Visitor

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3 Messages

Wednesday, July 29th, 2026 8:26 PM

"Temporarily" Blacklisted

Hi:

I have a Comcast email address, although I am no longer a Comcast customer, and keep getting a "Temporarily blacklisted IP address" error message. I run Linux Mint and Thunderbird as my email Client. I have had this problem, consistently, over the last year. It lasts for  a few days, and then it "magically" gets fixed. I have called Comcast support, and they tell me that as long as I can access their webmail version, that it's not a Comcast problem. I have called Cox Communications (my ISP), and they claim it's not their problem. I have turned off my modem for a few hours (so the IP address lease expires), and that sometimes solves the problem ( although I cannot reproduce this "solution" always). I regularly reset my modem/router every week. I know it's not a Linux/Thunderbird problem, as I started getting this problem when I was running Windows/Outlook. I currently have been "temporarily" blacklisted for a week this time, and I am reaching out for any other ideas on how to fix this problem. I have included output from the Thunderbird Error Console. Note the error claims my password failed, but I know I am entering the correct password. I am old-fashioned and want to continue to use POP3 - I do not need to use IMAP (unless it will solve this problem). Thanks for the help.

pop3.server3.4: Got an error name=pop3PasswordFailed, the server said: [AUTH] Temporarily blacklisted IP Address - try again later Pop3Client.sys.mjs:1627:18
pop3.server3.4: NetworkTimeoutError: a Network error occurred Pop3Client.sys.mjs:365:18
pop3.server3.4: SecurityError info: Pop3Client.sys.mjs:407:20

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Official Employee

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463 Messages

2 days ago

@user_45tgi4 thanks for taking the time to post on our Xfinity Community Forums page. There is only so much that can be done to troubleshoot email on third party mail clients, but I'd like to do everything I can to help. Using POP setting can cause issues when checking your email from multiple devices. Check out our article Set up your Xfinity Email address with an email program, at the bottom there are some tips for using POP settings. Let me know if that helps.

Visitor

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3 Messages

@XfinityAbel​. Thank you for responding to my request for help. Coincidentally (??), about 5 hours after I posted my original help request, I started (magically) to get email delivered to me on my Thunderbird email Client. As many times before when this happened, I did nothing on my end...all of a sudden (for whatever reason out of my control), it just started to work again. As I mentioned in my original help request, I am an old guy who does not sync several devices, so POP is fine for me (I only look at email on my local laptop). I did, however, look at the URL you mentioned and did not see anything that I have not already done in the past. Again, for whatever reason, I get blacklisted. That lasts for a few days (this time a week), and then it magically cures itself. I give Comcast LOTS of credit for allowing me to keep their domain while no longer a customer (Comcast does not offer service where I currently live), but I wonder if this is a way to "nudge" me to look for other email providers (I have NOT transitioned to Yahoo...I am not a big fan of their platform).

Official Employee

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1.1K Messages

@user_45tgi4 I am glad to hear that it is working now, and I do understand that you prefer not to migrate to Yahoo. Hopefully everything will remain working now, and you will not have any further issues getting those emails! Was there anything else we could help you with? 

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Gold Problem Solver

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27.6K Messages

2 days ago

Note the error claims my password failed ...

Perhaps the password "failed" because, instead of sending some sort of "OK" response, the server sent the "Temporarily blacklisted" error message. Your Thunderbird program/app is misinterpreting the Comcast server response. It's a common fault in email programs/apps.
Cox Communications (my ISP) ... I have turned off my modem for a few hours (so the IP address lease expires) ...
Note that IP address the Comcast server is unhappy about is probably not your IP address, it's the address of the Cox device that is trying to pass your request along to Comcast. Changing your IP wouldn't make a difference.

I know of no user fix for this problem, other than sending using a different ISP. It goes away because eventually Cox sends from a different address, or Comcast decides that the address is OK. Sorry!

(edited)

Visitor

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3 Messages

@BruceW​. Thank you for responding to my request for help. As a (recently retired) 40 year Software Developer/System Administrator/System Tester, I completely agree with your assessment about the "quality" of error messages coming out of Software these days. There was many a review where I would make the comment about the text string not matching the error condition, and was promptly ignored! I have since learned there is now a word for that - "ensh**ification". Regardless of the error message, however, the problem is still that the Comcast Servers are rejecting my query. I also agree with you that it's Cox who really controls the IP address (I have my router set to to dynamically get it from Cox). What I do not understand is why Comcast and Cox cannot "get along". Cox is a major ISP, as is Comcast. I am not sure about Comcast, but Cox has Class 1 IP addresses. Why does Comcast reject requests from (what should be) a well-known IP address? Further, if Cox always uses the same (set of) addresses (and it does), why does Comcast sometimes accept and sometimes reject my email queries? I realize computing is VERY complex these days (with all the Security/etc measures that did not exist when I started), so that may explain the inconsistencies.

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