Some Imail e-mails not working

After clicking send on e-mails this week, many students received error messages for e-mails sent to IU students and faculty.

“Students at IU and other universities have reported problems accessing Microsoft Live Mail, branded at IU as Imail, both yesterday and today,” said Manager of University Communications Charles Rondot.

However, Rondot said the problem is not with the indiana.edu addresses but with Microsoft Live Mail, which has recently had problems.

“We are still experiencing inconsistent user behavior as we resolve the issue. The problem stems from the DNS (domain name service) cache refresh time. We expect this to resolve itself on its own. Unfortunately, the problem is within the DNS systems and is not connected to any specific problem with the mail system,” Microsoft said in a statement.

Students with Imail might be experiencing difficulties because Imail is through Microsoft, while Umail is through Google, Rondot said.

“IU has posted a notification about the problem on the UITS twitter feed,” he said. “You can follow the progress of the problem through the IT Notices link posted on the feed.”
Freshman Alaina Hill said the situation was more than not ideal but not a huge problem.

“If there is an issue with the indiana.edu address,” Hill said, “then it will be stressful and tedious to tell friends and family you have to write it this way, not that way.”
But Rondot reassured students to not change their e-mail address.

For Hill, the problem isn’t a big one as she uses other ways to communicate.

“I think nowadays everyone is big on texting and phone calls more than e-mail,” Hill said. “Most students use the e-mail for educational use. If the address has to be changed then educators and advisors will be aware.”