[WXC/VFX] multiple devices checking email

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E3xtc

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#138173 23-Dec-2013 11:14

Hello,

I went to setup my wife's phone to check for email and all went well until I had a situation where the phone had connected to the mailbox (via our WiFi at home) and then I opened up the mail client on the desktop PC (via the same Internet connection at home); it failed with a message saying that another device already was connected to the mailbox.

The only way I could get this to work was by setting up the phone to 'fetch' - in essence only connecting to the mailbox when the email client on the phone is opened.
While this works, it means that the phone will not get notifications of emails that have been received, until the mailbox is opened - which seems a little dumb.

Is there a better way around this that I have been too blind to see?

Cheers
Troy

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#956503 23-Dec-2013 11:31

What mail service and protocol are you using?

If you want mail across multiple devices you really need to be using a service such as Microsoft Exchange, IMAP or Google that allows multiple devices.

If you're just using POP3 then it's not designed for multiple devices. There are work arounds, but they all end in tears eventually.

johnr

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#956506 23-Dec-2013 11:36

With POP you need to tell the email client to leave a copy of the mail on the server

Handsomedan

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#956519 23-Dec-2013 11:54

johnr: With POP you need to tell the email client to leave a copy of the mail on the server

This is how mine is set up and we access it from at least 4 different devioces with no issue.

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E3xtc

773 posts

Ultimate Geek

#956548 23-Dec-2013 12:55

Yeah we are just using POP.
We wanted the computer to be the master device, so that when the computer connects it downloads all the emails. The phone was just an easy device to use effectively as a notification device; as we don't (at the moment) have a laptop/tablet/etc. So the phone is not setup to remove the emails from the server, but the computer will.

So the issue was just when the phone had connected (via the same WXC internet connection that the computer uses), subsequent attempts by the computer to connect to the mailbox were denied by the mailserver due to both devices connecting via the same IP address to the one mailbox.

Ragnor

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#956566 23-Dec-2013 13:46

E3xtc: Yeah we are just using POP.
We wanted the computer to be the master device, so that when the computer connects it downloads all the emails. The phone was just an easy device to use effectively as a notification device; as we don't (at the moment) have a laptop/tablet/etc. So the phone is not setup to remove the emails from the server, but the computer will.

You probably want to switch to IMAP.

mattwnz

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#956599 23-Dec-2013 14:59

Ragnor:
E3xtc: Yeah we are just using POP.
We wanted the computer to be the master device, so that when the computer connects it downloads all the emails. The phone was just an easy device to use effectively as a notification device; as we don't (at the moment) have a laptop/tablet/etc. So the phone is not setup to remove the emails from the server, but the computer will.

You probably want to switch to IMAP.

Both pop and imp have their pros and cons. I use pop to download my email, and Gmail keeps a copy of all emails on the all mail folder, so they can be accessed from any device at anytime.

JayADee

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#956600 23-Dec-2013 14:59

Odd you're getting an error, I've had my various laptops (not macs), iPhone and iPad set up that way for years. I'm using pop and gmail. My laptop and Outlook gets all the mail unless I've deleted it on one of the other two devices first. (Because I don't want to read or download junk twice) Retrieving mail from any device other than the laptop does not delete it from the server. I've got it set up so that once the laptop gets the mail, it IS deleted off the server.

I've got two gmail accounts checked at the same time set up the same way and a third gmail account used for voicemail messages that is forwarded to my personal email.

I've never had an error.

I just backup my email file once in a while and stick it on a disc.

I started using pop in the dark ages. I've been thinking now that mail has matured I really should just switch to IMAP, leave everything on the server and save the hassle of backups.

Edit: or as above poster does and leave a copy on the server...

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E3xtc

773 posts

Ultimate Geek

#956614 23-Dec-2013 15:27

yeah I think it might be fine using a mail provider (eg Gmail etc) other than WXC's webmail ( I know I know why am I using the ISP mail :P) - the error message is from WXC not liking the 2 different devices being connected from the same IP at the same time.

JayADee

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#956629 23-Dec-2013 15:53

Yeah. :)

Googled and got this:

'Symptoms

When accessing a POP3 email account from iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and another computer or device at the same time, it is possible for one device to be locked out. This can result in either an authentication error or "Mailbox Locked" message. You may see this message:

Resolution

The POP3 mail protocol was designed, and is implemented in many cases, to support one connection at a time. If your email provider is not configured to allow multiple connections, then when two different devices attempt to access the mailbox at the same time, both devices may get locked out or you may be prompted to re-enter the password.'

Zeon

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#956634 23-Dec-2013 16:16

POP is terrible for what you want to do, I hate it when i see it hacked together for solutions like this. Each device isn't aware of each others sent items/folders or replies. At a minimum use IMAP and ideally activesync or the like.

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RunningMan

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#956647 23-Dec-2013 17:34

Use POP for the main computer that you want to check and receive the email from.

Set up IMAP on any other mobile devices

If you set the main computer to remove mail from the server when it is either deleted, or moved from the inbox, then it will remain visible to other clients when they connect via IMAP.

The IMAP clients should then be able to either use fetch or push.

E3xtc

773 posts

Ultimate Geek

#956777 24-Dec-2013 07:25

All sorted - left the computer as POP and changed the other device to IMAP...working as expected. Thanks all for your ideas/thoughts/input.
Cheers

TwoSeven

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#956798 24-Dec-2013 08:43

Out of interest, I used the POP approach as well with one machine being the master. The issue that I ended up with is that GMail did not appear to correctly handle the delete request which caused duplicate emails.

In the end to resolve it I moved to exchange online, which allowed me to retrieve email from Hotmail/gmail and sync them across all of my devices.

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sbiddle

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#956820 24-Dec-2013 09:29

I know some people will disagree with me but after many years of dealing with people trying to use multiple devices I have one piece of advice - use ActiveSync. As far as I'm concerned it is the only single solution that will work across a large number of devices and lacks all the issues every other solution does.

Using POP across multiple devices ultimately always ends in tears, no matter how well you think it's working.

JayADee

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#957069 24-Dec-2013 19:35

Well I was wrong. I was using IMAP on the IDevices and Pop on the laptop as the boss PC. I made a backup of my outlook mail on the laptop last night and then switched it entirely to IMAP. It' something I've been meaning to do because emails are getting to be a bit more vital.

I moved all my folders to my main, newly IMAPed version of my gmail account and all the folders automatically uploaded online to gmail and to all IDevices which was perfect. Only one folder got a sync error (no idea why) but it was the least important one and really didn't need to be kept anyway.

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