POP3 server (postoffice.pacbell.net) down?

Adam

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Mar 14, 2006, 1:23:47 PM3/14/06

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When checking for messages, I'm repeatedly being
prompted for my User ID and Password.
Nothing has changed on my system.
Anyone know what's wrong?

qwerty

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Mar 14, 2006, 1:59:13 PM3/14/06

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"Adam" <adam@no_thanks.com> wrote in message
news:TSDRf.59855$dW3....@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...

As a long time user I've noticed the same from time-to-time. I don't know
what causes this but it usually goes away shortly. Perhaps someone here can
provide more info on the matter.

Philip J. Koenig

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Mar 14, 2006, 10:53:18 PM3/14/06

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On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 18:59:13 GMT, in article <5oERf.56551$Jd.6487
@newssvr25.news.prodigy.net>, qwerty writes...

That is the kind of thing you might see if the ISP's
authentication or "RADIUS" server is down or not
correctly functioning. It could also be the result
of DNS not working properly if certain hosts are setup
to be contacted by hostname rather than IP address to
complete the login process.

You may want to check and see if web browsing is working
OK at the same time you are experiencing those POP3 login
failures.

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* differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are *
* even incapable of forming such opinions. -- Albert Einstein *
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* Simple answers are for simple minds. Try a new way of looking at things. *

Jeff Liebermann

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Mar 14, 2006, 11:03:25 PM3/14/06

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I know nothing. You could check the status page at:
http://csc1.sbcis.sbc.com/systemstatus/

When the at&t/SBC/Pacbell/prodigy/etc mail server screws up, I go to:
http://maillink.sbcglobal.net
and check my email from the web.

--
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# 831-336-2558 je...@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
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qwerty

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Mar 14, 2006, 11:06:02 PM3/14/06

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"Philip J. Koenig" <See_email_@ddress_below.This_one_is.invalid> wrote in
message news:MPG.1e812f882...@News.Individual.Net...

> On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 18:59:13 GMT, in article <5oERf.56551$Jd.6487
> @newssvr25.news.prodigy.net>, qwerty writes...
>
>>
>> "Adam" <adam@no_thanks.com> wrote in message
>> news:TSDRf.59855$dW3....@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...
>> > When checking for messages, I'm repeatedly being
>> > prompted for my User ID and Password.
>> > Nothing has changed on my system.
>> > Anyone know what's wrong?
>>
>> As a long time user I've noticed the same from time-to-time. I don't
>> know
>> what causes this but it usually goes away shortly. Perhaps someone here
>> can
>> provide more info on the matter.
>
>
> That is the kind of thing you might see if the ISP's
> authentication or "RADIUS" server is down or not
> correctly functioning. It could also be the result
> of DNS not working properly if certain hosts are setup
> to be contacted by hostname rather than IP address to
> complete the login process.
>
> You may want to check and see if web browsing is working
> OK at the same time you are experiencing those POP3 login
> failures.

Thanks for the info. Web browsing doesn't ever seem to be affected when
this problem occurs. This has never been a big issue with me since it only
seems to be a problem with the POP3 and clears up within a few minutes.

Philip J. Koenig

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Mar 15, 2006, 5:44:02 AM3/15/06

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On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 04:06:02 GMT, in article <KoMRf.47479$F_3.21014
@newssvr29.news.prodigy.net>, qwerty writes...

OK. Well if it's any consolation, Pacbell/SBC (as an ISP)
has a really really bad reputation for email service,
historically. :-)

One of the best things that ever happened to them was their
partnership with Yahoo, because email service reliability
increased dramatically when they turned over that service
to Yahoo. Before then, it was quite common for email messages
to get delayed several days before delivery, or lost outright.
Check the ba.internet archives...

SMS

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Mar 15, 2006, 11:09:07 AM3/15/06

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Philip J. Koenig wrote:

> OK. Well if it's any consolation, Pacbell/SBC (as an ISP)
> has a really really bad reputation for email service,
> historically. :-)

And Usenet service as well. At least you can work around the e-mail
service with gmail which supports POP3. Google Groups is not really an
acceptable Usenet workaround.

John Nagle

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Mar 16, 2006, 12:57:40 PM3/16/06

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The authentication server must be down again.

PacBell/SBC/AT&T/Yahoo have more downtime than they
admit. I've seen their authentication server fail, their
DNS servers fail, their SMTP server fail, and their
Netnews server fail. Mean time to repair is under an hour.
The system status page always claims everything is up,
even when it's not. Sometimes, phone support will admit
that something is down even though the status page says
that it's up.

John Nagle

Jerry Gardner

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Mar 17, 2006, 1:58:36 PM3/17/06

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John Nagle wrote:
> PacBell/SBC/AT&T/Yahoo have more downtime than they
> admit. I've seen their authentication server fail, their
> DNS servers fail, their SMTP server fail, and their
> Netnews server fail.

All the more reason to run these services yourself if you can.

John Navas

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Mar 17, 2006, 2:19:23 PM3/17/06

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[POSTED TO ba.internet - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <wFDSf.48058$F_3....@newssvr29.news.prodigy.net> on Fri, 17 Mar 2006

All the more reason to use more reliable providers.

I'm using at&t Worldnet for newsgroups, and I haven't seen a single outage.
I frankly have no interest in the hassle of running my own news service.

I'm using Google for mail access, and I've only seen one very brief outage.
It's superior to running my own server (which I used to do). One of the many
advantages is convenient and slick WAP access through my cell phone.

--
Best regards,
John Navas <http://NavasGroup.com/>