Gmail Server Problems Since March 29

[PeteCal]

For some reason the Xperia email app cannot connect to the gmail server since March 29.

I didn't change anything.  All is as it has been since January but allthree of the gmail accounts I access with my phone cannot connect.

My yahoo email accounts connect every try.

I have Thunderbird on two computers and it doesn't have any problems.

Is anyone else having this problem?

[PeteCal]

I believe I have confirmed my theory that my Xperia email app cannot connect to the gmail server when on the AT&T network but will connect fine on other networks.

Today before I left home (my AT&T wi-fi network) I tried a few times to get the app to connect to yahoo and gmail.  Yahoo worked fine but the gmail servers would not connect.

So I went to the gym to work out.  They have free wi-fi there.  My email app connected to both the yahoo server and the gmail server just fine.

So then I went to Home Depot where they also have free wi-fi.  There, the yahoo server connected fine but the gmail servers would not connect.  Guess what the name of the wi-fi network is.  "att-wifi".  So I went down the road to Lowes where they also have free wi-fi.  The app worked fine on all the servers.  The name of the network was, "Lowes-Guest-WIFI".  Then I went further down the road to Walmart and tried the app.  Again it worked fine.  The name of the network was"Walmartwifi".

So, it must be that I cannot connect to the gmail servers when on an AT&T network but if on other networks it works fine.

I called AT&T and they were very nice but said that since I can get on the internet (via a browser and other apps that use the internet) it is not their system.

How can I get someone to look into this?

[PeteCal]

Now a further update.

Today I dug out an old cellphone.  It is the Amazon FirePhone (android).

I stopped using it in January and started using my Sony Xperia (android).

Well, I tried to use the Amazon phone email app to connect to my gmail and yahoo accounts.

On my home AT&T wifi, only the yahoo account would connect the three gmail accounts could not connect.

I took the phone to a place with wifi (not AT&T) and it connected just fine to all four accounts.

I took it to Home Depot where the name of the network is "att-wifi".  The gmail accounts failed to connect just like with my Sony phone.

Any ideas?

[Damo_]

This shows it isn't a device issue specific to a manufacturer nor due to the mail app.

Last bit of troubleshooting I'd try is create a brand new Gmail email account and try logging in through that whilst connected to AT&T. If you manage to log in (send / receive) thern it would actually point an issue with your existing Gmail account. I'd be surprised however thats the case.

Based on the fact AT&T don't seem willing to help, I'd be hitting up the Google Mail team, passing on the same info you have here.

Based on what you've put however it does seem more likely it's an issue on AT&T side, maybe an incorrect entry configured or something. Unless Gmail is blocking access from AT&T connections which I highly doubt.

[PeteCal]

Thanks for the advice Damo but I already did that experiment.  When I tried to create the new account in the app I got to a point where it "tests the incoming server" and it always failed.  Later that day I was at the home with the Spectrum wifi and went to the account create page.  It was just as I left it failed at "test the incoming server".  I just clicked "try again" one time and it went right through successfully.

I have been posting all this information on "Gmail Help Forum".  I wonder if there is some other place in gmail I could raise this question.  Any ideas?

Thanks Again

[Damo_]

Google are usually pretty good at getting back to people (as in their staff do actually browse the forums), can just take a little while for them to get to it.

Most important thing is to have all the info & troubleshooting you have done documented in your forum post(s). So if you've tried a different account, make sure you mention that. If you've tried a different device, mention that too and so on. I think if you put everything you've put here that'll give them good information to get them started.

Still feel it's an AT&T issue however. Maybe if the Google team can reproduce the issue whilst connected to AT&T at least they can check server logs and confirm who is rejecting the connection (and why).

Good luck!

[PeteCal]

I started a new thread on the gmail forums that is short, sweet and to the point.

Now I wait.

[PeteCal]

Well, the problem healed itself.

That was three days ago.

Still holding.

If the problem comes back I will post here.

If this happens to someone else, all I can say is I did nothing to fix it.

It just started working one morning.

[Damo_]

Great new, fingers crossed for you. Someone somewhere fixed something - if it was Google they'll probably advise on the forum post, if AT&T you probably wont here anything.