Help and Support

Want to contact us about your email problem?

Before contacting us, we recommend reading the advice on this page, you might be able to fix the problem yourself.

If you do need to speak to Customer support, you can call us or use Contact us. So we can help you quickly, please provide as much of the following information as you can:

  • What the problem is
  • The email program you use
  • The email address you're having problems with
  • The error messages are you seeing (if any)

Check the settings in your email program

A lot of the email problems Customer support deal with are fixed by checking and correcting settings in your email program. The most common mistakes are made when entering the email address and the email username and password.

If you want to check your email program settings before calling us, our Email setup guides show you how to check and fix settings with all the major email programs for Windows and OS X.

Check your security software

Sometimes an anti-virus or firewall problem can prevent your email program from sending or receiving mail. This sometimes happens after virus definition updates or when a firewall is accidentally configured to block email traffic.

To find out if either is causing the problem, simply turn off your anti-virus and/or firewall and try using your email program again to see if the problem is now fixed. If it works then your security software is causing the problem.

Most problems with security software can solved by removing and re-installing the program in question. Unfortunately we can't offer support for third party software.

Check Service status

If we're aware of any major problems or we're performing maintenance on our servers we'll post about it on our Service status feed so it's worth checking there first.

You'll find that our systems are up-and-running smoothly for the majority of the time, but problems do happen and sometimes we have to take systems down for maintenance.

Help with common problems

If you have a specific problem that you don't think is covered in the advice above, click on the type of problem you're having and we'll explain how to fix it.

I can't send email unless I'm connected to my John Lewis Broadband line.

To send email while away from your John Lewis Broadband line you have two options:

I have to enter a password when I send email and I don't know what it is.

This means that your email program is using SMTP authentication. You should enter your account password (the one you use to log in to this web site). If this doesn't work, follow the SMTP authentication guide for your email program and make sure you've entered your account username and password correctly.

When I try to send email, I get this error: 503 valid RCPT command must precede DATA

To fix this error, check your email program settings (see our Email setup guides to find out how) and make sure your email address is entered correctly.

Once registered, your John Lewis Broadband email address will look like this: username@john-lewis.com

Once you've fixed your email address, delete any emails stored in your outbox and try sending email again.

Emails sent to me arrive late

If the email delay is caused by our systems, it's likely that the problem will be affecting a large number of John Lewis Broadband customers meaning we'll have posted something about it on Service status. It's a good idea to check this before you do anything else: https://johnlewisbroadband.servicestatus.net/.

Otherwise, we'll need to see the headers from the delayed email.

When you have the header information, use Contact us to raise a query with Customer support and we'll investigate for you. Please try to include the following information:

  • The sender's email address
  • The address they are trying to send to
  • Header information from the delayed email
  • How long the problem has been happening

I don't receive replies to my emails

Check your email settings (see our Email setup guides if you're not sure how) and make sure you've entered the email address properly.

If you're using a John Lewis Broadband address, make sure it ends in john-lewis.com.

I get connection errors or timeouts

Make sure you're connected to the internet and you can browse websites.

Sometimes an anti-virus or firewall problem can prevent your email program from sending or receiving mail. This sometimes happens after virus definition updates or when a firewall is accidentally configured to block email traffic.

To find out if either is causing the problem, simply turn off your antivirus and/or firewall and try using your email program again to see if the problem is now fixed.

If the problem is fixed, this proves that your security software is the problem. You'll be able to fix it by removing and re-installing the program in question. Unfortunately we can't offer support for third party software.

When I log in to Webmail, email I've read previously isn't there

There are two possible causes of this:

  • You're using the wrong details to log in: Make sure you're logging in with the correct username and password for the email address you want to check (I'm not sure what these are).

  • Your email program is setup to use POP3: once you've downloaded your email it will be removed from our servers. To change this behaviour you should be able to change the settings so email is left on our server for a set period of time (usually for 14 days or until you delete it). Please our Email setup guides if you don't know how to change the settings on your email program.

I'm getting a lot of spam

If you're getting spam from random addresses, our spam guide has advice on how to deal with this problem.

Back to Top

Having problems with your broadband connection?

Report a problem with your service. It's faster by text.

Service Status

For full details of our current issues or any maintenance work that could be affecting your service please visit our Service Status site.

Can't find what you're looking for?

If we've not been able to address your query through a support article please contact Customer support for further assistance.

For your information

John Lewis Broadband is provided by Plusnet plc.

John Lewis Broadband is a trading name of John Lewis plc, but the services are provided by Plusnet and the contract for these services is between you and Plusnet plc.

Broadband and Fibre Broadband

To sign up to one of John Lewis Broadband's services, you will also have to sign up to John Lewis Broadband Phone, both on a 12-month contract. John Lewis Broadband Phone includes the Evening and Weekend† call plan as standard. You can choose to take one of our other call plans at an additional monthly charge.

*Broadband speed is described as 'average download speed of 10Mb' and 'average upload speed of 1Mb' as it is based on speed available to at least 50% of customers at peak time (8-10pm). Your actual speed will be dependent on your location, phone line, home wiring, wifi connection and time of day. Find out why speeds vary. Check your speed and products available at your location at www.johnlewisbroadband.com.

*Fibre broadband speed is described as'average download speed of 36Mb' and 'average upload speed of 9Mb' on Fibre and 'average download speed of 66Mb' and 'average upload speed of 18Mb' on Fibre Extra as it is based on speed available to at least 50% of customers at peak time (8-10pm). Your actual speed will be dependent on your location, phone line, home wiring, wifi connection and time of day. Find out why speeds vary. Check your speed and products available at your location at www.johnlewisbroadband.com.

Our broadband contracts: You must sign-up to a 12-month contract for one of the broadband services (John Lewis Broadband Unlimited, Fibre or Fibre Extra) and John Lewis Broadband Phone. If you choose to end either or both services within the minimum period, you will have to pay an early termination charge by way of compensation for ending your service(s) early. This charge depends on your monthly price and the length of time remaining in your minimum term. How we calculate these charges is set out in the Price Guide.

Phone

To sign up to the John Lewis Broadband Phone service, you will also have to sign up to one of the broadband services (John Lewis Broadband Unlimited, Fibre or Fibre Extra), both on a 12-month contract. If you choose to end either or both services within the minimum period, you will have to pay an early termination charge by way of compensation for ending your service(s) early. This charge depends on your monthly price and the length of time remaining in your minimum term. How we calculate these charges is set out in the Price Guide.

John Lewis Broadband Phone includes the Evening and Weekend† call plan as standard. You can choose to take one of the other call plans at an additional monthly charge. If you need a new phone line installing at your property, there is a £49.99 installation charge (excluding external construction charges). Details on the available call plans are set out below:-

†Call Plans

Evening and Weekend calls: Means calls to UK landlines beginning with 01, 02, 03, 0845 and 0870 made Monday-Friday 19:00-07:00 and anytime Saturday or Sunday (except calls to indirect access numbers (which include calling cards), dial-up Internet access and calls longer than 60 minutes). Calls must be started and finished within these times to be inclusive (non-chargeable) and any call that lasts more than 60 minutes will be chargeable. A fair usage limit of 150 calls or 1000 minutes a month (whichever is reached first) applies to calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers. (if you exceed this limit, we have the right to charge you for further calls made, suspend and/or terminate your service in accordance with our terms and conditions). Our Evening and Weekend call plan is included as standard when you take John Lewis Broadband Phone.

Anytime calls: Means calls to UK landlines beginning with 01, 02, 03, 0845 and 0870 at anytime (except calls to indirect access numbers (which include calling cards), dial-up Internet access and calls longer than 60 minutes). Anytime also includes a 25% discount on calls to the top 35 international destinations. A fair usage limit of 150 calls or 1000 minutes a month (whichever is reached first) applies to calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers. (if you exceed this limit, we have the right to charge you for further calls made, suspend and/or terminate your service in accordance with our terms and conditions). Our Anytime call plan costs £6.86 a month.

Anytime and International: Means calls to UK landlines beginning with 01, 02, 03, 0845 and 0870 at anytime (except calls to indirect access numbers (which includes calling cards), dial-up Internet access and calls longer than 60 minutes). Hang up and re-dial before 60 minutes (local) and you won't be charged. Anytime and International also provides 300 inclusive minutes per month to the top 35 international destinations and a 25% discount on any further calls made to those 35 destinations over this amount within the month. Hang up and re-dial before 30 minutes on international calls, whilst in your inclusive minutes, and you won't be charged. A fair usage limit of 150 calls or 1000 minutes a month (whichever is reached first) applies to calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers. (if you exceed this limit, we have the right to charge you for further calls made, suspend and/or terminate your service in accordance with our terms and conditions). Our Anytime and International call plan costs £9.15 a month.

Mobile Bolt-on: Unlimited calls to UK mobile and 070 personal numbering services, hang up and re-dial before 60 minutes and you won't be charged. Mobile Bolt-on is available only to Anytime and Anytime and International call plan customers. A fair usage limit of 150 calls or 1000 minutes (whichever is reached first) a month applies to calls to 070 personal numbering services. If you exceed this limit, we have the right to charge you for further calls made, suspend and/or terminate your service in accordance with our terms and conditions. A Mobile Bolt-on costs £5.00 a month.

Service calls outside of your inclusive minutes: The charge for calls to service numbers beginning 084, 087, 09 and 118 consists of a 9.58p per minute access charge from John Lewis Broadband, plus a service charge set by the company you called. For all John Lewis Broadband Phone pricing, please see our Price Guide.