How to 'safely' download mail from hotel / airport free wifi?

Question

I've a mail client setted with IMAP that try to download using 993 or 143 port. In a lot of hotel i can't download my mail . My question is: generally, do free wifi allow using 993 or 143 port ? How to download mail using free wifi ?

Answer 1

It depends on the owner if the wireless network allows port 993 or 143. If you want secure access to your e-mail and both ports are closed, you can:

• Use a SSH tunnel with port forwarding. This way you use a different connection to access port 143/993, all the IMAP traffic is forwarded from your local machine via the tunnel.
• Use the web interface from your provider. Make sure you use the https version of the site (e.g. https://gmail.com)
• It might be possible that your provider allows alternative ports for accessing e-mail with IMAP.

Answer 2

Hard to say whether all free wifi hotspots block those ports or not. Hotels tend to be pretty open in my experience but YMMV.

Check if your provider offers a webmail service and use that if possible, at least just to view new email.

If the wifi router you are using is set to block those ports, and you really want to access the service over those blocked ports, then you need a solution that involves an intermediate system. There's no reliable magical way to "unblock" ports on a router.

One easy thing to do is to run VNC Server on your home computer, accessible on port 443, and then remote into your home computer and access your email that way.