Good ole Comcast...

[Xairbusdriver]

...except I never, ever use either that addy nor their smtp servers for email. But the "live chat" tech was so very helpful. She gave me a number to call, M-F, 9-5 to confer with "Security" to restore my 'service.' And she offered to give me a small sales pitch for watching junk from the TV part on my very own computer screen! WOW! What service!

Fortunately, neither Judy nor I need their servers for sending nor receiving email...

I suppose it's my fault for not calling earlier in the day, especially on Friday.

[Paddy]

Yeah, well, good luck with that. My experience with Comcast is that you call that number and (if you're lucky and get a real person and not an answering machine) they'll tell you that "there's nothing they can do - it's all automatic - go over your email quota and bang - you're dead for 24 hours, no appeals allowed.

Of course, for you, the mystery is how or why they (or their stupid server) thinks you went over your mail quota when you didn't send a single email. BTW - you have to send more than 1500 emails in a 24-hour period to exceed their quota, or you did 3 years ago.

I'll be fascinated to hear what they have to say.

[jchuzi]

If(!) you are frustrated with automated telephone systems, you can try Get Human's shortcut for a direct line to a real person at Comcast.

[Xairbusdriver]

I usually just press zero five or six times. That's enough for the smart systems to 'recognize' frustration. Some systems try one more time to get a normal response and then say, "Since I'm having difficulty understanding you, I'll connect you to a another representative." Of course, some of those 'humanoid' reps don't have a good dialect database and have trouble with "Southern!"

I think the easiest solution is to simply remove the Comcast account in Mail. The only reason it's there is that I seemed to have had to use their smtp server when I still had a Mindspring addy. Judy still has one there and I dare not "mess" with her MBP just to find out!!!

[Paddy]

Talking with a real human at Comcast won't help in this case. You have to talk to a specific department, not just a regular service rep who can do absolutely nothing for you. Neither can the specific department, but that's a whole 'nother story. Believe me, I went round and round on this one a few years ago. They cut me off because I goofed and sent a mass email to our OPT-IN mailing list a few hours too early. It was on the eve of an important local election and the emails were our last attempts to get the school supporters out to the polls. Made me madder than spit, needless to say. The first time it happened, I'd been completely unaware that there WAS an upper limit on the total number of outgoing emails allowed in 24 hours; it's not something they go out of their way to publicize. Needless to say, I was already aware of the limits on the number of recipients at any one time (though if you ASK the reps, that's a moving target too) and had a script to split recipients. All in all, Comcast goes out of their way to prevent spammers from using their system, but does nothing at all to help those who make legitimate use of the email system or to differentiate between the two.

[Xairbusdriver]

By now, I probably have my password screwed up, anyway. I always assume somethings wrong on my end when I don't 'connect.' I used the last password I had a record for and that was a few months old, nothing worked, of course, so who knows what might be in there now. I did look at Judy's set up and she is not using Comcast's smtp server, either. Of course, her Mail says she's connected with no problem. I didn't bother to check her's when I first noticed the problem and it may have been a Mail/Keychain/prefs problem. I have also discovered several apps having had their prefs changed for no logical reason. One had been updated but another one had not. Time Machine to the rescue...

[gunug]

Jim - I was just remembering last weeks work conversation that I had "wishing" I had Times-Warner/Roadrunner at home or even the COMCast we have at the office.  This is in preference to the local Sunflower cable that is the only thing available at home beyond the non-television AT&T service that I have.  As far as your email problem; maybe it's the weightiness of your words and not the sheer quantity that was the problem?