Thunderbird/Virginmedia and Multiple Accounts

[Gliderman]

I use Thunderbird as an e-mail client and have had no problems to date.

I have recently soldout to the cable world and embraced Virginmedia.

I have been using Thunderbird to allow multiple accounts to send through a single smtp server, whilst allowing messages to appear to come 'From' the account of my choice.

However I now have an issue;

1. I still run an old Freeserve account, and wish to continue to use this as may main personnel address. However I cannot mail from any client via their smtp server. This has not been a problem because...
2. Currently I have an Idnet account which allows use of their smtp server but this facility is likely to lapse when account closes in the future.
3. Having set up a new virginmedia account, all messages mailed via the virginmedia smtp server appear to come from my virginmedia account irrespective of which account Thunderbird has used to 'Send' the message.

Any ideas on what I may be doing wrong? I would like to retain choice over which account messages appear to come from but do not seem to beable to do this with virginmedia.

Thanks in anticipation.

[BenMcr]

I don't think you have any choice. The Virgin Media SMTP server is authenticated, which means that it will always be tied to the VM e-mail account

[admars]

I use the virgin smtp to send, but when I compose an email, at the top there's a "from" drop down, where I can choose which email address the mail is sent "from". They're the 4 mail addresses I've got set up on 4 different pop servers to receive mail. All use 1 smtp outoging mail server.

[SmartMart]

Originally Posted by Gliderman

Any ideas on what I may be doing wrong? I would like to retain choice over which account messages appear to come from but do not seem to beable to do this with virginmedia.

You're not doing anything wrong because if you use VM's SMTP server, VM change the "From" address to your primary VM email address.

Regards .....

---------- Post added at 09:44 ---------- Previous post was at 09:37 ----------

Originally Posted by BenMcr

I don't think you have any choice. The Virgin Media SMTP server is authenticated, which means that it will always be tied to the VM e-mail account

The way I understand authenticated SMTP is that the server will ask for a valid username and password. If it gets them, it will accept the incoming mail for delivery. It should NOT "tamper" with the "From" address!

Regards .....

[Juz]

I had the very same problem a couple of weeks ago after my installation.

What you need to do is add a SMTP server for each account and every time use that accounts address as the username for that particular SMTP server.

To do this goto Tools>Account Settings in Thunderbird and click on "Outgoing Server (SMTP)" at the bottom of the left hand pane. Then click on "Add" on the right and enter the server address (smtp.virginmedia.com) with the username >the accounts email address. Put a tick in the box marked "Use name and password" and select SSL under "Use secure connection".

Repeat the above for every account/email address you have remembering to use the same server name for each one but changing the username to match the address of each account. Then go to the properties of each account and near the bottom of the pane you'll see "Outgoing Server (SMTP) with a drop down box. Use this drop down box to select the correct server/username for each account . You can use the same method for non VM accounts, I still receive email on my old email address via my old ADSL provider.

Hope this helps and that I've explained it ok. I can assure you its possible as I am doing it. Remember that if you have other users of your PC that also have VM accounts that you'll have to setup their email in the same way.

Juz

[Gliderman]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try to address each one.

BMcr. Interesting about authentication, I notice that whilst a secure connection TLS/SSL is required, it does not work if the secure authentication box is ticked. I guess authentication relates to username and password details. Also I notice that TCP/IP 465 is a non-standard port (according to wiki!!).

Admars. I have set up multiple pop3 accounts and therefore have the option to 'pull-down' the account I want to send from, unfortunately as described, currently I can only send via a soon to be defunct idnet smtp server if I want to preserve the 'From' information.

SmartMart. I would assume most legit smtp servers are going to be authenticated to the extent that a valid username and password is required. As to the other point, if you use the Virgin smtp server it will change the 'From' details.

Juz. Perhaps I have completely mis-understood your advice. You maybe describing the use of the same smtp server (Virgin) with different username/password details, that cannot work. If you are not, you are describing the use of individual, or perhaps a single, smtp server with the appropriate username/password details, associating each account with the appropriate smtp server. I have already done that, but it only works via the idnet server and I will lose access to this shortly.

Breaking news....

I have been able to send via the Virginmedia smtp server preserving the 'From' details, but for the Idnet account only. This was done via the Virgin e-mail-Setting-Accounts page which allows other email addresses to be associated with the Virgin account and preventing the changing of the 'From' field. But, when I try to associate the freeserve account the verification e-mail does not arrive at the freeserve account, and therefore I cannot complete the link.

Q. Why can't I associate a freeserve account with my virgin account?

Sorry for the rambling nature of this reply...

---------- Post added at 23:00 ---------- Previous post was at 22:31 ----------

Cracked it.

The verification replies were being trapped by the Freeserve spam filter. Found them all in the junk folder.

I can now send via my preferred account using virginmedia smtp server.

Time for a beer.