Customer Care : How do I? :: Set up my Email

Frequently Asked Questions for Email

Q1. What is the correct format for my WVI e-mail address?
A1. Your e-mail address (in most cases) is the same as your internet login. If your internet login was johndoe, your e-mail address would be johndoe@wvi.com -- all lower-case and without extra punctuation or spaces. Any extra characters or spaces in an e-mail address results in an error condition.

Q2. Why is it important to make sure that my e-mail settings are correct?
A2. Correct e-mail settings will ensure that not only will you receive your e-mail, but you'll also be able to send e-mail. A simple misspelling such as johndoe@wvi. comm instead of johndoe@wvi. com can cause an e-mail to be refused by the recipients mail server before it ever reaches your intended recipient. Or if it does reach the correct person, they will not be able to successfully send you an e-mail because johndoe@wvi. comm is not your e-mail address. Aside from mail not being delivered properly, mis-configured e-mail settings can make it impossible for you to even check for or send e-mail.

Q3. I keep getting objectionable or offensive mail? What can I do?
A3. First, NEVER reply to e-mail that you find objectionable. Doing so only verifies to the sender that you have a real, working e-mail address that they can continue to use. Nor should you click on a link that says "click here to remove" unless it appears to be for a legitimate site. In some instances, clicking on the link will open an objectionable web page and/or send an e-mail to a bogus address anyway (or to an address that has now verified that you have a "live" address and now you're added to their list for sure).

Second, if you continually receive e-mail from the same source (address, person or company)send a copy of the full e-mail headers and subject to postmaster@wvi.com with a subject of "Abuse Report" so that we can see if it may be possible to hinder the unwanted mail. If the abuser is an WVI customer, the solution is easy. Mail that comes from other providers is more difficult, however we've found that most reputable providers will take action to prevent e-mail abuse by their customers when we inform them. Sadly some of the people sending these mail messages look for ways to disguise their identity and can send out hundreds if not thousands of e-mail messages in less than an hour before being detected.

If you participate in Newsgroups or discussion lists it may help to modify your e-mail address. Use something like johndoe@nospam.wvi.com in your Newsreader's settings for posting in newsgroups. (Please note that most all newsreaders will allow you to put in a modified e-mail address WITHOUT affecting how your e-mail program works). Spammers have programs that search web sites, newsgroups and discussion lists for possible e-mail addresses to send their junk e-mail to. Let them send mail to a mail account that will generate a bounce message to them and not fill up your mailbox. Legitimate users will know how to determine your "real" e-mail address and reply to you.

Q4. Who is "MAILER-DAEMON@wvi.com" and "POSTMASTER@wvi.com"?
A4. The MAILER-DAEMON is part of the WVI mail server software that processes the e-mail messages that are sent to and from WVI customers. When it encounters an e-mail with a bad address that can't be delivered or is refused by the mail server on the other end, it tries to deal with the problem. If it cannot resolve the issue (due to a severe error or after a certain time limit), it sends a message, which generally contains the undeliverable mail (including any attachments), back to you with an explanation why there was a problem. The POSTMASTER is a real, live, human-being who handles the MAILER-DAEMON messages that can't be returned to the sender.

Q5. I got a failure notice mail from the MAILER-DAEMON@wvi.com . What does that mean?
A5. It means that there was a problem in delivering the mail you sent. The most common causes are these: You sent an e-mail to an incorrect (misspelled or improperly formatted) e-mail address. You sent an e-mail to an account that is closed. You sent an e-mail to a person whose mailbox is full and cannot receive any more mail. You sent an e-mail to someone with an attachment that is too large to be accepted. Your return address is improperly formatted and the other server can't verify your identity. You list a recipient several times and the other server thinks you're trying to "mail bomb" their user. You have been "blocked" by the recipients' mail server from sending mail to that mail server.

Q6. What does the "leave on server" option mean?
A6. Your e-mail program can, after it retrieves your mail, leave a copy on our server or tell it to delete the messages you've received depending on your preference.

Q7. Why does it take so long to download my mail?
A7. Your mail download time is influenced by many factors: One, your connection speed matters. The slower the connection speed, the longer it takes. If you are downloading files from a web site or listening to "streaming" audio or video while trying to receive mail, your mail download times will be longer. Two, you receive a lot of large emails -- either with attachments or just long or specially formatted messages. Signing up for "HTML format" mail from mailing lists may give you pretty e-mails to look at - but they take 3 to 4 times longer to download than ones that are just plain text. Three, you have a lot of old messages still on the server. Your e-mail program has to sequentially check all the messages still on the server to get to the newest, unread ones. If you have 100 old messages still on the server it will take longer to get to the new ones because it must verify each message to see if it has delivered to you previously.

Q8. What is the "POP or POP3" server and what do I enter when asked?
A8. POP stands for "Post Office Protocol" and is the part of the system that receives incoming mail and moves it into your proper mailbox. At WVI, our SMTP and POP3 servers are the same, you'll input gateway.wvi.com.

Q9. What is an SMTP server and what do I enter when asked?
A9. SMTP stands for "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol" and it refers to the part of the system that sends mail out to other systems over the net. When asked this during mail setup you will input gateway.wvi.com.

Q10. Can I check my WVI e-mail from more than one computer?
A10. Yes - that is where the "leave mail on server" settings discussed above is very useful. You can also use our web-based e-mail service. Go to your start page at http://www.mywvi.com , click on the "Email" link in the "My Tools" Channel.

Q11. Can I have more than one mail account?
A11. Yes - Contact our Service Department at 503.767.1984 or 503.394.1984 weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. and they can get you set up with additional e-mail accounts.

Q12. How do I check mail if I have more than one mail account?
A12. There are several e-mail programs that let you manage multiple e-mail accounts within them. Start your e-mail application and select "help" from the menu bar for the necessary configuration settings specific to your preferred e-mail client.

Q13. How do I setup and use the WVI Barracuda Spam Firewall?
A13. Detailed instructions for setting up and using the WVI Barracuda Spam Firewall are located here.

Q14. I have a question you've not addressed here.
A14. Please contact our technical support group by calling 503.769.3331 or 503.390.7000. You can also send an email to tech@wvi.com . We'll reply directly to you and possibly add your question and the answer to our FAQ list!