Zen Internet email settings: server names, ports, webmail — and why new customers don't get a mailbox

Does Zen still provide email?

Only to people who already have it. Zen's “Getting Started with Email” help page carries a notice that reads: “Please note, these services are no longer available. These articles are only for our customers who have existing email with Zen.” So a new broadband order in 2026 doesn't include a mailbox, and I've found nothing on zen.co.uk offering one as an add-on. Existing mailboxes keep working; the help articles and webmail are still live.

That matches what most UK ISPs have done, and honestly I think it's the right call — an email address tied to your broadband provider is a reason not to switch provider later. If you're new to Zen, use Gmail, Outlook.com, iCloud or your own domain and you'll never have this problem again.

Zen email settings for existing mailboxes

These come from Zen's “General Email Settings” page and its Mac and Windows setup guides, checked on 13 September 2026.

Zen's general settings page also says the outgoing port is 587 with STARTTLS “if available” or TLS/SSL otherwise. I haven't listed port 465 or any IMAP host because neither appears on Zen's own pages, even though third-party settings sites print them.

What changed in March 2026?

On 10 March 2026 Microsoft blacklisted some mail servers hosted on Zen's network, and Zen customers started seeing bounces when emailing Outlook.com and Hotmail addresses (ISPreview reported it on 19 March). Zen's service alert, posted 30 March 2026, explains the fix: to keep the service reliable, Zen changed its mail servers so that anyone using an @zen.co.uk or @myzen.co.uk address must have authentication enabled in their email client for outgoing mail. The alert also says that if you're not sending from one of those domains, you can no longer use mailhost.zen.co.uk as an outgoing server at all.

In practice: if your mail app was set up years ago with “no authentication” on the SMTP server, that's why sending broke. Open the outgoing server settings, turn authentication on, and use your full email address and password.

Where do I find my Zen email username and password?

1. Log in to My Account on zen.co.uk.
2. Click My Services, select your internet service, then View more and Email settings.
3. Your addresses are listed there with a Configure button; you can also set a new password on the same page, and it shows the incoming and outgoing server names.

Zen's guide is specific that the username is the full address including the @zen.co.uk part, not just the bit before it.

Zen webmail

Go to webmail.zen.co.uk and sign in with the full address and password. That's the only webmail address Zen links from its help pages; if you land on a c-number.myzen.co.uk/webmail style address, that's the cPanel webmail for Zen's hosting customers, which is a separate product.

Setting up Zen Mail on a Mac (Apple Mail)

Zen's own steps, abridged:

1. Open Mail, choose Add Account, then Other Mail Account….
2. Enter your name, your full Zen address and password, and click Sign In. Zen says the automatic check will fail — that's expected.
3. Set the account type to POP and enter mailhost.zen.co.uk for both incoming and outgoing servers.
4. In Mail's Settings, Accounts, pick the Zen account and under Server Settings untick the automatic connection option, then set incoming port 995 with TLS/SSL and outgoing port 587 with TLS/SSL.
5. Zen recommends “Remove copy from server after retrieving a message” set to After one week, because POP mailboxes fill up otherwise.

Setting up Zen Mail on Windows

Zen's Windows guide is written for Mozilla Thunderbird rather than Outlook. The steps are: add the account, choose Configure manually, then enter incoming POP3, mailhost.zen.co.uk, port 995, SSL/TLS, Normal password and outgoing mailhost.zen.co.uk, port 587, STARTTLS, Normal password, with your full address as the username on both. Zen suggests leaving messages on the server for at most 14 days.

For Outlook, the iPhone Mail app or the Gmail app, Zen doesn't publish a guide, so use each app's “Other” or “manual” account option with the same POP3 and SMTP values from the table. One thing I can't promise: a Microsoft community thread from 2024 has a Zen customer unable to add their POP-only address to the new Outlook app, which at the time didn't take POP accounts. If Outlook is essential, test it before you rely on it.

Is there an IMAP option?

Not that Zen publishes. Every current Zen setup guide uses POP3, which downloads mail to one device and (with the settings above) deletes it from the server after a week or two. If you read email on a phone and a laptop, that's a real limitation, and it's the strongest argument for moving the address to a mainstream provider and setting up forwarding from the Zen mailbox (the “Forwarding Email” rule lives on the same Email settings page in My Account).

What if I leave Zen?

I couldn't find a published statement from Zen on whether a @zen.co.uk mailbox survives after you cancel broadband, so ask support before you switch rather than assuming either way. If you're coming the other direction — joining Zen and moving off a BT, Sky or Virgin address — the FAQs and my review cover the switch, and the £40 referral eGift card applies if you use the link before ordering. Router questions live on the router settings page.

Sources

• Zen — Getting started with email (“no longer available” notice)
• Zen — General email settings
• Zen — Setting up Zen Mail on a Mac
• Zen — Setting up Zen Mail on a Windows PC
• Zen — Getting email details for home
• Zen — Getting email details (full address as username)
• Zen — Email help index (webmail link)
• Zen service alert 11393 — E-mail authentication change (30 March 2026)
• ISPreview — Microsoft domain blacklist causes email problems for Zen (March 2026)
• Microsoft Q&A — Zen (POP) address and the new Outlook