By John Carnicella, Center for Academic Computing
You may need to access your e-mail while away from Penn State. Perhaps you want to stay in touch with your friends over the summer or you need to check in with your office while on a business trip. By using the following instructions, you can access your e-mail over the summer or any time you are away from Penn State.
Remove mail that you may have been storing on the server.
Have you signed up for any automatic mailing lists? If you would rather not receive these while away, cancel your subscriptions or put a hold on them. If you leave your subscription services active and do not check your mail while away, you may have hundreds or even thousands of e-mail messages waiting for you when you return. This may cause problems with software. The "welcome" message you probably received when you signed up should contain instructions.
Before proceeding, please note that if you decide to use a commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP), you should be aware of restrictions on sending mail. Individuals who use a third-party ISP such as AT&T @Home or America Online must check mail before attempting to send mail out through smtp.psu.edu. Mail that is sent without first successfully checking for new e-mail on the server will be rejected. This means that you must check your mail before sending e-mail every time you make a new dial-up connection via AOL, for example. For @HOME users, you will have to check before sending the first time you use @HOME in a given hour or so. If you check e-mail via @Home every 30 minutes, you will not be affected after the first time you check e-mail in a given session. If this proves to be a problem for you, a solution is to designate a different SMTP host in your mail settings. We recommend that you check with your ISP to obtain the correct settings for their SMTP server. Some ISPs may not permit you to send PSU addressed email via their SMTP server.
Option 1: Dial into a nearby campus
If
you are within the local calling area of a Penn State campus you can connect
through its dial-up lines. See http://cac.psu.edu/internet/dialup/
for a list of phone numbers. Once you connect, handle your mail as usual.
If you are not within the local calling area of a Penn State campus, it may be useful to compare costs of the various "regional calling plans" offered by your local telephone company. There are a number of different plans, depending upon your calling patterns (frequency, time of day, length of call, etc.) Contact your local telephone service provider to obtain detailed information about calling prices, packages, and promotions.
Option 2: Use a new account
If
you already have an account at your new location that you can use for e-mail
(another university, business, or other Internet Service Provider), you can
forward your e-mail to that account. To set this up, follow these steps:
Select "Change your forwarding address" on the Web.
Enter your Access Account user ID and password.
When your directory entry displays your current destination (for example, xyz123@email.psu.edu), change this to your new destination (for example, me123@aol.com.) Be sure to type it correctly!
Submit the change by selecting the "Change" button.
Once this is complete, all mail addressed to xyz123@psu.edu will go to your new address. If and when you return to Penn State, you will need to change this entry back to xyz123@email.psu.edu (where xyz123 is your Access Account user ID) so that you can again receive mail through your Access Account. Note that this will forward only e-mail sent to xyz123@psu.edu (where xyz123 is your Access Account user ID). Any mail sent to xyz123@email.psu.edu cannot be forwarded, but will remain on the server until you return (or your account is removed). Always tell people to send mail to you at xyz123@psu.edu (where xyz123 is your Access Account user ID).
For more information about forwarding e-mail, including lifetime e-mail forwarding service for Penn State graduates, see http://cac.psu.edu/internet/email.html on the web.
Option 3: Pay for an ISP, or get one for free!
If neither of the above options is available to you, connect through a
commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP). There are several companies that
now offer free access to the web. Freelane.excite.com and bluelight.com are just two examples.
These companies have local phone numbers in many markets but are not available
everywhere, so make sure they have a local phone number before you sign up. The
free ISPs make money by advertising, and some companies track your usage to
better target their advertisements. If you are uncomfortable with this, there
are still ISPs that don't track where you've been. These services are usually
not free, but they often charge a flat rate for unlimited usage and provide a
local telephone number. The fees for these services vary, but typically run
approximately $20 per month. Before you sign up with an ISP, consider how much
time you are going to spend on-line. If you're going to connect strictly to
check your e-mail, long-distance charges for dialing into Penn State's modems
may be more economical.
Option 4: Apply for free Web-based
e-mail
Free Web-based e-mail is available from companies such as Yahoo
and Hotmail (www.yahoo.com and www.hotmail.com respectively). Your
e-mail and address books are saved on their servers and password protected.
Since they are on the Web, these accounts can be accessed wherever you can
access the Web (for example, home, a friend's house, community library,
Internet cafe). Once you have your web account set up, you can forward your
Penn State mail to this web account (see Option 2 above). One caveat: these
sites are paid for by advertisements, so there are advertisements on their Web
sites and they usually add a one-line advertisement to each e-mail you send
using their service. Some sites also allow you to check POP mail. This would
allow you to check your Penn State e-mail even if you have not forwarded it
ahead of time. Not all web mail servers that offer this work with our e-mail
server (Hotmail no longer works, for example) so you'll want to test this ahead
of time.
Once you have your Internet connection, you need to set up whatever software you're going to use to read your mail. If you don't have Eudora or a dedicated e-mail program available, you can use Netscape Communicator, which has built-in e-mail capabilities.
The following instructions pertain to using Penn State's servers for mail access. If you are using a different service, then ask your local network administrator or customer support representative for configuration instructions.
You need to configure the software with your Access Account information and Penn State's server information. (See box for Penn State e-mail server addresses.) Then you can simply tell your e-mail software to "check mail." If you use America Online (AOL) as your ISP, you'll need to either forward your mail from your Penn State account to your AOL account (see Step 2, option 2) or use Eudora, Netscape, or another POP Mail client to check your mail. AOL e-mail software is set up specifically for your AOL mailbox and it can't be set to read e-mail from elsewhere. After you make the connection to AOL, you can launch your e-mail program (Eudora, etc.) and use it normally.
Whichever option you choose should be set up and tested ahead of time, if possible. If you need assistance call the Help Desk at (814) 863-2494 or 863-1035 or send e-mail to helpdesk@psu.edu.