Hosting and email provider 1and1 has annoyed its customers for the second time this week with patchy service.

The Register has been contacted by a dozen irate 1and1 customers, all complaining that their inability to access email, which the firm told us it had sorted on Tuesday (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/16/1and1_email_fixed/), had resurfaced.

Many have had trouble contacting the firm. Our own call was sent to hold music for several minutes and then went dead. A recorded message informs callers the firm is working on a technical fault and is hoping to have normal service resumed "as soon as possible".

Readers report both POP3 and SMTP are a no-go.

Reader Craig said:

The last email I received properly was 11:11 this morning, and I just get a send & receive error in Outlook when I try. Their webmail interface just gives a HTTP 500 Internal Server Error too!

And Mark asks asks what we're itching to know too: "Any idea what's behind their bullsh*t excuses?" ®

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Virgin downs 1and1 and Germany (30 November 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/30/virgin_1and1_problems/
Two UK web hosts go down (29 November 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/29/murdochs_webhost_down/
1and1: readers stick the boot in (19 January 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/19/1and1_letters/
1and1 says problems are over (16 January 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/16/1and1_email_fixed/