Global Hotmail problems? :-(
Today there seem to be global Hotmail problems, apparently caused by the switch from Hotmail to Outlook. Not only are Hotmail-based questions pouring into this forum, but also other forums that I look at - mainly concerning 3rd party email clients and devices such as phones and tablets. Twitter is also alive with complaints. (I even replied to a couple to questions here myself, outlining my own issues, but then I decided to do some more research.)
It seems as if Microsoft were rather taken by surprise by the global impact of the switch and have been somewhat overwhelmed by it. The current situation for most people seems to be that Hotmail can only be accessed via Outlook, and nothing else (including Thunderbird!). If this is the case, then I can only assume that Mozilla's hands are tied, and that there's very little they can do about it - am I correct here, Mozilla?
In my research, I found a helpful site that seems to have some idea of what is going on (and is dated today, so it's totally current) - queries posted by people match up with the problems that I'm having, e.g. this one:-
"Hotmail account is fine through a browser but doesn’t work on thunderbird, or mail apps on android phone and android tablet,. username/password is incorrect. Have deleted the thunderbird account and tried to redo as both pop and imap, but no joy. Weird thing is, I have an msn email address too, also using outlook.com, and this works fine."
This is exactly the problem that I'm having!
The site address is:-
https://www.product-reviews.net/down/hotmail-outlook-problems/
- for those who may be interested. I'm going to keep my eye on it, to see what new posters have to say, and if there are any updates (which will be posted here - http://www.product-reviews.net/2016/11/21/hotmail-outlook-outage-today-with-users-ignored/). However, Microsoft are keeping their heads firmly down and apparently saying nothing! :-/
Perhaps Mozilla could confirm or deny these reports about Hotmail, just so we know where we all stand?
Chosen solution
All Hotmail issues tend to be caused by Outlook servers no longer (or at least temporarily) accepting logins from @hotmail.com addresses allright. The solution would be to add an outlook.com alias using webmail and change the Thunderbird settings to use the alias.
See this question.
Read this answer in context 👍 2All Replies (4)
Here's my "take" on what's going on. But no first hand experiences with Hotmail since 1999 when I last used it. Been using my ISP's email services since then, along with MyRealBox from Qualcomm for Webmail & with the Eudora email client, and also my website host - DomainMonger.
The problem lies with Outlook.com.
Firefox would use the webmail part of Outlook.com to display the clients content in a webpage in Firefox. And if Outlook can't even connect to the clients content at Hotmail.com that sounds like an "internal network" problem between the hundreds (or thousands) of servers used for Microsoft services.
Similar for Thunderbird but with the various protocols used for communication used by email client programs. POP, SMTP, IMAP, and MAPI are the typical protocols used for email. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email
the-edmeister said
Here's my "take" on what's going on. But no first hand experiences with Hotmail since 1999 when I last used it. Been using my ISP's email services since then, along with MyRealBox from Qualcomm for Webmail & with the Eudora email client, and also my website host - DomainMonger. The problem lies with Outlook.com. Firefox would use the webmail part of Outlook.com to display the clients content in a webpage in Firefox. And if Outlook can't even connect to the clients content at Hotmail.com that sounds like an "internal network" problem between the hundreds (or thousands) of servers used for Microsoft services. Similar for Thunderbird but with the various protocols used for communication used by email client programs. POP, SMTP, IMAP, and MAPI are the typical protocols used for email. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email
Hmm.... It begs the question - are Microsoft actually now trying to force users to abandon the Hotmail name and use Outlook instead (i.e. hotmail.com becomes outlook.com)? Or am I just being horribly cynical? (So your "internal network problem" might be a cunning ploy!) I have actually seen reports of people replacing hotmail with outlook in their set-ups, and saying that it then works - but this is the Internet, and everything you read isn't automatically true! ;-)
Chosen Solution
All Hotmail issues tend to be caused by Outlook servers no longer (or at least temporarily) accepting logins from @hotmail.com addresses allright. The solution would be to add an outlook.com alias using webmail and change the Thunderbird settings to use the alias.
See this question.
Tonnes said
All Hotmail issues tend to be caused by Outlook servers no longer (or at least temporarily) accepting logins from @hotmail.com addresses allright. The solution would be to add an outlook.com alias using webmail and change the Thunderbird settings to use the alias. See this question.
This worked for me, although a tad clunky? I was worried that outlook.com would show on my emails, but you don't have to worry about that. You put your Hotmail address in 'Email Address' under Default Identity, and the Outlook one on the Server Settings page, and the SMTP settings. (I've tested it - no outlook.com showing anywhere!)
I don't know where the future will take us with this, but this seems to be a fairly OK workaround for now anyway. Thanks! :-)
(Update - The Register's take on this - Outlook outage outrage :-D :-D )
Modified by JayceyF