I thought Mail was "just supposed to work"?

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So my wife managed to get mer Gmail account to work just fine on her new iPad, but trying the same process (Add Account) for her main AOL email she jsut getts that the "Recipient was rejected by the server because it does not allow relaying". The standard searching talk of 'Authentication' with no clue as to what exactly this means. As far as I can see the account settings on th iad all match those that have been suggested via google.

So, can anyone provide a non-technical answer as to to how she can get this to work. No abbreviations or assumptions of prior knowledge of the internals of email please. Thank you.
 
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Hi cwa107. I had already noted this. Our set up is exactly as stated and we have tried switching wifi off then on again but still no luck. It won't be any use asking aol because they are (a) not our ISP and (b) they are all in India and are useless. Mind you it can't be just AOL as I have the same problem with Hotmail. I should add that we are only using wifi, if that makes any difference.
 

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Slydude. Hi - no not tried yet but will as soon as am able. Regards..
 
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Honestly, if this is just for the iPad, the easiest work around is to forward your AOL and Hotmail mail to your Gmail account and just create a new folder for these so they're separated accordingly.

Otherwise, you may try to set up Hotmail via Exchange, as that usually works when all else fails. Perhaps that would work with AOL too.

Doug
 
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Our Gmail and AOL accounts are used for my wifes two jobs, it woud complicate things to have them linked. However, I've just sorted the problem for any other readers who may have this problem. For AOL I turned off the primary server (smpt.aol.com), turned on the next smpt server and changed the user name from [email protected] to just xxxx. The primary one cannot be amended so that's why you have to set up the second one.

Even though I was in IT for 25 years, I've no idea what SMPT, SSL, Authentication, Server Port or any other email terminology means - it might as well be in Klingon, but at least I now have AOL, gmail and hotmail working and can switch between them. Just need to get my Yahoo email (needed for certain yahoo groups) and my second hotmail account (for internet forums/potential spam) and the jobs done. So anytime soon I'll be a happy bunny. Thanks to those who pointed me in the right direction to find the answers.
 

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Our Gmail and AOL accounts are used for my wifes two jobs, it woud complicate things to have them linked. However, I've just sorted the problem for any other readers who may have this problem. For AOL I turned off the primary server (smpt.aol.com), turned on the next smpt server and changed the user name from [email protected] to just xxxx. The primary one cannot be amended so that's why you have to set up the second one.

Even though I was in IT for 25 years, I've no idea what SMPT, SSL, Authentication, Server Port or any other email terminology means - it might as well be in Klingon, but at least I now have AOL, gmail and hotmail working and can switch between them. Just need to get my Yahoo email (needed for certain yahoo groups) and my second hotmail account (for internet forums/potential spam) and the jobs done. So anytime soon I'll be a happy bunny. Thanks to those who pointed me in the right direction to find the answers.

Thanks for sharing your solution.

SMTP is the protocol used for outgoing mail from the client. SSL authentication simply means that the username/password are encrypted. Ports are just the particular port number that a given protocol communicates over. For example, SMTP typically uses port 25 - you sometimes need to change the port to match what the provider uses. POP3 (Post Office Protocol) is for incoming mail. IMAP, essentially supersedes POP3 and has additional features, such as read/unread and delete status synchronization across devices.

Understanding the terminology is important, because once you do, you'll be more effective at troubleshooting issues like this. For email, the most important are SMTP, POP3 and IMAP. Once you know what all three are, the rest is pretty easy to understand.
 
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