Welcome CompuServe Classic Users
Posted May 21st 2009 11:20AM by Webmail Team
Important Update (June 9, 2009, 4:28pm ET):
We believe we have fixed the majority of issues with the new mail system and have noticed that the system has been stable for the past 12 hours.
We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience through this migration. If you are experiencing any problems, please call Tech Support at 1-800-848-8990 or email us (websuiteblog@aol.com) to let us know exactly what is happening and provide as much detail as you can. This will help us to resolve your issue.
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As mentioned in earlier communications, the CompuServe Classic service will no longer operate as an Internet Service Provider as of June 30th, 2009. As a result, we have been working on enabling you to retain your CompuServe Classic email address -- by migrating to a new email system. Your email service is available to you at no charge -- but you will need to provide your own Internet access.
Some of the benefits of the new system include:
- Unlimited storage, which lets you keep as many messages as you want
- Ability to receive large messages (up to 16MB per message)
- Industry leading spam and virus protection to help eliminate threats and hassles
- Open accessibility and compatibility with IMAP and POP3
- Seamless integration with AIM for instant messaging
1. How do I login to my CompuServe Classic mailbox?
Once you have completed the migration, you will need to go to http://webmail.compuserve.com and login with your full compuserve email address (e.g. username@compuserve.com) and the password you created during the migration.
NOTE: we have fixed the problem with selecting the "Stay signed in until I sign out" option.
2. Which username should I use to login to my CompuServe Classic mailbox?
If you only have a numeric based User ID (e.g. 77777.7777), you will enter the User ID along with "@compuserve.com" (e.g. 77777.7777@compuserve.com) in the "E-mail or Screen Name" field.
However, if you have a friendly name (in addition to your numeric based User ID), you will need to use your friendly name as the username (i.e. friendlyname@compuserve.com). Your "friendly name" has been made the primary login name and the numeric based Member ID as an alias (which will allow you to continue to receive email sent to this User ID).
3. If I have a friendly name and a numeric based Member ID, which address will mail that I send from my CompuServe Classic mailbox display from?
If you have a friendly name and a numeric-based User ID, all mail that you send from your CompuServe Classic mailbox will display from the friendly name.
4. If I have a friendly name and a numeric based Member ID, will I continue to receive email that is addressed to my numeric based Member ID?
Yes, you will still receive any email that is addressed to your numeric-based User ID, however when you reply to that email, it will be addressed from your friendly name.
5. I just logged into my new CompuServe Classic mailbox and I don't see any of my old email?
We are working on migrating all your old email. It should be available to you within 24 hours of when you initiated your mailbox's migration.
6. Why is my CompuServe Classic account no longer forwarding email to my CompuServe 2000 account?
The new email system does not support the auto-forwarding of email at this time. We are working to support this feature in the future. You will need to login to your CompuServe Classic mailbox (http://webmail.compuserve.com) to read, reply, and send messages -- or access your mailbox via a POP3 or IMAP client.
7. Can I use a third party email client (Outlook, Thunderbird, etc) to send and receive email to my CompuServe Classic mailbox?
Yes, you can use any third-party email client that supports either POP3 or IMAP. Below are the POP3, IMAP, and SMTP settings that you will need to configure into the third-party email client:
pop.csi.com ; port 110 (SSL = port 995)
imap.csi.com ; port 143 (SSL = port 993)
NOTE: The port numbers are entered in a separate field from the POP or IMAP hostname.
When you are setting up your POP3 or IMAP client, you will need to use your complete email address (e.g username@compuserve.com) as your username and use the password you created as part of the migration. You will also need to configure your SMTP, or outbound email connection, to use:
smtp.csi.com ; port 587 (SSL = port 465)
NOTE: This new SMTP server will require you to supply your complete email address (e.g username@compuserve.com) and password to send mail.
8. What is the difference between POP3 and IMAP?
There are two basic ways to set up an email program such as Eudora, Entourage, Thunderbird, or Outlook to check your email. One is to use a POP (POP3: Post Office Protocol) and the other is to use IMAP (IMAP4: Internet Message Access Protocol).
POP3 is a one-way communication path. Your device asks us for data and pulls it from our servers -- but that's it. Things you do on your device have no effect on the server. If you read a message on your phone, then log in to your mailbox, you will see that same message marked as unread.
IMAP is a two-way communication path. Unlike with POP, your devices talk back to our servers and sync your changes automatically with IMAP. When you sign in to your account in a web browser, actions you've taken on your email client or mobile device (like putting a message in a 'work' folder) will also appear in webmail (your message will be in your 'work' folder). This all happens automatically once you set up IMAP, so you don't have to read or sort all your mail twice. This is really helpful when accessing your mailbox from multiple devices.
We recommend that you use IMAP access to ensure that you will always have the same view of your mailbox no matter where you view it -- at home, office, mobile, or anywhere. Below are the advantages to using IMAP:
- messages are stored on the server are accessible from any computer and webmail anywhere in the world
- IMAP mail folders remain synchronized with IMP (webmail)
- sent messages and drafts are also stored on the server
- IMAP mail is backed up on the server and can be restored
- ease of migration from a program to a program and from a computer to another computer/location
- ease of setting up additional computers to check your email, no need to copy anything fro one computer to another
9. Why don't I see the email addresses that are in my CompuServe Classic Client Address Book in this new webmail experience?
The email addresses in your old address book are stored on your local computer, so we have no way to migrate them into the new email system. If you are using either CS3 and CS4 clients, you can find your address book (ADDRBOOK.DAT) in the SUPPORT subdirectory. Make a copy of this file and save it in another location (such as your Desktop). Once you have completed this step, you will need to download a free utility that converts a .DAT file into a .CSV file. There are many of these tools available -- just go to AOL Search and search for "DAT to CSV".
Once you have converted your address book from a .DAT to a .CSV file, you can import the addresses into your new CompuServe Classic mailbox. You will need to login using CompuServe Classic webmail (http://webmail.compuserve.com) and use the instructions on how to import these addresses at our Help Portal.
10. Why can't I set mail filters in webmail?
Our development team is working on making this feature available. We anticipate that this feature will be available in mid July 2009.
We hope you enjoy your new webmail experience.
Rohit Kinra, AOL Mail Team
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 11)
1. As a Classic user for more than 20 years (NOT a new user),I STILL can't log in using a web browser (BOTH IE and Firefox) after migrating my account more than 2 days ago. I do seem to be getting my email through Outlook Express on both my desktop and laptop. I am trying to log on using the same username (email address above) and password that is working in Outlook Express. I get the following error message: "Invalid Screen Name or Password. Please try again."
Posted at 7:03PM on May 21st 2009 by Josh
2. How can I change my screen name? Right now my full email address is being used but I want to change it.
Posted at 7:36PM on May 22nd 2009 by Jw
3. I'm also in the same position. I've wondered whether the problem might be caused by the fact that my Compuserve address has underscores in it and the new webmail system isn't set up to accept those as legitimate, but that's just a guess.
Another guess would be that there are limits as to what can be used for passwords, such as their length and/or whether they are case-sensitive or not. I'm not sure that's very likely, though, as I can fetch my mail using Outlook Express and my password. Also, I've reset my password a number of times -- and tried some very simple ones -- but whatever I try works only with Outlook Express and not with the webmail interface.
Posted at 10:52AM on May 22nd 2009 by Mike Strauss
4.
Connecting an e-mail client
The instructions for connecting an e-mail client, both in the e-mail sent out shortly before the migration and now on this FAQ page, don't seem to work, or perhaps are insufficient. They say that we need to enter the following POP3 /IMAP server information to the e-mail client:
pop.csi.com; port 110 (SSL = port 995)
imap.csi.com; port 143 (SSL = port 993)
and corresponding SMTP information of "smtp.csi.com; port 587".
Entering these server names into Thunderbird (in my case), where the set-up wizard asks for ".... the name of the incoming server" and "the name of the outgoing server (SMTP)", doesn't work: the setup wizard responds with "Please enter a valid host name".
So what host names (or server names, if they're the same thing) should be entered for the incoming and outgoing server names?
Posted at 7:25AM on May 23rd 2009 by angloscan
5. In reply to what Josh and Mike wrote - I experienced the same problem. It took me a day or two to figure out that I had to add @compuserve.com to the e-mail address. I thought that would be obvious, but it isn't.
Everything works fine now, and I also have underscores in my address.
Posted at 12:45PM on May 22nd 2009 by Eberhard
6. I migrated my account, but can niether log in via the webmail page nor receive email via POP in Outlook. Not sure what the next step should be?
Posted at 11:51AM on May 22nd 2009 by Clarence
7. As a Classic user also for more than 20 years (NOT a new user)as the user in comment 1 also is, and as the ex-CEO of a couple of national mobile telephone/IP operators, and a couple of major software development houses, I cannot understand WHY Compuserve/AOL have not given migration tools away for users to use in this COMPLEX converstion and migration process... There are NO "simple to use .DAT ro .CSV convertors" (as per point 8 in blog above), available which reliably convert the address book for example. There ARE several COMMERCIAL suites to do this, all at around $29.95 each, BUT, depending on how the names, etc, were stored and formatted in Compuserve classic, even the .CSV files wont neccessarily import easily and problem free into AIM, (I was able to simply get all the e-mail addresses imported for example, but NOT the text names of the contacts).
It also seems that no tools exist for a migration of stored mail "Folders" from the Compuserve users PC in any way?
And of course, as this is an e-mail migration only, things like "favourites" (favourite places) arent dealt with at all, (like with a simple tool to convert Compuserve Favourites into a IE format "favourite places").
All in all, this seems like a really cheap effort for customers like myself who have been paying for services for 20 years or more.
Posted at 10:07AM on May 23rd 2009 by Kenn Walters
8. Same problem here. I have no problem getting mail in Outlook using the the new POP server settings, but nothing seems to work to get me logged into webmail. This isn't a real biggy since I've been managing my Compuserve classic mail in Outlook for many years, but it would have been a nice convenience...
Posted at 1:33PM on May 22nd 2009 by hafox
9. I have the same problem: no access through the webmail service (Invalid screen name or password), nor via my e-mail program (error message: Account information not available). What to do?
Posted at 12:17PM on May 22nd 2009 by Manfred
10. I re-started the process back at the beginning and now have both webmail and POP access, so I'm good to go!
Posted at 12:17PM on May 22nd 2009 by Clarence
11. I migrated my mail on Monday and was immediately greeted with the invalid password error completed forgotten password screens but no email was sent to me where did it go?
The spam mail was still available in my classic account but now it has vanished. I can still send mail from that account What to do ??
Bill Geddes
Posted at 8:54AM on May 23rd 2009 by Bill Geddes
12. I migrated my mail on Monday & lost the ability to get emails to my blackberry. Anybody else had the same problem or found a solution, as I've been on hold with the Compuserve help line for 3 days now. Jamal
Posted at 2:26PM on May 22nd 2009 by Jamal
13. I can log into the Webmail but can't get either Agent or Thunderbird to connect to pop.csi.com Should I be able to ping it. pop.aol.com pings as does my ISPs mail server. Also I've sent two mails to my compuserve address and neither have appeared after two hours. Any suggestions much appreciated.
Posted at 1:59PM on May 22nd 2009 by Andy Coleman
14. Hi, I have migrated my classic a'c to the new systems (18May)and apart from the first couple days when there was obviously a log jam in the system, some mail is now getting thru. I can access it via pop3 or webmail.
However not all mail gets thru to me from some people - they get errors like 'server not found' or mail is rejected by 'aol balcklist.' I have checked my CompuServe spam settings and they are not ending up there either. It appears some mail providers cannot see 'Compuserve.'
I have emailed Compuserve Support but heard nothing back - is amyone else experinecing this missing mails problem?
Thanks,
Posted at 8:15AM on May 24th 2009 by johnhollingdale
15. Interesting to find similar issues. Accessed webmail with few issues but no success receiving email through Outlook with pop.csicom & smtp.csi.com. Knew phone support was really out of their depth when it was suggested I replace the smtp.csi.com with imap.csi.com. Sigh. Add in that their 2nd level support is apparently Microsoft's own support for Outlook & well, I don't know what to say about that.
Posted at 5:51PM on May 22nd 2009 by mikewelsh
16. The DAT to CSV comment is a joke. There are no converters available after searching as suggested. Why can't you take the time to point us to one that works?
Posted at 3:04PM on May 22nd 2009 by richard_loutzenheiser
17. To the blackberry user - google. The solution is out there.
As for some ISPs not being able to 'see' Compuserve, I think that is my situation with Plusnet. Could someone with pop.csi.com working, see if they can ping it ! I suspect I should be able to but can't.
I also can't send email to my migrated address but am getting plenty of spam, the like of which I have *never* seen before. :-(
Posted at 4:00PM on May 22nd 2009 by Andy Coleman
18. Jamal, I have migrated my account apparently successfully, but can't get it to work with my Blackberry. I changed to pop.csi.com, but it comes back as invalid. Also tried to get thro' to support with no success. Anyone any ideas.....
Paul
Posted at 5:01PM on May 22nd 2009 by prosen
19. THIS IS A SIMILAR EMAIL I SENT TO COMPUSERVE BUT I HAVE HAD NO REPLY>
I can't get through on your PREMIUM RATE telephone line. Tried quite a number of time and am now panicking over my telephone bill.
My compuserve email address is photograph@compuserve.com
I have been accessing my compuserve email through my Apple Mac and Apple "MAIL" and also on my iphone, with no problems UNTIL THIS WEEK.
I have logged on to http://member.compuserve.com/mailcenter and I can now just about access my emails, but I cannot log in 100% as it does not always accept my Password. I always use the correct case etc.
I need to set up my email on my iphone which is with O2 and on my work and home computer via my Internet Service provider Virgin.
I have set this up according to the letter I received from Compuserve.
I get the following message "enter Password for Account "Compuserve NEW" (thats my chosen name). ie my password is incorrect. SCREEN GRAB IS ATTACHED
I believe my password is correct as it MAINLY BUT NOT ALWAYS works when I log in via http://member.compuserve.com/mailcenter
Help please.
Brian Ollier
AMAZING I HAVE JUST TICKED THE BOX ABOVE "EMAIL ME WHEN SOMEONE REPLIES TO THIS COMMENT."
Extra comment: I am not likely to get a reply if I can't access my email!
Posted at 10:53AM on May 23rd 2009 by photograph
20. Oops, tried posting with the password used last time. Why oh why did they have to go & email me a new password to keep saved & secure? Sigh. On with it & apologies if this is appearing twice.
So, I'm coming from Primus.ca via DSL & attempting to configure Outlook. This is what I'm seeing via my command prompt:
***
C:\ping pop.csi.com
Pinging east.geast.us.imap.aol.com [205.188.105.225] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
***
c:\ping smtp.csi.com
Pinging east.geast.us.smtp.aol.com [64.12.137.196] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
***
C:\tracert 205.188.105.225
Tracing route to nginx-vdtc01.mx.aol.com [205.188.105.225]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 * * * Request timed out.
2 66 ms 66 ms 64 ms core1.tor.primus.ca [216.254.131.165]
3 78 ms 63 ms 64 ms gi1-0-3.bb1.tor.primus.ca [216.254.128.164]
4 62 ms 64 ms 63 ms te3-7.mpd01.yyz02.atlas.cogentco.com [38.104.158.129]
5 84 ms 82 ms 84 ms te4-3.ccr01.buf02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.27.66]
6 83 ms 87 ms 85 ms te8-2.ccr01.alb02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.27.177]
7 85 ms 84 ms 83 ms te8-2.ccr02.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.27.154]
8 84 ms 86 ms 85 ms te7-7.ccr02.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.25.245]
9 83 ms 87 ms 83 ms te7-1.ccr01.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.25.149]
10 88 ms 88 ms 88 ms te7-3.mpd02.dca01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.6.5]
11 91 ms 90 ms 93 ms te4-3.mpd02.iad01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.26.122]
12 91 ms 92 ms 90 ms gi0-0-0.core01.iad01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.3.225]
13 90 ms 89 ms 91 ms pop1-ash-s2-1-0.atdn.net [66.185.134.177]
14 90 ms 90 ms 89 ms dar1-dtc-s3-1-0.atdn.net [66.185.152.113]
15 89 ms 96 ms 90 ms ow1-dtc-a0.atdn.net [66.185.133.174]
16 90 ms 96 ms 91 ms 172.18.126.94
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.
Trace complete.
***
c:\>tracert 64.12.137.196
Tracing route to mtaout-ma.mx.aol.com [64.12.137.196]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 * * * Request timed out.
2 69 ms 71 ms 63 ms core2.tor.primus.ca [216.254.130.165]
3 63 ms 62 ms 64 ms gi1-0-3.bb1.tor.primus.ca [216.254.128.164]
4 143 ms 205 ms 201 ms te3-7.mpd01.yyz02.atlas.cogentco.com [38.104.158.129]
5 315 ms 262 ms 353 ms te4-3.mpd03.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.27.161]
6 83 ms 87 ms 82 ms te8-1.ccr01.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.24.138]
7 90 ms 94 ms 88 ms 130.117.25.234
8 97 ms 92 ms 90 ms te4-3.mpd02.iad01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.26.122]
9 111 ms 105 ms 91 ms gi0-0-0.core01.iad01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.3.225]
10 91 ms 94 ms 93 ms pop1-ash-s2-1-0.atdn.net [66.185.134.177]
11 92 ms 92 ms 98 ms dar1-mtc-s0-0-0.atdn.net [66.185.148.222]
12 97 ms 92 ms 91 ms ow1-mtc-ae0.net.aol.com [66.185.135.42]
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.
Perhaps someone who is connecting successfully to pop.csi.com could provide us with some intel re: their ISP & the results of their ping & tracert?
Checked in with Primus support & after trying valiantly to explain to the poor kid what Compuserve was & now is as quickly as possible, he advised he was seeing much the same thing. He suggested I should try contacting CompuServe but with no serious way to contact anyone there who has much of an inkling (see my previous post), I advised him re: same.
We (or perhaps it was just me) resolved that about all we could do was be patient while the various network administrators work on the wrinkles. Meanwhile, I'll contemplate "MVS" & "OS/390" or perhaps go "off-reservation" & contemplate "spanning tree algorithms" (Google the terms if you're interested in a diversion). Use that to remember those necessary things that transcend this issue with CompuServe and continue to hope for the best.
Posted at 6:52PM on May 22nd 2009 by mikewelsh