Some facts. SSL no longer exists for all practical purposes. All browsers and responsible mail clients has deprecated it as the security is broken. It was replaced by TLS many years ago and until now folks have refered to is as SSL/TLS.

So you will need to have SSL/TLS connection security and ports appropriate for that.

Verizon also promote a security suite based on McAfee which has a long history of causing problems with email. I would suggest you check the firewall component to check those ports are not blocked and disable any email scanning.

Do you use a VPN. These are becoming far more common as folk get concerned about government snooping. Unfortunately most of the US based ISP's insist you log into the internet using their service to send mail. VPN's hide this as they suggest your point of origin is actually somewhere else, often another country.

You might also want to check your router is not blocking the relevant ports. It would not be the first time an ISP changed mail settings to ports that their own routers were programmed to block.

Thanks for the quick reply.

According to AOL, I need to use port 587 for SSL/TLS and that port isn't working but I'm using port 465 which they claim is for SSL (outgoing SMTP) and that currently works. They told me as I said above to let Thunderbird autoconfigure the account and when I created a new one, it picked port 465 for outgoing SMTP.

Question is who is right? Thunderbird or AOL? They tell me to let Thunderbird do it (yes, latest update I have) and its contradicting what they're telling me. Talk about confusing.

If I need to switch to port 587 and verizon is blocking this may be a problem. Getting Verizon to do anything to their servers is next to impossible.

I don't use VPN. I don't have a router as I'm still using DSL. I never used that Mcafee stuff.

Is there some simple tool I can use from my end thats not an email client to check if Verizon is blocking port 587?

They told me as I said above to let Thunderbird autoconfigure the account and when I created a new one, it picked port 465 for outgoing SMTP.

If it works like that keep it.

Just because it works now doesn't mean its going to on November 7. AOL sent me the email telling me I'm using the wrong settings. What Thunderbird is picking is what I already have set which was in place BEFORE the AOL email. I have to conclude they want me to use port 587 which doesn't work. If I don't do anything and all of a sudden I lose email on November 7, I'm going to be really unhappy.

At this point I don't know what to do but I can't do nothing because I won't know for sure if its just a bulk email and I'm already cool or not until November 7 where if its not I no longer can use Thunderbird.

See the issue?

Sorry, but that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" suggestion does not work for the above stated reasons!

Until I know for sure its good, I just plain don't know and if on November 7 I lose the ability to use Thunderbird for doing nothing, what do I do then?

AOL says: Outgoing: smtp.verizon.net - SMTP 465 SSL

This is what you have. So what's the problem? If you have any more questions you should ask AOL.

No, I don't know I have that. What I have is port 465 and the selection in the Thunderbird setup thats says

SSL/TLS

Because thats the ONLY SSL entry in that list.

That entry is what AOL claims I need to use port 587 for. At least thats how I'm interpreting what their instructions say. Matt said for all intents and purposes SSL doesn't exist anymore because of security issues and that its all TLS (I assume he meant through Thunderbird). If thats true I'm really using TLS and then AOL says I need to use port 587 which doesn't work.

Outgoing: smtp.verizon.net - SMTP 465 SSL Smtp.verizon.net - SMTP 587 SSL/TLS

And then even if perchance my current settings remain valid after November 7, WHY did AOL send me the email telling me I must update my connection settings. They didn't say they "might" be wrong. They said I have to.

This article:

https://help.aol.com/articles/verizon-move-to-aol-mail-setting-up-your-new-aol-account-in-a-third-party-email-program-or-mobile-device-imap

says you should be using 587 and STARTTLS which seems to me a lot more likely than TLS.

And then even if perchance my current settings remain valid after November 7, WHY did AOL send me the email telling me I must update my connection settings.

Ask AOL.

Good luck with that. Apparently those who Verizon pushed to AOL aren't "paying members" so we don't get to talk to tech support (seriously) and AOL "turned off email tech support" because "they were getting too many emails". WTF?

If I could have talked to an AOL tech weanie about this I wouldn't have posted this here.

I'm going to try calling someone at AOL on Monday but I'm not expecting to get anywhere.

If this port 587 thing is for real, there are going to be many ex Verizon email customers, come November 7, left without email which is going to cause major issues. The problem is, I simply don't know if I'm good or not and nobody can tell me.

Zeonos,

Thats ONLY for IMAP. I'm using POP3 and wish to continue doing so. The article you reference says up front as a warning...

...and you ARE NOT currently using an email client configured with POP3.

This is the article referenced for setting things up that the email I got from AOL pointed me to (indirectly - there was a short document with a click link to take me to the article below).

https://help.aol.com/articles/how-do-i-set-up-other-email-applications-to-send-and-receive-my-verizon-net-mail?ncid=mbr_comdefeml00000002

which is what I'm referencing. As you can see, where I've stated it a few times above, it says to use port 587 for SMTP/TLS which apparently is the only SMTP setting Thunderbird has in the list.

This site: https://help.aol.com/articles/verizon-move-to-aol-mail-updating-your-third-party-email-program-or-mobile-device-with-your-new-account-information-pop3 has two worked examples showing 465/TLS. And no comment at all on needing to update your outgoing settings in Thunderbird, implying that what you have will continue to work. All the effort there seems aimed at renewing your password.

Your link says both

SMTP - 465 - SSL SMTP - 587 - SSL / TLS

are acceptable. I can't understand why they even mention SSL since it is obsolete. Frankly, I think 587/TLS is rather odd.

My own AOL account uses 587/STARTTLS, in line with the link I gave - and no-one has told me to change anything.

Other email providers are available.

The moral of this story is not to use the "free" email service offered by your ISP.

Personally I use gmail, gmx and a webhost for my own domain with associated email servers. None of this has any affiliation with or dependence on my ISP.

I'm not too convinced that either AOL or verizon are on top of this right now. I wouldn't put a lot of credence on the message telling you to change.

The POP or IMAP issue is somewhat irrelevant; all your concerns seem to be with the SMTP settings for sending. Since you'll use the same SMTP server regardless of the incoming protocol, the settings for sending don't care whether you use IMAP or POP for your incoming.

What scares me is that they have contradictory information on their various sites. Verizon's data would appear to contradict that given by AOL. But I am not privy to whatever arrangements have been put in place for verizon customers being handed over to AOL.

As I said before, other email providers are available. Yada yada.