Unable to access Webmail links when out of Canada

[PeterinThailand]

Was previously advised by on phone tech support that all your Webmail access links are not working for persons who are out of Canada and this problem has been going on since March 19.  This creates a major problem for your customers not to be able to get their emails for weeks now!   Please Escalate this major customer service problem up the chain of command for priority resolution.  Please also advise when we might be able to access our sympatico emails.

[CJ]

As I am about to travel to Europe this could be a major concern for me.

I had no problem accessing my sympatico.ca e-mails when recently in Mexico in February and early March but ONLY through the web portal, not directly on our cell phones using WiFi which is never a problem when travelling within Canada. 

Are you saying, Peter, that you now cannot access your Bell e-mails via the web portal?

[BellDRock]

@PeterinThailand 

Thanks for sharing your issue! @CJ is correct, the web portal is the way to access your email outside of Canada.

We would like to dig a little deeper with you if you're still having issues, and have sent you a Private Message to capture further details.

Please check your Inbox, next to your Profile avatar in the top right corner.

Unsure how check or send a Private Message? See How to Send a Private Message.

[Vossy · Accepted solution]

Hi @PeterinThailand 

You can forward your Bell email to another provider such as Gmail which does not have international restrictions. If you do this before travelling, you should be able to get all your emails.

Good luck

[Gusto]

I'm using an iPhone SE (IOS 15.21) and when in Europe recently my Mail program on the iPhone would not work. Today I spoke with someone at Bell tech support who said Bell doesn't allow the app on my iPhone to be used internationally, only in Canada. This seems very strange, why wouldn't Bell be able to trust the way Apple have designed the app to be used on an iPhone? This is very inconvenient and I'm shocked I haven't heard more about this. Have you discovered a work-around?

Also, while abroad, (June and July 2022) I had numerous issues trying to login to my sympatico email account using webmail.bell.net. I tried using the data plan on a Norway SIM card and also used wifi in various hotels and had numerous challenges. Some days I couldn't login at all, other days it would work for an hour and then not work an hour later. I tried using Safari, Firefox and Chrome without there being much difference. I seemed to get into my account more frequently using Safari, I think in part because I was able to easily Clear All Browsing History in the Safari program in Settings on my phone.

Has anyone else had this problem? How did you resolve it?

From what I can tell I need to have had all my emails which are sent to my sympatico email address Forwarded to another email account like Gmail, and this needs to happen BEFORE I leave Canada. This is a major headache and frankly a disaster for Bell to basically abandon all customers who travel internationally. 

If I liked Gmail more I would simply abandon my sympatico email accounts, but that route has another host of headaches related to abandoning an email address I've used for more than 20 years.

How have you resolved your email access headaches when outside Canada?

[BellPatricia · Accepted solution]

Hi there @Gusto. Thanks for reaching out to the Bell Community.

When travelling outside of Canada and the United States, you can access your email using Bell Webmail

- Patricia

[Biggtee]

I cannot connect to bell’s email server while out of country and on wifi on my iPhone. 
message is “ pophm server sympatico.ca is not responding” this has been an issue ever since I switched from Rogers. Any one else have this issue. 

[dks · Accepted solution]

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@Biggtee wrote:

I cannot connect to bell’s email server while out of country and on wifi on my iPhone. 
message is “ pophm server sympatico.ca is not responding” this has been an issue ever since I switched from Rogers. Any one else have this issue. 

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The only way I have ever found I was able to access e-mails when travelling internationally was to use the Bell web mail portal, unless in the US and roaming on a Bell US pass. 

[JLohmueller]

email is only accessible via Webmail.com.

that is not only cumbersome, but also much slower than going

directly via outlook or Apple Mail. 
js

[dks]

Bell does this for security reasons, I believe. It has been this way since the very early days of public internet. I doubt it will change. 

[WelshTerrier]

@dks reply is correct. It is not somethig new. It has been there from the on set of Bell webmail to screen & protect all of our accounts. We may not like it..... but what are the alternatives.

[David027]

There are two issues here.  By design, Bell does not allow 3rd party e-mail clients like Outlook or  Apple's e-mail client to access the Bell servers from outside of Canada. As reported here, some people say it is due to security concerns, and that sounds to be a plausible "excuse".  I have found that even many Bell techs do not know this, and I have spent countless hours on Bell's help line from foreign destinations without success, before one agent finally clued me in to the fact that it is impossible to access one's Bell e-mail account from outside of North America.

Bell's supposed solution to this is not to offer an efficient, functional "secure" e-mail client of its own, but rather propose that Bell's web based WebMail application is the answer.  This is fraught with difficulties.  Because it is a web based solution, every time you access WebMail, it most download the entire WebMail interface, and all of the content in your e-mail account.  This is extremely cumbersome and time intensive, especially when connecting through slow internet connections that one may be faced with during foreign travel.  What's more, because all of the WebMail graphic interface, and all of the content of your e-mil account has to be downloaded with each connection, this solution can be very data intensive- and thus costly.  

Finally, in  my experience, perhaps because of this data intensive download, combined with whatever other technical factors come to bear here, more often than not I can not even connect to Webmail, and when I can it often takes several minutes to download the interface and my e-mail account's content.

The work around that I have found is to go into my Bell e-mail account through the WebMail interface before I leave Canada, and set up my account to forward all e-mail to a outlook.com, or gmail account, which I can access through my e-mail client on my phone or computer.

I hope this helps more than Bell helps regarding this long outstanding irritance..

[ZaneP]

Hi @David027 

"...Because it is a web based solution, every time you access WebMail, it most download the entire WebMail interface, and all of the content in your e-mail account."

 Web-based email systems always store subscriber email on a server. There is some local caching but you're not downloading multiple GB of data to a local device for each instance of a login.

But I'm probably misunderstanding your point. Perhaps you could clarify this a bit. Thanks.

[David027]

Thanks Zane

I don't mean to say that all of the content of all of your e-mails must be downloaded each time you access WebMail, but rather that the graphical interface of the WebMail application itself must be downloaded (versus an e-mail client where the interface remains resident on your device).  As well it seems that the headline and summary of every e-mail must be downloaded from the server each time you connect, rather than just an update synchronization of new content.  Of course opening any e-mail requires a download of that content from the server as well.

This may all happen quite quickly with a very fast e-mail connection, but so many times, I have watched the interface slowly build on my screen, followed by a slow build of the e-mail content, when logging in from a challenged connection, and often the build fails after just a few lines and then times out.

Recently, while in Mauritius I could rarely achieve a workable connection via WebMail, while the e-mails I had forwarded from my Bell account to my outlook.com account opened instantaneously on my Samsun native e-mail client.  I hope this makes sense!

[ZaneP]

There are many variables in play throughout this thread. Here's a few thoughts.

• Bell isn't ever going to introduce it's own client-side email software, or license and rebrand it from another vendor.
• ISP domain-based email is quickly retreating, and is no longer seen as a value-added benefit to retail customers. Bell and other ISPs are fine with this. Yes, there is an existing installed base of users who depend on email via their isp and need support. But it's a shrinking number.
• Generational change is a huge factor in the above. Social media platform access and IM is much more important than traditional email.
• No one should rely on ISP domain email as their sole source of email service.
• There are good security reasons why Bell email servers block 3rd party client-side access from non-Canada IP addresses . It's not an "excuse". Bell must take responsibility and thoroughly train support staff on this.
• Outlook.com and gmail.com are globally-based webmail services (Gmail has well over 1 billion subscribers).
• The Samsung, Outlook, and Gmail apps will load quickly on a mobile device.

Enjoy the weekend!