How is BB10 handling POP3 email?

**smithjohn57** · 02-01-2013, 08:46 AM

How is BB10 handling POP3 email now that there are some questions around the role of BIS going forward? Previously Blackberry servers polled the POP server every 15 minutes and pulled email if they find it and push it to the Blackberry, is this still the case with BB10? I think it is important to know for those of us who have ISPs that are still POP3 and have no intention of moving to Gmail or Outlook. Thanks.

**ssbtech** · 02-01-2013, 11:50 AM

You can set up a POP3 email account on the phone as a standard mail client with your phone polling every xx minutes.

**BriniaSona** · 02-01-2013, 12:10 PM

So I no longer get emails instantly like on the Legacy os? That kinda sucks as I get ssoooooo many a day and rely on it for business and school stuff.

**ssbtech** · 02-01-2013, 12:14 PM

You never got POP3 messages instantly on your phone. BIS polls the POP3 server every 15 minutes.

**BriniaSona** · 02-01-2013, 12:17 PM

Guess I was miss informed. I always thought the legacy os received incoming mail instantly. Anywho. If it's the same system as before for email, then I hope it does very well.

**ssbtech** · 02-01-2013, 12:24 PM

It's not the same as before, there is no BIS with BB10.

Instead of BIS doing the polling every 15 minutes, your phone will have to do that.

**smithjohn57** · 02-01-2013, 12:27 PM

Actually, I believe if BIS found an email it then went to 3 minute polling of the POP server until 15 minutes had passed without a new email, then it was back to 15 minutes. This is really unfortunate beacuse having the phone poll the server will hinder battery life of the phone. It is strange that Blackberry is taking a step backwards on email, since that is what differentiated them from thier competition. . Does anyone know if you can have the phone poll more often then every 15 minutes?

**redk** · 02-01-2013, 01:08 PM

can you force it to check for new mail like you can on the playbook?

**peter9477** · 02-01-2013, 03:02 PM

Wow, there are still ISPs with only POP3? That's sad... BB10 does handle IMAP very well now, and it's been working with my Dovecot server with no issues whatsoever (whereas the PlayBook had some troubles early on with 2.0, though nowadays it's fine as well).

Maybe your provider can actually switch you to an IMAP connection as well... have you checked?

**netwerx1** · 02-01-2013, 03:05 PM

I get my POP3 mail (thru BIS) instantly on my 9900, always have

**knicksfan** · 02-01-2013, 03:20 PM

I do as well

**Boyko Yordanov** · 02-01-2013, 03:23 PM

Originally Posted by peter9477

Wow, there are still ISPs with only POP3? That's sad... BB10 does handle IMAP very well now, and it's been working with my Dovecot server with no issues whatsoever (whereas the PlayBook had some troubles early on with 2.0, though nowadays it's fine as well).

Do you also get IMAP IDLE push mail with Dovecot and the built-in email client on BB10?

**joeldf** · 02-01-2013, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by peter9477

Wow, there are still ISPs with only POP3? That's sad... BB10 does handle IMAP very well now, and it's been working with my Dovecot server with no issues whatsoever (whereas the PlayBook had some troubles early on with 2.0, though nowadays it's fine as well).

Maybe your provider can actually switch you to an IMAP connection as well... have you checked?

Yes. My ISP, Cox, only does pop3. No imap option.

**experiment 626** · 02-01-2013, 03:37 PM

Same here.I still use my Earthlink address as my main email and Earthlink only uses POP3.

**peter9477** · 02-01-2013, 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by Boyko Yordanov

Do you also get IMAP IDLE push mail with Dovecot and the built-in email client on BB10?

Yes. If I send a message from my desktop machine, by the time I can pick up my Z10 and swipe it on, the message is already there.

(I've also checked server logs in the past, to confirm IDLE etc.)

**SEAWARRIOR** · 02-01-2013, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by netwerx1

I get my POP3 mail (thru BIS) instantly on my 9900, always have

THIS,,,never understood the 15 minute thing,,, mine have ALWAYS been instant...

**joeldf** · 02-01-2013, 11:31 PM

Originally Posted by SEAWARRIOR

THIS,,,never understood the 15 minute thing,,, mine have ALWAYS been instant...

Mine was never instant. BIS polls the pop3 server every 15 minutes. RIM documents this in their knowledge base articles. If an email is there, it sends it to your phone and checks again in just 3 minutes. If you happen to get a lot of emails, it may seem fairly instant. If there is nothing after the next few polls, then it goes back to the 15 minute cycle.

**SEAWARRIOR** · 02-02-2013, 01:33 AM

Originally Posted by joeldf

Mine was never instant. BIS polls the pop3 server every 15 minutes. RIM documents this in their knowledge base articles. If an email is there, it sends it to your phone and checks again in just 3 minutes. If you happen to get a lot of emails, it may seem fairly instant. If there is nothing after the next few polls, then it goes back to the 15 minute cycle.

i might get 5 a day,,, i've timed it & it's any where from 1 to 5 minutes depending how i send it,,, i.e. directly to my main email or use an alternate,,, i timed it too many times to be coincidental w/ polls...

**smithjohn57** · 02-02-2013, 10:23 AM

I find it rather fascinating that BB10 has had a launch event and the Z10 is already on sale, but we can not get a definitive answer on how BB10 is handling POP email. As I said earlier if Blackberry is foregoing BIS and POP will become fetch only, it is a real step backwards for the consumer segment.

**Omnitech** · 02-03-2013, 03:01 AM

Originally Posted by joeldf

Mine was never instant. BIS polls the pop3 server every 15 minutes. RIM documents this in their knowledge base articles. If an email is there, it sends it to your phone and checks again in just 3 minutes. If you happen to get a lot of emails, it may seem fairly instant. If there is nothing after the next few polls, then it goes back to the 15 minute cycle.

In my informal observation it seemed like it was polling more like every 2 minutes. (I operate the POP servers) But I haven't done any recent profiling of that activity, I'll have to go check the logs again.

It would be a step backwards for some people to have to resort to polling directly from the mobile device. Even IMAP is not technically "push" - it requires a persistent TCP connection/open socket to keep updated on new messages even using the IDLE feature, and still requires some sort of poll or 'keepalive' to be issued at least every 29 minutes. From the RFC document on IMAP IDLE:

RFC 2177 - IMAP4 IDLE command

"The server MAY consider a client inactive if it has an IDLE command running, and if such a server has an inactivity timeout it MAY log the client off implicitly at the end of its timeout period. Because of that, clients using IDLE are advised to terminate the IDLE and re-issue it at least every 29 minutes to avoid being logged off. This still allows a client to receive immediate mailbox updates even though it need only "poll" at half hour intervals."

But it seems to me that this might be part of Blackberry's strategy to unwrap themselves from their BIS dependency, which causes all their customers to go offline whenever they have a short BIS outage. It's an Achilles Heel for them, most of their competition isn't vulnerable to outages the way Blackberry is.

FWIW, there are services that will poll POP3 servers for you, but it's an extra 'middle man' and you have to give your account credentials to them for them to do that. (I suppose it's a question of whether you trust Blackberry or them more. Personally I'm kind of amazed at how many organizations have login credentials to everyone's personal online accounts, for the sake of 'convenience'. What a treasure trove when some spook wants to go on a fishing expedition and in many cases the provider can't even tell your attorney they are giving access to them or they'll get thrown into a secret jail someplace.)