find anyone in a current similar situation. I did find a reference on Bell’s support site, that indicated that their mail system was based on Outlook’s, but I think this may have been an older reference.

Any help or suggestions that you can provide, are greatly appreciated.

A Problem Sending E-mail Through Sympatico with Thunderbird On September 10, Bell Canada came into our home to hook up their fibre optic network, replacing their copper network that had been serving us well for many years. The old network brought in their signal that serviced through hard wire, our 2 telephones on the first floor, 2 telephones on the second floor, and 1 telephone in the basement. It also connected (hard wired) to a modem and wireless hub located on the first floor and these serviced (through WIFI) a TV on the first floor plus a second TV on the second floor as well as our 2 laptop computers and printer located on the second floor, as well as handling a tablet and 2 cell phones through the WIFI. We had no problems using Thunderbird on the laptops to send e-mail out to the Sympatico server. When the technician left, everything seemed to be working properly. We had tried the laptops and they were able to connect to the internet. We had tried to download mail from the Sympatico server and that worked. We had not tried to send any mail until the next day. I tried to forward an e-mail that I had received, to my wife’s computer. It took between 45-60 seconds of looking at the “sending” message, before it “copied” the e-mail to my “Sent” folder. My wife also said that she had noticed the long delay when she had tried to e-mail a friend. I found some speed tests on-line and used them to check the upload and download speeds of our new equipment. They indicated that we had a good, high speed connection. I contacted Bell and their representative was able to conduct some remote testing on our modem and hub. She said that they appeared to be working properly and at a good speed. She suggested logging in to Sympatico through the internet rather than using Thunderbird, but that seems to by-pass the problem since the internet and google seemed to work fine. Also, I would rather use Thunderbird because it allows me to save some things directly on my own computer. She also suggested that the problem seemed to lie with our 2 computers. I would think that if there was a hardware problem (faulty WIFI card?), that we would have received some sort of message. I have moved my laptop closer to the hub with no change. I have looked on-line but have not been able to find anyone else experiencing the same problem. I have checked/re-checked the account settings and they have not been changed. I do recall receiving an e-mail from Microsoft Outlook regarding a change in their authentication software; they changed from “Basic Authentication” to “Modern Authentication”. They provided a link to an article telling me that my third-party mail program (Thunderbird) would be okay and that the outgoing server may need some re-configuring. At the time, I ignored this e-mail because I did not have or use an Outlook account. When I look back at this e-mail, the date of the change corresponds to a week after Bell had come and done their conversion, and I started to wonder if there was a connection; but I was not trying to connect to Outlook’s mail server. Regardless, I tried their server settings. They recommended changing the SMTP Server’s Connection Security to STARTTLS and Authentication Method to OAuth2. This authentication method did not show up as an option. Their second suggestion was to delete my existing mail account from Thunderbird and re-create the account using Thunderbird’s automatic mail server recognition. I tried this and it too, left me with the same result, a very slow outgoing mail. I have tried looking on-line but have been unable to find anyone in a current similar situation. I did find a reference on Bell’s support site, that indicated that their mail system was based on Outlook’s, but I think this may have been an older reference. Any help or suggestions that you can provide, are greatly appreciated.

All Replies (2)

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Sorry to all who have read my above essay. I just tried to forward another message and everything worked fine and quickly. Since my computer was the only one that I "experimented" with, I tried sending from my wife's computer to mine and no problems.

I believe that 1 of the writers responding to someone else's problem several years ago, was right, when he commented that Bell's server was the problem and Bell would not admit it even after they had fixed the problem.

Helpful?

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It's possible you experienced a temporary incompatibility between your antivirus and TB, (if the former is scanning outgoing mail), due to one or both of them undergoing a silent update, and the slowness was resolved after a reboot restored a compatible state. But it also might have been due to Bell issues if it happened to several customers with mail programs (not webmail).

Helpful?

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