Re: Apple Mail: pop att.yahoo.com rejects password

Rounds · ‎06-13-2012

Thanks to YOU I can now use my Mail program after nearly a year of not being successful!!!!!

I am using the change of having my att email forwarded to my gmail account and added that account to Mac's Mail 5.2. The Mail program set it up and voila - the aggrevation is OVER! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I had spent hours online, time at the Apple store, and your answer worked.

davidalexander · ‎06-20-2012

Why the chose to partner with Yahoo is beyond me. Yahoo has the worst interface and a complete neglect of customer support. ATT is going down that same path it seems. I seem to remember breaking up Ma Bell about 30-40 years ago. IT'S BACK!

coolinarow · ‎06-27-2012

I've had the same experiences that several others have described--for at least a couple of months, if not longer. Seems to have gotten much worse in the last couple of months.

Yesterday I resolved to take the time to solve the problem. Messed up my Mac Mail account settings for bellsouth.net (taken over by AT&T) in trying to follow the suggestions some folks had made for solving the problem--and wasn't able to get Mac Mail to connect to my AT&T/yahoo account at all.

So, the chat support person and the 24/7 telephone support person were both very helpful; they got my server settings back as they should be, but still the password-refused error message.

I bit the bullet and paid the $49 for one-time specialized tech support. Evidently there are so many e-mail-related problems coming in to the paid tech support service, that they have a special team on duty. The first tech person you talk to on the paid service, fills out a report and hands you over to the email support specialist.

My problems took about 2 hours to resolve, and included fixing the mess I had made with my bellsouth/AT&T/Yahoo server and port settings in Mac Mail. The specialist did get this fixed, and did get my mail to login to the server.

Here's the takeaway message (similar to what others have posted):

You do have to login to your webmail when you get the server rejected your password message. The tech specialist recommended going to the Member Center on the AT&T/Yahoo web page, and logging in there, rather than logging in directly to email.
The tech person said not to logout, instead, stay logged in.
The fix doesn't last very long. If you try to check mail in your account from Mac Mail again (whether it's 30 minutes or 2 hours later) you get the same message again. So, you go back to your page in the Member Center, logout, and do it all over again.

So, I'm satisfied with what all of the support people I worked with yesterday, did to help. They were very courteous and concerned, and they fixed my problems. None of this is their fault. I absolutely did not like having to pay to get the problems fixed, though. I pay enough for my services from AT&T, and this problem should be fixed--permanently--as part of what I pay each month. AT&T needs to fix this (not their customor support folks), and sending customers repeatedly to the webmail site is not a satisfactory fix. One of the reasons (among many) that I use Mac Mail is so that I can read and send emails without being bombarded with ads while I do so.

EWG · ‎06-10-2012

In spite of my frustration with AT&T's chronic email client support problem, I must agree that the phone reps and chat room reps have been uniformally courteous and done the best as they have been trained to help.

I do not think they have all been told the same scoop. Many times they have asked me to go through my settings, found nothing to change, and then asked me to delete the account definition and rebuild it (this can cause messages to be lost in Windows 7 if the messages have not been mored to the "storage folders." They have also suggested that I uninstall, download, and reinstall Windlwos Live Mail.

The IT manager of a correspondent in the UK told me AT&T's email support in general is "notorious," when I he called me to say his customer newsletters were being bounced back to him -- not even making it into my junk mail folder. It took him weeks to get it resolved.

AT&T is being unfair to its front line support staff and shows little respect for the customer.

Your take away messages are fine, but don't always work. At least with my Outlook Express client (now dead, poor thing) and my Windlows Live Mail client.

I must says, however, that the client support has been working for several days now without a glitch. I'll be really upset if tomorrow it goes on strike again.

Popconn · ‎06-08-2012

Dear AT&T, Your email still does not work. Please fix this. http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB412563#fbid=DKd4ufG_FBI

EWG · ‎06-10-2012

It seems that the ATT and YAHOO systems can get out of synch. After the support reps have verified your settings (I know they're probably correct, but it makes tech support feel good), ask them to compare (on their side) the setup between the ATT and YAHOO systems. They have a tool that can do this. And there is another tool they can use to bring them into synch.

The man I learned this from today also said that there are logs that can be examined that MIGHT show how often ATT and YAHOO are getting out of synch. If synching the two systems fixes the problem and it reoccurs, and the same out of synch condition is found, a ticket should be opened to investigate why the systems are getting out of synch.

Synching the systems removed my password rejection problem immediately (we tested). If there is an instability, it could be in keeping ATT and YAHOO in synch. My ticket is still open to track whether the change brings lasting relief.

Ron Herrmann · ‎07-12-2012

The problem may have been with a Uverse account, but it's the SAME PROBLEM - (only with Uverse, rather than with plain ol' vanilla AT&T)

Ron Herrmann · ‎07-12-2012

I really wish you had taken the time to more accurately type your post, because it probably would have helped many of us who are becoming pretty desperate.

Did you really mean to type "has"? Or did you mean to type "as"?

Seriously, we could use any help we can find, because we're only going to receive those "I feel your pain" patronizing responses from the support folk, and then, one day, AT&T will figure out what they've done wrong, and the problem will go away.

But in the mean time…

Ron Herrmann · ‎07-12-2012

Except that it doesn't.

I made those very changes (copied the settings from the page listing all the ports and server settings for all of the AT&T mail domains). It never even helped for a few minutes.

Fix this, AT&T. And fix it soon, or watch the exodus of customers.

jyamm · ‎07-15-2012

I have been using a Mac with outlook for the past 6 months. At first, my att mail (not UVerse) worked fine. Then I began having the same sporadic problems with accepting my ATT password. Recently, the problem has become so frequent that I can almost never count on using my outlook to send/receive email.

Thanks, buckhorn, for so diligently posting your experiences with this. It does work to log into the webmail and then suddenly my outlook populates....go figure! Glad this works, but echoing what others have previously stated- this is NOT an acceptable solution. This thread has dated back to more than a year. When are you going to come up with a permanent solution AT&T? Shameful....We were considering moving to U-Verse, but will not now that I see the pace at which you address customer issues. I am preparing to set up the Gmail forwarding system previously described in this post to solve my pain. Thanks to other users for the help that AT&T should be offering its customers.

Messi10 · ‎07-23-2012

We have been having the same problems since we switched to U-verse. We had DSL for years and never had any problems. Now, it doesn't work. Apple mail keeps asking for a password and rejects it every time. AT&T technical reps, although very polite, are literally worthless.

So, I am thinking that the best solution is to ditch my bellsouth and at&t email addresses and move everything to either a gmail or apple email. I can set up a gmail or apple account with apple mail and because they don't use the at&t and yahoo servers, it should work. Has anybody tried this? Will it work permanently?

AT&T loses. If everyone stops using their email address, then it makes it easier for customers to switch internet providers because we become email agnostics. Then AT&T will wake up and address our problem.

Evalution · ‎07-25-2012

My Apple Mail is not able to receive att.net mail anymore at all (since a week and a half ago), even when I'm logged in at web mail. I updated the incoming and outgoing servers per the instructions to "inbound.att.net" and "outbound.att.net." Apple Mail is still saying the server rejected the password. The password is the same, correct. I'm entering it over and over, and it is being rejected. This happened periodically before, but then I was hacked and changed my password. (I couldn't do it the straightforward way because I have an old free att.net email account.

To change my password, I spent 6 hours with like 9 people at att and an apple care guy I was referred to by one of them, even though he found it immediately obvious that it was an att tech support issue. Still, he was an oasis of sanity and kindness in my day. Finally one of them suggested that I could use the "forgot password" link while logged in to web mail. It worked. This had not occured to me because I had not forgotten my password, and because I assumed that link would take me through to the same att.com window that wasn't recognizing my account's existence.

So since being hacked and the password change, Apple Mail hasn't been able to recognize my password, either the new one or the old one. Even though I did change it in Preferences to the new one. Maybe this is now an Apple tech support problem.

Evalution · ‎07-25-2012

I don't have an iPad, is that really a crucial part of this solution? I'm trying to see how to change my "account type" in Mac Mail to "Yahoo" from att.

Bigdadycabstall… · ‎07-30-2012

This same thing has happened to me. It is a glitch in the ATT Yahoo system. 5 minutes after i put my SBCGLOBAL account on my Apple I pad my laptop started asking me to verify my password. I have not gotted mail on my Laptop since that time. I have changed the POP and SMTP settings and it worked for 20 minutes and then went right back to the same thing asking for the Name and Password dialog box. I did find this but it did not help. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3228 . I do not know what the SBC internal problem is but I hope they come up with a fix soon before Me and my company make the switch to fiber. It will suck but it will be much faster and hopfully more reliable.

My senerio again is I have DSL, I have outlook on my laptop and my android Samsung phone with an SBCGLOBAL e-mail account. I joined in my SBCGLOBAL. Net account to my new I pad and now the Laptop will not work... Does anyone have the fix. I am loosing bussiness and valuble time. Help Please Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cjramos05 · ‎09-05-2012

After spending hours on the phone with the connectech support and AT&T, I've given up. Seems pointless to have to login via the web, but it appears to be the only solution. I'm seriously considering not even using my att email address any more and just swiching over to iCloud. If anyone ever does find a solution to this problem, please let me know.

BTW I found it odd that I have no problem with other email addresses from my sub accounts. I only have this problem with my primary email address. The others work fine.

FLNetMan62 · ‎09-08-2012

I am fed up with ATT. First their level one tech are not equipped to handle these issues - they go by a script. Second, changing a passowrd will NOT resolve the issues - if my webmail works with teh password, then my pop/smtp/imap apps should also work. Third, if I can access the webmail page then YES i do have access to the internet - don't ask me if i can see other sites...duh1

And then to connect me to connect tech - because only they deal with pop/imap/smtp issues - at a fee!! - is ridiculous. The issue is on yahoo and att pop/smtp/imap servers. It is not my home network or internet issue: it encompasses my ipad, my laptop and desk computer and my cell phone all on different networks - meaning issues is at ATT. But does ATT respond on here? No!

And when i called to inform them they had the rolem tehir respons was "we do not have any server issues reported?. Duh! I am reporting it!

I am moving off yahoo and ATT mail because of these issues. I have my account setup for pop and imap access, so there should be no reason i ahve to log in every 30 days on the web. Next i will say bye bye to uverse.

Yelcka · ‎12-02-2012

I am having the same problem. I get the following message when I send an e-mail. "Cannot send message using the server smtp.att.yahoo.com The sender address ....@att.net was rejected by the server smtp.mail.yahoo.com". I have gone to the web mail and logged in like some of you have suggested. But still can't seem to send e-mail. I hate to pay more money. I paid 69.00 at the beginning when I signed up for ATT to even get them to help me set up my Mac. I couldn't understand why they didn't give you written instructions on setting up your computer if you want to use MacMail so that you can enter the information your self. I am thinking of leaving AT&T. Not worth all the stress.

rgwc · ‎02-14-2013

I have had this problem for sporadically for months on my MacBook Pro on Mai, though it always resolved itself within a few hours. The past several days, though, it has been working and not working very frequently. I installed Thunderbird and Postbox and had the same problem. I checked many forums and tried all the suggestions. In desperation, I Googled the error message again and found a link to the ATT forum: www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB412563#fbid=VS9GHwXGIzX where it said:

Your email account is locked and/or your email password suddenly stops working

The most common reason an email account is locked or password not accepted any longer is due to suspected compromise of security.
- You can reset your email password from the myAT&T login page, select Forgot your password? and follow the instructions.

I think this is a relatively new posting, since I don't recall it from my past visit there.

I changed my password at AT&T and in my email clients and my email is now working again -- at least for now.

If ATT really did lockout my password, it did so without notice and caused me -- and obviously others -- great angst and frustration.

Bill in OKC · ‎05-10-2013

Below is what worked for me. Change the inbound and outbound servers as listed in the link below from "annab30144" below, but also change ports as indicated. At least it is working for me right now.

I don't understand why AT&T could not have given us this very simple solution, unless maybe it is only going to work for a short time.

I have had the same problem with both Outlook and Apple Mail. Here is the solution to your problem.

http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB401570&cv=804,703,902,102&source=EZSS250000000000&wtEv...

SETTINGS HAVE CHANGED: instead of pop.att.yahoo.com for inbound change it to: inbound.att.net

Instead of smtp.att.yahoo.com change it to outbound.att.net. Save your changes and it should work beautifully.

bar-j700 · ‎11-04-2010

buckthorn, i know what you mean. im having the same password problem with my accounts here at at&t/yahoo. i call tech support and get passed around to the OOP, tech support, on and on everytime they pose a solution it works for a hour or perhaps a day then it goes right back to where i was befor i called at^t. the problem persists and has for the past 3 years. time for a solution. i consider this a major problem that needs all of at&t's trouble shooters to get off there tail and actually do some real work to solve it. kind regards.