How to Add BT, Virgin Media and Plusnet Accounts

These three UK broadband providers don't share settings or rules. BT, Virgin Media and Plusnet each run their own servers, and one of them won't accept your ordinary password in a mail app at all. Find your provider below and use only that block — every value here comes from the provider's own support page, linked in each section.

Virgin Media — blueyonder.co.uk, ntlworld.com, virginmedia.com

Start here: you need an app password. Virgin Media does not accept your normal password in a mail app. You have to generate a separate app password first, and use that in BlueMail instead. This is the usual reason a Blueyonder or ntlworld address fails to add.

To create one:

1. Sign in to My Virgin Media on the app.
2. Go to Account settings, then Account details.
3. Under Virgin Media Mail, tap Manage next to Manage your Virgin Media Mail app password.
4. Under Virgin Media Mail app password, tap Generate new App password and follow the instructions.

Then use your full email address as the username and the app password as the password.

The same settings cover Virgin Media, Blueyonder and ntlworld addresses. Virgin Media's own instructions: How to manage your email server settings.

BT — btinternet.com, btopenworld.com

Use your full email address as the username. BT requires SMTP authentication on the outgoing server — without it, sending fails with a 530 error. BT also says not to turn on Secure Password Authentication (SPA) if your mail program offers it, and not to use STARTTLS on these ports.

There is no app-specific password for BT Email. BT's setup pages don't mention one, so if BT rejects your sign-in, check the password itself in BT webmail first. BT's own instructions: BT Email server settings.

Plusnet — plus.com

Plusnet lists STARTTLS: Yes against the whole table, and gives the 465 row as the fallback for apps that can't do STARTTLS. If the incoming connection is refused with STARTTLS on port 993, switch the Security dropdown to SSL, TLS and leave the port alone.

For your main Plusnet mailbox, the username and password are the same as your Plusnet account username and password — not a separate mail password. If your address ends in .force9.net or .free-online.net, swap .plus.net for that domain in both server names. Plusnet's own instructions: How to set up Plusnet email.

Where these go in BlueMail

Try the normal sign-in first. On the password screen, Allow BlueMail to auto-detect the server details of your account is ticked by default — leave it ticked and tap Next. If that works, you're done.

If BlueMail can't find the details, enter them by hand:

1. First account? Tap Continue, type your email address, tap Sign in, then tap Having trouble? Manual Setup under the Sign in button. Already have an account in BlueMail? Go to Settings | Accounts | Add Account.
2. On the Choose provider screen, tap Manual Setup at the bottom.
3. Choose IMAP (or POP3).
4. Fill in the form — it holds the server, Security and Port fields. Pick SSL, TLS or STARTTLS in the Security dropdown to match the table above, and use your full email address as the username.

Full walkthrough: Configuring your account manually.

Already added the account and need to correct a value? Its server details are under Settings | Accounts | [tap the account] | Incoming/Outgoing Settings — see Edit Account.

Still stuck

Why Won't My Account Add? Quick Fixes covers the fastest things to check, and Can't Add My Account works through the other usual causes. If the account added but won't stay connected, see Connection issues, sync failures or missing emails.