Fixing Comcast email since the move to Yahoo on Mac Mail

Posted on Reddit, in case it helps someone. If you migrate and it helped or if updates are needed to these instructions, please post here (or at Reddit) and I will let CCRaulC know.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Comcast_Xfinity/comments/1pwh4zz/did_anyone_successfully_migrate_to_yahoo_and_made/

CCRaulC

Community Specialist

I hear your frustration and honestly, after reviewing the Apple Discussions thread you shared and the Yahoo migration documentation, it’s clear there's some confusion caused by the instructions. That gap is exactly why so many people are stuck.

Here's a step by step instruction on how to get through this migration:

🟦 PART 1 — Understanding the Passwords There are three different passwords involved, and this is where Comcast’s instructions fall apart.

1. Your old Comcast email password This is the password you used before the migration.

After migration, it is no longer used for Apple Mail.

2. The “new strong password” Comcast asks you to create This becomes your Yahoo account password.

You use it only for:

Signing in at mail.yahoo.com

Signing in at connect.xfinity.com

You do NOT use this password in Apple Mail.

3. The Yahoo “App Password” This is the password Apple Mail must use.

Apple Mail cannot authenticate with your normal Yahoo password.

This is the missing step that Comcast never explains.

The Apple thread confirms this is the only method that works reliably.

🟦 PART 2 — Generate the Yahoo App Password This is the key step.

Go to mail.yahoo.com and sign in using your new strong password.

Click your profile icon → Account Security.

Scroll to "App Passwords" (under “External connections”).

Click Generate App Password.

Name it “Mac Mail”.

Copy the generated password.

This is the password you will paste into Apple Mail.

🟦 PART 3 — Configure Apple Mail (IMAP – Recommended)

1. Open Apple Mail → Settings → Accounts Remove your old Comcast account (it will not work anymore).
2. Add a new account Choose Other Mail Account
3. (NOT “Yahoo” — this is important; choosing Yahoo breaks the setup).
4. Enter: Email: yourname@comcast.net

Password: paste the Yahoo App Password

Name: anything you want

It will fail the first time — this is expected.

4. When the server fields unlock, enter: Incoming (IMAP) Server: imap.mail.yahoo.com

Port: 993

SSL: Yes

Outgoing (SMTP) Server: smtp.mail.yahoo.com

Port: 465 or 587

SSL: Yes

Authentication: Password

Username: your full @comcast.net email

Password: the Yahoo App Password

5. Save It should now connect successfully.

This exact method is confirmed working by multiple users in the Apple thread.

🟦 PART 4 — POP Setup (if you insist on POP) Yahoo still supports POP, but Apple Mail makes it difficult because it tries to auto‑detect Comcast servers.

You must follow the same steps as IMAP, but use:

Incoming (POP) Server: pop.mail.yahoo.com

Port: 995

SSL: Yes

Outgoing (SMTP) Same as IMAP:

smtp.mail.yahoo.com

Port 465 or 587

SSL: Yes

Again, use the Yahoo App Password, not your normal password.

🟦 PART 5 — Common Problems & Fixes ❗ Apple Mail keeps trying to use old Comcast servers This is why you must:

Choose Other Mail Account, not Yahoo

Let the first login attempt fail so you can manually edit servers

❗ SMTP won’t send Users in the Apple thread reported this too.

Fix:

Delete all old Comcast SMTP entries in Mail → Settings → Accounts → Server Settings

Add only:

smtp.mail.yahoo.com

App Password

❗ POP accounts cannot be created Apple Mail sometimes refuses to allow POP for Comcast addresses.

Workaround:

Temporarily create the account as IMAP

Then manually change the incoming server to POP settings

🟦 PART 6 — Summary Table Purpose Password to Use Where Sign in to Yahoo Mail New strong password mail.yahoo.com Sign in to Xfinity New strong password connect.xfinity.com Apple Mail login Yahoo App Password Mail → Add Account Incoming/Outgoing servers Yahoo servers imap.mail.yahoo.com / smtp.mail.yahoo.com

Finally worked. What a pain. Comcast has really deteriorated in quality of support and service.

+1... a big thank-you to Cybris2001!

@RHL CO,

In another thread the following advice was provided for POP users, as related to Apple Mail configuration after the Comcast migration to Yahoo/Comcast:

"All you need to do is set up the new Mailbox and it will default to IMAP, since that is now the default, but you just need to enter the wrong password when setting up and you will see a message that says it failed to set up and then on top of the screen there is an option to switch to POP (you may need to scroll down to see it). After that you can enter the correct Password and set up the incoming(POP) and outgoing(SMTP) mail servers yourself per the settings the provider requires for the POP account.

I would not recommend setting it up as IMAP, then changing the servers to the POP account. "

How to setup a Pop account for mac Mail after the Comcast migration

This is an absolute lifesaver! Thank you so much for posting this, Cybris. One typo, however: the Incoming Mail Server is: imap.mail.yahoo.com (the post left out the i in imap). I could not get my Yahoo account to get online in Apple mail using just my Yahoo email address and password. Called Comcast and, amazingly, they were completely clueless. How can they do a huge migration like this and not have their phone reps updated on how to do this? Nor could I find anything on their website. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Cybris. Until I found this I was tearing my hair out.

This sure works. Thank you.

Problem is Yahoo servers are never available 100%. Work fine for a few days then errors for couple of days and then start working again. Same issue with frontier mail as well which moved to yahoo servers. Don't know how to address that.

For your iphone just use the regular process. Click plus button to add account, put in your Comcast email account, select Yahoo, then put in the password you used when you migratrd to Yahoo. No need for app password, that is only needed for Mac. No clue why that is.

This procedure did not work for me. Note: yahoo set up my account just fine, but it's an IMAP account and I need a POP account.

Yes, the original login with @comcast.net timed out. Then I changed account type to POP and entered the server names for POP at Yahoo. Timed out again.

Anyone have any suggestions for how to do this for a POP account? I'm wondering if the issue is the name you use for the app when generating an app password on Yahoo. I tried "Apple mail", "Mac Mail", and "Mail" (which is the name of the app on MacOS). All timed out.

It may be that Apple is being too clever when you enter an email address in this method and tries to go to the @whatever that you entered. When it times out on the initial login the next screen, which has the mail servers showing, uses the comcast servers, not yahoo servers. So it thinks I'm setting up a comcast account even though the servers are yahoo.com.

BTW, I also left off the @comcast of my email address but put in the yahoo servers and it still timed out.

majority of time it is with sending out mail - even though connection doctor shows SMTP is working fine. I have a regular yahoo account and use Mac mail for it and have no issues. but then it was set up using "yahoo mail" in setting it up - and not other. go figure.

I have two Comcast accounts. I assume that in order to configure them on the iphone, I have to re-add them on the iphone. in Settings for Mail. Do I have to first delete the existing name1@comcast.net and name2@comcast.net accounts? Thanks.

Thanks for your tip.

I have tried these steps repeatedly and still cannot access my Comcast mail on my iPhone. Any suggestions on where to get support?

Doesn't "frontier" have a support team that you could ask?