E-mail Send Error

[DaveM]

I have a friend who has an iPhone 6, not jailbroken, that has a POP e-mail account configured that has been working fine for years (same account was on his iPhone 5). About a week ago he started getting the following error when attempting to send:

Incoming mail is still working fine. I had him temporarily turn off his Wi-Fi to see if it would send via cellular connection. Same error. I tried deleting the account, doing a hard reset, and recreating the account. Same error. With his permission I then created the same account on my own iPhone 6s and it works fine for both incoming and outgoing messages. Decided to try it one more time on his phone. Deleted account, did a hard reset, recreated the account. Same error.

Everything else on the phone seems to work fine. I'm at a loss as to what to try at this point. We would like to avoid restoring the phone from backup, as the latest backup in iTunes is nearly 2 months old. And of course wiping and reloading would be a last resort. Was hoping that someone would have an idea of something else that might solve the issue without getting too drastic.

 

[J. A.]

If possible, take a look at the outgoing mail server on his iPhone. That would be in Settings - Mail, Contacts, Calendars - Account - his email account - the email address - SMTP. Make sure the right one is enabled and on.

 

[DaveM]

Thanks J.A. Yes, as indicated above, the account was working and then it just stopped working. I also set the same account up on my own phone with the same settings and it works fine. It's a puzzler.

 

[J. A.]

Weird.

In the Outgoing Mail Server, make sure Username and Password are entered, even if they are just optional.

Or try this link (maybe using his device) to make sure the settings are right:
Mail Settings Lookup - Apple Support

Other than that, I don't have an idea what else could help.

 

[DaveM]

Yes, username and password are entered for the SMTP. When I set up the account in my phone it was entered exactly as it was in his. That was the purpose of trying it all from scratch the second time - I wanted to be absolutely certain that I had not made any entry errors. Unfortunately, checking the address with the link you provided results in this message:

Mail settings are not known for your email provider.
Please contact your provider for correct settings.

 

[J. A.]

Too bad! I hoped the link would help.

I think it would be best to contact the email provider to get all the settings right. It's possible that the account used a different outgoing server on your iPhone, and that's why it worked there, but not on his device.