I’ve been getting lots of calls recently and questions from Comcast users who use Outlook saying they can’t send email but can receive. Last August most people should have been warned that Port 25 was going to be phased out.
In a blog post, Comcast says,” In order to ensure a more secure network and email domain, Comcast will no longer by default allow access to port 25 for our residential Internet users. In addition, we are asking comcast.net email users to migrate to port 465, which offers SSL encryption. We will continue to support the industry standard port 587. Upon request to our Customer Security Assurance team this block can be removed, enabling access to use port 25 for other email domains, though the comcast.net email servers will no longer accept submission via port 25. These changes will occur gradually across our network beginning today.”
Many Comcast clients have found that 465 which is Comcast’s recommended port isn’t working, but 587 does work in every case I have seen.
Email Program Users (Outlook Express, Outlook, MacMail, etc.):
If you use an email program, this action will disable your program’s ability to send email until you change your email program settings to send email on port 587.To protect your email security, click on the link for your current email software, then follow the step-by-step instructions to change your settings.
Don’t see your email software? Then locate the preferences for your mail account in the software you use and provide the settings listed on this page.
The solution in most cases has been to change the outgoing port setting to 587 and checking the box for “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication” within your email account settings.
