IMAP settings · att.net · sbcglobal.net · bellsouth.net
AT&T Mail IMAP settings
AT&T does not take your account password from a mail client. Since 2019 every third-party program needs a secure mail key — a code generated in your AT&T profile that goes into the password field instead. Old sbcglobal.net and bellsouth.net addresses live on the same servers and follow the same rule.
IMAP connection
- Server
- imap.mail.att.net
- Port
- 993
- Encryption
- SSL/TLS
- Username
- full address
- Password
- app password
Sending, SMTP
- Server
- smtp.mail.att.net
- Port
- 465
- Encryption
- SSL/TLS
Checked against the service's own autoconfiguration file on 2026-09-15 — the same source Thunderbird reads when it fills the settings in for you. Source: autoconfig.thunderbird.net, www.att.com
What breaks here.
- The account password is refused. Generate a secure mail key in your AT&T profile and paste it into both the IMAP and the SMTP password fields.
- The key is per program, and each device you set up gets its own. Revoking one does not lock the others out — convenient when a migration is over.
- sbcglobal.net and bellsouth.net are AT&T mailboxes. Their settings are the AT&T ones; there is no separate server left under those names.
- The username is the full address, whichever of the three domains it ends with.
Questions
The short answers
What is a secure mail key?
A code generated in your AT&T profile that replaces the account password in mail clients. It does not change the password you use on AT&T websites.
My address is @sbcglobal.net — what do I use?
The AT&T settings: imap.mail.att.net on 993 with SSL, and a secure mail key as the password.
Where do I create one?
In the myAT&T profile, under the secure mail key section: create the key, name it after the program, and copy it — it goes into the password field of the client.
Will anything be deleted at AT&T when I migrate?
No. The default mode copies messages and folders and leaves the source untouched.
Find out how big your mailbox is. It costs nothing.
Connect two servers, look at the size and decide. Or take the client and keep everything on your side.
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