Plusnet IMAP credentials not working on iphone

[chris]

I'm trying to get my plusnet email working on iOS for the first time and
regardless of what I do it refuses to accept my username/password. I
know both work as I used the same settings just now to set up a 'new'
account on my desktop, plus they work via PN's webmail.

Is there some iOS/Plusnet niggle I'm missing?

The settings are:

IMAP: imap.plus.net
SSL: off
Auth: password
Port: 143

SMTP: relay.plus.net
SSL: off
Auth: password
Port: 25

[Woody]

"chris" <ithi...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:ngdhfq$blm$1...@dont-email.me...

From a quick check I have just done it suggests that PN needs a secure
(SSL) connection which would make the ports 993 and 465 respectively.


--
Woody

harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com

[chris]

Not according to their instructions
http://www.plus.net/help/email-guides/how-to-set-up-plusnet-email/

I tried it anyway and the SSL settings don't work for me. It seems like
the SMTP settings are valid ,but not IMAP.

[Woody]

"chris" <ithi...@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:ngdr1j$f6n$1...@dont-email.me...

Could it be that if you collect with IMAP you need to send with IMAP
as well?

[chris]

It's the IMAP bit that is problematic. I get green ticks in the Mail
settings when verifying the SMTP setup.

Given that, I tried the POP server instead and that works first time.
This points to IMAP (from plusnet) being a problem in iOS. Any ideas why
that could be?

[Tony Mountifield]

In article <ngetfp$bjr$1...@dont-email.me>, Woody <harro...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
>
> Could it be that if you collect with IMAP you need to send with IMAP
> as well?

That doesn't make sense. IMAP is a mail fetching protocol. It doesn't have
anything to do with sending. Sending is always SMTP.

Cheers
Tony
--
Tony Mountifield
Work: to...@softins.co.uk - http://www.softins.co.uk
Play: to...@mountifield.org - http://tony.mountifield.org

[Plusnet Support Team]

Settings look fine to me.

Is there anywhere to specify an 'IMAP path prefix' or similar during the
config journey? If so, try setting it to 'INBOX' and see if that gets
you anywhere.

--
|Bob Pullen Broadband Solutions for
|Support Home & Business @
|Plusnet Plc. www.plus.net
+--------------- twitter.com/plusnet ----------------

[Chris]

Plusnet Support Team <sup...@plus.net> wrote:
> On 04/05/2016 20:14, chris wrote:
>> I'm trying to get my plusnet email working on iOS for the first time and
>> regardless of what I do it refuses to accept my username/password. I
>> know both work as I used the same settings just now to set up a 'new'
>> account on my desktop, plus they work via PN's webmail.
>>
>> Is there some iOS/Plusnet niggle I'm missing?
>>
>> The settings are:
>>
>> IMAP: imap.plus.net
>> SSL: off
>> Auth: password
>> Port: 143
>>
>> SMTP: relay.plus.net
>> SSL: off
>> Auth: password
>> Port: 25
>
> Settings look fine to me.
>
> Is there anywhere to specify an 'IMAP path prefix' or similar during the
> config journey? If so, try setting it to 'INBOX' and see if that gets
> you anywhere.
>

Hi Bob.

There is an option, which I set, but no joy. Still get same unrecognised
username and/or password. Despite both working fine via POP.

[Adrian Caspersz]

FWIW I collect Plusnet email using Gmail under a specially setup google
account, and set Gmail's filter rules to automatically apply labels
(looks like IMAP folders) and remove junk. To view on the iPhone (or
whatever), install the dedicated Gmail app. Other PCs, just IMAP to Gmail.

--
Adrian C

[Plusnet Support Team]

Most accounts will allow authentication using the full email address as
the username. Might be worth giving that a shot?

[chris]

Still doesn't work...

[NY]

"chris" <ithi...@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:ngv9er$pnr$1...@dont-email.me...

I have vague memories of setting up an iMac's built-in mail client to work
with IMAP (not sure whether it was a Plusnet account) and had horrendous
problems. I think there was a config setting on one of the many different
screens (why do Apples not put all the parameters in one place?) which was
being ignored. I wish I could remember the details - it was a couple of
years ago. I got it working, after looking at IMAP debug traces. It might
have been a port number that was reverting to a standard value when that
ISP's mail server needed a non-standard value. Check the various types of
password encryption: I think I had to try each one in turn until I found one
that worked, because the descriptions on the mail client's config screen
were misleading.

Good luck!

[Plusnet Support Team]

What version of iOS are you using? I'll try running through the set up
when I next have access to an Apple device.

[Nigel Wade]

Just use a packet capture (tcpdump, wireshark) program to look at the transactions. It's not an encrypted connection so
you should be able to see everything in plain text.

When I attempt to connect to imap.plus.net on port 143 the listed capabilities does not include any AUTH option. That
would prevent any mail client from attempting to authenticate (at least it should if it's obeying the RFC).

[NY]

"Nigel Wade" <n...@ion.le.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:dpgt89...@mid.individual.net...

> Just use a packet capture (tcpdump, wireshark) program to look at the
> transactions. It's not an encrypted connection so you should be able to
> see everything in plain text.
>
> When I attempt to connect to imap.plus.net on port 143 the listed
> capabilities does not include any AUTH option. That would prevent any mail
> client from attempting to authenticate (at least it should if it's obeying
> the RFC).

Which ties in with my vague memory that I had to change the password
authentication to "none" (aka "plain text"). I think it was actually
*achieving* this which required me to jump through hoops on the iMac whereas
it was easy peasy on Windows and Android email clients.

[Chris]

9.3.1 on an iPhone

[Chris]

Sadly that's not an option. The only ones are:
- Password
- MD5 Charlene-response
- NTLM
- HTTP MD5 digest

Selecting anything other than 'password', gives me an error along the lines
of the server doesn't support that option.

[Plusnet Support Team]

Easier said than done using an iPhone/iPad ;)

> It's not an encrypted connection so you should be able to
> see everything in plain text.
>
> When I attempt to connect to imap.plus.net on port 143 the listed
> capabilities does not include any AUTH option. That would prevent any
> mail client from attempting to authenticate (at least it should if it's
> obeying the RFC).

Authentication is a proxied request to a separate RADIUS platform. It's
not carried out by the collection servers themselves.

Regardless, it definitely works:

~$ telnet imap.plus.net 143
Trying 212.159.9.86...
Connected to imap.plus.net.
Escape character is '^]'.
* OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 UIDPLUS CHILDREN NAMESPACE
THREAD=ORDEREDSUBJECT THREAD=REFERENCES SORT QUOTA IDLE ACL ACL2=UNION]
Courier-IMAP ready. Copyright 1998-2011 Double Precision, Inc. See
COPYING for distribution information.
auth login
auth NO Error in IMAP command received by server.
. login localpart@[REDACTED].plus.com [REDACTED]
. OK LOGIN Ok.

[Nigel Wade]

On 17/05/16 15:43, Plusnet Support Team wrote:
>> Just use a packet capture (tcpdump, wireshark) program to look at the
>> transactions.
>
> Easier said than done using an iPhone/iPad ;)

A damn sight easier than it ought to be, given that you don't use encryption though.

[Plusnet Support Team]

I walked right into that ;)

[Nigel Wade]

On 20/05/16 19:54, Phil W Lee wrote:
> Plusnet Support Team <sup...@plus.net> considered Thu, 19 May 2016

> 12:43:38 +0100 the perfect time to write:
>
>> On 17/05/2016 15:58, Nigel Wade wrote:
>>> On 17/05/16 15:43, Plusnet Support Team wrote:
>>>>> Just use a packet capture (tcpdump, wireshark) program to look at the
>>>>> transactions.
>>>>
>>>> Easier said than done using an iPhone/iPad ;)
>>>
>>> A damn sight easier than it ought to be, given that you don't use
>>> encryption though.
>>
>> I walked right into that ;)
>

> If someone is using WiFi to connect to their own network, I'd expect
> them to be using encryption on that anyway - particularly if they are
> even slightly concerned about security!

That's only encrypted as far as the WiFi access point. After that it will be unencrypted.
Particularly, once that connection leaves your house and goes onto the Internet then anyone along the way can intercept
it. If you get into the habit of setting up your mobile device to automatically connect and check your email, relying on
your home WiFi encryption, but also have it setup to connect to any available WiFi hotspot then your personal login
credentials are not going to stay personal for very long.

> Emails are almost all sent between servers without encryption, so
> there's not much additional benefit in encrypting them between server
> and end-user.

But that mail is not carrying authentication tokens.

> It's all a matter of putting the priority in the right order - where,
> other than in the wireless part, is your email likely to be
> intercepted? If we want to be paranoid, we would all be using
> encrypted tunnels to VPN servers layered one on another (and that
> email would be encrypted itself, anyway). but for the majority of
> traffic, why bother?
>

So, you don't care is someone else intercepts your login credentials for your ISP, and gets access to all your ISP mail,
your ISP account information, payment methods etc?

What about the login credentials for your internet banking? Are you as blase about those?

[Chris]

ISP credentials are one thing, but banking are another. It's a bit of a
leap going from unencrypted mail to cracking someone's internet banking
account.

[Nigel Wade]

Who mentioned cracking internet banking? I'm talking about complete disregard for security based on authentication over
an unencrypted connection. If you are happy doing that then fine, your personal information has no value to me.

[Chris]

I get your point, but what's banking credentials got to do with it?