Comcast.net (Xfinity) email and auto setup in various email clients . . .

[britechguy]

. . . is something now (and for months now) irretrievably broken with this?

I have a client who has a comcast.net email address who typically uses their webmail, and without issue, but I wanted to set her up with an email client as a fallback (as there have been occasions where she logged out of webmail and could not remember her password or it was recorded incorrectly in her paper password log). I have tried with Thunderbird, Windows Mail App, and the new Outlook for Windows preview. To a one, the login always fails, and I know that we are using the correct password as it lets us in on Comcast webmail. I've even tried tweaking ports per Comcast's own support pages - no dice.

I'm curious if anyone else is encountering this.

 

[glricht]

Have you tried using an "app" password? Haven't run into this situation in a while, but for some email providers (e.g. AOL) you would enter the normal password on the website logon screen. But for an email app (e.g. Outlook) to access the email, you first have to create an "app" password and then specify the app password as the password in the email app.

 

[Porthos]

Also, https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/third-party-email-access

 

[britechguy]

Porthos,

Thanks very much. I didn't even think about looking up something like this, since I've set up more comcast.net accounts than I can count and all the third party email clients still find the correct configuration information in their databases.

It never occurred to me that Comcast/Xfinity would have put in such a setting and have it unchecked, by default, for accounts that predated its existence. Normally, grandfathering in "the usual behavior" would have been the way things would be configured with new accounts having the new policy.

@glricht: Thanks, but I knew this shouldn't (not couldn't, as nothing is too strange to be true) be the case, so I was looking at other things first. As I mentioned above, what Porthos has offered is not something I would have thought would or could be the case in a thousand years. I've never seen this information shared prior to today.

 

[HCHTech]

We ran into this last week trying to setup a Comcast account in Apple Mail. First time we've seen it so i must be new. In Apple Mail, the error you get after entering the credentials was "No Password Provided" - not exactly helpful - haha.

 

[britechguy]

We ran into this last week trying to setup a Comcast account in Apple Mail. First time we've seen it so i must be new. In Apple Mail, the error you get after entering the credentials was "No Password Provided" - not exactly helpful - haha.

It's no more helpful in the Mail App, Outlook for Windows, or Thunderbird. All give a "password incorrect" type message. This really isn't surprising, as I doubt we've reached the point where the servers are giving the clients anything that would allow them to give more useful information. I definitely think Comcast/Xfinity should make a point of sending an email whenever an email client attempts to connect, and can't, because the ability for third-party clients to connect is blocked via their own settings. This is peculiar to them, and at least getting an email saying, "Hey, and email client attempted to connect to your account, but is blocked because . . . ," would give enough information that the issue could be solved quickly. I know that this will eventually "go out of my head" because no one else is doing this.

 

[Porthos]

More info https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/email-client-programs-with-xfinity-email

 

[britechguy]

More info https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/email-client-programs-with-xfinity-email

That is what I actually found while web searching while on-site yesterday. None of these port tweaks, etc., makes the slightest bit of difference if the "Allow access for third-parties" checkbox is unchecked. There is a "hard wall" against connecting, even if your settings are otherwise perfect in the client.

 

[Blues]

I wonder if this relates to the data breach issue they had and they didn't entirely force people to update their passwords. I would have the client change their password and make sure they have setup a recovery option and/or some MFA. Then try the app setup again I think I saw similar issues for setting up on devices due to this issue when people replaced a phone the worked and they have never updates their PW after the breach.

 

[britechguy]

A follow-up big thanks for this find in regard to Xfinity and now having to allow third-party email client access via IMAP.

The client for whom this issue arose is a "frequent flyer" and called me today about another issue (she'd somehow turned vertical tabs on under Edge and was confused by them, as was I, as I don't use 'em and never have) and as part of resolving that I made sure Thunderbird was configured and able to get at her comcast email for use in a pinch. I know that she'll eventually manage to get locked out of her webmail again, and want a backup plan for quick access.