E-Mail Problems Intermittent For 3 Weeks

[appleMacTech]

I am an ACMT (Apple Certified Macintosh Technician) with 27 years experience. Our e-mail accounts through Shaw were all working perfectly for years. That is, until around Dec. 20th, 2019 (last year). Then, at random -- totally intermittent all day long -- we get "can't connect to imap.shaw.ca" or "multiple account errors" when checking e-mail using Apple Mail on our phones and desktop computers. Everything works fine for 2, 3 or 4 hours and then it starts to screw up. Then 2 hours later, it's fine again. One of our Macs is running macOS 10.11 El Capitan, another runs macOS 10.14 Mojave. iPhones running iOS 12.4 and 13.3. This problem happens even if we take an iPhone out to a coffee shop and use the coffee shop's wi-fi. Happens if we use Shaw wi-fi out on the street somewhere. Happens when we log onto our neighbor's wi-fi. Happens with our own wired and wi-fi network. There is absolutely no pattern to the problem whatsoever, it is the most frustrating and annoying problem we have ever experienced in the 20+ years we've been a Shaw customer. Shaw technical support is as absolutely useless as ever. For them, if you can check your e-mail using webmail, then there is no problem. Sorry, but there IS a problem. I replaced our modem. I replaced our router. Deleted and reconfigured all of our e-mail accounts. Problem still exists. I have spent hours on the phone to Shaw and the closest I got was yesterday when a tech support rep in Winnipeg said "something had been changed on Shaw's end around -- you got it, Dec. 20th, 2019". WHEN is Shaw going to fix this problem? This was also happening with the exchange server (wm.shaw.ca) so I switched our phones over to imap.shaw.ca thinking it would resolve the problem. Nope. I remember years ago back around 2010/2011 how we would get the dreaded spinning wheel in Apple Mail using Shaw. That went on for a good year or two and then it got fixed. Now it's back. Maybe other Mac users can chime in here if they are experiencing this "exceptional connectivity" that we just paid yet another rate increase for:

We increase our rates to ensure we can continue providing the same exceptional connectivity and content experience while meeting the evolving needs of our customers as programming costs rise and Internet usage continues to grow.

[Cholm]

Both my wife an I are experiencing similar issues on iPhones. Both running 13.3. The account can be deleted, re-added and updated, but shortly after we both get an account error stating the server cannot be reached. 

[Boosh]

Seeing the same issue here on iOS 13.3, but not on iOS 12.x. It’s annoying as hell. Started about 2-3 weeks ago, as OP mentioned.

[MegS]

Similar problem - my emails won't send from desktop, but will from i-phone. I can receive emails on both. Problem started around Dec. 20. Shaw technical support told me shaw is having and issue with Apple and Microsoft which won't support shaw email any more. they told me to use what webmail. I am so ticked off, I'm planning to remove all my services from shaw - problem is changing email address after 20 years. 

[shaw-tony]

@appleMacTech @MegS @Boosh @Cholm I am very sorry for the frustrations. I haven't heard of any reports of known issues relating to this. I have sent a ticket up to our engineering teams to investigate. It is tracked under ENOP0007174.

[appleMacTech]

Exact same problem we're having. This is a SHAW problem. It happened years ago and took forever to fix. Their system does NOT like Apple Mail.

[appleMacTech]

Yes, they told me to not use Apple Mail and to use webmail, can you believe that? They made a change and they are not coming clean on it. It is affecting Mac users everywhere.

[appleMacTech]

Please FIX it. It has gotten worse over the past few days. As you can see, there are others having this same issue and you can be guaranteed that many more people will start chiming in on this problem. Fix your e-mail servers so that they actually work with Apple computers, Apple MAIL in particular.

[MegS]

I'm leaving Shaw entirely because I'm so ticked off over this. It is a major pain to change e-mail addresses but I'm in the process as we speak. 

[MegS]

yes, they said this to me too. Done with Shaw.