Tuesday, May 19, 2009

CompuServe Classic E-Mail: The Next Generation


As CompuServe Classic readies for its final log off on June 30, CompuServe Member Services has thrown the switch on a migration utility that allows Classic members to keep their e-mail accounts alive.

Gone will be CompuServe Classic's old number-comma-number e-mail address format and in its place will be a standard POP3 e-mail address with the familiar "@" sign. Many CompuServe Classic users already have alternate POP3 addresses for their accounts. Those addresses will be preserved in the transition. Just don't expect to connect to the Internet through a CompuServe dial-up number after June 30--those are on their way out too.

CompuServe Classic members must convert to the new e-mail system by going to the CompuServe Mail Center by June 30. Here's what happens once they get there:


You can start the conversion process by logging in with a Classic numerical e-mail address or with the alternate POP3 access information.


Once you click "continue" on the screen above, the next one asks for some basic demographic information and offers you a chance to pick a new password.



From there you need to agree to the Terms of Service by typing in the letters that appear in the image box.

If everything goes well, you'll get the following welcome screen.



Finally, clicking the right button takes you to your new inbox.



As for accessing the new e-mail service with Outlook or another e-mail client, you'll need the new server settings. You can retrieve your e-mail as a POP3 or IMAP account with or without a secure connection (SSL). The port setting is found in the advanced settings section of Outlook and other e-mail clients.

The POP3 settings are:
POP: pop.csi.com port 110 (SSL = port 995)
SMTP: smtp.csi.com port 587

The IMAP settings are:
IMAP: imap.csi.com port 143 (SSL = port 993)
SMTP: smtp.csi.com port 587

So how did it work on my CompuServe Classic account? So far so good, but other users have reported some problems.

What about you?

Copyright 2009 Stadium Circle Features

3 comments:

Teri Murphy said...

Hey thanks for asking! I've had my compuserve address almost 20 years, so I'm nervous about this. The account got created ok, but they did not migrate my address book as phone support told me they would. And I have not been able to retrieve mail via pop at my Fastmail account -- I'm suspicious that it's because it's timing out, but not sure. I am finding retrieval at Compuserve to be slow, so I've switched to the accessible version which is faster.

Joseph said...

There is an ongoing discussion, with help available, about this process at:



CompuServe Classic Help Forumhttp://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=ws-cssoftware

Anonymous said...

We have been a CompuServe user for over 25 years now. We made the change as outlined in this post.

However, the way AOL has implemented this has and continues to cause us problems with our Blackberry devices.

The issue is that both "pop.csi.com" and "imap.csi.com" both map to the same IP address. The the "port" number makes the distinction between "IMAP" and "POP3".

What happens with Blackberry devices is not matter what you tell them, they check the mail server you specify to determine what protocol to use. First they check the "IMAP" ports. If they work then Blackberry configures the device as "IMAP". There is NO way around this.

If AOL had created different IP addresses for each (as the different names would lead you to believe) this would not be a problem.

This has been very frustrating for all us. But there is nothing that can be done since both Blackberry and AOL have a case that they are doing nothing wrong.