fastmail connection problems
 

Hi,
Since Aug 9th, have not been able to Fastmail via email client, I can access mail via web site.

I re-checked settings on email client with no success, have been using secure settings with imap 993, pop 995,smtp 465.

Today, I did a temporary test using "insecure.messagingengine.com
for both imap and pop settings and was able to access mail and download it.

Is there a recent problem with secure settings at fastmail server?

Chris

Me too!
 

I have had exactly the same problem from exactly the same date.

I have been subscribed to fastmail.net for three years and using it without any problems. Then beginning after 8/8/2013 I can no longer access POP or SMTP.

I have posted support tickets at the fastmail site, but it appears that they do not actually answer any such help requests.

Making every test I know how to do, I have not been able to find anything wrong except my client (Pegasus) indicates:

A network error occurred during connection to the host.
<<no trace information available>>

Perhaps we can share information and solve this problem. It looks like fastmail will not be of any help but I really don't want to have to change my email provider/address.

A change has been made on exactly the same date. Coincidence??

Hmmm...

I read that as having to do with webmail access via a browser. Would it have any bearing on POP and SMTP access? I am using an XP machine but I am not wanting to use webmail. However, now that I am being forced to use webmail (via Firefox or Opera) it works fine.

It sucks that there seems to be no way to get any information from Fastmail, who should know about the issue.

I believe the same nginx frontend handles HTTP/POP/SMTP/IMAP/etc.

I too have had exactly the same problem from same date and it continues.

So much for
Support Ticket Submitted:
I've had a reply to my ticket, but no solution

Today, I finally got a reply to my support ticket after I had given up hope.

This is not much help, but it does hold out hope.

What email client are you using? I just connected to my FastMail account using Mozilla Thunderbird using the following server settings.

Incoming Server Address: mail.messagingengine.com
Server Port: 995
Connection Security: SSL/TLS (When using STARTTLS, I am unable to download mail).

Outgoing Server Address: mail.messagingengine.com
Server Port: 465
Connection Security: SSL/TLS

I hope this helps!

There is no general problem with IMAP access, using the setting you quote.

But one of the users who reported problems runs Pegasus Mail V4.41, which is 7 years' old ....

No good on latest Pegasus either.
 

IMAP doesn't work with Pegasus 4.63 (latest) either....can't connect. Works okay on my iPad/Phone though. Hope fix comes soon. I have years of email stored via Pegasus locally as well as on IMAP server.

It seems like the problem may be incompatibility with Pegasus. I use version 4.63 (Dec. 2011) which is less than 2 years old.

My ticket was updated today.

I tried "insecuressl.messagingengine.com" successfully for POP.

I have received a reply from developers:

I was already using the work-around posted by Chris02 in post #1 which worked for IMAP and SMTP

If all versions of Pegasus and Mercury are affected, I'm sure other software will be too.

Disappointing that admin haven't updated the SSL blog post and the status page with this fix for Pegasus/Mercury users

Pegasus 4.63
 

In my case IMAP using the regular settings was working just fine in Pegasus 4.63 until some point in the last 7 days, with August 9 being the obvious candidate day. I found this forum and changed the server to insecuressl.messagingengine.com and now I am connecting.

So the fallback to the older protocol when the revised one does not work does seem to be an issue.

Just thinking ...

Probably the thing that is new about the revised SSL standards is that a backdoor has been inserted for the NSA.

So, it might be a good idea for anyone concerned with possibly having a semblance of security to use

insecuressl.messaging engine.com

so that they can continue to make use of the old SSL standards which might lack a backdoor.

I highly recommend you don't do this. insecuressl supports various ciphers that are known to be insecure, broken, compromised or otherwise bad. We provide it as a courtesy to people using old clients that are known to have problems with newer secure ciphers, but we don't recommend it at all - its better than cleartext, but not much. See here for details:

http://blog.fastmail.fm/2009/11/18/s...r-old-clients/

If your client works with the standard access methods and ciphers, then use them. If it doesn't then use insecuressl, but be aware that it is what it says: insecure. Consider switching clients and/or contacting the developers of your client to request an update.