Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Defunct email address
55 views
Skip to first unread message
The Todal
Sep 6, 2022, 12:05:46 PM9/6/22
to
I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical question,
but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
matters.
I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was allowed
to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
Eventually I decided to save my money and to stop the BT email address.
I duly let them know and they waived a small amount still owing.
However....
I can no longer log into that email address - I get a message saying:
Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
Security Administrator or Help Desk.
When people write to me at that email address they do not get a response
telling them "no such mailbox" so they assume I have received their
message. That is very inconvenient.
I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
matters.
I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was allowed
to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
Eventually I decided to save my money and to stop the BT email address.
I duly let them know and they waived a small amount still owing.
However....
I can no longer log into that email address - I get a message saying:
Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
Security Administrator or Help Desk.
When people write to me at that email address they do not get a response
telling them "no such mailbox" so they assume I have received their
message. That is very inconvenient.
I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
Andy Burns
Sep 6, 2022, 12:13:13 PM9/6/22
to
The Todal wrote:
> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my account no
> longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange for any "no such
> mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me at that address. Nor can
> he revive my account so that I can log into it and read messages.
I'm sure technically they could, but clearly they've decided that commercially
> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my account no
> longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange for any "no such
> mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me at that address. Nor can
> he revive my account so that I can log into it and read messages.
they won't, in which case there's nothing you can do.
notya...@gmail.com
Sep 6, 2022, 1:09:13 PM9/6/22
to
Martin Brown
Sep 6, 2022, 1:32:49 PM9/6/22
to
On 06/09/2022 17:05, The Todal wrote:
> I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical question,
> but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
> matters.
>
> I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
> email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was allowed
> to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
Ouch - that is daylight robbery for a trivial mail service.
> I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical question,
> but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
> matters.
>
> I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
> email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was allowed
> to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
I read it at first as £7.50 *per year*.
>
> Eventually I decided to save my money and to stop the BT email address.
> I duly let them know and they waived a small amount still owing.
>
> However....
>
> I can no longer log into that email address - I get a message saying:
>
> Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
> Security Administrator or Help Desk.
So the account is still there but deactivated for login.
> Eventually I decided to save my money and to stop the BT email address.
> I duly let them know and they waived a small amount still owing.
>
> However....
>
> I can no longer log into that email address - I get a message saying:
>
> Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
> Security Administrator or Help Desk.
But not deactivated as a mailbox - otherwise things would bounce "no
such recipient" or "unknown mailbox".
I can see no merit in doing that other than to inconvenience former
customers who have had the temerity to abandon a bt.com email address.
> When people write to me at that email address they do not get a response
> telling them "no such mailbox" so they assume I have received their
> message. That is very inconvenient.
address in plenty of time. I have had to do the same when my Pandora
(moving country), Wanadoo(EE takeover) and finally Demon(exorcism) email
accounts were zapped. It happens unfortunately.
On the plus side you get to part company with all the spam lists that
the previous email addresses had found their way onto.
My technophobic friends found it very difficult when Tesco summarily
discontinued their email servers a few years back. No money in it so it
gets outsourced these days. Free mail providers are available but be
careful you don't get trapped in the same bind when they give up on it.
>
> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
> for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
> at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
> and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
> this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
What he means is that they CBA do do the right thing which is to nuke
> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
> for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
> at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
> and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
> this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
the account so that the mailbox for your account doesn't exist any more.
You might be able to claim that they are holding onto your personal
communications when no contract exists between you and them. You're the
lawyer - one of the BBC consumer programmes might love this tale of woe!
I'd hazard a guess that an email sent to hkz_h...@btinternet.com would
bounce so it is not beyond the wit of man for them to get it right.
> Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
Best you can hope for is to send an email to all of your contacts
reminding them that your m...@BT.com email account is no more (but
doesn't bounce) and all emails should now be sent to <wherever>.
I cannot see any reason why BT cannot disable their email accounts in
such a way that stuff sent to it bounces rather then being accepted into
a tar pit. I guess the root cause is that disk space is far too cheap
and people who actually know what they are doing too expensive.
--
Regards,
Martin Brown
Jon Ribbens
Sep 6, 2022, 1:38:09 PM9/6/22
to
On 2022-09-06, Martin Brown <'''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk> wrote:
> On 06/09/2022 17:05, The Todal wrote:
>> I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical question,
>> but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
>> matters.
>>
>> I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
>> email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was allowed
>> to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
>
> Ouch - that is daylight robbery for a trivial mail service.
> I read it at first as £7.50 *per year*.
It's basically a "please stop buying this service, we don't want to
> On 06/09/2022 17:05, The Todal wrote:
>> I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical question,
>> but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
>> matters.
>>
>> I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
>> email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was allowed
>> to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
>
> Ouch - that is daylight robbery for a trivial mail service.
> I read it at first as £7.50 *per year*.
provide it" price.
Norman Wells
Sep 6, 2022, 1:57:19 PM9/6/22
to
On 06/09/2022 17:05, The Todal wrote:
mailboxes and not use any internet service provider's proprietary
addresses. Then you can use it with any new broadband provider whenever
you choose to change.
Otherwise, you could go the internet route, eg Gmail, but you might not
find an address you'd really be happy to use for life.
I don't think it's realistic to expect any broadband provider to
maintain defunct accounts or storage or provide services if you stop
paying them.
Until you get yourself your forever address, you can't really tell all
your contacts what they should do, so that's an imperative.
It's awkward, but nettles need to be grasped sometimes to safeguard the
future.
Nasti Chestikov
Sep 6, 2022, 1:58:39 PM9/6/22
to
There will be a field in whatever database where it's flagged as 0 (inactive) or 1 (active).
You just need to find a grown up in BT* who can reset the flag.
*Caveat - I am aware that the phrase "a grown up in BT" is an oxymoron but that's where we are these days in the UK..........a little like the train operator a few weeks ago which announced that the onboard wi-fi would not be upto the usual standard "due to Covid".
Source: railukforums.co.uk
RustyHinge
Sep 6, 2022, 1:58:49 PM9/6/22
to
fallen into the eternal bit-bucket.
--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.
RustyHinge
Sep 6, 2022, 1:58:57 PM9/6/22
to
On 06/09/2022 17:05, The Todal wrote:
Roland Perry
Sep 6, 2022, 1:59:46 PM9/6/22
to
In message <jnp9ej...@mid.individual.net>, at 17:05:38 on Tue, 6 Sep
2022, The Todal <the_...@icloud.com> remarked:
my email providers say. I rather doubt it'll be a black hole.
>I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
>account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
>for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
>at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
>and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
>this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>
>Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
What, a clueless tech support person? Happens all the time.
--
Roland Perry
2022, The Todal <the_...@icloud.com> remarked:
>I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical question,
>but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
>matters.
>
>I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
>email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was allowed
>to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
>
>Eventually I decided to save my money and to stop the BT email address.
>I duly let them know and they waived a small amount still owing.
>
>However....
>
>I can no longer log into that email address - I get a message saying:
>
>Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
>Security Administrator or Help Desk.
>
>When people write to me at that email address they do not get a
>response telling them "no such mailbox" so they assume I have received
>their message. That is very inconvenient.
If you inform me of the email address, privately, I'll let you know what
>but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
>matters.
>
>I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
>email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was allowed
>to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
>
>Eventually I decided to save my money and to stop the BT email address.
>I duly let them know and they waived a small amount still owing.
>
>However....
>
>I can no longer log into that email address - I get a message saying:
>
>Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
>Security Administrator or Help Desk.
>
>When people write to me at that email address they do not get a
>response telling them "no such mailbox" so they assume I have received
>their message. That is very inconvenient.
my email providers say. I rather doubt it'll be a black hole.
>I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
>account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
>for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
>at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
>and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
>this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>
>Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
--
Roland Perry
RustyHinge
Sep 6, 2022, 2:00:15 PM9/6/22
to
On 06/09/2022 17:05, The Todal wrote:
So, if I have your permission, I'll forward your query to an ex CEO of
an ex ISP, who might be able to help.
Perhaps.
The Todal
Sep 6, 2022, 2:38:56 PM9/6/22
to
surprisingly, it doesn't seem to attract spam but maybe that's the
icloud spam filtering.
I did notify everyone I knew that my email address had changed. But
there seem to be some folk who use whatever auto-complete address pops
up in the TO: box whenever they write to anyone.
The tech support chap I spoke to today was a polite Scouser who
suggested I write again to everyone I know to tell them about the change
of email address. He also agreed to log my complaint, but he said that
since my account no longer exists at BT he doesn't know whether anyone
will ever deal with my complaint.
Andy Burns
Sep 6, 2022, 3:04:54 PM9/6/22
to
RustyHinge wrote:
> Andy Burns wrote:
>
>> I'm sure technically they could, but clearly they've decided that commercially
>> they won't, in which case there's nothing you can do.
>
> I'm not sure that they can: all those late messages will probaly have fallen
> into the eternal bit-bucket.
what's already been bit-bucketed is history, but I'm sure Todal would be happy
with future messages either getting actively rejected, or maybe go back to
being stored in a mailbox to have time (at a cost) to notify anyone who sends
email over e.g. a 12 month period.
> Andy Burns wrote:
>
>> I'm sure technically they could, but clearly they've decided that commercially
>> they won't, in which case there's nothing you can do.
>
> I'm not sure that they can: all those late messages will probaly have fallen
> into the eternal bit-bucket.
with future messages either getting actively rejected, or maybe go back to
being stored in a mailbox to have time (at a cost) to notify anyone who sends
email over e.g. a 12 month period.
RustyHinge
Sep 6, 2022, 3:20:48 PM9/6/22
to
the sort of person you can rely on.
Brian
Sep 6, 2022, 3:21:09 PM9/6/22
to
once it is full, sent a message like “ your Email could not be sent …..” to
anyone trying to Email you.
Just send yourself lots of emails or sign up to lots of junk sites.
Tim Woodall
Sep 6, 2022, 5:15:38 PM9/6/22
to
On 2022-09-06, Martin Brown <'''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk> wrote:
> On 06/09/2022 17:05, The Todal wrote:
>> Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
>> Security Administrator or Help Desk.
>
> So the account is still there but deactivated for login.
>
> But not deactivated as a mailbox - otherwise things would bounce "no
> such recipient" or "unknown mailbox".
>
> I can see no merit in doing that other than to inconvenience former
> customers who have had the temerity to abandon a bt.com email address.
>
You could try sending a few GB of emails to it to try to fill up the
>> Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
>> Security Administrator or Help Desk.
>
> So the account is still there but deactivated for login.
>
> But not deactivated as a mailbox - otherwise things would bounce "no
> such recipient" or "unknown mailbox".
>
> I can see no merit in doing that other than to inconvenience former
> customers who have had the temerity to abandon a bt.com email address.
>
mailbox - then perhaps things might be rejected 'mailbox full'
TTman
Sep 6, 2022, 5:52:14 PM9/6/22
to
SNIP
email address.I complained. Tough, nothing we can do. Lesson learnt,
gmail.com is the answer.
--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
www.avast.com
>
> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
> for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
> at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
> and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
> this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>
> Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
Yes when I left NTL dial up and went to NTL broadband, I lost my NTL
> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
> for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
> at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
> and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
> this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>
> Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
email address.I complained. Tough, nothing we can do. Lesson learnt,
gmail.com is the answer.
--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
www.avast.com
Owen Rees
Sep 6, 2022, 6:31:34 PM9/6/22
to
On Tue, 6 Sep 2022 17:51:13 +0100, Martin Brown
<'''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk> wrote in <tf7tq2$kt4$1...@gioia.aioe.org>:
>But not deactivated as a mailbox - otherwise things would bounce "no
>such recipient" or "unknown mailbox".
Bounce messages went out of favour some time ago due to backscatter
spam.
If a message to a non-existent address cannot be rejected at the inital
SMTP connection stage current practice tends to be to just drop it.
<'''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk> wrote in <tf7tq2$kt4$1...@gioia.aioe.org>:
>But not deactivated as a mailbox - otherwise things would bounce "no
>such recipient" or "unknown mailbox".
spam.
If a message to a non-existent address cannot be rejected at the inital
SMTP connection stage current practice tends to be to just drop it.
Andy Burns
Sep 7, 2022, 2:33:20 AM9/7/22
to
The Todal wrote:
> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my account no
> longer exists
Do you know anyone else who has BT Broadband?
> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my account no
> longer exists
Apparently each account can "gift" a BT email address to up to ten people, it
might be configured to not allow re-use of old addresses, but worth a try?
If it works, then but go out of your way to inform everyone who sends to that
mailbox not to use it, or you'll be at the mercy of someone *else* changing
broadband supplier and cutting your email off again.
<https://www.bt.com/help/email/manage-email-account/account-set-up/how-do-i-create-and-activate-a-new-bt-email-address->
Martin Brown
Sep 7, 2022, 3:46:17 AM9/7/22
to
Though mailboxes these days tend to be a few GB (1GB is now the smallest
most ISPs do) and ISTR BT will only accept up to 25MB email attachments
so you might have to send quite a few of them (40 or 80) to fill it up.
Once you get to ~85% full it should then continue to fill itself up
completely by sending "warning your mail box is nearly full - delete
some old emails" on a daily basis.
Worth trying if only as a protest I guess. Don't do it from a mobile
network connection where you are paying for data usage though!
--
Regards,
Martin Brown
David McNeish
Sep 7, 2022, 4:22:31 AM9/7/22
to
On Tuesday, 6 September 2022 at 22:52:14 UTC+1, TTman wrote:
> SNIP
> >
> > I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
> > account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
> > for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
> > at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
> > and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
> > this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
> >
> > Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
> Yes when I left NTL dial up and went to NTL broadband, I lost my NTL
> email address.I complained. Tough, nothing we can do.
Similar here, except I was staying with NTL broadband - but apparently they
> SNIP
> >
> > I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
> > account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
> > for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
> > at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
> > and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
> > this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
> >
> > Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
> Yes when I left NTL dial up and went to NTL broadband, I lost my NTL
> email address.I complained. Tough, nothing we can do.
couldn't cope with a move from a former CableTel area to a former Telewest
area. No warning that would happen though. Fortunately I had already mostly
moved things to another address.
Martin Brown
Sep 7, 2022, 4:25:58 AM9/7/22
to
expensive to follow and total overkill for most normal people - even
geeks. Demon Internet provided a countably infinite set of email
addresses per subdomain - enough for most people at that time.
Most other ISP's back then gave you one email address or at most two.
> Otherwise, you could go the internet route, eg Gmail, but you might not
> find an address you'd really be happy to use for life.
owner decides that hosting email for free has no profit in it for them.
There probably is still a TheTo...@gmail.co.uk free for a
sufficiently large value of 123.
> I don't think it's realistic to expect any broadband provider to
> maintain defunct accounts or storage or provide services if you stop
> paying them.
or pretend to and then drop it silently on the floor.
> Until you get yourself your forever address, you can't really tell all
> your contacts what they should do, so that's an imperative.
>
> It's awkward, but nettles need to be grasped sometimes to safeguard the
> future.
his contacts that has left a few gaps. I also had that problem during
lockdown when Demon Internet was Bell, Book and Candled.
--
Regards,
Martin Brown
Roland Perry
Sep 7, 2022, 5:04:37 AM9/7/22
to
In message <605d7ec7-f069-4846...@googlegroups.com>, at
01:22:08 on Wed, 7 Sep 2022, David McNeish <davi...@gmail.com>
remarked:
not one engineering solution.
>No warning that would happen though. Fortunately I had already mostly
>moved things to another address.
Cable companies have always been a car-crash. I had service (POTS and
TV) from Nynex in the late 90's and when I left they cancelled the
charge for the TV and basic POTS, but continued to charge me for
whatever they called "Star Services" [Caller-ID, redirection etc] on a
line I no longer had, for several months.
--
Roland Perry
01:22:08 on Wed, 7 Sep 2022, David McNeish <davi...@gmail.com>
remarked:
>On Tuesday, 6 September 2022 at 22:52:14 UTC+1, TTman wrote:
>> SNIP
>> >
>> > I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
>> > account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
>> > for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
>> > at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
>> > and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
>> > this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>> >
>> > Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
>> Yes when I left NTL dial up and went to NTL broadband, I lost my NTL
>> email address.I complained. Tough, nothing we can do.
>
>Similar here, except I was staying with NTL broadband - but apparently they
>couldn't cope with a move from a former CableTel area to a former Telewest
>area.
That'll be a result of separate data centres merged under one brand, but
>> SNIP
>> >
>> > I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
>> > account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
>> > for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
>> > at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
>> > and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
>> > this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>> >
>> > Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
>> Yes when I left NTL dial up and went to NTL broadband, I lost my NTL
>> email address.I complained. Tough, nothing we can do.
>
>Similar here, except I was staying with NTL broadband - but apparently they
>couldn't cope with a move from a former CableTel area to a former Telewest
>area.
not one engineering solution.
>No warning that would happen though. Fortunately I had already mostly
>moved things to another address.
TV) from Nynex in the late 90's and when I left they cancelled the
charge for the TV and basic POTS, but continued to charge me for
whatever they called "Star Services" [Caller-ID, redirection etc] on a
line I no longer had, for several months.
--
Roland Perry
Jeff Layman
Sep 7, 2022, 5:13:28 AM9/7/22
to
filter might see a load of apparently new emails suddenly appearing as
spam, and filter them out before they get to Todal's inbox. So it might
be necessary to do individual subject emails with different body text
and attachments. I'm not sure if they might filter on the "From" field
too, so unless different send addresses were available that might be an
issue.
Is there a possibility also that his email provider (icloud or
otherwise) might have a limit on the number of emails sent in a certain
time period?
When I changed ISPs I got to my old webmail before I was stopped and put
automatic forwarding on to my new email address. Unfortunately 99% of
the emails were junk, but one or two were important. It was four years
before the old ISP shut down the email account!
--
Jeff
Martin Brown
Sep 7, 2022, 5:32:58 AM9/7/22
to
and address the post to Dear <actual name>. the subject will have to
change too. "Here are those photos I promised" will do for a start.
Enlisting the help of friends and family might be another way.
The other way to do it is to subscribe the old email address to some
voluminous regular notification services like Microsoft's security
alerts. Slower but then the junk will arrive from multiple legitimate
source addresses that will not be subject to spam blocking.
> Is there a possibility also that his email provider (icloud or
> otherwise) might have a limit on the number of emails sent in a certain
> time period?
low as 5 or 10MB.
>
> When I changed ISPs I got to my old webmail before I was stopped and put
> automatic forwarding on to my new email address. Unfortunately 99% of
> the emails were junk, but one or two were important. It was four years
> before the old ISP shut down the email account!
Shades of the Demon zombie subdomain websites that not only reappeared
> When I changed ISPs I got to my old webmail before I was stopped and put
> automatic forwarding on to my new email address. Unfortunately 99% of
> the emails were junk, but one or two were important. It was four years
> before the old ISP shut down the email account!
after their first exorcism but were frozen in Aspic at the time when the
server snapshot was taken.
It was the businesses who found all their web scripts no longer worked
on the new hosting platform that were the most upset by it though.
--
Regards,
Martin Brown
Roland Perry
Sep 7, 2022, 5:42:58 AM9/7/22
to
In message <tf9nbi$6q1s$1...@dont-email.me>, at 10:13:22 on Wed, 7 Sep
2022, Jeff Layman <Je...@invalid.invalid> remarked:
Set up a disposable gmail account to send from.
--
Roland Perry
2022, Jeff Layman <Je...@invalid.invalid> remarked:
--
Roland Perry
Roger Hayter
Sep 7, 2022, 6:32:46 AM9/7/22
to
On 6 Sep 2022 at 17:05:38 BST, "The Todal" <the_...@icloud.com> wrote:
> I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical question,
> but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
> matters.
>
> I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
> email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was allowed
> to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
>
> Eventually I decided to save my money and to stop the BT email address.
> I duly let them know and they waived a small amount still owing.
>
> However....
>
> I can no longer log into that email address - I get a message saying:
>
> I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical question,
> but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
> matters.
>
> I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
> email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was allowed
> to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
>
> Eventually I decided to save my money and to stop the BT email address.
> I duly let them know and they waived a small amount still owing.
>
> However....
>
> I can no longer log into that email address - I get a message saying:
>
> Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
> Security Administrator or Help Desk.
>
> Security Administrator or Help Desk.
>
> When people write to me at that email address they do not get a response
> telling them "no such mailbox" so they assume I have received their
> message. That is very inconvenient.
>
> telling them "no such mailbox" so they assume I have received their
> message. That is very inconvenient.
>
> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
> for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
> at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
> and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
> this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>
> Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
There used to be such a system, indeed it still exists. But the habit of
> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
> for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
> at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
> and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
> this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>
> Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
spammers forging email 'from' addresses led to huge numbers of "not known"
messages turning up out of the blue to people who never sent a message in the
first place. As a result, firstly many servers have stopped sending
undelivable messages, and secondly most email providers reject them as spam
even when they are sent. So they are probably not sendable by BT as a matter
of policy and even if they were your correspondents would be prevented from
seeing them by their own provider. So unfortunately the spammers have spoiled
it for all of us.
--
Roger Hayter
Brian Howie
Sep 7, 2022, 6:37:38 AM9/7/22
to
On 06/09/2022 17:05, The Todal wrote:
> I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical question,
> but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
> matters.
>
> I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
> email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was allowed
> to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
>
> Eventually I decided to save my money and to stop the BT email address.
> I duly let them know and they waived a small amount still owing.
>
> However....
>
> I can no longer log into that email address - I get a message saying:
>
> Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
> Security Administrator or Help Desk.
>
> When people write to me at that email address they do not get a response
> telling them "no such mailbox" so they assume I have received their
> message. That is very inconvenient.
>
> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
> for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
> at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
> and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
> this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>
> Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
I tried my old demon e-mail and got
> I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical question,
> but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
> matters.
>
> I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
> email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was allowed
> to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
>
> Eventually I decided to save my money and to stop the BT email address.
> I duly let them know and they waived a small amount still owing.
>
> However....
>
> I can no longer log into that email address - I get a message saying:
>
> Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
> Security Administrator or Help Desk.
>
> When people write to me at that email address they do not get a response
> telling them "no such mailbox" so they assume I have received their
> message. That is very inconvenient.
>
> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
> for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
> at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
> and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
> this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>
> Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
Sending of the message failed.
An error occurred while sending mail. The mail server responded:
Unrouteable address.
Please check the message recipient "br...@b-howie.demon.co.uk" and try
again.
I then tried no_such...@btinternet.com
A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:
no_such...@btinternet.com
host mx.lb.btinternet.com [213.120.69.2]
SMTP error from remote mail server after RCPT
TO:<no_such...@btinternet.com>:
550 RCPT TO:<no_such...@btinternet.com> User unknown
RFC
https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc5321.txt
says
If an SMTP server has accepted the task of relaying the mail and
later finds that the destination is incorrect or that the mail cannot
be delivered for some other reason, then it MUST construct an
"undeliverable mail" notification message and send it to the
originator of the undeliverable mail (as indicated by the reverse-
path). Formats specified for non-delivery reports by other standards
(see, for example, RFC 3461 [32] and RFC 3464 [33]) SHOULD be used if
possible.
BT are non-compliant in your instance. Maybe a GDPR issue as you are no
longer a customer.
You could try them on that.
Brian
--
Brian
Max Demian
Sep 7, 2022, 6:40:34 AM9/7/22
to
On 06/09/2022 22:52, TTman wrote:
> SNIP
>>
>> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
>> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot
>> arrange for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people
>> write to me at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I
>> can log into it and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has
>> never encountered this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>>
>> Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
> Yes when I left NTL dial up and went to NTL broadband, I lost my NTL
> email address.I complained. Tough, nothing we can do. Lesson learnt,
> gmail.com is the answer.
As suggested elsewhere, Google might decide to discontinue the service
> SNIP
>>
>> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
>> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot
>> arrange for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people
>> write to me at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I
>> can log into it and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has
>> never encountered this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>>
>> Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
> Yes when I left NTL dial up and went to NTL broadband, I lost my NTL
> email address.I complained. Tough, nothing we can do. Lesson learnt,
> gmail.com is the answer.
(or charge extortionately for it). Or they might decide you've done
something naughty and cancel your account.
--
Max Demian
Roger Hayter
Sep 7, 2022, 6:46:11 AM9/7/22
to
probably reject them as spam.
--
Roger Hayter
Martin Brown
Sep 7, 2022, 7:40:22 AM9/7/22
to
on your system was relatively easy to do though. Dropping it on the
floor silently at that stage is perfectly reasonable.
> even when they are sent. So they are probably not sendable by BT as a matter
> of policy and even if they were your correspondents would be prevented from
> seeing them by their own provider. So unfortunately the spammers have spoiled
> it for all of us.
definitely bounce stuff on SPF fail - that caught out my accountant out
a few years back when they toughened their stance on it.
https://community.bt.com/t5/Email/Email-bouncing-back/td-p/2196043
Some BT accounts cannot send each other emails or it is one way only.
Certain vintages of their various absorbed subunits produce somewhat
mangled headers that other systems think look like they might be forged
or come from a blacklisted IP range (belonging to BT). eg
https://community.bt.com/t5/Email/EMails-Blocked-As-Spam-due-to-BT-ISP-IP-Address/td-p/2241709
I recall another weird one where sending PDF's as attachments to BT
customers would result in the file being corrupted in transit (this was
a few years back - never found out why - used dropbox or ftp instead).
There was nothing special about them - TEN notices for the most part.
--
Regards,
Martin Brown
Roland Perry
Sep 7, 2022, 7:40:41 AM9/7/22
to
In message <jnraa7...@mid.individual.net>, at 10:32:39 on Wed, 7 Sep
2022, Roger Hayter <ro...@hayter.org> remarked:
They get through to me, in a special folder I have set rules for, so I
can see to what extent such forgeries are in the wild. Currently it's
about one every few months.
But of course it also gets genuine bounces, and back in (straw poll)
September 2010 when I was sending out perhaps monthly mailings to a list
of around a thousand opted-in subscribers I got sixty bounces back. So
used them to clean the list.
--
Roland Perry
2022, Roger Hayter <ro...@hayter.org> remarked:
can see to what extent such forgeries are in the wild. Currently it's
about one every few months.
But of course it also gets genuine bounces, and back in (straw poll)
September 2010 when I was sending out perhaps monthly mailings to a list
of around a thousand opted-in subscribers I got sixty bounces back. So
used them to clean the list.
--
Roland Perry
The Todal
Sep 7, 2022, 7:41:44 AM9/7/22
to
happens, I've now discovered a solution, for the time being at least.
There was no help at all from BT Technical Support. I logged in with my
btopenworld address, for a change. After perusing all the menus I
discovered that my old email address had been "deleted" (possibly by me)
and discovered that one option was to reactivate it. I found that all
the emails had been going into the inbox for nobody to read. It means
that I am now able to set an auto-reply to those who email that box. I
wish BT technical support had given me that advice.
So I now have my old BT email box but I don't intend to pay them 7.50
per month so I hope they will eventually deactivate it properly in such
a way that it returns an "undeliverable mail" message.
Fredxx
Sep 7, 2022, 8:26:41 AM9/7/22
to
On 06/09/2022 17:05, The Todal wrote:
> I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical question,
> but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
> matters.
>
> I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
> email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was allowed
> to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
>
> Eventually I decided to save my money and to stop the BT email address.
> I duly let them know and they waived a small amount still owing.
>
> However....
>
> I can no longer log into that email address - I get a message saying:
>
> Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
> Security Administrator or Help Desk.
>
> When people write to me at that email address they do not get a response
> telling them "no such mailbox" so they assume I have received their
> message. That is very inconvenient.
>
> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
> for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
> at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
> and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
> this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>
> Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
Yes, don't use your phone or broadband supplier's email facility.
> I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical question,
> but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
> matters.
>
> I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
> email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was allowed
> to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
>
> Eventually I decided to save my money and to stop the BT email address.
> I duly let them know and they waived a small amount still owing.
>
> However....
>
> I can no longer log into that email address - I get a message saying:
>
> Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
> Security Administrator or Help Desk.
>
> When people write to me at that email address they do not get a response
> telling them "no such mailbox" so they assume I have received their
> message. That is very inconvenient.
>
> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot arrange
> for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people write to me
> at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I can log into it
> and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has never encountered
> this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>
> Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
Some years ago I had a Talk-Talk account and after I moved I couldn't
even login. So when I asked for VAT invoices they sent me two parcels,
each ream sized, of all my records.
Seriously though, don't use your phone or broadband supplier's email
facility. It will be turned off once you leave.
Pamela
Sep 7, 2022, 8:28:13 AM9/7/22
to
a fully-featured BT broadband email account to a "Basic" BT email
account (see below). However you have to log in every 150 days or the
email account gets deleted, which may be equivalent to the stage you
are at now and just as irretrievable.
"If you have BT email and you cancel your broadband with us, you
can: (1) Close your BT email (2) Keep your email but with more basic
features by getting Basic email, which is free" (3) ...
https://www.bt.com/help/email/bt-email-products
Kofi Libon
Sep 7, 2022, 10:49:25 AM9/7/22
to
On 2022-09-06, RustyHinge <rusty...@foobar.girolle.co.uk> wrote:
> On 06/09/2022 17:13, Andy Burns wrote:
nonexistent address Bob on server Y. In that case Y refuses to accept
the mail from X, instead informing X "Recipient address rejected: User
unknown" or the like. X gives up and informs Alice that her mail to Bob
could not be delivered.
Alice is then aware of the situation and can try some other way to reach
Bob. This is routine and happens all the time. It's the normal way
mail servers are configured. If BT is really dropping mail without
trace they are doing something bizarre and harmful, though that is
unfortunately not very surprising.
--
Kofi
> On 06/09/2022 17:13, Andy Burns wrote:
>> The Todal wrote:
>>
>>> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
>>> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot
>>> arrange for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people
>>> write to me at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I
>>> can log into it and read messages.
>>
>>
>>> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
>>> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot
>>> arrange for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people
>>> write to me at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I
>>> can log into it and read messages.
>>
>> I'm sure technically they could, but clearly they've decided that
>> commercially they won't, in which case there's nothing you can do.
>
> I'm not sure that they can
They absolutely can. Alice on server X attempts to send to a
>> commercially they won't, in which case there's nothing you can do.
>
> I'm not sure that they can
nonexistent address Bob on server Y. In that case Y refuses to accept
the mail from X, instead informing X "Recipient address rejected: User
unknown" or the like. X gives up and informs Alice that her mail to Bob
could not be delivered.
Alice is then aware of the situation and can try some other way to reach
Bob. This is routine and happens all the time. It's the normal way
mail servers are configured. If BT is really dropping mail without
trace they are doing something bizarre and harmful, though that is
unfortunately not very surprising.
--
Kofi
Robert
Sep 7, 2022, 11:24:53 AM9/7/22
to
I have my mail server filter set to just loose most unwanted emails.
Roland Perry
Sep 7, 2022, 1:39:14 PM9/7/22
to
In message <jnrrdv...@mid.individual.net>, at 16:24:47 on Wed, 7 Sep
2022, Robert <rob...@invalid.invalid> remarked:
Hats off to someone actually operating an email server that's pointed to
by the DNS MX entry. Almost everyone else outsources that function.
--
Roland Perry
2022, Robert <rob...@invalid.invalid> remarked:
by the DNS MX entry. Almost everyone else outsources that function.
--
Roland Perry
Roger Hayter
Sep 7, 2022, 1:49:51 PM9/7/22
to
back silently dropped all email I sent them until I remonstrated with them. So
BT may be silently rejecting emails to nonexistent addresses on the grounds
that most of it is spam. Or, if BT is giving a refusal reason the sending
server may have decided not to send delivery failure messages because so many
of them are spurious. Or the server may be sending them but the
anti-spam/mailbox parts of the sender's email system may be rejecting them as
spam. Unfortunately, while it remains the textbook right thing to do it is
rather common not to get delivery failure messages.
--
Roger Hayter
The Todal
Sep 7, 2022, 2:39:23 PM9/7/22
to
On 06/09/2022 18:37, Norman Wells wrote:
> On 06/09/2022 17:05, The Todal wrote:
>> I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical
>> question, but I know that some people here have a good understanding
>> of technical matters.
>>
>> I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
>> email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was
>> allowed to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
>>
>> Eventually I decided to save my money and to stop the BT email
>> address. I duly let them know and they waived a small amount still owing.
>>
>> However....
>>
>> I can no longer log into that email address - I get a message saying:
>>
>> Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
>> Security Administrator or Help Desk.
>>
>> When people write to me at that email address they do not get a
>> response telling them "no such mailbox" so they assume I have received
>> their message. That is very inconvenient.
>>
>> question, but I know that some people here have a good understanding
>> of technical matters.
>>
>> I used to have a BT email address. I had a BT broadband service, the
>> email was free, then I chose another broadband provider and was
>> allowed to keep my BT email address if I paid 7.50 UKP per month.
>>
>> Eventually I decided to save my money and to stop the BT email
>> address. I duly let them know and they waived a small amount still owing.
>>
>> However....
>>
>> I can no longer log into that email address - I get a message saying:
>>
>> Your Account has been disabled due to inactivity. Please contact your
>> Security Administrator or Help Desk.
>>
>> When people write to me at that email address they do not get a
>> response telling them "no such mailbox" so they assume I have received
>> their message. That is very inconvenient.
>>
>> I rang the BT technical support line and the chap told me that as my
>> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot
>> arrange for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people
>> write to me at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I
>> account no longer exists, there is nothing he can do. He cannot
>> arrange for any "no such mailbox" responses to be sent when people
>> write to me at that address. Nor can he revive my account so that I
>> can log into it and read messages. He said he was sympathetic and has
>> never encountered this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>>
>> Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
>
>> never encountered this problem before but he cannot see any solution.
>>
>> Has anyone come across this problem, and can they think of a solution?
>
> The permanent and best solution is to get yourself your own domain with
> mailboxes and not use any internet service provider's proprietary
> addresses. Then you can use it with any new broadband provider whenever
> you choose to change.
>
> mailboxes and not use any internet service provider's proprietary
> addresses. Then you can use it with any new broadband provider whenever
> you choose to change.
>
> Otherwise, you could go the internet route, eg Gmail, but you might not
> find an address you'd really be happy to use for life.
>
> find an address you'd really be happy to use for life.
>
> I don't think it's realistic to expect any broadband provider to
> maintain defunct accounts or storage or provide services if you stop
> paying them.
>
> maintain defunct accounts or storage or provide services if you stop
> paying them.
>
> Until you get yourself your forever address, you can't really tell all
> your contacts what they should do, so that's an imperative.
>
> It's awkward, but nettles need to be grasped sometimes to safeguard the
> future.
The policy seems to vary from one broadband provider to another. This
> your contacts what they should do, so that's an imperative.
>
> It's awkward, but nettles need to be grasped sometimes to safeguard the
> future.
advice dates from a year ago:
https://www.cable.co.uk/broadband/guides/email-address-switch-provider/
It seems BT have changed their policy as per a link quoted by Pamela. If
you leave BT you can (now) continue to have free email if you access it
via webmail and use it regularly. Because I was only offered BT Premium
email I chose that, not wanting to lose the address too quickly.
It isn't just the risk of friends and contacts writing to the old
address. It is also the scenario when you purchased software online a
few years ago, want to upgrade at a discount, can only log in with the
old email address, forgot your password and and re-setting it doesn't
work if you can't access that mailbox.
Robert
Sep 7, 2022, 5:34:28 PM9/7/22
to
and do set up filters to get rid of some SPAM and email for people who
have inadvertently used an email address on my domains !
Some I bounce some just disappear.
The point is I can easily decide what to do with any particular email at
different points in the email "journey"
Kofi Libon
Sep 7, 2022, 6:38:26 PM9/7/22
to
On 2022-09-07, Roger Hayter <ro...@hayter.org> wrote:
> On 7 Sep 2022 at 13:59:45 BST, "Kofi Libon" <ko...@example.net> wrote:
>
>> On 2022-09-06, RustyHinge <rusty...@foobar.girolle.co.uk> wrote:
>>> I'm not sure that they can
>>
>> They absolutely can. Alice on server X attempts to send to a
>> nonexistent address Bob on server Y. In that case Y refuses to accept
>> the mail from X, instead informing X "Recipient address rejected: User
>> unknown" or the like. X gives up and informs Alice that her mail to Bob
>> could not be delivered.
>>
>> Alice is then aware of the situation and can try some other way to reach
>> Bob. This is routine and happens all the time. It's the normal way
>> mail servers are configured. If BT is really dropping mail without
>> trace they are doing something bizarre and harmful, though that is
>> unfortunately not very surprising.
>
> That may be how things were set up originally.
The point at issue here is not how things were set up. It's whether BT
> On 7 Sep 2022 at 13:59:45 BST, "Kofi Libon" <ko...@example.net> wrote:
>
>> On 2022-09-06, RustyHinge <rusty...@foobar.girolle.co.uk> wrote:
>>> I'm not sure that they can
>>
>> They absolutely can. Alice on server X attempts to send to a
>> nonexistent address Bob on server Y. In that case Y refuses to accept
>> the mail from X, instead informing X "Recipient address rejected: User
>> unknown" or the like. X gives up and informs Alice that her mail to Bob
>> could not be delivered.
>>
>> Alice is then aware of the situation and can try some other way to reach
>> Bob. This is routine and happens all the time. It's the normal way
>> mail servers are configured. If BT is really dropping mail without
>> trace they are doing something bizarre and harmful, though that is
>> unfortunately not very surprising.
>
> That may be how things were set up originally.
is obliged to drop mail silently. They're not.
--
Kofi
Jeff Layman
Sep 7, 2022, 6:38:42 PM9/7/22
to
On 07/09/2022 12:41, The Todal wrote:
> There was no help at all from BT Technical Support. I logged in with my
> btopenworld address, for a change. After perusing all the menus I
> discovered that my old email address had been "deleted" (possibly by me)
> and discovered that one option was to reactivate it. I found that all
> the emails had been going into the inbox for nobody to read. It means
> that I am now able to set an auto-reply to those who email that box. I
> wish BT technical support had given me that advice.
>
> So I now have my old BT email box but I don't intend to pay them 7.50
> per month so I hope they will eventually deactivate it properly in such
> a way that it returns an "undeliverable mail" message.
I assume your auto-reply gives the sender your email address that should
> There was no help at all from BT Technical Support. I logged in with my
> btopenworld address, for a change. After perusing all the menus I
> discovered that my old email address had been "deleted" (possibly by me)
> and discovered that one option was to reactivate it. I found that all
> the emails had been going into the inbox for nobody to read. It means
> that I am now able to set an auto-reply to those who email that box. I
> wish BT technical support had given me that advice.
>
> So I now have my old BT email box but I don't intend to pay them 7.50
> per month so I hope they will eventually deactivate it properly in such
> a way that it returns an "undeliverable mail" message.
be used in future. However, may I suggest that you not only use the
auto-reply you've set up, but also set up an automatic forwarding to
your current email address. If for some reason the auto-reply becomes
faulty or corrupted, the sender will not know the correct email address
to send the message to, and if BT stops you accessing your old account
inbox you won't know either. It's an unlikely situation, but
belt'n'braces might be a useful consideration.
--
Jeff
Norman Wells
Sep 7, 2022, 6:44:40 PM9/7/22
to
because people's personal information does change over time, and they
must have procedures in place to amend them subject to security checks.
But it's unfortunate you lost two pieces of security, namely your
email address and your password, at the same time. I don't know if
that's recoverable with the company concerned, but it should be one way
or another. Unless of course you've also changed your home address,
date of birth and your phone number, in which case I think you have to
write it off to experience and resolve in future to keep your passwords
safe.
The Todal
Sep 7, 2022, 8:37:07 PM9/7/22
to
misunderstood what I have written.
There are many websites where you have to log in with the email address
you used when setting up the account, and phoning them up to say that
you no longer have that email address but you have a lot of information
about yourself that you hadn't previously supplied to them, isn't going
to cut the mustard. I assume you just haven't been in that position
yourself.
Martin Brown
Sep 8, 2022, 4:14:55 AM9/8/22
to
On 08/09/2022 01:37, The Todal wrote:
> On 07/09/2022 20:21, Norman Wells wrote:
>> On 07/09/2022 19:39, The Todal wrote:
>>> It isn't just the risk of friends and contacts writing to the old
>>> address. It is also the scenario when you purchased software online a
>>> few years ago, want to upgrade at a discount, can only log in with
>>> the old email address, forgot your password and and re-setting it
>>> doesn't work if you can't access that mailbox.
It is annoying especially when the odd subscription renewal goes astray
> On 07/09/2022 20:21, Norman Wells wrote:
>> On 07/09/2022 19:39, The Todal wrote:
>>> It isn't just the risk of friends and contacts writing to the old
>>> address. It is also the scenario when you purchased software online a
>>> few years ago, want to upgrade at a discount, can only log in with
>>> the old email address, forgot your password and and re-setting it
>>> doesn't work if you can't access that mailbox.
because you forgot to update their email address for you or you still
have infrequently used but still useful (expensive) software registered
that old email address. Even after making a detailed list of all the
things I could think of I missed a few important ones.
>> If it's that valuable it should be possible to sort it out by phone
>> because people's personal information does change over time, and they
>> must have procedures in place to amend them subject to security
>> checks. But it's unfortunate you lost two pieces of security, namely
>> your email address and your password, at the same time. I don't know
>> if that's recoverable with the company concerned, but it should be one
>> way or another. Unless of course you've also changed your home
>> address, date of birth and your phone number, in which case I think
>> you have to write it off to experience and resolve in future to keep
>> your passwords safe.
>
> I didn't lose my email address and my password. You may have
> misunderstood what I have written.
and the domain they were on are now completely gone without trace.
> There are many websites where you have to log in with the email address
> you used when setting up the account, and phoning them up to say that
> you no longer have that email address but you have a lot of information
> about yourself that you hadn't previously supplied to them, isn't going
> to cut the mustard. I assume you just haven't been in that position
> yourself.
there go to account settings to update your email address to the new
one. Websites usually only send a confirmation link to the email address
that you first registered with when you login for the first time but
after that they will let you in with login name and password.
(even if the email address used no longer exists)
--
Regards,
Martin Brown
Roger Hayter
Sep 8, 2022, 6:31:08 AM9/8/22
to
accepting and storing the email. It even seems that they will keep an old
customer's email service running indefinitely, and for nothing if the customer
accepts a very basic service to access the email. What seems to be missing is
any way to actually cancel the mailbox and reject messages!
--
Roger Hayter
AnthonyL
Sep 8, 2022, 7:21:45 AM9/8/22
to
On Wed, 7 Sep 2022 12:59:45 -0000 (UTC), Kofi Libon <ko...@example.net>
wrote:
I can assure you that BT have been and probably still are perfectly
capable of dropping email without a trace.
--
AnthonyL
Why ever wait to finish a job before starting the next?
wrote:
capable of dropping email without a trace.
--
AnthonyL
Why ever wait to finish a job before starting the next?
Peter James
Sep 8, 2022, 7:42:33 AM9/8/22
to
On 6 Sep 2022 at 17:11:57 BST, "Nasti Chestikov" <nasti.c...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> On Tuesday, 6 September 2022 at 17:05:46 UTC+1, The Todal wrote:
>> I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical question,
>> but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
>> matters.
>>
>>
Snnipped
>
> Your account almost certainly still exists (in case you are a bad actor and
> Plod need to trawl some of your historic posts).
>
> There will be a field in whatever database where it's flagged as 0 (inactive)
> or 1 (active).
>
> You just need to find a grown up in BT* who can reset the flag.
>
> *Caveat - I am aware that the phrase "a grown up in BT" is an oxymoron but
> that's where we are these days in the UK..........a little like the train
> operator a few weeks ago which announced that the onboard wi-fi would not be
> upto the usual standard "due to Covid".
>
> Source: railukforums.co.uk
BT is the most disgraceful example of Corporation ineptitude in the Country.
It took me 14 months of constant phone calls, three visits from BT Engineers
and numerous letters to get them to move my Broadband router from upstairs to
under the stairs in the hall. All to no avail. Eventually my son did it, it
took him one hour and we avoided the BT quoted fee of £140.
They are a total disgrace, and the sooner they are taken over by another
corporation the better.
Peter
--
The email shown is false. If you need to contact me then try peterATpfjamesDOTcoDOTuk
Addresses are given to us to conceal our whereabouts.
Saki (H.H.Munro) 1870 - 1916
wrote:
> On Tuesday, 6 September 2022 at 17:05:46 UTC+1, The Todal wrote:
>> I see this as a legal question rather than merely a technical question,
>> but I know that some people here have a good understanding of technical
>> matters.
>>
>>
>
> Your account almost certainly still exists (in case you are a bad actor and
> Plod need to trawl some of your historic posts).
>
> There will be a field in whatever database where it's flagged as 0 (inactive)
> or 1 (active).
>
> You just need to find a grown up in BT* who can reset the flag.
>
> *Caveat - I am aware that the phrase "a grown up in BT" is an oxymoron but
> that's where we are these days in the UK..........a little like the train
> operator a few weeks ago which announced that the onboard wi-fi would not be
> upto the usual standard "due to Covid".
>
> Source: railukforums.co.uk
BT is the most disgraceful example of Corporation ineptitude in the Country.
It took me 14 months of constant phone calls, three visits from BT Engineers
and numerous letters to get them to move my Broadband router from upstairs to
under the stairs in the hall. All to no avail. Eventually my son did it, it
took him one hour and we avoided the BT quoted fee of £140.
They are a total disgrace, and the sooner they are taken over by another
corporation the better.
Peter
--
The email shown is false. If you need to contact me then try peterATpfjamesDOTcoDOTuk
Addresses are given to us to conceal our whereabouts.
Saki (H.H.Munro) 1870 - 1916
Norman Wells
Sep 8, 2022, 7:43:25 AM9/8/22
to
On 08/09/2022 01:37, The Todal wrote:
moved from Demon when it dropped its new server, I was left in a similar
position. Generally, though, the old Demon email address I gave to
several companies years before still worked to get me in, and it didn't
prove necessary to still have current access to it. It seemed to be
regarded as just a string of characters that served as a used name or
password in its own right.
Norman Wells
Sep 8, 2022, 7:43:32 AM9/8/22
to
On 08/09/2022 01:37, The Todal wrote:
now! You said above you forgot your password but now you say you
haven't. Are we talking at cross-purposes?
The Todal
Sep 8, 2022, 7:54:09 AM9/8/22
to
address (it was rather expensive but I wanted to make sure that everyone
knew the new email address before I stopped the old one) and I wanted BT
to delete that address in such a way that anyone writing to it would
receive an automatic reply along the lines of "mailbox unavailable" or
"undelivered mail". That wasn't happening, so people were assuming that
I had received the message but was ignoring them.
My password still worked. But instead of bringing up my inbox it
produced a message saying that for security reasons I would not be able
to access the mailbox and I should seek help from the Administrator.
I then went on to mention another disadvantage of not being able to see
your Inbox. Which is that if you need that old email address to log
into a commercial website and you have forgotten the password because
you last used it a long time ago, you can't re-set your password because
the password reset link will be sent to your mailbox that you can't view.
When in fact I did manage to re-enable my inbox (without any help from
BT technical support) I was amused to see among the emails that BT had
sent me a final bill for the service (which I had been unable to view),
and some correspondence about my complaint, saying that they hoped I was
satisfied with their response and they were closing it off. The fact
that I had repeatedly told them that I could not view the inbox seemed
to have fallen on deaf ears.
Martin Brown
Sep 8, 2022, 8:39:09 AM9/8/22
to
of a new product which bounces back to them. After that what happens
next depends critically on how good their internal processes are. If you
are unlucky they lock out your previously working login credentials
(which were based on that no longer extant email account).
Ideally you should move them over to the new email address whilst you
still have access to both but it is very easy to miss the odd one out of
hundreds of them.
--
Regards,
Martin Brown
Fredxx
Sep 8, 2022, 1:25:29 PM9/8/22
to
other providers. They are not a monopoly, there is a choice.
If you want a quality service and willing to pay for it, then I would
suggest a provider like:
https://www.aa.net.uk/broadband/
They seem to have a relationship with Openreach where things get done.
BTW I have neither an interest, nor am I a customer.
RustyHinge
Sep 8, 2022, 6:49:55 PM9/8/22
to
On 07/09/2022 12:41, The Todal wrote:
which I sent my reference to your promble - "I'm sorry to inform you
that the message below could not be delivered.
When delivery was attempted, the following error was returned. &c"
--
Rusty Hinge
To err is human. To really foul things up requires a computer and the BOFH.
RustyHinge
Sep 9, 2022, 11:16:45 PM9/9/22
to
<thinks> Must edit website - what I haven't taken down for editing
before a couple of strokes and long hospital/'respite care' banging-up,
is all written to comply with Netscape 4... </thinks>
Simon Parker
Sep 26, 2022, 6:46:01 AM9/26/22
to
On 07/09/2022 18:34, Roland Perry wrote:
realise that puts me in a minority these days.
Regards
S.P.
0 new messages