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Forum Discussion
Cannot use POP or SMTP on WiFi with RBR850
We just set up an Orbi RBR850 with three RBS850 satellites. All three satellites are connected via ethernet to the RBR850. The RBR850 has Firmware Version V3.2.10.11_1.2.12, which is current. Satelli...
I'm trying to set up Apple Mail for POP access to Gmail, but so far without success. Google may require that I generate an app specifc password to make it work. I'll have to come back to it.
All of our other devices use IMAP for email, which is working OK. My old email program doesn't handle IMAP well. I actually prefer POP, as one feature of PowerMail is a very robust search function, which works whether I'm on or off line.
What do you see if you load up and install Mozilla Thunderbird?
Ya you have to allow some apps to get access from Google security configurations in your google profile.
Wondering if there maybe some protocol missing or older legacy incompatible protocol from the older PowerMail programming that just isn't workign with newer wifi protocols.
My poor Mac Book Pro 2008 died on my last October Or I would help test this out. I had it for 10 years. Great laptop.
FURRYe38 wrote:
"Wondering if there maybe some protocol missing or older legacy incompatible protocol from the older PowerMail programming that just isn't workign with newer wifi protocols. "
This seems unlikely to me. My email program has worked on every WiFi connection I've ever used (where the connection is strong enough for things like web browsing to work too). Admittedly the Orbi is newer tech, but if the problem were with WiFi protocols, I'd expect other internet connections on my Mac not to work as well.
It seems more likely that the Netgear Orbi firmware isn't passing POP and SMTP port requests properly from WiFi to the router. The satellites and the Orbi router act in part as bridges between two kinds of networks: WiFi and ethernet. There is a translation that has to take place to get from WiFi to ethernet. As most people these days use IMAP, I'm guessing that someone involved in the Netgear firmware screwed up and left out or disabled what needs to happen between WiFi and ethernet for POP email.
When I connect to the Orbi router via ethernet, there is no bridging which has to happen - it's ethernet from my Mac to the Orbi, and ethernet from the Orbi to the AT&T gateway. (And then ethernet from the gateway to the fiber interface box, which is another bridge.)
That a WiFi connection works fine using an AirPort Extreme as the WiFi to ethernet bridge is another indication that it's a firmware issue with the Orbi. The AirPort Extreme is an 802.11ac WiFi device on 5 GHz (how I'm connected to it), as is the Orbi (yes, the Orbi is WiFi 6 aka ax, but it reports as ac with my WiFi scanner). That's the same WiFi protocol.
I might agree however when I say protocols I mean behind the scenes protocols that we don't see or configure. This is programming on the FW level and in the wifi driver that resides in the FW and any behind the scenes programming of that email program.
I can tell you that i have 3 POP and 3 IMAP email accounts in Thunderbird on my Windows 10 PC and On my Mac Book Pro 2018 I have same Tbird app with 2 POP emails and 3 IMAP accounts. If Orbi AX was not passing POP protocols, I would have seen this a long time ago. Just saying.I would give T-bird a try to see if the problem follows or not.
For any app to see AX correctly, it needs to support AX mode protocols. Also the platform hard may need to be AX supporting as well. I know I use iStumbler on my mac which doesn't support AX and the app only reports AC modes.
FURRYe38 wrote:
"For any app to see AX correctly, it needs to support AX mode protocols."
Thanks for the additional detail. AX mode is turned off on the RBR850.
I'm also using iStumbler to view the WiFi network. Interestingly, my Mac only does 802.11n, but iStumbler can see which networks are ac.
Need to find a free hour to fiddle with setting up an alternate email program for comparison. Gmail doesn't make it as easy as it could be. But I'm not ready to abandon PowerMail. I've yet to find a program which works as it does. (It's a spiritual successor to Claris Emailer.)