have you followed the set up instructions here:  http://codex.simple-press.com/codex/plugins/our-plugins/available-plugins/plugin-post-by-email/

Yep. Right after the test connection failed, I double-checked with the web host’s tech support to make sure I had the proper settings. They recommended a port change but that didn’t help anything. 

what are the settings you are using on forum – options – email settings?  screenshot would be nice –  of course, block out the password field..

Here is the info from the host:

Account type: POP3
Incoming server: mail.chicklitwriters.com or mail.contemporaryromance.org
Username: email account
Password: 
Incoming server port number: 143
Incoming server supports SSL: No

Note: contemporaryromance.org is the domain alias for chicklitwriters.com.

Here are the current settings on the plugin.

Any ideas for troubleshooting?

are  you sure pop3 and port 143 are right?  143 is normally an imap port.

That’s what they recommended. However, I tried the standard 110 and I got the same error.

do you use an email client?  have you set up a test account on your client and verified you could send/receive email?  that would be a way to verify the password you are using…

I had the host’s tech support verify mail server settings and configuration. They confirmed that there weren’t any mail server issues and the settings on my site were correct. In addition, they used one of the Simple Press post-to addresses and were able to receive the messages in the inbox via their own test IMAP application (Outlook).

They are convinced that the issue is on the Simple Press end. Are there any plugins known to interfere with this?

Here’s the list of plugins I have activated in the WP installation:

Akismet
All In One SEO Pack
Cache Images
Chat Lite
Custom Recent Posts Widget
Display Widgets
Fast Secure Contact Form
Google XML Sitemaps
Official StatCounter Plugin
Page Restrict
Simple:Press
Simple Login Lockdown
Theme My Login
Wordfence Security
WordPress Flash Uploader
WP Mail SMTP
WP Google Fonts

not sure what to say…  we have hundred or thousands of users using post by email with no problem…  no known conflicts except for one other plugin that replaced the wp mail system but you are not using it…

of course, Wordfence Security is known to conflict with other wp plugins in being overly greedy, but we have not heard of any issues directly related to post by email…

the only other thing that comes to mind is if you are using imap,  you normally would set TLS (not SSL)…

OK, well it seems like I’ve suitably stumped all parties involved. Which is kind of cool, in a way.

One last question before I just plain give up on this — could WP Mail SMTP be interfering? I can’t imagine why the send protocol would be interfering with retrieval/mailbox connection, but I figured since it’s affecting the mail server, you never know. 

It might be a host issue even though they can’t identify it. The host is Jumpline and we had a ton of mail server issues on there (hence WP Mail SMTP).

well, I wouldnt give up yet…  since we not come across a user yet that couldnt get it working…  worst case, lets see if Andy has any ideas this weekend when he returns from vacation…  he actually wrote the pbe plugin so may have some thoughts…

I doubt that mail smtp plugin would cause a problem unless I am not understanding what it does…  but most sites, including us, run an extra smtp plugin.

Yeah, the SMTP plugin just provides delivery via SMTP. Nothing special there.

Let me know if there are any further details I should provide for Andy to review. Thanks!

He should be back this weekend….  I have marked this topic for him to check on…

Andy, have you had a chance to review this yet? Thanks!