How to Configure Bell Sympatico Email on an iPhone

December 28, 2011 · 31 comments

[Update 9 Apr 12: I have to say, when I originally sat down to write this post, I did not expect it to get nearly as many hits as it does. Apparently more people run into problems with this sort of thing than I realized. I hope that the instructions located here do help. If so, please consider showing your support by clicking a sponsor link, or passing this post along to someone else who may benefit from it. Thanks!]

I recently had the displeasure of trying to figure out how to get Sympatico email configured properly on a new iPhone 4S. I’ll state the obvious to get it out of the way up front… WHY anyone would want to do this is beyond me. Short of some sentimental attachment to an existing email address, I can think of no reason why someone would want to use an email service that appears to run on POP only. POP is a dinosaur, and really needs to be taken on a one-way trip out to the pasture. At the very least you could set your Sympatico email to forward to GMail, Yahoo, Hotmail or whatever other reliable (and IMAP) email service you want to use.

But that wasn’t an option. Neither was failure. I had hyped my technical skills to the point of saying “No one else can get it working? Let me take a look at it… *I* can get it working…”

Bell’s technical support page recommends that you access your email through a mobile browser. Makes sense. No configuration necessary. Doesn’t help when trying to set up an email client, though! So I hit the net, trying to find someone who may have the answer.

[UPDATE 8 Apr 12: The blog that I discovered the instructions on no longer seems to be active, which is a shame. I'm glad that I found it when I did, because it was a huge help to me, and hopefully to others. I have decided to keep the links to that blog within this post in the event that it comes back online in the future.]

I found a lot of conflicting information. And then I found Trevor Watkinson’s blog. His post Smart Phone Email Server Settings For Sympatico And Bell Aliant E mailwas very clearly laid out, and contained almost everything that I needed. I say “almost” because I don’t see any mention of SSL settings in his post, and I was unable to get the iPhone to move past the VERIFYING stage until I removed the check-marks in SSL for incoming and outgoing mail.I’ve copied these settings from Trevor’s post. He also has settings for other Atlantic provinces, so if you are from outside NB you can find those settings here.Settings in italics are the ones that I needed to get the iPhone 4S working with NB Sympatico.Interested in receiving 100 tips to help you get the most out of your iPhone? Click Here!

New Brunswick Email Server Settings

Incoming Mail Server Name: pop.bellaliant.net
Incoming Mail Server Port: 110

Outgoing Mail Server Name: smtp.bellaliant.net
Outgoing Mail Server Name For Android: mail.1xbell.ca
Outgoing Mail Server Port: 25

Mail Server Username:

for @bellaliant email addresses: emailprefix@bellaliant.net
for @nb.sympatico.ca email addresses: emailprefix@nb.sympatico.ca
for @nbnet.nb.ca email addresses: emailprefix@nbnet.nb.ca

And as I discovered… try turning SSL off if you are still unable to send/receive email.

Hopefully this helps anyone who runs into this problem… but really… do yourself a favour… Sign up for a GMail account. If you want to keep your Sympatico email address because you’ve had it since the beginning of time and you’re not ready to part with it yet (like say… an old sweater… or ROOTS hat) then set it up to forward your mail to GMail or another service, and install THAT service on your smartphone. You’ll still get all your Sympatico email, and won’t have to change your email address, yet you won’t run into the headaches like this.

POP is dead.

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