Microsoft confirms Hotmail POP3 access for US and Brazil

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Earlier, you may remember Neowin reporting that the Windows Live team had added POP3 functionality to their Hotmail service. Unfortunately, it has only available in select countries, but now they've expanded.

A blog post from the Windows Live Hotmail team has confirmed that you can now get POP3 Hotmail access in the United States, and Brazil. Microsoft has been adding more features to Hotmail over the last week and had promised POP3 access for the US and Brazil would be coming this week, and they have delivered. Previously, United States users of Hotmail had to change their country to get access on mobile devices. Now it's natively supported, ready to go.

Here's a reminder on how to set it up:

POP server: pop3.live.com (Port 995)
POP SSL required? Yes
User name: Your Windows Live ID, for example yourname@hotmail.com
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
SMTP server: smtp.live.com (Port 25 or 587)
Authentication required? Yes (this matches your POP username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes

For those unsure what this all means, basically you can now get easy Hotmail access on your BlackBerry or iPhone. On an iPhone, all of these settings are auto-detected when after you give the device your email address. You can also use non-Microsoft desktop email clients such as Thunderbird or Mac Mail to connect to Hotmail and download your messages.

United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Japan, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands all previously had access and the team expects to add more countries soon, so keep watching.

(1 reply) #1 JohnCz on 13 Feb 2009 - 00:00

I'm happy that I can now use Live Mail's SMTP servers to send automated alerts from a particular application we're using.

#1.1 +DonC on 13 Feb 2009 - 22:12

JohnCz said,

I'm in the UK and I want to do exactly this. And I just get connection refused.

(2 replies) #2 profets on 13 Feb 2009 - 00:03

why couldnt they have just given us imap....

#2.1 Marshalus on 13 Feb 2009 - 00:12

I know, I hate POP3.

#2.2 mattnotley2004 on 13 Feb 2009 - 01:23

true... POP3 sucks, especially for mobile devices. We need IMAP!!

#3 QuietStorm21A on 13 Feb 2009 - 00:40

For those unsure what this all means, basically you can now get easy Hotmail access on your BlackBerry or iPhone.

I have always been able to access my hotmail & live mail on blackberry ever since BIS was upgrade to 2.5 i hope MS allows imap soon only time will tell.

(4 replies) #4 IntelliMoo on 13 Feb 2009 - 00:50

Too late, but finally! lol

#4.1 Rolith on 13 Feb 2009 - 01:10

"Too late" Really? Cause as far as I was aware, hotmail still out-accounts gmail or any of the nearest competitors. I've had my hotmail for over a decade, and with recent improvements to it's web interface, and especially how awesome windows live mail is, I've been using it more and more, and eventually set my gmail up to forward to my hotmail account.

sure, other providers already have pop3, but I'm for one still very much in love with Hotmail and every step Microsoft makes lately towards it has been an imporvement.

#4.2 luis mazza on 13 Feb 2009 - 01:25

Hotmail only wins because of Windows Live Messenger... It´s very popular in Brazil. But it doesn´t really mean that people actually use it as an e-mail account. They mostly have an account because of messenger.
They really missed this functionality because of bad strategy when initially aiming to profit from some kind of publicity, which never really worked.

#4.3 Marshalus on 13 Feb 2009 - 02:05

Actually, I think that is the other way around. WLM is popular because of Hotmail.

#4.4 Vakerorokero on 13 Feb 2009 - 05:28

actually hotmail.com is popular because it's Microsoft Windows' default choice. once people know there are option get another one, but keep using hotmail.com because they already spend a lot of time using it, even if until recently was very limited.

#5 Rolith on 13 Feb 2009 - 01:52

Gmail is bound to jabber/gtalk protocal as well as google apps... you're point?

#6 +warwagon on 13 Feb 2009 - 02:43

I love Pop3 allows me to keep a copy of my emails on my computer as well as on Gmail.

(1 reply) #7 P1R4T3 on 13 Feb 2009 - 04:24

Is there a way/notification in Live Mail that I can check to see if my account is POP enabled?

#7.1 Vakerorokero on 13 Feb 2009 - 05:23

I think you just set it up on the program you want. I'm in Mexico and used the mail app and it got and the setting by itself, but said the service isn't ready in my area.

#8 JonathanVP on 13 Feb 2009 - 05:00

anyone got this to work with the latest version of eudora?

#9 Chugworth on 13 Feb 2009 - 05:07

Free Hotmail accounts have also been given unrestricted mail forwarding. I just set my Hotmail account to forward to Gmail.

(1 reply) #10 nozen09 on 13 Feb 2009 - 05:31

Which email program is better to use Windows Live Mail or Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 or Thunderbird?

#10.1 +DonC on 13 Feb 2009 - 22:29

nozen09 said,

I'd say Outlook 2007.

#11 Lare2 on 13 Feb 2009 - 10:09

POP3 in 2009 ? LOL

#12 cabron on 13 Feb 2009 - 19:06

Using Apple Mail and this hotmail pop3 works like a charm!

(1 reply) #13 spoiledbrt on 14 Feb 2009 - 08:01

working fine for me on my iphone except that I see only inbox doesnt show other folders

#13.1 ROM3000 on 15 Feb 2009 - 00:40

The only other folders that will show up are the trash, sent, and drafts folders, but they only show up when you actually use them. In other words, when you delete a message from your inbox, the trash folder will show up.

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