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Sympatico Email and Thunderbird

If you've decided to use Thunderbird for an email client instead of Outlook Express, good for you! The problem you'll run into is when you call 310-SURF for some help setting it up, is that Tech Support will be little or no use to you. Unfortunately, the help screens Sympatico Techs are looking at are designed specifically for Outlook or Outlook Express.

Hopefully the following will guide you through the settings maze to allow you the use of Thunderbird.

STEP 1 - Account Settings

In Thunderbird, click Tools > Account Settings. You should see a display similar to figure 1


In this example we've already named the account Sympatico Email, but you can call your account anything you desire.
  1. This is the Account Name. Our example is simply Sympatico Email
  2. You supply Your Name here. This can be John Doe, The Doe Family, Our Family Email, or whatever you want to call it.
  3. Your Email Address would go in this box. It is important to supply your proper email address here, reply-to and forwarding addresses go elsewhere.



If you wish to use a different address to receive replies, you can type that in the Reply-To Address box. This would be used in the case where you'd want everybody sending replies back to one account. For example, I have one account for my personal email, and one account for my business email. I use email@business.com as my reply-to address for all of my accounts, and when a recipient replies back to any email I send, it arrives in my business email box.

STEP 2 - Server Settings

Our next step is setting up Email Servers. If you click Server Settings you should see a box similar to the one shown in figure 2. Please keep in mind, these account settings are for newer Sympatico Accounts. Older accounts use standard Mail server settings, and not as much Authorization and Secure sessions.
Your server type will be a POP Mail Server, and that should already be filled in at the top of this list.

  1. Server Name - this will be pophm.sympatico.ca. As you can see, Sympatico no longer uses numbered servers.
  2. User Name - where this was once your User ID in the format of b1#####, your email address has become your user name for your email account only. When you are attempting to connect to Sympatico, or perform any other function on their web site, your b1##### number is probably still your User ID.
  3. You now need to check the box to enable Secure Connection (SSL). This should also change your server port to 995, but manually change it if checking the SSL box does nothing.

STEP 3 - Outgoing Server Settings

To finish setting up everything you must configure your Outgoing Mail Server, or SMTP server. Again, Sympatico has changed this slightly from previous set-ups. If you click Outgoing Server (SMTP) at the bottom of the list you should be looking at a window similar to figure 3.

  1. The server name is now smtphm.sympatico.ca, changed from its previous smtp#.sympatico.ca.
  2. Your User Name will be the same as the one used in setting up the POP server, which is your Email Address.
  3. The SMTP Port Number is Port 25, this shouldn't have changed, but make sure it's set to 25 in the event something has changed it.
  4. The radio button beside TLS must be checked. Sympatico now uses TLS (Transport Layer Security) - considered to be a security/encryption device on the TCP/IP transport layer. If you do not check this button, you won't be able to send Email because your password will be rejected by Sympatico without the encryption.

Now if you click OK you should be ready to send and receive email.

Passwords

When you send and receive mail you will have to supply a password. You have the option to allow Thunderbird to save your password. Saving your password will allow you to send and receive mail without typing in your password every time, but take note that anybody can send and receive your mail. In most cases this isn't a huge threat, but at least you now know this.
While on the subject of passwords, if you are setting up a new Sympatico account you don't have an Email password at this point. You must go to the website Sympatico provided on the paper they sent you and set up an Email Password before you can finish your setup of Thunderbird (or any email client for that matter).




Last updated by Administrator (admin)  on Jun 29 2006  at 16:46
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