Forum Discussion

jimshoot's avatar
jimshoot
New Contributor II
5 years ago

Cox Email Problems - Valid Messages Going to Spam

I feel like I have found a pot of gold in discovering this forum discussion. At least someone will listen, and maybe I'll find some solutions. In the past 2-3 weeks (most likely since the 4/24/19 email security rollout) I've had numerous Cox email problems. During that time I have chatted (on the Cox support website) and talked (on the phone) with several first tier support techs and several more techs to whom my case was elevated. I have received no satisfaction toward solving my problems. The most ridiculous response I got from a second tier technician is that anyone with a Cox email address should use ONLY Cox Webmail for sending and receiving messages. After I recovered from the shock of hearing this "advice" I asked about email on smartphones and tablets. The tech's response was that one should log in to Cox Webmail using a web browser on those devices and process email!

Here is a brief summary of problems I am seeing. Although I rarely used Webmail in the past, I now keep it open all the time to see what has been moved to my Spam folder, because once it is there, I will never see it anywhere else - it doesn't go from there to an email client.

Messages sent to my Cox address from other Cox users often go to Spam. This includes messages sent to me by my wife from the other side of the house and even messages that I have sent to myself! The only exception seems to be a message that I send to myself from within Cox Webmail. Messages from my computer to myself using the eM Client email program or from my Android phone or tablet using the K-9 Mail app go to Spam. Messages sent from my wife's computer using Windows Live Mail or from her iPad using the iOS email program also go to Spam. All of these methods worked successfully for months or years prior to the Cox security update.

This is the description of the update posted by Cox on their website. Does it give any insight into all of the problems that are being seen?

Cox is enhancing Cox Email security to better protect you, our Cox Email users, and the email you send. As of April 24, 2019, all email sent from a Cox Email address must use TLS 1.0 security encryption or higher. As a result, Cox no longer supports sending email through email clients using SSL security encryption version 3.0 or older.

I can deal with the problem of receiving messages that go to Spam by constantly monitoring the Spam folder in Cox Webmail. I fear that many of my contacts with Cox email addresses don't know how to do this or even that they should do this. The more serious problem is with a message that I have sent and assume that the intended recipient has received, only to find out later (or not!) that it was never received.

That's more than enough for my initial post here! The problem is so bad that for important email related to an organization I belong to, I've switched to using Gmail. Any suggestions or solutions will be very welcome!

--Jim--

4 Replies

  • jimshoot's avatar
    jimshoot
    New Contributor II

    I intended this message to be added to the thread entitled "URGENT: Still having email issues? Post your email status here! Refer Cox Support to this thread." Is there any way to move it there now?

  • Hello Jimshoot. If your messages are not being received, you should be getting an rejection email with some sort of error or reason as to why the email is not making it to its destination. If you are getting this email, what is the error message or rejection reason? Also, please check your spam filters and make sure that you have not added the cox domain to your filters. This may be why all Cox email are going to your spam folder. -Allan Cox Support Forums Moderator
    • jimshoot's avatar
      jimshoot
      New Contributor II

      Allan, no error messages are involved with the problems that I have described. If I send a message that goes to the recipient's spam folder, I am not notified. If I receive a message that goes to my Webmail Spam folder, there is no error message - it just sits there until I do something with it (delete it, move it to Inbox or mark it as Not Spam). It seems that it is not possible to write a Webmail filter rule that will move a message from Spam to Inbox. I have written such rules, and they have been reviewed by Cox technicians, who say they look good. Evidently once a message is put into Spam it stays there.

      --Jim--

      • KevinM2's avatar
        KevinM2
        Former Moderator
        Hi Jimshoot, Cox has many resources focused on improving spam management and email security, and we are in the process of upgrading our spam filtering. Can you please go into your webmail settings and check your spam filtering for us, please? Here's a link with some additional information on the email settings. If you are receiving emails, and they are going directly into your spam folder, this may because of certain filters or rules you may have set in place, http://bit.ly/2VzpKc7. -Kevin