Read first!
Many problems are due to Internet connectivity issues (ie lack of). The first test you should do is to try and connect to the internet, then use a web browser (Internet Explorer / Firefox) to go to a fast, reliable web page such as http://www.google.com - once this works then, without dropping the connection, try and access your email.
Many people assume that an Iridium / Inmarsat, etc internet connection is somehow different to a super fast wifi/broadband connection. In fact they are both roughly the same to the computer, they only vary in price/speed, etc, however, the computer doesn't know or care. Hence use the cheapest one to test - if the computer doesn't work properly with broadband then it's unlikely to suddenly start working if you change to use the Iridium!
Outlook Express Error: "Server has unexpectedly terminated the connection"
If you are using Outlook Express / Windows Live Mail and get the error message "The server has unexpectedly terminated the connection", then this means that our compression software was unable to connect across the internet back to our server. The likely reasons for this are:
- No internet connection... Are you sure that you were dialed up to the internet at the time the error message appeared? If you just clicked "Send/Rcv" and you were not connected to the internet at the time of the error then the error is just a normal consequence of not having an internet connection! Either enable the automatic dial feature of Windows, or dialup to the internet manually
- Firewall on the wifi connection blocking you. If you have just started using a new wifi network and this problem has suddenly appeared then the two events are likely correlated! If you can browse the internet ok with your web browser, but email is giving the error above, then the wifi network you are using probably is locked down and is blocking our compression protocol. The workaround is to use the Web Mail system at http://webmail.mailasail.com and if you will be there for an extended period of time, email support@mailasail.com for tips on reconfiguring your computer.
Note the other cause of this could be if you are testing the system on a business connection which you know to be carefully firewalled - Firewall on the local computer. Norton / McAfee, etc frequently cause problems with network software. If possible try temporarily disabling the antivirus software and see if the error goes away? Often it's the spam blocking or email blocking part of the software which is causing the problem, rather than the normal virus scanning of your hard-disk. Contact support@mailasail.com for further ideas
- Background programs using up all your bandwidth. If you have Skype, Windows Update, your Antivirus scanner updates or anything else downloading in the background then it will likely use up ALL the bandwidth on an Iridium. This leads to lots of error messages and sometimes to this one. See: Disable Background Tasks
The connection to the server has failed
The "Server" in this instance is our teleport-mail software (the red boat icon near the clock). So the error message is telling you that your email program is unable to talk to the teleport-mail software...
Things to check:
- That teleport-it (the little red boat) is running?
- Assume third party firewalls (NOT the windows firewall) or anti virus scanners like Norton/Mcafee/etc are a problem. Does the problem go away if you uninstall them?
- Right click on the little red boat, click on configure email and go through the normal setup instructions to check all your email details.
- In your Outlook Express/Live Mail, if you click Tools | Accounts and then double click on the account. This should give you the account settings for that account. In the servers tab you can change the incoming and outgoing mail servers to:
127.0.0.1