Email >> How to use Telnet

How to use Telnet

This section will show you how to use Telnet to view and delete email stored in your Virgin Media mailbox.
  • Click on the 'Start' button, usually located in the bottom left corner of your screen.
  • Now click 'Run'.
  • In the white box to the right of 'Open' type telnet mail.virgin.net 110 in lower case.
  • Click on the 'OK' button:
  • You will then be presented with a white window as below:
  • Click on 'Terminal' at the top and choose 'Preferences':
  • Now tick the boxes exactly as shown in the image below.
  • Click on the 'OK' button.
  • Setting these options will allow you to see what you are typing.
  • You will now be presented with the first screen again.
  • Type the word user then a space, followed by your username. Below we have used richard.branson as an example.
  • Then press the 'Enter' key on your keyboard.
  • Type the word pass then a space, followed by your password. Below we have used mYpaSSw0rd as an example.
  • Then press the 'Enter' key on your keyboard.
  • You will now be presented with a similar screen to the one shown below:
  • You are now connected to the Virgin Media mail server.
  • You can now use the below commands to maintain your email account.
  • List - Will list how many emails you have waiting on the server and the size of each message.
  • Top (x) 10 - This command will show you the first 10 lines of an email where x is the email number.
  • Dele (x) - This command will delete the Email numbered x from the server.
  • Quit - Logs you out of your account, and disconnects from the mail server.
  • For example, typing 'list' and pressing the 'Enter key' on your keyboard displays the following:
  • Typing 'top 1 5' then pressing the 'Enter' key on your keyboard, displays the first five lines of the first email, as below:
  • Using this information you can view who the email is from, when it was sent and it's subject. Changing the value 5 to a higher value will display more lines of the email.


Once you have finished using Telnet you must type Quit and press the 'Enter' key on your keyboard. If you do not quit telnet correctly any email marked for deletion will not be removed from the server.
Email >> How to use Telnet