MS Office 365 upgrade

[Nick101]

Some months ago I received an email from BT advising me that I would be upgraded to MS Office 365 on a specific date. A second email postponed this to a later date. A third email then told me the upgrade had been delayed due to "unprecedented demand" and I would receive further information. Since then I've heard nothing. Has anyone else had anything similar?

[FSDSMAN]

You are bloody lucky disaster has not struck yet. Yes and a complete mess.

[Nick101]

Thanks for this! I thought BT referring to it as "unprecedented demand" was probably code for "unmitigated disaster".

[Rank_Outsider]

We've been in the same situation for months.  I've been trying to get a definitive answer on whether email can continue to be accessed using IMAP on a Blackberry once the upgrade to Office 365 goes through.  No one seems to know for sure and although there are server settings described here the Blackberry setup pages don't mention IMAP settings (but neither do they say it's not possible).  This would be a big problem for us, so to be honest, the delay has suited us for the time being (although if we can use IMAP then we are currently paying more than we need as the Office 365 system is cheaper).

I don't see how it can be "unprecedented demand".  I suppose the demand could technically be considered unprecedented, given that BT have not upgraded their servers to Office 365 before (obviously), but since this is a BT-driven process and they know how many customers they have to upgrade, surely the demand was not unexpected?  I suspect the email should have said "unexpected problems" instead...

[triciar]

My email to tell me this was happening was sent AFTER it was changed. I thought emails had been a bit quiet on 12/9/12 then nothing 13/9/12. Decided to ring the help desk. Was told I had been upgraded & should have followed the email instructions I received on 12th! Not very helpful. When I explained I could not because by then email had been stopped on the old system & I had not received the changeover email, a very surly, miserable, non talkative, unhelpful young man spent 48 minutes trying to resolve the issue, said he could not resolve it, said 2nd line support would call me the next day as they only work 9-5. Guess what - no call of course! By this time it was 15th Sept and I was losing the will to live on the phone to the helpdesk again. Finally I got someone at the other end who knew what they were doing & fixed it on that call within 15 minutes. "Did I want to give a customer service feedback?" You bet I did. I know nothing will improve but it made me feel better! I STILL cant get email on my phone though. I think every upgrade should have come with a free bottle of wine and some valium to help smooth the way! As the saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! 

[Stephenc]

Hi Rank_Outdier,

IMAP does work on the new platform, the server name can be found by logging into the webmail.

This can also be setup as exchange.

When the upgrade goes through you need to select the option to get a premium licence against your domain name as this currently cannot be added later.

If you are using a btconnect.com address, you would need to buy a domain name as IMAP will no longer be possible on btconnect.com addresses.

Thanks,

Steve

[Rank_Outsider]

Hi Steve,

Thank you for the info.  We have a domain name hosted by BT and plan to purchase one 'premium' Office 365 account and keep the rest as the basic/'lite' Office 365 accounts after the upgrade.

When you say that IMAP will work on the new platform, do you mean that it will work accessing email via a Blackberry?  In either case, the help files on the topic need to be clarified.

When the backlog/problems with the upgrade are sorted out, will we get plenty of notice about a new upgrade date?  I am concerned that it might happen when I am not around to change email settings etc, and then our other users will not be able to access email until I get back - as well as this thread, I remember reading at least one other account where the upgrade happened without apparent warning.

[Stephenc]

Hi Rank_Outsider,

The pop accounts work on a blackberry, I've never tried it to be honest, but I can't imagine there would be any difficulty with that, the only issue with blackberry's is generally you need to misspell the address to enter settings manually.

You should get three emails about the upgrade, two a while in advance and one at the time the change happens, I have however seen in the last couple of weeks that the last email was corrupt and did not download, I believe this has been resolved.

If you login to your account at http://myoffice.bt.com and click manage services, and check in the email widget, there maybe an option for "upgrade centre" if you go in here, you should be able to see the date of migration and in most cases change this to a date that would be best for yourself.

Thanks,

Steve

[Rank_Outsider]

Hi Steve,

Thank you.  I am aware that POP will work, however it doesn't offer the functionality we need with the Blackberry (which is BIS).  We were using POP with the current email system but switched to IMAP which is ideal in terms of 'synchronising' etc.  I've been told by BT (after many calls) that it should work with IMAP but a definitive answer would be great - my boss won't be happy if he can't use his Blackberry properly after the upgrade!

[robotics1uk]

Glad to find a BT employee here. I did call but the guy did not answer my question. Basically all our emails are xx@strobotics.com and not btconnect. I do have some btconnect emails for emergencies but I assume they will stop working. I use Thunderbird not Outlook and the agent told me that it would no longer work. Basically all I want is an Internet connection able to relay my pop and smtp messages. I don't want to be tied in to Microsoft for anything and I like things under my control. I have not been able to find out what changes I can actually expect. Will we still be able to access our many pop/smtp email accounts through these two business broadband connections. Will I still be able to use Openzone? What will happen to gmail and yahoo accounts thru pop/smpt?

I'm sorry if the questions are asinine but honestly there is virtually no information about what Micorsoft 365 will actually mean other that we are going to get it whether we like it or not with scary mentions of Outlook 2010 which I would not touch with a bargepole.

I am sincerely worried that on day x all our emails will stop working and my business will freeze. I rely on email as the major communication with our customers and suppliers. I need to know if this is the outlook (pun intended).

David