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Ken_W's avatar
Ken_W
New Contributor

Gmail Messages Blocked

This was asked back in August and is unresolved:
Messages from gmail accounts to cox email addresses are being blocked.  We (I have a half-dozen besides myself) have noticed this on several occasions.  There are times the emails come through from gmail just fine but often they are blocked.  After a day or two, the sender receives a response notifying them that the messages are not being delivered.  

After some research, it appears that gmail may have changed how they send (batch) emails to cox to which cox now claims they cannot handle the volume of emails in the batches.  Whatever the true reasoning or issues are, the bottom line is this:  emails sent to cox accounts from gmail accounts are not always being delivered.  Most recently (that I am aware of), this happened to me from a Monday email.  Although it was sent at 4pm Monday, I did not receive until 8pm Tuesday evening.  Thankfully I received it.  Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing how many gmail messages we do not get.  

I have contacted cox via chat a few times and, although they somewhat acknowledge there is an issue, there is no ETA nor does their seem to be a major concern when or if this will ever be fixed.   You might notice that nothing is listed on their support page as an issue/outage.  Although it isn't working, there is very little acknowledgment of the issue and even less concern of it being addressed.  

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  • Tecknowhelp's avatar
    Tecknowhelp
    Valued Contributor II

    It's not advice you probably want to hear, but I would suggest finding a new email provider. I think most of the email problems, even after over the last 3 years, have been Cox migrating their email servers to a outsourced, off network, email farm. Since none of my accounts are attached to Cox account numbers, they haven't been moved over to the new servers and I am not effected. If you get alot of email from Gmail, you may just want to switch to Gmail email. Free, more secure then Cox, better performance and much better anti-spam, and now that Cox outsourced, not any less prone to Big Brother.

  • lmcw's avatar
    lmcw
    New Contributor
    I could barely get them to acknowledge an issue after two hours and two chat sessions this morning. I've followed the instructions to become 'unblocked' with to response or resolution. They solidly place the blame on Google, when their servers cannot accept larger batch volume. Not the first problem I've had with Cox either - adding on a couple channels for my mother to her existing cable in a nursing home took more than 4 conversations and finally a trip to the 'Solutions Store' to get it done. Poor, poor technology and service all around.
  • Ken_W's avatar
    Ken_W
    New Contributor

    I have heard this from others that Cox is blaming Google.  My point is this:  I am not paying Google a dime and I could care less whose fault it is.  I pay Cox for email as part of what they provide as a service for internet.  It is their responsibility to either fix the issue regardless of who is at fault.  What is interesting is their servers eventually do respond to the rejected senders - they can send an automated rejection notice but they cannot notify ME that messages did not come through?  That is nonsense.  Thanks for sharing LMCW.  

  • Ken_W's avatar
    Ken_W
    New Contributor

    You may be exactly right, thanks.  It may make sense to just move to a different email provider.  Of course, then I question why I should still pay full price for internet since a piece of the offering isn't really being provided.

  • Tecknowhelp's avatar
    Tecknowhelp
    Valued Contributor II

    They no longer offer multiple IPs with the Ultimate package or newsgroups either, yet the price stayed the same. Also, IMO it's not optimal to have your email with your ISP anyway(any ISP), since then it's harder to change ISP and your email gets broken if you have to move. That's why I think Cox should have just dropped email all together, however I think Cox is addicted to the ad-revenue. Just not addicted enough  to invest some of that income back into the email system.

    PS. This may be my last post as my email accounts, and all Cox account not tied to Cox account numbers, will be deleted tonight. End of a era indeed.