Best Email Client for Consolidated Email

The best email client for Consolidated email depends on which domain you hold, how many mailboxes you read and on how many computers. Consolidated Communications, now branded Fidium, makes no mail app, so a consolidated.net, myfairpoint.net, fairpoint.net or surewest.net address is read in webmail or in another company's program over IMAP, with your normal password. For one address on one phone, the phone's own Mail app is enough. For one address on a home computer, Thunderbird or Apple Mail does the job with no license fee. For a Consolidated address beside Gmail and work mail, read on more than one computer, pick a client that holds every account in one list.

The short answer, by situation

Seven situations cover almost everyone with a Consolidated, FairPoint or SureWest address in 2026. The table is the recommendation. The rest of the article explains each pick, gives the settings per domain, and covers the FairPoint mix up that causes most failed setups.

Is there a Consolidated email app?

No. Consolidated is a phone and fiber company that grew by buying others: SureWest in 2012, HickoryTech and its Enventis brand in 2014, and FairPoint, the northern New England carrier, in 2017. Each purchase brought an email domain, and customers kept their addresses. In September 2025 the company took the Fidium name for everything, and it said existing Consolidated email accounts keep working. What it has never offered is a mail program. Webmail at webmail.mycci.net is the whole official toolset, which is why the choice of client is yours.

What are the Consolidated email server settings?

The settings follow the domain after your at sign, not the Fidium name on your bill. We checked every one against the live servers from the United States in October 2026.

• consolidated.net, mycci.net, surewest.net, hickorytech.net: incoming imap.yourdomain on port 993 with SSL, outgoing smtp.yourdomain on port 587 with STARTTLS.
• myfairpoint.net: incoming mail.myfairpoint.net on port 143 with STARTTLS, outgoing smtp.myfairpoint.net on port 587 with STARTTLS. Port 993 did not answer our servers.
• fairpoint.net: incoming mail.fairpoint.net on port 993 with SSL, outgoing smtp.fairpoint.net on port 587.
• Every domain: the full address as the user name, your normal password, and outgoing authentication turned on.

The full table, with what to check when a setup fails, is on the Consolidated email app and settings page.

Why does my FairPoint email not work in Outlook?

Usually because the host name belongs to the other FairPoint domain. myfairpoint.net moved onto the same hosted platform as consolidated.net, while fairpoint.net, without the my, stayed on a separate system. A guide written for one does not work on the other, and the error looks like a wrong password, so people reset a password that was fine. Read your address carefully, use the matching host, then check two more things: outgoing authentication on, and the full address in the user name field.

Webmail, for one address on a shared computer

Webmail asks for the full address and password and runs in any browser with nothing installed, which suits a family computer or a library terminal. Consolidated's own help article for it uses a hickorytech.net address as the example. The limit is one mailbox per sign in. A household with a myfairpoint.net address and a consolidated.net one signs out and back in to see both, and nothing else you own appears there.

The phone's own Mail app, for reading on the go

iPhone Mail and the Android email apps take Consolidated addresses over IMAP with the ordinary password. On an iPhone choose Add Account, Other, Add Mail Account, then IMAP, and type the hosts from the list above rather than letting the phone guess. For a myfairpoint.net address, set the incoming port to 143 and keep SSL or STARTTLS on. This is the cheapest good answer for anyone who mostly reads mail on a phone.

Apple Mail, for one address on a Mac

Apple Mail is already on every Mac and its All Inboxes view merges several accounts. It handles the shared platform domains with no fuss. The limit is the platform: if the office has a Windows PC, or a spouse uses a Chromebook, Apple Mail is not on it, and each Mac needs its own setup.

Thunderbird, for a Windows PC and spotty connections

Thunderbird runs on Windows, macOS and Linux with no license fee and keeps a local copy of your mail. That counts in much of Consolidated's territory, from rural Maine to northern Minnesota, where a camp or a farm office may have a weak connection. Choose IMAP rather than POP so the phone and the computer see the same folders. Unified Folders merges accounts, though every machine needs its own setup and its own copy of the settings.

Classic Outlook, if you already pay for Microsoft 365

Classic Outlook handles Consolidated mail well once the host is right. Its auto setup often guesses wrong for regional providers, so choose manual setup, pick IMAP, enter the hosts and ports for your exact domain, and under More Settings turn on My outgoing server requires authentication. The cost is the Microsoft 365 or Office license, and each account shows as its own folder tree rather than one merged list.

Gmail, and the date to plan around

Many people read a consolidated.net or myfairpoint.net address inside Gmail through the setting that checks mail from other accounts. Google has announced that Gmail removes that POP fetch, along with Gmailify and Send as for third party addresses, in January 2027. After that, a Consolidated address pulled into Gmail stops updating. If this is how you read it today, switch before the date rather than after the first missed invoice. Our guide to checking mail from other accounts after the change covers the options.

A browser client, for several addresses on several computers

The hard case is the common one for a small business in Consolidated country: the FairPoint address that has been on the bank file, the town permit and every supplier account since dial up, a Gmail address for newer things, maybe a work domain, and a family member's surewest.net or consolidated.net address that someone still watches. Read on an office PC and a laptop at home.

That is the case Inboxes is built for. It runs in a browser tab on Windows, Mac, Linux or a Chromebook, connects each Consolidated domain with the password you already have, including myfairpoint.net on port 143 with STARTTLS, and puts it in one stream with Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, AOL and your own domain, each row marked with the account it came from. Every message arrives tagged Important, Newsletter, Notification, Spam or Other, which helps on an address that has gathered years of mailing lists. Replies go out through the mailbox's own server, so customers still see the address they know. Plans start at 49 dollars a month for five mailboxes, or half that billed yearly. The IMAP email client page explains how the connection works for any provider.

If you are moving the business off the old address over time, the reply side matters as much as reading. Customers notice when one person signs with a FairPoint address and the next with a new domain, so setting up a consistent email signature across the whole company is worth doing in the same week you connect the mailboxes.

What none of these clients will fix

None of them hosts your mail. A Consolidated mailbox lives at Fidium and depends on your Fidium account; if that account closes, the address stops working in every program at once, so move important records before you cancel service. And none of the password based routes connects a Microsoft work mailbox anymore. Inboxes signs in with a user name and password or app password, so outlook.com, hotmail.com and Microsoft 365 addresses will not connect, while Consolidated domains, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, iCloud and own domain mailboxes do.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best email app for consolidated.net?

For one address on a phone, the built in Mail app with IMAP settings. For one address on a computer, Thunderbird on Windows or Apple Mail on a Mac. For a consolidated.net address alongside Gmail and work mail on more than one computer, a browser based client that shows every account in one list, such as Inboxes. Consolidated itself makes no app.

What are the myfairpoint.net email settings?

Incoming mail is mail.myfairpoint.net on port 143 with STARTTLS, and outgoing mail is smtp.myfairpoint.net on port 587 with STARTTLS and authentication on. Use the full address as the user name. Do not use mail.fairpoint.net for a myfairpoint.net address; that host belongs to a different system.

Did Fidium change my email settings?

No. The Fidium name arrived in September 2025 as a rebrand, and existing Consolidated email accounts kept their addresses and servers. The settings depend only on the domain in your address, which is why a guide labeled Fidium email settings is really a guide to the old domains.

Can I read my FairPoint and Consolidated addresses in one place?

Not in webmail, which shows one mailbox per sign in. Apple Mail, Thunderbird and Outlook can hold several accounts on one machine. A browser based client such as Inboxes holds every Consolidated address and your other accounts in one list on every computer you use.

Other regional providers have their own quirks: the best email client for EarthLink email covers the earthlink.net and mindspring addresses, and the best email client for Hawaiian Telcom email covers hawaiiantel.net.