PLEASE HELP. Are you unable to send or receive messages via Cox Email using an email client?

On Sept. 20 I left the U.S. to travel for several months. Immediately after I left, I was no longer able to use Cox to send email using my email client, Thunderbird. Since then, Cox has claimed (1) it deliberately blocks access from outside the U.S., (2) it can remedy the situation by "whitelisting" my IP addresses, (3) it has done so, and (4) it is still working to fix the problem, but as of today I still cannot send email while overseas and using my email client.

Today, Oct. 15, I received the following message from Cox:

We are currently performing maintenance which is impacting your Cox Email experience. Our email support team is engaged and working to resolve the issues. I regret there is no ETR. Customers are reporting email clients such as Outlook and Thunderbird are unable to send or receive messages or you may experience errors while trying to use the service. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience.

Several things about this message are very suspicious:

1. Cox sent it to my Gmail address rather than my Cox address. One would think a notice like this, which would affect many users, would be sent to their Cox addresses.
2. The only reason Cox even knows my Gmail address is because I've been forced to use it since Cox is preventing me from using my Cox address while traveling. But this is solely for the purpose of resolving the traveling abroad problem, so why would Cox use it for a notice like this?
3. Time and again, I've told Cox I"m able to receive emails in my Cox account, yet somehow the agent who sent this went out of their way to send it to my Gmail account rather than the Cox account.
4. My wife says she never received a notice like the one above.
5. There are no posts on this forum reporting recent problems using email clients to send or receive messages via Cox and using an email client. The most recent report of something like this was over ten months ago. One would think if maintenance were causing widespread problems, many people would be posting about it.

Because of these suspicious circumstances, I smell a rat. What better way to silence a customer who is being vocal because Cox screwed up their email and does not know how to fix it, then by saying, "Hey, everyone has this problem because we're just doing maintenance."

Therefore, I have these two questions for you:

1. Did you also receive a message like the one I received on Oct. 15? (Yes/No)
2. Are you having any trouble sending or receiving emails via Cox and using an email client like the ones mentioned in the Oct. 15 message? (Yes/No/Not using a client)