Whirlpool

Has anyone tried to use the new Bigpond Email service which replaces the older 'Webmail'? It starts today... the only problem is that when I go to login to my email online, it redirect to the new MyConnect page, tries to create an account for me (migration i presume) and then says there "has been a delay accessing MyConnect, please try again later"...

anyone else had this problem?

tia...

I just tried logging into my webmail just now, and it worked fine. But it is using the same old webmail interface.

Any ideas how to migrate to the new one?

I can only get to my old one, via my mobile phone [via My Place]. If I use my existing bookmark on my PC, or the links via the Bigpond page, it automatically tries to go to the new MyConnect page.

I've had a message on my mobile (at the top of every new email) saying that as of Nov 3rd, this email service will no longer be available. and something then about introducing a new and exciting email service... or some blah blah to that effect.

Of course, Telstra/Bigpond's service status page says everything is a-ok...

maybe i've been randomly selected to trial their new service... 'lucky' me!

$7 Per month for MyEmail on mobile. ><, suppose its not too bad when all the data charges are free.

Be nice if it didn't go to the God awefull page that is like 10pages long with all the bigpond portal crap.

You go into settings to customise and there isnt an option to get rid of it. ><

how did you find that out?

what about checking from the website on a PC?

nice of them to start charging us for something thats been free... justification?

3x0dus writes...

$7 Per month for MyEmail on mobile. ><, suppose its not too bad when all the data charges are free.

Be nice if it didn't go to the God awefull page that is like 10pages long with all the bigpond portal crap.

You go into settings to customise and there isnt an option to get rid of it. ><

Digger4 writes...

tia..

You would be well advised to keep clear of any BP related email accounts.
Go get yourself one of the many other free or low fee option s on the web.
BP security is poor and is a spammers delight. Spam even goes to email accounts that have never been used! When and if you ever want to change from BP as an ISP you wont be able to take your email name with you either.

kind of not the point to my question, but thanks for the advice anyway... have many 'free' accounts, just need to check my bigpond email.... irrespective of what you think about bigpond email.

always on mute writes...

You would be well advised to keep clear of any BP related email accounts.
Go get yourself one of the many other free or low fee option s on the web.
BP security is poor and is a spammers delight. Spam even goes to email accounts that have never been used! When and if you ever want to change from BP as an ISP you wont be able to take your email name with you either.

Digger4 writes...

eed to check my bigpond email....

I do too because I use BP cable and that's part of our contract that all BP mail will go there. As a consequence of their restrictive rules I use their mail redirect facilty to my selected email providor. This brings the BP related mail into the account I use all day every day and I never need to open the BP account.
My normal account then filters out the spam that BP lets in despite never ever using that address for other than BP requirement. At least they gave us the facility to redirect.
Because i travel often and want to check email on the run between flights etc I needed a email service better than BP and also better than yahoo hotmail etc hence I decided on fastmail a couple of years ago and have never been let down once even in the remotest parts of the globe with slowest connection speeds.

Digger4 writes...

anyone else had this problem?

I just tried logging onto webmail, was presented with the new myBigpond/MyConnect interface and given the same error

You could always configure an email client to collect the email from bigpond.

If I go to BP Webmail it lets me log in, then says "Service Temporarily Unavailable" (yet nothing about this on Service Status

If this is the "new" webmail, I wish they'd tell us about it first

I need webmail (grudgingly) when travelling, as BP won't let me use normal email when in much of Europe and some of Asia

I'm in Portland Maine US today, and email is fine (as was the fresh lobster an hour ago)

Just spoke to BP a few minutes ago... its a known problem that other people have experienced (Status Page update??), and a Level 2 Tech Support will call me back in the next 48 hours!!!

i'm also told it should be for free... i'll believe that when its up and running...

The Possum writes... 

If this is the "new" webmail, I wish they'd tell us about it first

I received a letter about the change a few weeks ago

The Possum writes... 

BP won't let me use normal email when in much of Europe and some of Asia

It isnt a bigpond restriction rather a restriction of the ISP you are using.
Many ISP's only let you send mail through their servers on port 25 so when you try to send an email on mail.bigpond.com:25 the ISP you are using blocks this.

If you use the outgoing email server for the ISP you are using then you will not run into problems.

Or if finding out the ISP mail server details are too hard simply use gmail servers to send bigpond mail.
Configure your client to use smtp.gmail.com as the outgoing server and then enter your gmail credentials in the outgoing server configuration section. (You will of course need a gmail account)
All emails will still show as originating from your bigpond address.

Digger4 writes... 

its a known problem that other people have experienced 

If you need to get an email now then configure Outlook to download the emails using POP3.
Email services such as gmail are also capable of downloading mail from bigpond and storing them in their webmail interface

Thanks – I normally just like to view my email online whilst at work or on the road and then download off the BP server at home. I'm currently using a feed (via www.netvibes.com) to view the headers, and then my mobile to view the contents if it looks interesting enough to read straight away.

I'll just sit back I suppose until the "48 hours" is up! ;)

skiitz writes...

If you need to get an email now then configure Outlook to download the emails using POP3.
Email services such as gmail are also capable of downloading mail from bigpond and storing them in their webmail interface

Digger4 writes...

I'll just sit back I suppose until the "48 hours" is up!

It works for me now.
Try https://messaging.bigpond.com

The official launch of MyConnect has been delayed, so I am guessing they're aware of some issues and are working on them.

We use the webmail at work, as there are 3 of us checking the email and POP doesn't really work. We haven't been able to answer our email all day.

Is there another site that I can use to login to our bigpond email temporarily? I used to some for checking email from other ISPs but I can't remember them now.

Loose Nut writes...

We use the webmail at work, as there are 3 of us checking the email and POP doesn't really work. We haven't been able to answer our email all day.

You could always have gmail download and store the emails from the bigpond server and then use gmail IMAP to share the emails.

You can also configure an email client to download the messages with POP3 but leave a copy of the emails still on the server.

Crash Override writes...

The official launch of MyConnect has been delayed,

ya its been delayed until 8th of November. webmail is having some problem today. officially its been announced as "OUTAGE".

I'm glad I don't need bigpond webmail (or whatever they want to call it now) for work. I don't have time to muck around setting up some other 3rd party way of reading my webmail. It should just work. Is this new webmail an off the shelf product or did they code it in house?

Hi, I had the same problem today, contacted Bigpond etc same deal, however this evening I discovered that I can get in through Telstra website rather than the Bigpond site. So if you are a Telstra customer using Bigpond, you might like to try that as an option....

It works for me but is so slow to log in that it'd probably be quicker to send a letter.

GonT writes...

It works for me but is so slow to log in

Partly due to all that advertising rubbish that we "need" to see to use the service we have paid for

Do you reckon BP would remove that to help speed up the product?

I've just logged in now and its changed back to the old system :)
If they don't fix up that new MyConnect system and make it faster I'm gonna have to open up a yahoo account or something. Its simply just rubbish at the moment.

always on mute writes...

BP security is poor and is a spammers delight

In 3 years, I haven't gotten a single spam email on my bigpond account, and I've mostly given up on my other webmail services. So ner.

Jolly lucky good on you. Maybe you were wise enough to have a difficult user name. This was not something that was considered when a log on name was decided for BP. Of course trying to change that now is fraught with danger and difficulty and even and extension of ones contract with Telstra BP. Therefore I will remain as I am with FM & the redirection. Its working exceptionally well for me if you ever have the problem that I have had you may care to try it. I understand what you mean with you other comments that I assume included Yho & HM.
Cheers

Anyone else missing the email addresses of previously entered contacts? The contact is there but the email address is not :(

Geronimo. writes...

Anyone else missing the email addresses of previously entered contacts?

Yeah I've heard of a few people with this. Lodged a few escalations about it today.

Geronimo. writes...

The contact is there but the email address is not

You would reckon that routine testing of the new app would have discovered this "feature" before it was imposed on the paying public

Just logged in from Bigpond.com. Hmm My Connect hey.

Seems to run very slow. So far not a huge fan, one can only assume it'll get better.
Tried to delete some messages from Inbox then everything disappeared, tried refreshing it and checking deleted items but couldn't see them. Great. Also, address book was empyty, no contacts at all, not even names. Maybe it takes a while for it to switch over or something.

Just logged in to the old webmail via the My Account section at Telstra.com, managed to secure all the contacts and emails from there just incase something goes wrong with the My Connect migration.

Will give it another go in a few days.

I can't get it to send an email that I composed

I do wish BP didn't impose untested rubbish on us

(all the adverts are busy working, while SEND isn't)

Thank goodness BP are the biggest ISP in Australia

I'd hate to be with a small one

well, I can no longer check my bigpond /telstra email on my LG TU550, as the new application is not compatible..... the "My Email" shortcut redirects to a page that says my handset isn't compatible......

Same here I think this is just another way of milking more money out of us customers. You already have enough money tel$tra!

Have BP told us that there are benefits from this "new" webmail?

Or is it just change for change's sake?

Maybe to cram in a few more adverts or links to sensis

The Possum writes...

Have BP told us that there are benefits from this "new" webmail?

There is the benefit of getting an sms notification sent to your mobile each time you recieve an email, I don't remember webmail being able to do that.
Of course it does look like it costs you each time they send you a message, so it could get very pricey. Seems like just a way to make some extra $$$.
Plus what's the point of getting an sms notice saying you have an email if you can't check your email on your handset anymore.

Thank you BP.

It was very slow to open up and could not open any link. Not impressed so far.

Gus Tinkle writes...

Plus what's the point of getting an sms notice saying you have an email if you can't check your email on your handset anymore.

You use the built in mail client on your phone to retrieve the email. The feature here is that BP will poll your email accounts and notify you of new email. Compatible phones wont get an sms – the new emails will be pushed to the handset.
Not bad if you really want push email to your phone.

Twiddle writes...

Not bad if you really want push email to your phone.

What % of webmail users might want to do that?

Less than 3%?

So if this "valuable" feature is to be added, it has to be done without detriment to the other 97%

So far, it appears that the "improvement" has not been fully tested

I tried to log into webmail from my TELSTRA Blackberry using the TELSTRA Business Portal this morning and got a message to say my handset is not compatible with the new service. Seriously??? They didn't make it work with a Blackberry before they rolled it out??? That might be enough to finally push me over the line and move to iinet.

I noticed my account that wasnt working has gone back to the old version.
This aswell as a few other things have made me recently changed around all my email settings to below.

Main Gmail account, is setup to recieve 4 other ISP emails, and Label them with a name, and move them to Archive.

Access Main Gmail via IMAP in Thunderbird.

Inbox Contains main Gmail emails only.
Auto detects Labeled emails like a Folder in IMAP.

so there are then sub folders for the other 4 emails.
(in thunderbird, Right click/properties on each of the 4 sub directors, and set to 'Check this folder for new messages', and to make available offline).

So now instead of connected to 5 different mail servers only need 1, Gmail has what 8gb of storage so has ample to store all emails.

Can access Gmail via mobile much the same way.

overall seems to be working well,( can setup different from identities aswell).

Hmm just logged in to webmail, nice and easy as it's the old system. Noticed the storage has jumped from 4Mb to 1Gb.
Nice. Hopefully it stays this way as 4Mb was very painfull (it's mainly text based emails, but still)

How retarded is bigponds policy of not letting you keep an old email address?

when i found that out the hard way I vowed never to use bigpond email again. all of you do yourself a favour and open a gmail account. google isnt going anywhere soon.

rolo_tomasi writes...

How retarded is bigponds

Not retarded at all. That is normal behaviour for BP or Telstra

Gus Tinkle writes...

Hmm just logged in to webmail, nice and easy

Which version of Webmail is this

Mine (old or new) is very clunky, painful to load

The Log In jiggles around on the screen as you set the net.au box and currently won't log in due to "connection disruption"

I hate it but need to use it when traveling

Some of the delays in loading MUST be due to all the links it references to sensis and advertsing and who knows what

Why can't they make it work cleanly first?

The Possum writes...

I hate it but need to use it when traveling

Did you try the stuff i mentioned on the first page so that you can use an email clinet rather than web based?

skiitz writes...

Did you try the stuff i mentioned on the first page so that you can use an email clinet rather than web based?

You said "join g mail" which I haven't done

I might do when I get back to Melbourne

I just reckon BP ought to offer a much better webmail product that is far less clunky

The Possum writes...

You said "join g mail" which I haven't done

It doesnt have to be gmail.
Any free email provider which allows you to use an email client will do.

I also suggested to find the mail server for the ISP you are currently using (although using gmail outgoing will be easier)
This http://whatismyipaddress.com/staticpages/index.php/lookup-ip will allow you to find the ISP you are using, then using the outgoing mail server as mail.isp.com should get you sending emails on port 25 again.

skiitz writes...

I also suggested to find the mail server for the ISP you are currently using

At most hotels the guys at reception have no idea what the ISP is (but somtimes you can see from the login screen)

So you really need to be staying at a place for several days to have time to do all this and make it work

gmail could be the way to go tho

The Possum writes...

Some of the delays in loading MUST be due to all the links it references to sensis and advertsing and who knows what

from what i tested it seems to be when there is no particular issue with webmail or mybigpond its all the sensis crap that slows it down.
added Blocks in firefox for all of it and very rarely unless its an actual webmail/myaccount issue will it not work.

4mb to 1gb

Lucky! most ive seen are still 20mb, 4mb is not even a full bigpond.com account its an Telstra.com account.

Gus Tinkle writes...

Noticed the storage has jumped from 4Mb to 1Gb.

4MB?

Mine still says 20MB like it always has. Web mail is not worth considering while the mail box is limited to 20MB. I don't even tell anyone my BigPond email address.

3x0dus writes...

4mb is not even a full bigpond.com account its an Telstra.com account.

Ahh ok then.
Well my old webmail used to say 4Mb. My Telstra.com & Bigpond.com email address started with the same thing so it sent either emails to the one mailbox. This has been upgraded from 4Mb to 1Gb. Sorry, got confused with it.

They should scrap MyConnect waste of time! Who though of that crap seriously.

They can't compete with Google and Mobile.me so why bother it just makes Bigpond look hopeless.

They know nothing about Syncing and stuff, *rolls eyes* I guess they want a piece of the cloud LOL.

JunkCrusader writes...

4MB?

Mine still says 20MB like it always has. Web mail is not worth considering while the mail box is limited to 20MB. I don't even tell anyone my BigPond email address.

Yeah I have a a 4MB Telstra account LOL. I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw it.

I pay for Mobile.Me which gives me 20GB for email and storage and allows me to specify how much for each. Also push email to my iPhone and and mobile.me syncing to the cloud for my address book and calendar between my Mac and iPhone and online.

Mobile me is a nice service if you own a iPhone and a Mac Laptop, I pay $130 a year and received free 6 months this year :D Telstra's MyConnect is a JOKE....Telstra stick to what you know!

I never use my Bigpond email address only my @mac.com.

I tried to access my bigpond email from my HTC dual touch today. After 90 minutes on the phone with Telstra – 7 department transfers I had no luck. So I took the phone into Tlife. An hour later, still no luck. A service that worked fine last week no longer works, and no one seems to know what the problem is.

We tried to configure Messaging service on the phone to access webmail. The guy at Tlife tried his email on my phone – works fine. But my email on my phone and my email on his phone were another matter.

It works fine from the PC – although like many of you I think it is a pain that Telstra have added all the advertising stuff that I am not interested in

Does anyone have any suggestions?

owl1 writes...

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Screaming?

owl1 writes...

Does anyone have any suggestions?

You Don't mention if you received any errors.. or exact nature of the problem.. just that it 'doesnt work'.
How doesn't it work for a start? :)

The first error when I tried to access bigpond webmail page throught internet explorer was that 'this handset does not support mobile email'.
When we tried to set up the messaging through windows it hung and would not download any messages. I can't tell you exactly what the message was because the telstra fairy must have been working very hard overnight. When I duplicated the steps this morning, so that I could describe to you exactly what the error messages were, it miraculously it worked. Yay! Thanks for your support.

I'm still waiting for my call back from Bigpond.. 48 hours has turned into... wait...ummm calculator please anyone?!?!... about 17 days....

Is anyone having trouble with the Contacts editing? Trying to change an email address is one of my contacts and when I click save the particular frame that it is in just stops and I cant click anywhere else except outside the frame which then doesnt save the changes...

and boy is this thing slow....

have they ever heard of testing in that company??

And still no "reason" why you have to log on once for Usage and a second time for Webmail

Surely they can have a single portal for all this bloat?

dan writes...

They know nothing about Syncing and stuff, *rolls eyes* I guess they want a piece of the cloud LOL.

Maybe so, but they are smart enough to get someone else that specialises in syncing to do it for them. MyConnect is based on VoxMobili. It isn't designed and written by Telstra staff.

Does anyone else have any problems listening to voicemail messages within Firefox 3? I want Windows Media Player to be embedded into the page like what it does in Internet Explorer. I've installed the Windows Media Player extension, but no joy.

DeluxeWarPlaya writes...

MyConnect is based on VoxMobili. It isn't designed and written by Telstra staff.

But Telstra presumably specced that MyConnect should do all the needless linking to sensis and other advertising links

They slow the product down

The Possum writes...

But Telstra presumably specced that MyConnect should do all the needless linking to sensis and other advertising links

They slow the product down

Where are these ads you speak of?

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/5751/adsfw5.jpg

DeluxeWarPlaya writes...

Where are these ads you speak of?

Starts with the login page where currently the ad is for DragonDirect

Popup blockers seem to stop others

But most pages have an advert somewhere, and I assume the sensis links are doing some sort of analysis of what I am doing

But why?

I am in Italy at the moment and have used the new My Connect for the first time whilst away. It is terrible! I am losing emails when the system locks up... errors when deleting emails. too complicated.

When I got upgraded to myconnect, my local outlook now received duplicate of all emails. I have the setting to save copy on server so I can also collect from my mobile using wifi. Bigpond support tells me they do not support the option to save copy on server. Any suggestions.

PS: If I take off the option to save copy on server then I only receive one copy. This problem started the moment I got upgraded.

Upgraded to myconnect last night. Should be called 'cantConnect'. Problems ever since. Was very slow last night. Not even working at all now. Nothing on service status about problems.

Summary page would not load. After ½ hr it now loads though if I click on an email, a page wiith only a header loads, the rest is blank.

Please give me webmail back!

Update:
Called helpdesk. myConnect is stuffed due to system problems. Still no ServiceStatus update 1hr later...

DeluxeWarPlaya writes...

REPLYING TO

DeluxeWarPlaya...The Possum writes...Where are these ads you speak of?

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/5751/adsfw5.jpg

There is now an add at the bottom of the page you linked. Currently Amex. Looks like they are still playing with this service. No wonder it is currently not working.

Amazing how they can get the adds to work but not the email. 2hrs later. Still nothing shown service status page.

It doesn't seem to like me forwarding emails. All formatting goes out the window and it just combines everything into one long piece of text. Lovely.

Some times it seems to forward attachments and some times it doesn't. Sort of a lucky dip as to whether it will.

It also won't display any pictures embedded in emails I get, I need to open the picture in a new window.

I love when things get 'upgraded'