E-mail not returned yet: still valid address?

[kaneohe]

If I send an e-mail to a incorrect address or one no longer in service,
I think I usually get an e-mail back from some "postman" advising of some
problem. Usually that happens fairly quickly.....like within a day.

If I send an e-mail and don't get that type of message within x days,
is it valid to assume that the e-mail address is still valid and "active"
or accesible by addressee? Question is specifically about a comcast.net
address. I think the person said they were going to get a free Yahoo account
in case they let their Comcast service (?CATV? or ) lapse. Or might the
Comcast address appear valid to messages coming in but the person might not have access any longer to that account?

 

[W2R]

You know how we always tease REWahoo about how many fire ants there are in Texas? I have probably established and then abandoned more e-mail accounts than that in the past 25 years.

I have no idea how many of those accounts have been closed due to non-use. Most of them, probably, but all? Who knows. It boggles the mind.

So, I am thinking that possibly the person went ahead with the Yahoo e-mail address and abandoned the Comcast e-mail, just in case later on they might decide to drop Comcast.

 

[kaneohe]

Sounds like a high probability theory. Or perhaps on vacation. Guess I'll let a few more days go by and then try the Yahoo address. Didn't want to seem like a pest. Thanks for input.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Way back when I was w*rking, we always sent written communications by two methods, e.g. facsimile and e-mail. Somethings we called to say it's on the way. Is this someone you know, could you call and tell her you are sending an e-mail?

 

[riskadverse]

If your email doesn't kickback, the address is valid, but not necessarily active or accessible. It can be inactive just because the user never looks at his mailbox, or inaccessible because the user no longer has an account with the ISP and he cannot get to his mailbox, but the ISP has not bothered to cancel the email account. At some point in the future the mailbox will most likely fill up and email will kickback, but that may take years to happen.

 

[kaneohe]

RA---thanks for the input. Makes sense now. I guess I had assumed that
the account would disappear quickly/immediately if user was not eligible any
more.

Way back when I was w*rking, we always sent written communications by two methods, e.g. facsimile and e-mail. Somethings we called to say it's on the way. Is this someone you know, could you call and tell her you are sending an e-mail?

CJ----thanks for suggestion. I guess the other e-mail account would be a similar thing . One of my pet peeves.......people who look at their e-mail
weekly instead of daily. Many yrs ago esp when it was relatively new,
people at work acted like you never responded to them when actually it
had been in their e-mail inbox for days. Even this yr, we were going to
have a retiree reunion when a former colleague got into town. He got sick, tho, and had to change the date. One of the other fellows showed up
on the original date and left in a huff bc nobody else showed up. Refused to
come on the rescheduled day bc he was still mad. I guess it might be good to ask for acknowledgements so you knew who didn't receive or read the update.

 

[quietman]

Some ISPs also have overly active Spam filters. It's not uncommon for real person to person email to occasionally get classified as spam. When that happens, the recipient may never see the message - even if they are actively using that account - unless they happen to look through the junk pulled out by the filters.

In short, email delivery is not guaranteed and unless someone replies to your email, you can never be sure they've seen or even received it.