The Great Telecom T-Stick Orcon Incredimail Mystery Caper ...

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Allessandra

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#68334 19-Sep-2010 18:14

My poor mother was stuck in the dark ages using dial-up until I dragged her kicking and screaming buying her a T-Stick from Telecom so she could leave the confines of the cold dark garage (the obvious place for her laptop, apparently) for the warmth of the lounge using the laptop as intended.

Orcon gives lifetime email address so figure this is wonderful for my dear old mum because it has taken her close to six years to understand her email address along with the INCREDIMAIL email program (Gotta love those characters - sometimes I get emails swamped with these fabulous icons!) ... so it seemed all would be wonderful.

So I set the T-Stick up and away we go - after explaining a few dozen times how to connect ("Just click on the CONNECT button Ma") and how to disconnect ("Just click on the DISCONNECT button Ma") I left mum to it.

I send an email while I am there - from my iPhone to her email address. Hmmm nope, doesn't work. I call Orcon who tell me that Telecom block Port 25 or some such thing and that I will have to call them to unblock it.

Telecom tell me they do no such thing and Orcon is responsible.

Orcon guy tells me to change the smtp setting to xtra ... I do this. It seems to work.

But now, she isn't receiving mail even though I am sending it and she is unable to send mail - Operation Incomplete comes up time and again.

Far from making my mum's life easier it seems I have eradicated her desire to learn the joys of using the laptop.

Mum called to say she is going to bring it to me tomorrow to fix so I thought I would ask you fella's and fellessa's ... any idea what the problem is?

Obviously part of the problem is that I am not that great - everything I know about computers I have learned here at Geekzone.

Anyway - thanks in advance. Also, I have another question so if you are really kind - find it and answer that one too.

Thanks

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#381991 19-Sep-2010 20:02

Try this.... xtra had to be changed because it was a huge target for blacklisting some years ago...

http://www.nzconnections.net.nz/Xtra_Email_(@xtra)_settings

________

Antoniosk

Allessandra

24 posts

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#381997 19-Sep-2010 20:21

Hi there

Thanks a lot for the link and forgive me for asking this next set of questions but well, I have to.

I notice the information on that page is for:Xtra email settings are only for the @xtra.co.nz email accounts

My mum still has her email with Orcon (although her email address is @value.net.nz) but has now cancelled her account with them because I told her she could simply use the T-Stick. All the poor woman does is email her older sister (though they do have free calling but both feel ultra chic being able to use email - so you can imagine how much I have cramped mum's style with this glitch!) so I am desperate to make this right for her.

Do I use the email settings even though they are only for xtra email accounts?

I don't even understand the issue.

Really, what would have changed? Mum is using the fancy schmancy t-stick to access the 'net, she still has the old email address and still wants to use incredimail.

Behodar

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#381999 19-Sep-2010 20:23

Allessandra: I call Orcon who tell me that Telecom block Port 25 or some such thing and that I will have to call them to unblock it.

Telecom tell me they do no such thing and Orcon is responsible.

I believe that port 25 (SMTP) is blocked on Telecom wired connections, but it's definitely not blocked on my XT connection. I assume that no XT connections have it blocked.

Allessandra

24 posts

Geek

#382000 19-Sep-2010 20:27

Hi

So, I guess this is gonna sound like a stupid question but ...

The T-Stick uses XT to connect?

It has proven to be a frustrating experience so far.

Cheers
Allessandra

LennonNZ

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#382002 19-Sep-2010 20:30

If you are not on Orcon's Network and want to send/receive your Orcon email access then:

POP3 mail.orcon.net.nz port 110 with your Orcon username/password set
SMTP mail.orcon.net.nz port 587 with SMTP Authentication turned on with Orcon username/password set

Thanks

nickb800

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#382003 19-Sep-2010 20:31

I had a very very similar problem to the OP.
I moved my grandma on from xtra dialup to a T-stick last year.
Email was the sticking point, spent ages messing around with ports as per advice on GZ and the telecom website.
In the end I called up their helpdesk and they advised me to move from an older version of Outlook to Outlook Express since they only supported it. Plugged in the email settings and it worked. While it was a stupid solution and didnt explain the problem, I stuck with it rather than arguing with Manilla.

Kyanar

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#382004 19-Sep-2010 20:32

T-Sticks communicate over the XT network, yup. What settings does your mum have for the SMTP and POP3/IMAP servers (Orcon)?

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#382005 19-Sep-2010 20:32

Ideally, you should be using the Orcon SMTP server. They should provide SMTP over a port like 465 or 587 and require authentication.

If you're getting errors receiving mail, it sounds like either the username/password/server might have gotten mixed up. The mail client should be able to provide an exact error which will tell you where to look (outlook/outlook express use 0x800 error codes).

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antoniosk

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#382006 19-Sep-2010 20:33

Allessandra: Hi there

Thanks a lot for the link and forgive me for asking this next set of questions but well, I have to.

I notice the information on that page is for:Xtra email settings are only for the @xtra.co.nz email accounts

My mum still has her email with Orcon (although her email address is @value.net.nz) but has now cancelled her account with them because I told her she could simply use the T-Stick. All the poor woman does is email her older sister (though they do have free calling but both feel ultra chic being able to use email - so you can imagine how much I have cramped mum's style with this glitch!) so I am desperate to make this right for her.

Do I use the email settings even though they are only for xtra email accounts?

I don't even understand the issue.

Really, what would have changed? Mum is using the fancy schmancy t-stick to access the 'net, she still has the old email address and still wants to use incredimail.

Ah.

Slightly trickier then. Generally, most ISP's will let you use their Send Email servers when connected to them directly. So Orcon lets you send email when connected via Orcon Internet. Most ISP's don't let you send email from their infrastructure from another ISP (eg you connect to the internet via Xtra, but want to send from an Orcon email box). Policy varies from ISP to ISP, and I don't know what orcon's is. But generally if they're NOT getting any money from you...

Telecom allows you to pay a fee to keep an email address alive ($2.50), and gives you the settings to use their email box from another ISP (I use TelstraClear in just such a config).

Unfortunately email addresses from your ISP stay with your ISP... that's why many people use Google mail, Hotmail etc - they are independant of ISP.

________

Antoniosk

Allessandra

24 posts

Geek

#382031 19-Sep-2010 21:58

Thanks, that sounds very straight forward and logical so bound not to work. *grin*

I will give it a whirl tomorrow. And respond back to you if it does work.

Allessandra

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#382035 19-Sep-2010 22:05

Hi there

Glad I am not the only one trying to make 'net life easier for the elderly! It is a shame that something that would appear so simple is actually complicated and frustrating.

My mother MUST have Incredimail ... it is all she knows. haha

Thanks for the information. :-)

Allessandra

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#382037 19-Sep-2010 22:07

Thanks. I have just checked to see if Incredimail supports G-Mail - it does, so I am gonna give that a whirl tomorrow. Of course, I will have to then email everyone in mum's email list and let them know her knew address and that will cause confusion to dozens of elderly people but it might be the only real solution. :-))

Allessandra

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#382041 19-Sep-2010 22:17

Hi there - I couldn't tell you the settings right now but she is bringing the laptop over tomorrow. I am the closest thing she has to a geek so pity the poor woman but you have all helped so I am feeling a little more hopeful.

Thanks.

Ragnor

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#382075 19-Sep-2010 23:47

LennonNZ: If you are not on Orcon's Network and want to send/receive your Orcon email access then:

POP3 mail.orcon.net.nz port 110 with your Orcon username/password set
SMTP mail.orcon.net.nz port 587 with SMTP Authentication turned on with Orcon username/password set

Thanks

This should work as long as Incredimail will let you enter port number and login/password.

You might want to spend some time teaching her a email client like Thunderbird (by the guys who do Firefox aka Mozilla), I thought Incredimail was basically spyware?

old3eyes

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#382120 20-Sep-2010 08:48

I have found that i have had to set the outgoing SMTP to smtp.xtra.co.nz to get this to work with Orcon. I bought my wife a T-Stick to use at work and this was the only way to send emails via the Telecom T-Stick account.. we use for incoming mail . mail.orcon.net.nz

Regards,

Old3eyes

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