Good Bye- Comcast-my Steam Blow-off

[Sam Ceccola]

Background Info: I've always considered Comcast as my primary TV and Internet service provider; Verizon as my only Telephone provider. I was happy and pleased with the service provided by both companies.

About 6 weeks ago, Verizon wired my neighborhood for FIOS. After listening to the "cost-saving packages" Verizon and Comcast were offering, I decided to give Comcast a chance with my Internet, TV, and Phone. It was saving me approximatelt $50.00 a month. Worst decision I made. Since I was switched, I have had nothing but trouble with my service. The broadband is constantly going up and down and when you make (or receive) a phone call, you hear an echo in the conversation. Repeated calls to Comcast has not helped. Their Customer Service attititude is "we are the big kids on the block--we'll do what we want". The last draw with Comcast was on Thursday, July 12, 2007 when I called Comcast Customer Service. I was on the phone with them and the service representative had the gull to say to me "we are only allowed a maximum of 30 minutes per customer, you have been on for 40 minutes. I must end our call." I didn't believe what I heard.

Immediately, I called Verizon and will be switching my service. The only thing that bothers me in this switch is all the business contacts I have made who are not in my Address Book but have my "comcast.net" e-mail address. My new service will be installed on July 31st.

As far as broadband is concerned, I updated from their basic 5 mps to 15. It was a $10 a month extra charge but I want the speed.

Once the new environment is installed, Verizon told me , that they have a package (no charge) that would automatically notify all addresses in my Address Book of my new e-mail address and for an additional 30 days, all e-mail sent to my "comcast.net" address will be forwarded to the new Verizon e-mail address.

This I consider a major decision. It affects a lot of my communication with the "outside world". I hope I made the right one.

Any thoughts or comments on this?

Thanks,
Sam

[kelly]

The only thing that bothers me in this switch is all the business contacts I have made who are not in my Address Book but have my "comcast.net" e-mail address.

Good reason register a domain for yourself (10/yr) and use Outlook or Outlook Express. You can switch ISP's and no one will have to update anything.

... or try gmail. It will work with your Outlook Express.

[Sam Ceccola]

Good reason register a domain for yourself (10/yr) and use Outlook or Outlook Express. You can switch ISP's and no one will have to update anything.

... or try gmail. It will work with your Outlook Express.

Kelly:
Good idea. I have a few questions but will ask after I investigate.

A curiosity question: How do most of you folks handle it? Do you use gmail, OE or what?
For my personal e-mail, I use Incredimail as my primary e-mail client.

Sam

[kelly]

I do a bit of both. I have 3 domains that I access via my POP3 client, Entourage (the Mac equivalent of Outlook). Of course I can access them via webmail if I'm not at my computer.

I also have a few gmail accounts that I access either via web or Entourage.

To make things even more complicated, I have one gmail account that I use only for tech email from ComputerWorld, InfoWorld, Tech Republic, etc. I use that as my on-line tech library. I only access that one using the web.

It's not all that complicated. In practice, all the email from my domains and gmail accounts appear in my Entourage mail clients - one for home, the other for business. There is one exception - that is the tech library gmail account. I don't have that linked up to Entourage. I don't need or want it locally and I simply let Google back it up.

[Rich-M]

I have 4 email addresses I use regularly and a Hotmail account for garbage...they all empty into Outlook Express. Two are redirected from my websites and 2 are isp's.

[N3]

I have Yahoo & Excite for my email....no problems!

[Sam Ceccola]

This might sound like a stupid question but I don't know the answer.

I currently use Incredimail. When an e-mail arrives, I get an e-mail notification. In my case an animated sound emoticon of a dog that barks. When I hear that I know I have new in-coming e-mail.
If I was to add another e-mail domain such as OE, gmail,etc. would/could that have an animated emoticon telling me I have e-mail within that domain?

I never had more that one e-mail domain. I just don't want to be bothered looking at other domains if there are no e-mails for me. I want the simplest of task. More than one e-mail domain - if there is e-mail available for me within that domain, I want to be told(notified) then I can open it.

[Rich-M]

I seem to remember OE can make a sound and a flag goes up...I'm on Windows Mail in Vista and I don't want such a thing anyway so I never looked.
Incredimail does not work in Vista and neither does OE so I wouldn't change to something short lived Sam.

[Dan18960]

This might sound like a stupid question but I don't know the answer.

I currently use Incredimail. When an e-mail arrives, I get an e-mail notification. In my case an animated sound emoticon of a dog that barks. When I hear that I know I have new in-coming e-mail.
If I was to add another e-mail domain such as OE, gmail,etc. would/could that have an animated emoticon telling me I have e-mail within that domain?

I never had more that one e-mail domain. I just don't want to be bothered looking at other domains if there are no e-mails for me. I want the simplest of task. More than one e-mail domain - if there is e-mail available for me within that domain, I want to be told(notified) then I can open it.

Sam,
Your confusing an email application with a domain mx record.

Incredimail, Outlook Express, Outlook, Windows Mail, Pegasus, Eudora, etc, are applications to authenticate to your mail server, send your username, send your password, and download or send email through the pop3/smtp.

I use NuNet as my email server - and have for over 10 years now. It costs $10.00 a quarter for them to be my email "handler". While some have stated you can register a domain name (sam @ ceccola.com) cheap for multiple years at GoDaddy, NetSolutions, yada, yada, yada - you would still have to pay for mx services to "hold" ceccola.com.

Once you have that mx server assigned - you need to go to your domain registrar and put in the mx settings the mx server company gives you and setup your email application to the server settings to get email. At this point you can use any of the previous listed applications. If you like Incredimail (and I do also) you simply enter the new pop3 and smtp settings, username required by the mx server company, and password - you are now getting emails to your domain into your Incredimail.

Now the payback is that your domain would never change (as long as you are up to date with your domain fees) but you could change mx servers when you find a better deal. For example - suppose you are with an ISP that is doing your mx services but you find that GoDaddy is cheaper - you contract with GoDaddy, change your mx settings for your domain, and change your server settings in Incredimail for pop3 / smtp and your good to go. BUT NO ONE HAS TO KNOW YOU CHANGED SERVERS! Your address would still be sam @ ceccola.com!

[kelly]

Maybe this is simpler:
1) You ISP gave you an email address.
2) Register a domain with GoDaddy
3) Forward all mail going to that domain to your ISP email.
4) Done

With gmail - as Dan said, you can still use your email client, Incredimail. Just add the gmail account info as described on their web site. Mail going to the gmail account is picked up by Incredimail.

[Sam Ceccola]

Am I on the right track?
This is what I did and it's results:
( I have a hotmail e-mail called: samuel_ceccola@hotmail.com
In Incredimail options, I set up an account using the e-mail address: samuel_ceccola@hotmail.com and my hotmail password.

Using Incredimail, I sent a message to: samuel_ceccola@hotmail.com
After a few minutes, I checked Incredimail -- nothing received.
I also checked the inbox at www.hotmail.com -- nothing received

Since I setup the account in Incredimail, shouldn't Incredimail have a copy of the message?

or, at least--
Shouldn't I have a received message in Hotmail?


Sam

[Rich-M]

If the email was sent from Incredimail there should be a sent message in the sent box. As for receipt, well Hotmail I have found to be one of the slowest to receive with sometimes 24 hours going by.

[Sam Ceccola]

I think I finally got this problem resolved.
I registered a domain at: 1&1.com
Created an e-mail address
Then forward that e-mail to the e-mail address of my ISP.

It seems to be working.
Thanks,
Sam

[Rich-M]

You should not have to forward that address, though you can. All you need to do is set OE or Incredimail to download it from there.

[Sam Ceccola]

You should not have to forward that address, though you can. All you need to do is set OE or Incredimail to download it from there.

I removed the "forward". The message is sent through Incredimail and I am notified.

I do have another problem that I did not bring up before this time. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE "FORWARD".

Here's the scenario:

Using an ISP /Web-Hosting provider (http://www.1and1.com), I created a domain and e-mail: samc@pungysplace.com

Mail Server Information supplied by 1and1 is:
Incoming server (IMAP) imap.1and1.com
Incoming server (POP) pop.1and1.com
Outgoing server (SMTP) smtp.1and1.com

Within Incredimail, I set up a new account as follows:
E-mail address: samc@pungysplace.com
Incoming Mail Server: pop.1and1.com
Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.1and1.com
Incoming Mail Server UserName: samc
Incoming Mail Server Password: (the same used within 1and1 when I originally created the accont and e-mail)

At this point, I sent an e-mail message to: samc@pungysplace.com
The message is fowarded to Incredimail and the message notifier shows in the InBox. (so-far ---- so-good)

Then I get an Incredimail Error message:
"Incoming Server: 'pop.1and1.com' can not be found.
Zone Alarm is not configured correctly with Incredimail, press here.
Details: Failed to find host Socket Error 11021, Port 110, Protocol: POP. No such host is known."

I followed their directions on "How do I configure Zone Alarm firewall with Incredimail?"

I'm still getting the same error message. When I close (hit the OK button) on the error message, and then open the e-mail notification in the InBox, the COMPLETE message shows.

Does anyone have any ideas? I did sent this information to Incredimail but have not (so far) received an answer.

Thanks,
Sam

[Rich-M]

Sam when you put in login in accounts do you have the full email address for user name or just samc?

[casey]

I think I finally got this problem resolved.
I registered a domain at: 1&1.com
Created an e-mail address
Then forward that e-mail to the e-mail address of my ISP.



Sam, I also have an account at 1and 1 for my web site and use the E-Mail as more of a personal account. I don't know anything about Incredimail as I just set mine up to come right to Windows Mail in Vista. I have had this account for years and used it in XP without any problems. The setup is basically the same as any other
address...

[AERachael]

Incoming Mail Server UserName: samc

I don't know if this relates to the problem, but the username should probably be:
http://services.nexodyne.com/email/customicon/H5GQUkPXpfrIkAsMahYU.kAni20%3D/JaU2vZw%3D/000000/ffffff/000000/0/image.png
And if the @ doesn't work, then use a + instead.

[kelly]

The problem is that you can't find the server. Turn off Zone Alarm and see if it finds the server. If it doesn't then you've enter the wrong server. If it does, then you need to config ZA to allow access from Incredimail to the server.

[Sam Ceccola]

Just wanted to let you folks know, this problem is not resolved. I took Dan's advice and now have an ISP strictly to be used as an e-mail for non-personal contacts.

The problem I am working with now seems to be with Zone Alarm. If I send a message to this new e-mail address, The message is received by the ISP, forwarded to and received by Incredimail. Incredimail is then giving me a message "Zone Alarm" is not configured correctly.

I get a message from Incredimail Tech Support asking me to do things that I have already done and told them the results. I swear they are reading "scripts" and when you get to a certain point, they pass that onto the customer. They sometimes ignore or don't hear what the customer is saying.

[Rich-M]

Sam,
Why let that piece of garbage software cause so much annoyance. Uninstall it and enable the XP firewall and forget about it. I haven't found a firewall since Sygate that didn't create more problems than what it was supposed to help prevent. You have the best antivirus and I hope Superantispyware running in the background, what on earth will get in to dial out????? Use the Xp firewall. It is all I ever use.

[Sam Ceccola]

Rich: I follow many of the post in K&H and didn't realize the "community" felt that way about Zone Alarm. Yes, I am using Superantispyware.

In April (2007) I renewed my 2 year tech support with Zone Alarm. My question is: "do I keep it or just put ZA aside?"

I was able to work out a solution to this overall problem. This is how I did it:
- ZA is enabled
- In Incredimail, I removed the "Account Entry" for the new e-mail address. Remember, this new e-mail address was created using an additional ISP called "1 and 1". As of today by primary ISP is Comcast (tomorrow that is changing).
- Going into the new ISP, when I created the new e-mail address, I used the "Forward Message" option and forwarded all message of the new e-mail address to an existing e-mail address already setup in Incredimail.

[Rich-M]

Sam,
I am well known for believing if you have a router hardware firewall and Windows Firewall, then 3rd party firewalls are excess "sludge" and annoyance in a system that adds nothing to a system.
There are those who will tell you that Windows Friewall is one way. They are wrong because SP2 made it partially 2-way. but the overall idea of all that annoyance and slowing down a system is so meaningless if you have the right software protecting you. With Nod32 and Sas at the gate, what on earth is going to get in to call out anyway? We waste more time trying to figure out what meaningless entry is causing alarm where a little faith more than handles the issues. Does anyone really believe that Microsoft trying to protect it's OS deliberately put you at risk to force you to go out and by ZA "system sludge"?
I have always worked with the premise that if the utility isn't in Windows, then I probably have no real need of it and my systems run as fast and problem free as anyone's (as long as Maxtor and Seagate stay away!)
This may actually be the only thing Dan and I agree on....

[Dan18960]

This may actually be the only thing Dan and I agree on....

YEA!

Well, maybe a few other things but they don't count. :cool:

[Seth]

I agree.

NOD and SAS?

Virtually nothing is going to get by that even if you tried. Although if something did, both of those apps have heuristics that would catch the culprit before any harm could be done.

A third party firewall in this case would just add problems.