Conflicting FIOS email server setup instructions

[bc14227]

The Original FIOS email settings upon installation in March '08 were POP3 incoming.yahoo.verizon.net & SMTP outgoing.yahoo.verizon.net.  My email volume dropped by at least 75%, but at least I have been receiving some mail.  I was told by eBay yesterday that their mail to me was being blocked and that I should check my email settings.

All attempts to use VZ In-Home Agent and other Verizon tools and instructions have failed.  First, the Agent takes too long to load and must be reactivated each time you use it.  Second, once an address is provided, it activates the Outlook Express screen then comes to a complete stop!  The process is never completed, nor does the program shut down.  

Current server setup instructions exclude Yahoo; i.e. POP3 incoming.verizon.net & SMTP outoing.verizon.net.  When those settings are automatically generated, I am unable to get pass the server's popup password menu.  Outlook Express constantly requests and rejects my entry.  At that point, I am unable to receive any mail.  Re-inserting yahoo in the settings takes me back to square one, allows access, but doesn't solve my problem.

I have tried deleting old and creating new sub-accounts with various server settings to no avail.  Whenever Yahoo is not in the setting, nothing works.

So what is the problem and how can I fix it?  Thanks in advance for your help.

[somegirl]

It sounds like your account is portalled with Yahoo, in which case the yahoo.verizon.net servers are the correct ones. (Most Verizon tools are designed for Verizon-only accounts.) What you need to do is log in to verizon.yahoo.com and check for the messages there. (Probably in the spam folder.)

[bc14227 · Accepted solution]

Thank you a million!!!  I did exactly what you said and found 16 messages in the spam folder; all I had been looking for from eBay and others.  Kudos to you.

While I am pleased to have this mystery solved, does this mean that I am now locked into having to sign on to the verizon yahoo website to get Outlook Express messages?  If the answer is yes, I'm certainly not pleased about that.  I've been using that program for what seems like forever, know it inside and out, and have no desire to learn anything new.  Of course, I realize that that is not your problem (:-)).

[somegirl]

You should be able to mark these messages as "not spam" and/or put the senders on your safe list at verizon.yahoo.com to keep them from going to your spam folder. Once this is done, you should be able to receive them through Outlook Express with no issues.

[UserBil]

Just a word of caution - you should be aware that Verizon's SPAM filters are unreasonably aggressive and have been problematic for users for years. Having to check the SPAM folder for wrongly-tagged messages is a nuisance, but having messages rejected before they ever reach you can be a real nightmare. There's nowhere for you to turn should you find that legitimate messages are being rejected at the server level. You can't get addresses whitelisted - I've tried. So far the only resolution I've found is alternate addresses, either for the sender or the recipient. Good luck with your Outlook problem. I feel your pain, as I'm going through the same thing right now.

[VZ_Kevin]

There's also an option to completely disable Yahoo's spam filter:
After signing in, go to your e-mail inbox.

In the top right, click on Options > Mail Options.

Here in options, you can disable SpamGuard under the "Spam" section.

[bc14227]

My thanks to each of you for your responses, advice, and concern.  My first thought is to mark mail as 'not spam' and create the safe file.  Just a little concerned about shutting down spam guard completely.  Hopefully this will straighten out the Outlook Express issue before the safe file gets too large (:-)).  If not, then I'll just have to shut down Spam Guard and hope for the best.  As stated initially, I've tried setting up additional sub-accounts already.  But maybe I didn't do it right and am not adverse to trying again.