Email Client cannot Access bell.net email using 3rd party client while outside of Canada

[Stormin84]

I cannot access a bell.net email account using Microsoft Outlook or Thunderbird when traveling in Europe.  Does anyone know the reason or if there is a fix for this?  I do not want to use \bell's webmail portal, namely, bell.net as I find this inconvenient from a phone.

[ZaneP]

Bell restricts access to those domains when you're not in Canada. Your best option to get your mail is to use a web-based email client.

[dks]

This has been my experience. Access to mail outside of the web mail interface is not possible. 

[FSzeto]

It is NOT a Mac issue and it is NOT a connection. Same prooblem in Italy, Germany and Honk Kong. And my non-Bell email are working fine on my Mac with my email client. 

[dks]

As I said earlier, Bell does not allow access to their system to download e-mail using third party clients outside of Canada. They only allow web mail access from outside of Canada and off the Bell network, to the best of my knowledge. It has been this way for decades. The reason I have been given in the past is their network security. Services such as Google, who have a larger and a global network, behave differently. 

[ZaneP]

The fix is to use a web-based client. Your current clients (Outlook, Thunderbird) will not be able to access Bell's email servers when you are in Europe.

[Stormin84]

Surprisingly, a phone email app/client on an Android worked fine from Australia via both a mobile (roaming) network connection and via WiFi.  Go figure!  (BTW, I find the Web browser "solution" both slow, inconvenient and outdated method of accessing email compared to a phone email program in which the messages are available for reading at all the time.) 

[Cholo]

Every time I travel overseas I can not receive or send emails. How can I fix this?

[WelshTerrier]

Good Day & Welcome to the Bell Community Forum.

You will need to use web-based Bell email to access your mail.

Access to bell.net, bellaliant.net or sympatico.ca email via an email client like Outlook (Windows) or Apple Mail (macOS) is currently restricted to and will only work in the following countries:

• Australia
• Bahamas
• Canada
• France
• Germany
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Italy
• Portugal
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

Outside of these countries, you will need to use web-based Bell email to access your mail.

To sign in to your Bell email account from the web:

1. Go to www.bell.net or bell.ca/webmail .
2. Enter your Bell email address and password.
3. Click Log in.

Take care.

[Canada73]

I cannot retrieve or send email with my Thunderbird when I am in South Africa or Mexico.. Webmail is slow.
In anticipation of similar problem with our holiday to Mexico soon, I have tried 4 VPN.  With 3 of them I cannot retrieve mail despite making changes in SMTP setting.  However, with PROTON VPN it works fine.  If you are going on a vacation, I would advise getting a one-month subscription.  Underlying program is open source. 

[bali]

no emails while out the country 

[WelshTerrier]

Good Day & Welcome.

Please tell us more. How are you accessing email account? Are you trying to access a Bell email account? Are you using a email client or using a browser to access your email account?

Access to bell.net, bellaliant.net or sympatico.ca email accounts via an email client like Outlook (Windows) or Apple Mail will only work in the following countries:

• Australia, Bahamas, Canada, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Spain, United Kingdom, United States.
• Outside of these countries, you will need to use web-based Bell email to access your mail.

You may need to use web-based Bell email to access your mail from outside of Canada.

To sign in to your Bell email account from the web:

1. Go to www.bell.net or bell.ca/webmail .
2. Enter your Bell email address and password.
3. Click Log in.

Take care.

[David027]

Is this new (that we can use an e-mail client in several countries outside of North America (i.e. Spain, France, Portugal etc.)?  For sure just a couple of years ago it was not possible as evidenced as all of the previous complaints regarding this issue,

[WelshTerrier]

Good Day.

Thank you for posting your question.

Your question is next to impossible for me to answer. “Is this new (that we can use an e-mail client in several countries outside of North America (i.e. Spain, France, Portugal etc.)?”
No, it is not something new.

Yes, it is possible to do so today in the countries mentioned in my previous reply. It more than likely was not possible to do so in days past.

As is the case with everything in life these days, this may change.

Take care.

[dks]

Thank you for your question. Bell does change and add services for accessibility from time to time. All we can say is that this is the current list.